[Added 1-25-2005 by Res. No. 3-2005]
A.
Each franchisee will maintain offices at convenient locations
within 10 miles of, or no more than 15 minutes' travel time from, the
City of Cohoes that will be open for walk-in traffic at least 10 hours per
day (except legal holidays), Monday through Friday, with some evening hours,
and at least five hours on Saturday to allow subscribers to pay bills, to
drop off equipment and to pick up equipment.
B.
Each franchisee will perform service calls, installations,
and disconnects at least 10 hours per day, Monday through Saturday, except
legal holidays, provided that a franchisee will respond to outages 24 hours
a day, seven days a week.
A.
Each franchisee will establish a publicly listed local
toll-free telephone number. Customer service representatives must answer the
phone at least 10 hours per day, Monday through Saturday, except legal holidays,
for the purpose of receiving requests for service, inquiries, and complaints
from subscribers. After such business hours the phone will be answered so
that customers can register complaints and report service problems on a twenty-four-hour-per-day,
seven-day-per-week basis, and so that the franchisee can respond to service
outages as required herein.
B.
Telephone answering time will not exceed 30 seconds or
four rings, and the time to transfer the call to a customer service representative
(including hold time) will not exceed an additional 30 seconds.
C.
Under normal operating conditions customers will receive
a busy signal less than 3% of the time.
A.
All appointments for service, installation, or disconnection
will be specified by date. Each franchisee will specify a specific time at
which the work will be done, or offer a choice of time blocks which will not
exceed four hours in length. A franchisee may also, upon request, schedule
service installation calls outside normal business hours for the express convenience
of the customer.
B.
If at any time an installer or technician is late for
an appointment and believes a scheduled appointment time will be missed, no
less than four attempts to contact the customer will be made before the time
of appointment and the appointment will be rescheduled at a time convenient
to the customer, if rescheduling is necessary. It is the operator's burden
to prove it met the appointment.
C.
The franchisee will offer and fully describe to subscribers
who have experienced a missed appointment (where the missed appointment was
not the subscriber's fault) that the subscriber may choose between the
following options:
A.
Under normal operating conditions, requests for service,
repair, and maintenance must be acknowledged by a trained customer service
representative within 24 hours or before the end of the next business day,
whichever is earlier.
B.
A franchisee will respond to all other inquiries (including
billing inquiries) within five business days of the inquiry or complaint.
C.
Under normal operating conditions, repairs and maintenance
for outages or service interruptions must be completed within 24 hours after
the outage or interruption becomes known to the franchisee, where the franchisee
has adequate access to facilities to which it must have access in order to
remedy the problem.
D.
Under normal operating conditions, work to correct all
other service problems must be begun by the next business day after notification
of the service problem and must be completed within five business days from
the date of the initial request.
E.
When normal operating conditions do not exist, a franchisee
will complete the work in the shortest time possible and must demonstrate
to the satisfaction of the City why it was not operating under normal operating
conditions.
F.
A franchisee will not cancel a service or installation
appointment with a customer after the close of business on the business day
preceding the scheduled appointment.
G.
Requests for additional outlets, service upgrades or
other connections (e.g., DMX, VCR, A/B switch) separate from the initial installation
will be performed within seven business days after an order has been placed.
I.
The failure of the franchisee to hire sufficient staff
or to properly train its staff will not justify a franchisee's failure
to comply with this provision.
With regard to subscribers with disabilities, upon subscriber request,
each franchisee will arrange for pickup and/or replacement of converters or
other franchisee equipment at the subscriber's address or by a satisfactory
equivalent (such as the provision of a postage-prepaid mailer).
A franchisee will provide each subscriber, at the time service is installed
and annually thereafter, with clear and accurate written information:
A.
On placing a service call, filing a complaint, or requesting
an adjustment (including when a subscriber is entitled to refunds for outages
and how to obtain them); and
B.
Showing the telephone number of the City of Cohoes office
responsible for administering the cable television franchise; and
C.
Providing a schedule of rates and charges (which listing
must identify any discounts offered), channel positions, services provided,
a copy of the service contract, delinquent subscriber disconnect and reconnect
procedures; notifying subscribers of the availability of parental control
devices, and the conditions under which they will be provided and the cost
(if any) charged; and
D.
Describing conditions that must be met to qualify for
discounts; and
E.
Describing any other of the franchisee's policies
in connection with its subscribers; and
F.
Describing any discounts, services, or specialized equipment
available to subscribers with disabilities; explaining how to obtain them;
and explaining how to use any accessibility features.
A franchisee will provide to the City of Cohoes, in advance, copies
of all notices provided to its subscribers pursuant to this article.
A franchisee will provide the Mayor of the City of Cohoes or his/her
designee at least 60 days' written notice and all subscribers at least
30 days' written notice of any material changes in the information required
to be provided under this article, except that, if federal law establishes
a shorter notice period and preempts this requirement, the federal requirement
will apply.
A.
Each franchisee will take appropriate steps to ensure
that all written franchisee promotional materials, announcements, and advertising
of residential cable service to subscribers and the general public, where
price information is listed in any manner, clearly and accurately discloses
price terms. In the case of telephone orders, a franchisee will take appropriate
steps to ensure that price terms are clearly and accurately disclosed to potential
customers in advance of taking the order.
B.
Each franchisee will maintain a file, open for public
inspection, containing all notices provided to subscribers under these customer
service standards, as well as all promotional offers made to subscribers.
The notices and offers will he kept in the file for at least one (I) year
from the date of such notice or promotional offer.
A franchisee will provide 48 hours' prior notice to subscribers and
the City of Cohoes before interrupting service for planned maintenance or
construction; provided, however, that planned maintenance that does not require
more than two hours' interruption of service and that occurs between
the hours of 12:00 midnight and 6:00 a.m. will not require such notice to
subscribers, and notice to the City of Cohoes must be given no less than 24
hours before the anticipated service interruption.
A franchisee's first billing statement after a new installation
or service change will be prorated as appropriate and will reflect any security
deposit.
A.
A franchisee's billing statement must be clear,
concise, and understandable; it must itemize each category of service and
equipment provided to the subscriber; and it must state clearly the charges
therefor.
C.
A late fee or administrative fee (collectively referred
to below as a "late fee") may not be imposed for payments earlier than 27
days after the due date specified in the bill.
D.
A late fee may not be imposed unless the subscriber is
provided written notice, at least 10 days prior to the date the fee is imposed,
that a fee will be imposed, the date the fee will be imposed and the amount
of the fee that will be imposed if the delinquency is not paid. A late fee
may not be imposed unless the outstanding balance exceeds $10.
E.
Subscribers will not be charged a late fee or otherwise
penalized for any failure by a franchisee, including failure to timely or
correctly bill the subscriber, or failure to properly credit the subscriber
for a payment timely made. Payments will be considered timely if postmarked
on the due date.
F.
A franchisee's bill must permit a subscriber to
remit payment by mail or in person at the franchisee's local office.
A.
A subscriber's account will be credited a prorated
share of the monthly charge for the service, upon subscriber request if a
subscriber is without service or if service is substantially impaired for
any reason for a period exceeding four hours during any twenty-four-hour period,
or automatically if the loss of service or impairment is for 24 hours or longer.
B.
A franchisee need not credit a subscriber where it establishes
that a subscriber will obtain a refund for a loss of service or impairment
caused by the subscriber or by subscriber-owned equipment (not including,
for purposes of this section, in-home wiring installed by the franchisee).
A franchisee will respond to, resolve, and conform with applicable law
all written billing complaints from subscribers within 30 days.
Refunds to subscribers will be issued no later than:
Credits for cable service will be issued no later than the subscriber's
next billing cycle after the determination that the credit is warranted.
A.
A subscriber may terminate service at any time.
B.
A franchisee will promptly disconnect from the franchisee's
cable system or downgrade any subscriber who so requests. No charges for service
may be made after the subscriber requests disconnection. No period of notice
before voluntary termination or downgrade of cable service may be required
of subscribers by any franchisee. There will no charge for disconnection,
except for the collection fee authorized by state law, and any downgrade charges
will conform to applicable law.
Any security deposit and/or other funds due to a subscriber that disconnects
or downgrades service will be returned to the subscriber within 30 days or
in the next billing cycle, whichever is later, from the date the disconnection
or downgrade was requested, except in cases where the subscriber does not
permit the franchisee to recover its equipment, in which case the amounts
owed will be paid to subscribers within 30 days of the date the equipment
was recovered or in the next billing cycle, whichever is later.
A.
A franchisee may not disconnect a subscriber's cable
service for nonpayment unless:
(1)
The subscriber is delinquent in payment for cable service
by at least 45 days; and
(2)
A separate, written notice of impending disconnection,
postage prepaid, has been sent to the subscriber at least 20 days before the
date on which service may be disconnected, at the premises where the subscriber
requests billing, which notice must identify the names and address of the
subscriber whose account is delinquent and state the date by which disconnection
may occur if payment is not made, the amount the subscriber must pay to avoid
disconnection, and a telephone number of a representative of the franchisee
who can provide additional information and handle complaints or initiate an
investigation concerning the services and charges in question; and
(3)
The subscriber fails to pay the amounts owed to avoid
disconnection by the date of disconnection; and
(4)
No pending inquiry exists regarding the bill to which
the franchisee has not responded in writing.
B.
If the subscriber pays all amounts due, including late
charges, before the date scheduled for disconnection, the franchisee will
not disconnect service. Service may only be terminated on days in which the
customer can reach a representative of the cable/video provider either in
person or by telephone.
C.
After disconnection (except as noted below), upon payment
by the subscriber in full of all proper fees or charges, including the payment
of the reconnection charge, if any, the franchisee will promptly reinstate
service.
A.
A franchisee may immediately disconnect a subscriber
if:
(1)
The subscriber is damaging, destroying, or unlawfully
tampering with or has damaged or destroyed or unlawfully tampered with the
franchisee's cable system; or
(2)
The subscriber is not authorized to receive a service
and is facilitating, aiding or abetting the unauthorized receipt of service
by others; or
(3)
Subscriber-installed or -attached equipment is resulting
in signal leakage that is in violation of FCC rules.
B.
After disconnection, the franchisee will restore service
after the subscriber provides adequate assurance that it has ceased the practices
that led to disconnection and has paid all proper fees and charges, including
any reconnect fees and all amounts owed to the franchisee for damage to its
cable system or equipment; provided that, no reconnection fee may be imposed
on a subscriber disconnected pursuant to this article if the leakage was the
result of the franchisee's acts or omissions; or in any case, unless
the franchisee notifies the subscriber of the leakage at least three business
days in advance of disconnection and the subscriber has failed to correct
the leakage within that time.
Except as applicable law may otherwise provide, a franchisee may remove
its property from a subscriber's premises within 30 days of the termination
of service. If a franchisee fails to remove its property in that period, the
property will be deemed abandoned unless the franchisee has been denied access
to the subscriber's premises or the franchisee has a continuing right
to occupy the premises under applicable law.
A franchisee may require a reasonable, nondiscriminatory deposit on
equipment provided to subscribers. Deposits will be placed in an interest-bearing
account, and the franchisee will return the deposit, plus interest earned
to the date the deposit is returned to the subscriber, less any amount the
franchisee can demonstrate should be deducted for damage to such equipment.
Without limiting a franchisee's obligations under federal law,
after March 1, I999, a franchisee must provide parental control devices, at
no charge to all subscribers who request them, that enable the subscriber
to block the video and audio portion of any channel or channels of programming.
Notwithstanding the requirements of this article, the Mayor of the City
of Cohoes or his/her designee is authorized to relieve a franchisee of its
obligations under this article if:
A.
The franchisee shows that there is an alternative standard
that is substantially similar to that established by this article; or
B.
The Mayor of the City of Cohoes or his/her designee determines
that there is sufficient competition among cable operators that renders application
of these standards unnecessary; or
C.
In light of the number of customers served by a cable
operator, the requirements of this article are, in the Mayor of the City of
Cohoes or his/her designee's sole discretion, unduly burdensome and there
is an alternative way to serve the same interest.
