Fayetteville officials have

gone on the record with their displeasure at the performance of the city's

cable television provider.

City Manager Joe Morton announced

at Wednesday night's City Council workshop that he has sent a letter to

a representative of AT&T Broadband expressing the city's concerns

about construction delays and customer service problems.

The company's fiber installation

has been held up because of right-of-way issues with the state's Department

of Transportation, a fact that Morton acknowledged in his letter.

But, "We also understand

that many areas of your rebuild do not involve DOT right of ways and have

difficulty understanding why the rebuild has not continued in these areas,

primarily our residential subdivisions," he wrote. "Many of

our subdivisions have cables and wires exposed from when you stopped your

rebuild operations several months ago. We request that those areas be

given immediate attention. We also request a revised rebuild schedule

in response to this letter."

Morton also mentioned an increase

in customer service complaints, saying that many residents are finding

it impossible to reach anyone at AT&T.

"Customers calling your

customer care center are asked to hang up and try at a later time,"

Morton wrote. "We feel that this is unacceptable customer service

and request that this issue be addressed immediately."

After these issues, plus the

inability to reach a franchise agreement after a city proposal was rejected

Morton wrote.

"We are very disturbed

about the recent rate increase in light of the delays in the fiber rebuild

in providing broadband services and the continued customer service problems

that we are experiencing," the letter stated. "We request that

this increase be delayed until such time that the fiber rebuild has been

completed and you have improved your customer service to an acceptable

level."

After Morton mentioned the

letter at the workshop, Councilman Al Hovey-King wondered if there was

any recourse available by the city to penalize the company for "negotiating

in bad faith" as these problems go unresolved.

Mayor Kenneth Steele said that

the council should go on the record with its dissatisfaction at AT&T's

performance, adding that customers might be better off shopping for alternatives

to that company's service.