Time Warner Cable swamped by service calls.

Back in August, Time Warner Cable Inc. promised that by taking over Adelphia and Comcast customers in Los Angeles, it would provide better service than its predecessors.

With several problems cropping up during the integration, the regions now largest cable provider is having trouble keeping that promise.

The company's customer service center was overwhelmed last week when some former Comcast Internet customers lost access to their e-mail, and former Adelphia cable customers in certain communities had problems accessing their favorite channels.

"We understand it's not convenient for our customers and it may be confusing," said Patti Rockenwagner, a Time Warner Cable spokesperson. "Unfortunately it had to be done to get customers onto (our) platform."

Integration problems were one thing Time Warner Cable parent Time Warner Inc. had hoped to avoid after it and Comcast Corp. acquired bankrupt Adelphia Communications in August for $12.5 billion and 16 percent of Time Warner Cable's stock.

The two companies divided Adelphia assets, agreeing to swap customers in certain cities to give each a larger share of a particular market. Stamford, Conn.-based Time Warner Cable took Adelphia and Comcast customers in Los Angeles and adjacent counties. Philadelphia-based Comcast now serves Time Warner customers in the San Francisco Bay Area. (See page 20 for an interview with Jeffrey A. Hirsch, head of the cable company's regional operations.)

In the Los Angeles area, the broadband service problems began when files for 220,000 Comcast Internet customers were transferred from Comcast's server to Time Warner's Roadrunner Internet server.

Some customers came home to find user names and passwords they had long forgotten were no longer saved in their account. Other people lost access to their e-mail, and then lost Internet service entirely after following recorded instructions on how to fix the problem. Those customers often had to schedule a technician to come to their home or business.

Customers using Comcast's e-mail interface or Microsoft Outlook software appeared to have the most problems, according to Rockenwagner. People using Web-based email programs like G-mail and Yahoo to access their Comcast email appeared not to be affected.

Time Warner still has to integrate the accounts of 400,000 Adelphia Internet customers, but Rockenwagner said this move is expected to go more smoothly because Time Warner owns the Adelphia server and will only need to change the domain name from Adelphia.net to Roadrunner.com. Time Warner will also give customers copies of their usernames and passwords in advance, just in case.

Time Warner last week also began realigning digital cable channels across the region to create a standardized channel line-up, and allow for thematic channel clusters, such as news or sports.

Customer service representatives who were busy with Internet customer complaints also had to field calls from confused cable TV subscribers.