Posted:
Here are a few suggestions:
1) Start a paper trail of your problems and efforts to correct them - what, when, where, who
2) I am going to assume that the cable contract is with the association, not the developer (I know they're the same right now, but the actual parties to the contract make a difference). Your correspondence should be addressed to the board of directors of the association, not the developer. They may be one and the same, but as the developer, he has no relationship with the cable company, but in his role on the board (either personally or through employees) there is a relationship that he is responsible for.
3) If you have a local cable commission (municipal, county, or state), copy them regarding your problems.
4) Request that the board establish a committee of owners to survey the owners as to the cable service so that the association may establish a record of their service or lack thereof.
5) If you have an annual meeting or any meeting of the owners at which owners are allowed to ask questions, raise the issue of cable service and ask if others are having similar problems. If they're not, then you're probably on your own with the cable company. If there are a number, repeat your request to survey the members through an owner committee, to make recommendations to the board regarding cable service.
6) Keep everything businesslike. You're trying to get the association to take its duties seriously, not pick a fight with them.
7)Don't forget the cable commission, they might be your best bet right now while the developer is in control. If there is one, they probably have a complaint process. Use it.
8) If the costs of the cable are built into the assessment, do not, I repeat, DO NOT withhold your payment or any part of it as a protest over lack of service. Courts have routinely held that the responsibility to pay the assessments is separate from any other problem you may be having with the association.
9) If all else fails, send a letter to the board, detailing your problems and attempts to correct them and formally request that you be allowed to opt out of the service as provided under the documents, cite the specific language. Check the documents to see if the board is required to take any action on your request in any specific time period and then give them that to respond.
10) Last resort, you'll probably have to get an atorney to review the documents as to their specific language and to recommend a further course of action. Sometimes it takes a letter from an attorney to get a developer-controlled board to get off their collectives duffs.
Hope this helps a little.
Joe