For Tempe resident Jack Mole, dealing with Cox Communications cable service has "been a nightmare."
"It's like the Cable Guy meets Groundhog Day," Mole said.
Since January, when Cox changed all its customers from analog to digital cable, Mole said he has been plagued with a number of problems. Cox denied him of his two free digital converter boxes, eventually gave him five faulty boxes and has hung up on him when he called for customer service, he said.
"Something has to change because there is no alternative to Cox unless I go to satellite television," he said.
About a dozen residents let the Tempe City Council and Cox, the Valley's only cable provider, know about their similar bad experiences during a public hearing Thursday night.
The hearing was called to evaluate Cox's customer service and address the growing number of complaints that have been forwarded to City Council members.
Customer complaints include poor customer service, long telephone hold times, faulty converter boxes and frequent high speed Internet outages.
Cox Vice President Ivan Johnson said Cox is continuing to address these problems by adding more technical and billing staff and is working on fixing most Internet bugs in the next 30 days.
By the council's recommendation, Cox will partner with the City Manager's office to conduct a customer service survey. It will measure customer service now and six months from now, and it will be conducted by an independent party.
If the council is still not satisfied with Cox's service, it can penalize Cox up to $100 per day the service standards are violated, city attorney Brad Woodford said.
Cox won Tempe's franchising license in 1991 and is up for renewal in approximately three years.
Reach the reporter at kristina.davis@asu.edu.