Saturday, March 06, 1999
Time Warner has new deal for Lebanon customers
People who switch get sales pitch
BY RICHELLE THOMPSON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
LEBANON — Lebanon's small-scale cable operation is competing head-on with Time Warner, which serves more than 1.5 million customers in the state and 230,000 in southeastern Ohio.
Since the city's $7 million telecommunications system went on line last month, more than 2,200 of a possible 8,000 homes have signed up for the Lebanon-owned cable service.
There's no way of telling how many of those people were part of Time Warner's 3,000 customer base, but the company isn't taking any chances.
It has implemented a special “loyalty” or “customer retention” program, said Jennifer Mooney, vice president of public affairs. Customers who call the company to disconnect service or with other questions typically get personal visits from Time Warner technicians who offer large discounts.
Two Lebanon residents who have switched to city service also said Time Warner representatives engage in some negative campaigning against the city's system, telling them that Lebanon doesn't offer the same degree of service. Time Warner's marketing strategy could be backfiring, residents say.
Navaho Drive resident Lisa Retallick said Friday she doesn't like to be in the middle of tug-of-war, and she's mad at Time Warner for putting her there.
After 11 years with Time Warner, Mrs. Retallick de cided to switch to city service. It was $10 cheaper for a similar package, she said.
After Mrs. Retallick called to disconnect service, a Time Warner technician met with her husband at their house and called her at work.
Time Warner “was at the door, going into these long spiels of how they can serve us better,” Mrs. Retallick
said. “I thought: If you guys could offer this promotional stuff for a year, why couldn't you do it all the time?”
The company promised $10 off her monthly cable bill and free HBO for a year, she said.
“It was ridiculous,” Mrs. Retallick said. “What they don't realize is that it's making people mad.”
Mrs. Mooney said Time Warner has a customer retention or loyalty program in place for the 54 communities it serves. The program is available to any customer who calls the company, she said.
Mrs. Mooney said the company has developed special loyalty programs with specific discounts and packages for Lebanon residents.
“We are paying very close attention to customers in the Lebanon area,” she said.
In Wadsworth, the only other Ohio community with a city-owned system, Time Warner has lost a third of its customers since 1997. Industry experts say if Lebanon and Wadsworth and the other 20 or so municipal cable companies in the nation succeed, other cities may follow.
To Jim Baldwin, the city's depu ty director of telecommunications, Time Warner's action “backs up what we've been saying all along. Competition does wonderful things.”
Several customers have called the city about Time Warner's visits, Mr. Baldwin said. But the city hasn't lost any customers because of the discount offers, he said.
“Everybody here thinks it's funny,” Mr. Baldwin said. “Where've they been for 18 years? After 18 years, they're suddenly coming in and being all nice to us.”
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