...commercial rate for a dish would be in similar cases?
Area bars burn over cable bills
By JOHN T. EBERTH , The Times Herald 02/17/2003
As owner and proprietor of Digger’s Capitol Hill restaurant on Wayne Street, Debbie Bess works hard to keep her customers happy.Ms. Bess thinks she could give Adelphia Cable a lesson or two about customer service.In one month, Adelphia raised Digger’s cable bill from $68 to $370 per month. “They sent no letters, no warning, no explanation, all we got were these statements,” she said.Ms. Bess is not alone. Restaurants and bars throughout the Southern Tier recently received similar cable hikes.At The Gin Mill in Ellicottville, owner Ed Clarmo was paying $108 per month for cable last year. His bill went up to $380 in December.Mr. Clarmo said he’s negotiating with Adelphia to try to lower his bill.“I really went at them over my contract,” he said. “They told me, ‘We went bankrupt, those contracts don’t mean anything anymore.’”Mr. Clarmo said an Adelphia representative told him that a clause in the contract allows the company to raise rates despite the contract.“I said to them, then what the hell good is the contract? I think they’re billing everyone top rate and then making us go to them to negotiate a lower rate. They’re putting the onus on us,” he said.Eric Andrus, an Adelphia spokesman, said businesses are being charged Adelphia’s standard commercial rate. He said an internal audit of the company’s billing system found many restaurants and bars were inadvertently charged residential cable rates, instead of higher commercial rates.“Adelphia, like all cable operators, is charged a higher license fee by many of the sports networks when their programming is offered in commercial properties, such as bars, restaurants and taverns,” he said. “The revised rate structure is based on the seating capacity of each establishment and reflects the commercial rates we, and all cable providers, are required to pay each of our sports programming providers.” Mr. Andrus said the cable rate hike has nothing to do with the company’s financial struggles. Adelphia filed for bankruptcy after its founder, John Rigas and several Adelphia executives were indicted for allegedly misappropriating funds from the company.The bars and restaurants are being charged a fee for each television they have and are being asked to pay individual rates for ESPN, ESPN 2, The Madison Square Garden channel, and Empire Sports Network. Many of the bars and restaurants have been paying a basic cable rate for 10 or more years.At Angee’s Restaurant in Olean, owner Anthony Fratercangelo said he’s planning to buy a satellite television system as soon as his contract with Adelphia ends.“I went from $80 a month to $296 a month,” he said. “I mean, they’re having financial trouble, so I understand why they’d want to raise the rates, but how do you justify that kind of an increase? I just don’t think it’s fair.”Mr. Fratercangelo said like the other businesses, he received no warning of the rate hike.“Unless you consider a letter that came along with your bill a warning,” he said. “I’m just going to a dish. Everybody I talked to is going to a dish.”Mr. Fratercangelo said after the way Adelphia handled the rate increase, he’d buy a satellite dish even if it costs him as much as his new cable bill. Tony Marra, owner of The Bird Cage in Allegany, said he’s looking into satellite television too.“If you can get a dish for $45 a month why would you pay Adelphia $125 per month?” he said.Like the other business owners, Mr. Marra said he doesn’t think Adelphia handled the rate increase well. He’s had Adelphia Cable for nine years and said he would remain loyal to the company if they had treated him better.“Had they sent a letter explaining the situation to me and trying to justify it, rather than just getting sticker shock with the bill, I think it would have made a difference,” he said. “If we treated our customers like that, how long would we be in business?”Mr. Clarmo said the company would fail a business ethics class.“I think it’s horrible, absolutely horrible communications and business ethics,” he said. “How can you raise someone’s rate 500 or 600 percent without even sending out a letter first? No one can do business like that.”
Does anyone know what the general...
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