Every franchise agreement shall require a franchisee to comply with
all applicable federal, state and local customer service requirements and
shall specify the minimum customer service requirements the franchisee must
satisfy. Unless otherwise prohibited by law, every franchisee must satisfy
the following requirements whether or not specified in its franchise agreement:
A. Franchisee shall maintain a business office at a location
where subscribers may readily visit and may call without incurring toll charges
that shall be open at least during normal business hours, which shall include
evening hours and some weekend hours.
B. Franchisee shall render sufficient service, make repairs
promptly and interrupt service only for good cause and for the shortest time
possible. Franchisee shall generally respond to all service calls within 24
hours and correct cable malfunctions as promptly as possible and shall maintain
a competent staff sufficient to provide adequate and prompt service to its
subscribers. Franchisee shall provide a pro rata credit to subscribers for
periods of interruption of service in accordance with applicable law.
C. Franchisee shall maintain adequate telephone lines and
personnel to respond to subscriber complaints or inquiries and schedule service
calls in a timely manner. Franchisee shall respond to written subscriber complaints,
in writing, within 10 business days, with a copy to the Township. Franchisee
shall also respond to Township complaints, in writing, within 10 business
days.
Franchisee shall give at least 30 days' notice to subscribers and the
Township of any change in programming decisions or channel realignment.
Franchisee shall restore service to customers wishing restoration of
service provided customer shall first satisfy any previous obligations owed,
including the full payment of previous balances, penalties and interest.
Subscribers shall have the right to have cable service disconnected.
A refund of unused service charges shall be paid to the customer within 30
days from the date of termination of service.
Franchisee shall provide parental control devices to all subscribers
who wish to be able to cut off any objectionable channel or channels of programming
from the cable service entering the subscribers home.
The Township Manager shall be responsible as the Township official for
receiving and acting upon any unresolved complaints. Written notice of this
complaint procedure, including the identity of the Township official responsible
for receiving unresolved complaints shall be given to each subscriber at the
time of initial subscription to the cable system.