Grantee shall comply with the FCC customer service guidelines contained at Section 76.309 of Title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations, and such additional standards that may be imposed by ordinance, and each of the following requirements:
(A) The cable operator shall maintain a local, toll-free or collect call telephone access line (access line) which will be available to its subscribers 24-hours a day, seven-days a week;
(B) Knowledgeable, qualified customer service representatives shall be available to respond to customer telephone inquiries during normal business hours, which shall be a minimum of 49 hours weekly, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, and at least four additional hours one evening per week or on Saturdays (or such other times as are approved in writing by the City Manager);
(C) During non-business hours, the access line may be answered by a service or an automated response system, including an answering machine. Inquiries received during such hours must be responded to by a trained company representative during the next business day;
(D) A business and service office located within the city shall be open Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and adequately staffed to accept subscriber payments and respond to service requests and complaints. Additionally, grantee will staff the business and service office at least four additional hours one evening per week or on Saturdays, other locations and hours are permissible as are appeared in writing by the City Manager;
(E) Telephone answer time by grantee's customer service representatives, including waiting time, shall not exceed 30 seconds after a connection is made, and a busy signal shall not be obtained more than three percent of the time. If the call needs to be transferred, transfer time shall not exceed 30 seconds. These standards shall be met no less than 90% of the time under normal operating conditions, measured on a quarterly basis. Grantee shall have equipment and perform surveys to measure compliance with these telephone answering standards. The results of the surveys shall be submitted to the city quarterly;
(F) Grantee shall provide and maintain an emergency system maintenance and repair staff, capable of responding to and repairing major system malfunctions on a 24 hour basis;
(G) 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 periods of minimum use of the system, preferably between midnight and 6:00 a.m.;
(H) Under normal operating conditions, grantee shall respond to subscriber requests for service within the following time frames no less than 95% of the time measured on a quarterly basis:
(1) System outages: Within two hours, including weekends, of receiving subscriber calls which by number identify a system outage of sound or picture of one or more channels, affecting all or a considerable number of the subscribers of the cable system.
(2) Service interruptions: within 24 hours, excluding Sundays and holidays, after the interruption becomes known.
(3) Inferior reception quality: within 48 fours after receiving a request for service identifying a problem concerning picture or sound quality.
(I) 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, if necessary, or otherwise begins work on the problem. In the case of a subscriber not being home when the technician arrives, response shall be deemed to have taken place if the technician leaves written notification of arrival;
(J) Grantee shall schedule service and installation appointments within a specified four hour time period and shall make such appointments available on Saturdays upon request;
(K) Not less than 90% 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 150 feet from the existing distribution system;
(L) Grantee shall have equipment and perform surveys to measure compliance with the telephone answering standards set forth in division (A). The results of the surveys shall be submitted to the city quarterly. After one year of submitting telephone answering surveys to the city, grantee may request that it be relieved of the requirement of submitting such surveys. The City Manager, or his or her designee, may relieve grantee of the survey requirement if he/she finds, based on the surveys and the level of customer complaints, that grantee is in full compliance with telephone answering standards.
(Ord. 4315, passed 11-12-96)