A.
Except
as otherwise provided in the franchise agreement, grantee shall meet
or exceed the following consumer protection and service standards
under normal operating conditions:
1.
Sufficient
toll-free telephone line capacity during normal business hours to
assure that telephone answer time by a customer service representative,
including wait time, shall not exceed thirty seconds; and callers
needing to be transferred shall not be required to wait more than
thirty seconds before being connected to a service representative.
Under normal operating conditions, a caller shall receive a busy signal
less than three percent of the time.
2.
Emergency
toll free telephone line capacity on a twenty-four-hour basis, including
weekends and holidays. After normal business hours, the telephone
calls may be answered by a service or an automated response system,
including an answering machine and calls received after normal business
hours by such service or automated response system must be responded
to by a trained company representative by the next business day. During
periods when an answering device, including, but not limited to voicemail,
is used, grantee shall provide personnel who shall contact the answering
device or machine, at a minimum, every six hours to check on requests
for service or complaints.
3.
A
conveniently located local business and service and/or payment office
open during normal business hours where grantee provides adequate
staffing to accept subscriber payments and the return or exchange
of subscriber equipment. Normal business hours shall include some
evening hours, at least one night per week, and/or some weekend hours.
The grantee may petition the grantor to reduce its business hours
if the extended hours are not justified by subscriber demand, and
grantor may not unreasonably deny the petition.
4.
An
emergency system maintenance and repair staff, capable of responding
to and repairing major system malfunction on a twenty-four-hour-per-day
basis.
5.
An
installation staff, capable of installing service to any subscriber
requiring a standard installation within seven days after receipt
of a request, in all areas where trunk and feeder cable have been
activated. "Standard installations" shall be those that are located
up to one hundred twenty-five feet from the existing distribution
system, unless otherwise defined in any franchise agreement.
6.
Grantee
shall schedule, within a specified four-hour time period during normal
business hours, all appointments with subscribers for installation
of service, service calls and other activities at the subscriber location.
Grantee may schedule installation and service calls outside of normal
business hours for the express convenience of the customer. Grantee
shall not cancel an appointment with a customer after the close of
business on the business day prior to the scheduled appointment. If
a grantee representative is running late for an appointment with a
customer and will not be able to keep the appointment as scheduled,
the customer shall be contacted and the appointment rescheduled, as
necessary, at a time which is mutually agreeable to the grantee and
the customer.
B.
Under normal operating conditions, the standards of subsections (A)(1) — (A)(2) of this section shall be met not less than ninety percent of the time measured on a quarterly basis. The standards of subsections (A)(4) — (A)(6) of this section shall be met not less than ninety-five percent of the time measured on a quarterly basis.
C.
Grantee
shall not be required to acquire equipment or perform surveys to measure
compliance with the telephone answering standards above unless an
historical record of complaints indicates a clear failure to comply.
(Ord. 960 § 2, 2000)
A.
Grantee
shall render efficient service, make repairs promptly, and interrupt
service only for good cause and for the shortest time possible. Scheduled
interruptions, insofar as possible, shall be preceded by notice and
shall occur during a period of minimum use of the cable system, preferably
between midnight and six a.m. local time.
B.
The
grantee shall maintain a repair force of technicians normally capable
of responding to subscriber requests for service within the following
time frames:
1.
For
a system outage: within two hours, including weekends, of receiving
subscriber calls or requests for service which by number identify
a system outage of sound or picture of one or more channels, affecting
at least ten percent of the subscribers of the system.
2.
For
an isolated outage: within twenty-four hours, including weekends,
of receiving requests for service identifying an isolated outage of
sound or picture for one or more channels that affects five or more
subscribers. On weekends, an outage affecting fewer than five subscribers
shall result in a service call no later than the next business day.
3.
For
inferior signal quality: within two business days of receiving a request
for service identifying a problem concerning picture or sound quality.
C.
Grantee
shall be deemed to have responded to a request for service under the
provisions of this section when a technician arrives at the service
location and begins work on the problem. In the case of a subscriber
not being home when the technician arrives, the technician shall leave
written notification of arrival.
D.
Grantee
shall not charge for the repair or replacement of defective or malfunctioning
equipment provided by grantee to subscribers, unless the defect was
caused by the subscriber, or the equipment owned by the subscriber
requires repair or replacement.
E.
Unless
excused, grantee shall determine the nature of the problem resulting
in a request for service within two business days of beginning work
and resolve all cable system related problems within five business
days unless technically infeasible.
(Ord. 960 § 2, 2000)
A.
Subscriber
bills shall be clear, concise and understandable. Bills shall be fully
itemized, with itemizations including, but not limited to, basic and
premium service charges and equipment charges. Bills shall also clearly
delineate all activity during the billing period, including optional
charges, rebates and credits.
B.
In case
of a billing dispute, the grantee shall respond to a written complaint
from a subscriber within thirty days.
C.
Grantee
shall provide pro rata credits or refunds to subscribers whose service
has been interrupted for two or more hours if the interruption was
not caused by the subscriber, and grantee knows or should have known
of such interruption.
Credits or refunds shall automatically be provided by grantee
on a pro rata basis to any subscriber(s) affected by interruption(s)
of service for more than three hours due to actions or outages under
the control of the grantee, exclusive of scheduled repairs, maintenance
or franchise-required construction that grantee has provided advance
written notice of to subscribers. In cases where advance written notice
is provided to subscribers, the time period detailed in said notice
shall not exceed six hours in any twenty-four hour period. In cases
where said notice has been given to subscribers and the service interruption
exceeds the period detailed in said notice, the provisions of this
section shall apply.
In the event grantee has improperly or inadvertently disconnected
cable services to a subscriber, grantee shall provide for restoration
without charge to subscriber as soon as possible, but no later than
within two days of discovery of disconnection. Grantee shall credit
or provide refunds to any subscriber improperly or inadvertently disconnected
from receiving cable services for the period of time without cable
service.
All credits or refunds for service shall be issued no later
than the customer's next billing cycle following the determination
that a credit is warranted. For subscribers terminating service, refunds
shall be issued promptly, but no later than thirty days after the
return of any grantee-supplied equipment.
D.
Grantee shall provide written information on each
of the following areas: (1) at the time of the installation of service;
(2) at least annually to all subscribers; and (3) at any time upon
request:
a.
Products
and services offered; and
b.
Prices
and options for programming services and conditions of subscription
to programming and other services; and
c.
Installation
and service maintenance policies; and
d.
Instructions
on how to use the cable service; and
e.
Channel
positions of programming carried on the system; and
f.
Billing
and complaint procedures, including the address and telephone number
of the grantor office designated for dealing with cable-related issues.
E.
Subscribers shall be notified of any changes in rates, programming services or channel positions as soon as possible in writing and in accordance with state and federal law. Notice must be given to subscribers a minimum of thirty days in advance of such changes if the change is within the control of the grantee. In addition, grantee shall notify subscribers thirty days in advance of any significant changes in the information required in subsection D of this section.
(Ord. 960 § 2, 2000)
A.
Upon ten days' prior written notice, grantee shall respond to a request for information made by grantor regarding grantee's compliance with any or all of the standards required in Sections 4.48.010, 4.48.020 and 4.48.030. Grantee shall provide sufficient documentation to permit grantor to verify grantee's compliance.
C.
The grantor, pursuant to Section 4.48.010(C), may require grantee to acquire equipment to determine compliance with the telephone answering standards of this chapter. Should grantee have its own telephone equipment which can report on telephone line(s) usage, the grantee, upon written request from the grantor, shall submit such report from its own system in order to verify compliance with the telephone answering standards of this chapter.
D.
Grantee
shall take necessary steps to ensure that adequate telephone lines
and/or staffing are available to permit grantee to satisfy its obligations
under this division and the franchise. Consideration shall be given
for periods of promotional activities or outages. The monthly billing
period shall be considered as a normal, daily activity for purposes
of determining the availability of adequate telephone lines and/or
staffing.
(Ord. 960 § 2, 2000)
A.
Grantee
shall establish written procedures for receiving, acting upon and
resolving subscriber complaints without intervention by the grantor.
The written procedures shall prescribe the manner in which a subscriber
may submit a complaint either orally or in writing specifying the
subscriber's grounds for dissatisfaction. Grantee shall file a copy
of these procedures with grantor. The written procedures shall include
a requirement that grantee respond to any written complaint from a
subscriber within thirty days of receipt.
B.
Upon
prior written request, grantor shall have the right to review grantee's
response to any subscriber complaints in order to determine grantee's
compliance with the franchise requirements, subject to the subscriber's
right to privacy.
C.
Subject
to applicable law, it shall be the right of all subscribers to continue
receiving cable service insofar as their financial and other obligations
to the grantee are honored. In the event that the grantee elects to
rebuild, modify, or sell the system, or the grantor gives notice of
intent to terminate or not to renew the franchise, the grantee shall
act so as to ensure that all subscribers receive cable service so
long as the franchise remains in force.
D.
In the
event of a change of control of grantee, or in the event a new operator
acquires the system, the original grantee shall cooperate with the
grantor, new grantee or operator in maintaining continuity of service
to all subscribers. During such period, grantee shall be entitled
to the revenues for any period during which it operates the system.
E.
Grantee
response to subscriber complaints, as well as complaints made by subscribers
to grantor and provided by grantor to grantee, shall be initiated
within one business day of receipt by grantor. The resolution of subscriber
complaints shall be effected by grantee not later than five business
days after receipt of the complaint, or a longer period if such complaint
cannot reasonably be resolved within five business days. Should a
grantee supervisor not be available when requested by a subscriber,
a supervisor shall respond to the subscriber's complaint at the earliest
possible time, and in no event later than the end of the next business
day. For complaints received by grantor and provided by grantor to
grantee, grantee shall notify grantor of grantee's progress in responding
to, and resolving, said complaints.
(Ord. 960 § 2, 2000)
A.
In the
event grantee fails to operate the system for seven consecutive days
other than for reasons beyond the control of grantee, without prior
approval or subsequent excuse of the grantor, the grantor may, at
its sole option, operate the system or designate an operator until
such time as grantee restores service under conditions acceptable
to the grantor or a permanent operator is selected. If the grantor
should fulfill this obligation for the grantee, then during such period
as the grantor fulfills such obligation, the grantor shall be entitled
to collect all revenues from the system, and the grantee shall reimburse
the grantor for all reasonable costs or damages in excess of the revenues
collected by grantor that are the result of grantee's failure to perform.
B.
All
officers, agents or employees of grantee or its contractors or subcontractors
who, in the normal course of work come into contact with members of
the public or who require entry onto subscribers' premises shall carry
a photo-identification card in a form approved by grantor. Grantee
shall account for all identification cards at all times. Every vehicle
of the grantee or its major subcontractors shall be clearly identified
as working for grantee.
C.
Additional
service standards and standards governing consumer protection and
response by grantee to subscriber complaints not otherwise provided
for in this division may be established in the franchise agreement
or by separate ordinance as permitted by federal law. If grantor establishes
such additional service standards which exceed any standards established
by the federal communications commission, grantee may be permitted
by federal law or regulation to recover the incremental cost associated
with meeting the more stringent standard (i.e., the incremental cost
differential between meeting the existing standard and that of the
newly established standard). A verified and continuing pattern of
repeated and substantial noncompliance may be deemed a material breach
of the franchise, provided that grantee shall receive due process,
including prior written notification and a reasonable opportunity
to cure, prior to any sanction being imposed.
(Ord. 960 § 2, 2000)
