[Ord. No. 379 §I, 9-7-1993]
A. 
The rules contained in this Chapter are adopted to set forth standards regarding the operation of the business office of any cable television systems operating within the City. Nothing in this Chapter should be construed to prevent or prohibit:
1. 
The City from amending or subsequently changing its ordinance or cable television franchise agreement and thereby imposing customer service requirements that exceed the standards set forth herein;
2. 
The City from enforcing, through the end of the franchise term, preexisting customer service requirements that exceed the standards set forth in this Chapter.
3. 
The City from enforcing any existing State consumer protection law to the extent it has not been specifically preempted by the Federal Communications Commission, or
4. 
The establishment or enforcement of any local ordinance or regulation concerning customer service that imposes customer service requirements that exceed, or address matters not addressed by the standards set forth by the Federal Communications Commissions in Title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations Part 76, Subpart H.
[Ord. No. 379 §II, 9-7-1993]
A. 
Any operator of a cable system within the City of St. Robert shall maintain their system subject to the following minimum requirements:
1. 
The cable operator will maintain local, toll free or collect call telephone access lines which will be available to the cable operator subscriber twenty-four (24) hours per day seven (7) days a week.
a. 
Trained company representatives will be available to customer telephone inquiries during normal business hours.
b. 
After normal business hours, the access line may be answered by a service or an automated response system, including an answering machine. Inquiries received after normal business hours must be reported to by a trained company representative within the first (1st) four (4) hours of the next business day.
2. 
Under normal operating conditions, telephone answer time by a customer representative, including wait time, shall not exceed thirty (30) seconds when the connection is made. If the call needs to be transferred, transfer time shall not exceed thirty (30) seconds. These standards shall be met no less than ninety percent (90%) of the time under normal operating conditions, as measured on a weekly basis:
a. 
If a customer complains that their telephone call has not been answered within the time limits herein established, the cable television operator shall have the burden of proving either that the telephone was answered within the time limits herein established, or that the cable company does answer its telephone calls within these time standards. In the absence of affirmative evidence from the operator, demonstrating compliance with this rule, credible evidence that a particular call was not answered within these standards shall establish a presumption that the operator is in violation of said rule.
b. 
The operator is hereby required to acquire telephone equipment and perform surveys to measure compliance with the telephone answering standards above, it being clear that the operator has a historical record of complaints indicating a clear failure to comply with these types of standards in the past.
3. 
The customer will receive a busy signal on the telephone no more than three percent (3%) of the time. If a customer alleges that he/she made two (2) successive telephone calls and each was the subject of a busy signal, it shall be presumed that this standard has been violated. However, on an affirmative showing by the company of some extraordinary operating condition (a temporary outage due to a storm is not an extraordinary operating condition) or that the average for the customer for a busy signal is less than three percent (3%) this presumption shall be overcome.
[Ord. No. 379 §III, 9-7-1993]
The cable operator shall provide a customer service center and a bill payment location that is open at a minimum during normal business hours and which is conveniently located to the customers. This customer service center shall be located within the corporate limits of the City.
[Ord. No. 379 §IV, 9-7-1993]
A. 
Under normal operating conditions, each of the following four (4) standards will be met no less than ninety-five percent (95%) of the time measured on a weekly basis.
1. 
Standard installations will be performed within seven (7) business days after an order has been placed. "Standard" installations are those that are located up to one hundred twenty-five (125) feet from the existing distribution system. Other installations will be performed within fourteen (14) business days after an order has been placed. If a customer complains that he/she placed an order and the installation was not completed within that period of time, the company shall have the burden of proving compliance with this standard, or providing a reasonable explanation of why the standard was not met. Merely demonstrating statistical compliance, without a specific reason why this particular installation did not occur will not overcome the presumption of neglect of these customer service standards.
2. 
Excluding conditions beyond the control of the operator (storm damage is not a condition unexpected to the operator and is a circumstance that the operator should anticipate and be within the operator's control) the cable operator will begin working on "service interruptions" promptly after being notified and shall initiate a response no later than twenty-four (24) hours after the interruption becomes known. The service interruption work should be completed promptly thereafter as conditions require.
3. 
The cable operator shall establish an "appointment window" for installations, service calls and other installation activities at a specific time or, at maximum, a two (2) hour time block during normal business hours. The operator may schedule service calls and other installation activities outside of normal business hours for the express convenience of the customer.
a. 
The cable operator may not cancel an appointment with a customer after the close of the business day prior to the scheduled appointment.
b. 
If a cable operator representative is running late for an appointment with a customer and will not be able to keep the appointment as scheduled, the customer will be contacted and the appointment will be rescheduled as necessary. However, this rescheduled appointment will be at a time which is convenient for the customer and the cable operator will provide a service representative at that time.
c. 
If the cable operator cancels an appointment less than two (2) hours before the scheduled time or the beginning of the "appointment window" the cable operator shall compensate the customer for the inconvenience created by the cancellation an amount equal to twenty-five dollars ($25.00) or twice the customer's missed wages from work required to meet the appointment, whichever is the greater amount. This compensation shall be made to the customer within one hundred twenty (120) hours of the canceled appointment; in addition the company shall provide credit for the customer against its bill for the time that service was disconnected to the extent that service was unavailable for twenty-four (24) hours or more.
[Ord. No. 379 §V, 9-7-1993]
A. 
The cable operator shall provide written information on each of the following areas at the time of installation of service; at least annually to all subscribers; at any time upon request of any person; and shall provide copies to the City which shall be available for distribution at the City Hall:
1. 
Products and services offered.
2. 
Prices and options for programming, services and conditions of subscriptions and other services.
3. 
Installation and service maintenance policies.
4. 
Instructions on how to use the cable service.
5. 
Channel positions of probate carried on the system.
6. 
Billing and complaint procedures, including the address and telephone number of the City's cable complaint officer.
[Ord. No. 379 §VI, 9-7-1993]
Customers will be notified of changes in rates, programming services or channel positions as soon as possible through announcement on the cable system and in writing. Notice must be given to subscribers a minimum of thirty (30) days in advance of such changes, unless the change is not within the control of the cable operator. The cable operator shall have the burden of demonstrating that the change is not within his/her control, and in so doing must make available documents showing previous costs and increased costs, and when the cable operator becomes aware of them. In addition to changes in cable rates, the cable operator shall notify subscribers thirty (30) days in advance of any significant changes in any of the policies required by the preceding Section.
[Ord. No. 379 §VII, 9-7-1993]
A. 
Bills will be clear, concise and understandable. Bills must be fully itemized, with itemization including, but not limited to, basic and premium service charges and equipment charges. Bills will also clearly delineate all activity during the billing period, including optional charges, rebates and credits.
B. 
In case of a billing dispute the cable operator must respond to a written complaint from a subscriber within thirty (30) days. A copy of this response shall be provided to the City. In the case of a telephonic complaint from a subscriber the company must respond to that complaint at the time of the telephone call, and must follow up with a written response within fifteen (15) days, a copy of which shall also be provided to the City.
[Ord. No. 379 §VIII, 9-7-1993]
A. 
Refund checks will be issued promptly but no later than either:
1. 
The customer's next billing cycle following the resolution of the request or thirty (30) days, whichever is earlier, or
2. 
The return of the equipment supply by the cable operator if service is terminated. Refunds shall be provided for every service outage that occurs and which lasts longer than twenty-four (24) hours.
[Ord. No. 379 §IX, 9-7-1993]
A. 
The following words have the indicated meaning when used in this Chapter:
1. 
Normal business hours.
2. 
Normal operating conditions.
[Ord. No. 379 §X, 9-7-1993]
This Chapter is adopted under Police power of the City, and is expressly intended to follow the lead of the Federal Communications Commission, with certain amendments making the provisions more strict against the interest of the cable company with express understanding that the Federal Communications Commission has authorized the City to do so. Violations of this Chapter, shall be an offense under this Code, and upon conviction the cable operator shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars ($500.00), and the cable franchise term shortened by up to thirty (30) days, provided that in no event shall the cable television franchise be shortened below a thirty-six (36) month period to allow the cable operator to exercise his/her rights under the Communications Act of 1934 to attempt to obtain renewal of the franchise.