Adelphia struggling to regain L.A.'s trust.

Within a day or two of Adelphia Communications Corp.'s June bankruptcy filing, David Pass lost his cable connection. Then things really got bad.

Pass made repeated calls to the Adelphia number, only to be told there was nothing wrong with service in his area. He tried to get a service call, but was turned down at first, supposedly because of staff cuts related to the Chapter 11 filing. Pass finally managed to make an appointment two weeks out, only to be told a few days before the scheduled visit that he wasn't on the log.

"After three weeks, I decided to call up and order satellite," said Pass, an Internet game producer with Flipside.com. "It's terrible when you don't have any control."

Erland Kailbourne must know the feeling. As Adelphia's new chief executive, succeeding John J. Rigas, who was arrested last week and charged with pillaging the Coudersport. Pa.-based company he founded, Kailbourne's challenge is to repair the frayed relationships with L.A.-area municipalities and customers while still abiding by the financial restrictions of a bankruptcy filing.

Despite Pass's experience, Adelphia is still up and running. But it's hardly business as usual - service calls have been hit and miss, digital system upgrades have been delayed and there have been delays in franchise fee payments. One service manager said recently that a customer's snowy reception required ordering a piece of equipment that could be delayed.

Perhaps the most common complaint remains Adelphia's poor customer service record - a gripe that predates the bankruptcy filing. Although yet-to-be-released second quarter statistics show some improvement in the city of L.A., Adelphia had a dismal 2001 when it came to customer complaints.

Adelphia's contracts in five of the city's 14 franchise areas expire Aug. 2, and as that deadline nears L.A. officials are citing a laundry list of deficiencies that they want corrected before signing off on a new deal with Adelphia.

Company officials insist that after the confusion of the past weeks, local operations are back on track. Contractors who were briefly let go after the Chapter 11 filing were brought back and repair calls are now being handled in a timely manner, officials said.

"I definitely feel we're making progress. A lot has happened in the last 100 days and I'm confident we'll show the city that we're about the customer, that we will upgrade our plants and that we are committed to the community," said Bill Rosendahl, Adelphia's vice president of political affairs.

Even so, public officials remain unconvinced that Adelphia has earned the right to continue doing business in Los Angeles.

"There is a lot of skepticism and anger about what's happened with Adelphia," said Liza Lowery, general manager of the city's Information Technology Agency. "One thing that everybody was saying in the meeting is that Los Angeles is a jewel. It's a very important asset for them, and we expect to be treated as such."

At a series of meetings last week, Kailbourne listened as County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, Mayor James Hahn, City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo and other officials detailed a litany of complaints about poor customer service, failures to deliver on promised system upgrades and late payments.

"The city has a right to question, just like everybody has a right to question the headlines that are coming out," Rosendahl said. "What does this mean for the customers who are their constituents? What does this mean for the employees? We answered those questions to (the city's) satisfaction and left with a very, very good relationship going forward."

Up for sale?

Even after meeting with Kailbourne during an Information Technology Agency hearing last week, Los Angeles City Councilman Jack Weiss, who has been a vocal critic of Adelphia, said he would be open to a change of ownership. "If someone else can come in and provide a high level of service than we would roll out the red carpet for them," he said.

In recent weeks Adelphia has backed away from statements that it would put its 1.2 million-subscriber Southern California franchises up for sale. The company has received numerous inquiries about the territories but no bona fide offers, officials said. Some investors have spoken out against selling the franchises at a time when the company is in crisis.

"It's critical that before any assets get transferred that we have an opportunity to make sure they are being fully valued," said Jonathan Rosenthal, a partner at Saybrook Capital, which is representing an ad hoc committee of preferred Adelphia shareholders.

Among the city of L.A.'s most pressing concerns is for Adelphia to complete system upgrades in four of its five franchise areas that would allow customers to receive premium services such as digital television, Interactive TV and high-speed Internet connections. Compared to other local providers, Lowery said, Adelphia "is the furthest behind in upgrading their network and offering these advanced services."

Adelphia had promised to complete the upgrades as quickly as possible, but shortly after its bankruptcy, the company fired most of the independent contractors in the area who perform the actual construction work. A New York bankruptcy court subsequently approved the release of $500 million of $1.5 billion in emergency financing, and half of the money has been earmarked to complete system upgrades.

Adelphia plans to complete upgrades in Ventura and Orange counties by the end of the year, but Rosendahl could not say when upgrades would be finished in Los Angeles.

Another concern of Los Angeles officials is Adelphia's uneven payment record. Franchise fees are equal to 5 percent of the subscription costs paid by Adelphia customers in the city and are due quarterly.

Adelphia was late on first quarter payments of $1.7 million to Los Angeles, and lesser amounts to Beverly Hills and West Hollywood, although second quarter payments were made on time, according to officials in those cities.

Adelphia also indicated last week it would probably not dispute a $3 million bill from the city for past unpaid franchise fees uncovered in a recent audit. "We're looking at those numbers, and if the numbers are right we'll pay it," Rosendahl said.

Behaving like 'vultures'

Meanwhile, El Segundo-based DirecTV has been targeting Adelphia customers. For $50, about half the normal price, DirecTV will convert Adelphia customers. DirecTV Spokesman Bob Marsocci said he did not have figures on how many cable customers have switched.

"Knowing that Adelphia customers are asking 'Is this going to affect my service?' we thought it would be a good opportunity to remind them that there is a viable alternative to cable service," Marsocci said.

Without naming names, Rosendahl said one satellite company was behaving like "vultures" and using scare tactics to get people to switch.

Meantime, Lowery said her office is in ongoing negotiations with Adelphia regarding the conditions of a potential new franchise agreement. While the board of the Information Technology Agency has recommended extending franchise agreements with the city's other cable providers for two years, it has declined to make a recommendation about Adelphia.

It's almost assured the company will get a short-term extension to its contract. Still, that's not necessarily to be taken as vote of confidence for Adelphia, nor an indication of the city's long-term plans.

Staff reporter Claudia Peschiutta contributed to this story.