Grantee shall maintain an office reasonably accessible to customers to provide the necessary facilities, equipment and personnel to comply with the following customer service standards under normal operating conditions:
(1) 
Knowledgeable, qualified customer service representatives shall be available to respond to customer telephone inquiries a minimum of sixty hours weekly, from eight a.m. to eight p.m., Monday through Friday, and ten a.m. to seven p.m. on Saturdays. A service or automated response system, such as an answering machine will be available to record nonemergency, after-hours messages, and customer service representatives will promptly answer phone messages the next business day.
(2) 
An emergency toll-free or collect call access telephone line shall be available on a twenty-four-hour basis, including weekends and holidays.
(3) 
A business and service office located within the city shall be open Monday through Friday from eight a.m. to five p.m., and on Saturdays from ten a.m. to three p.m. Grantee shall adequately staff the office to accept subscriber payments and respond to service requests and complaints.
(4) 
An emergency system maintenance and repair staff, capable of responding to and repairing major system malfunctions on a twenty-four-hour basis shall be provided.
(5) 
Grantee shall schedule service and installation appointments within a specified four-hour time period in compliance with California Civil Code Section 1722.
(6) 
Telephone answer time by a customer service representative, including wait time, shall not exceed thirty seconds when the connection is made. If the call needs to be transferred, transfer time shall not exceed thirty seconds. These standards shall be met no less than ninety percent of the time under normal operating conditions, measured on a quarterly basis.
(7) 
Under normal operating conditions, the customer will receive a busy signal less than three percent of the time.
(8) 
Grantee shall provide written information in each of the following areas at the time of installation, at least once every year and upon request:
(A) 
Products and services offered;
(B) 
Prices and options for programming services and conditions of subscription to programming and other services;
(C) 
Installation and service maintenance policies;
(D) 
Instructions on how to use the cable service;
(E) 
Channel positions programming carried on the system; and
(F) 
Billing and complaint procedures, including the address and telephone number of the city's cable office.
(9) 
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.
(10) 
Refund checks will be issued promptly, but no later than either:
(A) 
The customer's next billing cycle following resolution of the request or thirty days, whichever is earlier; or
(B) 
The return of the equipment supplied by the cable operator if service is terminated.
(11) 
Customers and the city will be notified of any changes in rates, programming services or channel positions as soon as possible through announcements on the cable system and in writing. Notice must be given to customers a minimum of thirty days in advance of such changes if the change is within the control of the cable television provider. In addition, the cable television provider shall notify customers thirty days in advance of any significant changes in the other information required by subsection (8) of this section.
(12) 
Grantee shall render efficient service, make repairs promptly, and interrupt service only for good cause and for the shortest time possible. Scheduled interruption, insofar as possible, shall be preceded by notice and shall occur during periods of minimum use of the system, preferably between midnight and six a.m.
(13) 
Grantee shall maintain a repair force of technicians capable of responding to customer requests for service within the following time frames ninety-five percent of the time measured on a quarterly basis:
(A) 
System outage: within two hours, including weekends, of receiving customer calls which by number identify a system outage of sound or picture of one or more channels, affecting all the customers of the system or a considerable number thereof.
(B) 
Service interruptions: within twenty-four hours, including weekends, after the interruption becomes known.
(C) 
Inferior reception quality: within forty-eight hours, including weekends, after receiving a request for service identifying a problem concerning picture or sound quality.
(14) 
Grantee shall be deemed to have responded to a request for service under the provisions of subsection (13) of this section when a technician arrives at the service location, if necessary, or otherwise begins work on the problem. In the case of a customer not being home when the technician arrives, response shall be deemed to have taken place if the technician leaves written notification of arrival.
(15) 
Not less than ninety-five percent of the time measured, on an annual basis, standard installations will be performed within seven business days after an order has been placed. "Standard" installations are up to one hundred twenty-five feet from the existing distribution system.
(16) 
Pursuant to Section 76.309 of Title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations, these customer service standards shall not become effective until ninety days after the grantee has been notified of their adoption.
(Ord. 1598 § 1, 1992; Ord. 1622 § 2, 1994)
(a) 
Upon reasonable notice, grantee shall demonstrate compliance with any or all of the standards required in Section 5.24.602. Grantee shall provide sufficient detail to permit the city to verify the extent of compliance.
(b) 
A written log or an equivalent stored in computer memory and capable of access and reproduction, shall be maintained for three years. The log shall indicate the time and date of all service interruptions, requests for cable service or repairs, and responses to requests for cable service or repairs.
(c) 
A repeated, documented and verifiable pattern of actual noncompliance with the customer service standards of Section 5.24.602, after the city has given the grantee due notice and a reasonable opportunity to cure in accordance with the provisions of this chapter, may be termed a breach of the grantee's franchise, subject to any and all remedies as prescribed in this chapter and the franchise ordinance.
(Ord. 1598 § 1, 1992; Ord. 1622 § 2, 1994)
The grantee shall at all times comply with the "protection of subscriber privacy" provisions of the Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984, and all subsequent state and federal regulations concerning subscriber privacy.
(Ord. 1598 § 1, 1992)
Each grantee shall provide its employees, contractors and subcontractors with identification for all individuals who may make personal contact with residents of the city. The grantee shall provide a list of current employees, contractors and subcontractors to the city upon request.
(Ord. 1598 § 1, 1992)
(a) 
The grantee shall establish written procedures for receiving, acting upon and resolving subscriber complaints with-out intervention by the city consistent with the franchise. The written procedures shall prescribe the manner in which a subscriber may submit in writing to the city a complaint that grantee has violated any provision of the franchise or the subscriber's contract with grantee.
(b) 
In the event that cable service to any subscriber is interrupted, without fault of the subscriber, or those within its control, for twenty-four or more consecutive hours, the grantee shall provide each affected subscriber requesting the same a pro rata rebate of the monthly fees for each twenty-four-hour period of the interruption. In addition, customer service representatives of grantee shall have the discretion to grant refunds of up to one month for service interruptions.
(c) 
The grantee shall designate a "government liaison person" who shall be responsible for working with the city manager or his designated representative to resolve consumer complaints.
(Ord. 1598 § 1, 1992)