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Factoid: To file a complaint with the Carbondale Information and Telecommunications Commission, contact the Carbondale City Attorney's office at 457-3215.
Mediacom has brought cable service to the homes of Carbondale residents since 2001, when it bought out AT&T Broadband and embarked on a $12.5 million venture to update Southern Illinois systems to the digital age.
Two years later, the project is completed and general service has improved, but some citizens still have some complaints about Mediacom's customer service.
Mediacom representative Randy Hollis attended the Carbondale City Council meeting last week to relate the advances the company had made in its service and to announce the completion of nearly two years worth of upgrades.
While he did deliver his speech, he was also bombarded with complaints by Carbondale Mayor Brad Cole about the level of customer service the company provides.
Cole said he averages about one phone call, one letter or one conversation related to Mediacom service every day, and rarely are they compliments.
"I have not had problems like this before," Cole said Tuesday afternoon. "He said I was being childish because he said they didn't have service calls on Sunday when I knew that they did. They said they'd be able to come by two days later between 8 a.m. and noon, and I said I would only be there between 8 and 9 and he said I was being childish."
Hollis admits he still hears a few complaints about the service in Carbondale, but the number has dropped dramatically since the company finished upgrading the system only 45 days ago.
"While the upgrade was going, there was disruption and some problems, so we had a few more complaints," he said. "But since the first of the year, we have had less than five complaints filed through the city."
Hollis attends the quarterly Carbondale Information and Telecommunications Commission meeting, where he is presented with both written and verbal complaints from Carbondale residents. He said that even through the peak of upgrades, his company handled less than 30 written complaints filed through the commission.
"I liken the upgrades to remodeling a house, but that's even a little easier," Hollis said. "It's not the most fun process, and you find things you didn't know were there, like when you knock down a wall at an old house."
Mediacom added about 15 basic cable channels and 60 digital channels to their lineup, using a considerable amount of fiber optics and expanding the signal to accommodate the increase in channels.
"The process has been disruptive," Hollis said. "There's no easier way to go about it. But now the upgrades are complete and we, the company and the customers, can start to enjoy the fruits of that labor."
Although Cole said Mediacom has made great strides in terms of the upgrades and the addition of high-speed Internet access, the problems that he continues to hear involve customer service.
"The city board that deals with complaints works with Mediacom. They do go to the meetings, but people keep complaining," he said. "They may be nice in taking the complaints, but there are still problems."
Linz Brown, a member of the Telecommunications Commission, which was formed to evaluate Carbondale's cable service provider, said though they have heard some complaints, it has been straightened out.
"We always get some, but they're mainly service related," he said. "The things we'd like to see improved, they want as well."
