PITTSFIELD, Mass. — A very large crowd of angry Spectrum customers vented their frustrations for more than two hours Monday at two representatives of the cable company.

 

Complaints ranged from convoluted bills, poor customer service, nonfunctioning cable boxes that were difficult to hookup to shifting channels and confusing packages — all topped off by hiked prices and extra fees.

 

"There are a lot of angry, angry people here in the Berkshires," said state Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier. "My husband actually threw the box out the window."

 

Nearly 200 people crowded into the auditorium in the Berkshire Athenaeum to express their displeasure with change in enacted by Charter Spectrum in its takeover of Time Warner Cable in the area. 

 

The public hearing was called and facilitated by Mayor Linda Tyer, who invoked a clause in the city's contract with Spectrum requiring it to attend.  

 

"Unfortunately the city has very little control ... what we can do is hold them accountable to the contract that they have with tbe city of Pittsfield," she said. "Our contract doesn't prevent them from changing the channel lineup or going digital ... but the people and the customers have a lot of influence over what the company is going to do."

 

The contract also states the city can call for a report from the company. Spectrum has 60 days to respond and Tyer expects the presentation to the City Council to occur before the end of April. 

 

The report is expected to include the status of the company's transition as well as responses to the many complaints brought to the attention of Spectrum's representatives who attended the hearing. 

 

The list of grievances was long, and often punctuated by applause from the crowd. City Council President Peter Marchetti said it was the issue that he has received the most comment on in all his years of public service. 

 

"We need our channels," said City Councilor Peter White. "We can't get local news out here except through NECN ... We need to connect our people with what's going on in Boston and, personally, I want to see our Red Sox games and our Celtics games."

 

The complaints mainly fell into three categories: the loss and movement of channels, including moving Pittsfield Community Television channels to higher numbers and dropping WWLP; forced rental of digital cable boxes at $11.47 a month per television; poor customer service, such unresponsive technicians, broken boxes, and inconsistent and complicated information and instructions.

 

Nancy McNabb brought props to show how difficult it was for her husband to watch television now after having a stroke. She wore mittens to show how hard it was to manipulate the complex remote that comes with the boxes and evoked laughter when she pulled out a magnifying glass for the tiny print on the channel list. 

 

A number of residents spoke to the isolation of the Berkshires from Boston news because of the loss of WWLP out of Springfield. The areas "local" channels are all located in Albany, N.Y.

 

"I'm sick and tired of [NY Gov. Andrew] Cuomo," one woman said. "I don't want to be a New Yorker ... I want to live in Massachusetts and I chose the Berkshires."

 

Another woman reminded the Spectrum representatives that television was not a luxury for the elderly or disabled. 

 

"The TV is the only connection some of us have with the outside world," she said. "These are elderly people who have nothing else to do." 

 

In addition to the charges for the cable box, and a separate charge for the online TV guide, it cost "a bargain" $34.99 for a technician to hook up it up for her — $34.99 that can come out of food and medical budgets for those on limited or fixed incomes. "That's shameful," she said.

 

State Sen. Adam Hinds said, "I have not seen a good explanation" for why the boxes cost so much. 

 

Shawn Serre, executive director of PCTV, said his issue was with the corporation's decisions and how they have affected the local public station. Spectrum has moved the station's channels from 16,17 and 18 to 1301-3, he said, "where most viewers never look for their programming.

 

"You cearly don't understand what is important to your customers in pittsfield," he continued, scoffing at an explanation he had gotten that "clustering" was to the viewers benefit. "You moved the channels for your own benefit not the benfit of your costumers. ...

 

"I can guarantee that no one in this room tonight feels that what you have done has made our channels easier to find."

 

Several people asked why they couldn't buy the boxes outright, rather than spending almost $140 a year to rent them; others why the package prices jumped so much from basic.

 

"I see discrimination in every pricing structure and I am particularly concerned with the callous disregard for local news and Massachusetts-based news," Kermit Goodwin said. "I think they are discriminating at us ... if you don't want to be here leave. Tell us how much it's going to cost to buy you up, buy the infrastructure and go start our own community television Service."

 

George Doin, field operations manager for Spectrum, and Anna Lucey, director of government affairs, tried to answer some of questions raised during the two hours. 

 

Lucey said the pricing was the same for all Charter Communications customers across the country. The national pricing model was designed to be competitive and improve customer service, including bringing 200,000 call center jobs back to the United States. 

 

"We continue to provide an option for people in legacy Time-Warner packages that do not want to move to Spectrum packages," she said, explaining why bills and packages may still vary. However, from now on, "there's no bargaining with our customer service representatives." 

 

Doin said technicians are doing the best they can to keep up with the rollout and encouraged those having difficulty to call. He said larger button remotes are available but "the demand is very high right now." 

 

Farley-Bouvier, however, said state Rep. John Barrett III is already leading the call for  a full investigation of the Spectrum's "unfair and deceptive business practices" by the attorney general's office. 

 

"Spectrum probably didn't understand what it is like to anger former mayor and current Rep. John Barrett. He is furious and when he gets furious it's not pretty," she said.

 

Tyer said she's had preliminary talks about reopening the 10-year cable contract that expires in 2024. And she's open to working with other communities affected by the changes — or considering developing the city's own cable utility. 

 

"I would be open to any ideas that would provide better service to our city," she said.