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Issue: 08/23/04 Print Print this Article   RSS RSS

Adelphia Communications Takes Last Place in Customer Satisfaction Survey

The Buffalo News

Aug. 20--Adelphia Communications was tied for last place in a customer satisfaction survey of 13 pay-TV providers, according to market research firm J.D. Power and Associates.

The cable company got an index score of 617 out of a possible 1,000 in the 2004 survey, tied with Cablevision Systems and Charter Communications, Power said. The average score was 664.

Dish Network was No.1 on Power's survey with 725, followed by fellow satellite provider DirecTV, 721.

Adelphia, based in the Denver area, is the largest pay-TV supplier in Western New York.

Power's national survey of 8,668 households looked at satisfaction with billing, customer service, cost, image, performance and promotional offerings.

"Obviously we were not happy with those results," said Jeanne Coleman, Adelphia general manager for the Buffalo area. "We expect to have much better results going forward."

An overhaul of customer service systems and upgrade work on the cable network probably hurt the company's score during the survey period, she said, as did a repackaging of program choices. But those initiatives should yield higher satisfaction in future surveys, Coleman said.

In addition, the company's continuing bankruptcy reorganization and the criminal trial of founder John Rigas on fraud charges affected Adelphia's image, she said.

Adelphia's score improved sharply from a year ago, but remains below the company's goals, president Ron Cooper said in a memo to employees.

Last year Adelphia's score was also below the industry average, said Steve Kirkeby, senior director of telecommunications at J.D. Power. He said precise comparison is difficult because of changes in the rating scale.

This year, customer service was the largest contributor to overall satisfaction in the survey, worth 26 percent of a company's overall score, he said.

The average monthly cost for pay-TV service was $50.98 for cable subscribers and $49.08 for satellite, the survey found. The cost excludes non-TV services like cable Internet.

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