(A) Local business office. A cable operator shall maintain within the geographic limits of the county a local business office or designated agent that shall be open during normal business hours for the purpose of receiving and resolving all subscriber complaints regarding the quality of service, equipment malfunctions, and other similar matters, and to allow subscribers to request service, pay bills, and conduct other business.
(B) Telephone access.
(1) A cable operator shall maintain a local, toll-free or collect-call telephone access line which will be available to its subscribers 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
(2) Trained company representatives will be available to respond to customer telephone inquiries during normal business hours. 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 shall be responded to by a trained company representative on the next business day.
(3) Under normal operating conditions, telephone answer time by a customer representative, including wait time, shall not exceed 30 seconds when the connection is made. 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.
(a) Measurement of the standard stated in division (B)(1) above shall include all calls received by the cable operator at all call centers receiving calls from subscribers, whether they are answered by a live representative, answered by an automated response system, or abandoned, and shall include all periods during which live representatives are available to answer calls, whether or not such periods occur during normal business hours.
(b) If a call is answered by an automated response system, the standard stated in division (B)(1) above shall be satisfied for a given call if the standard system includes an option to speak to a service representative, that option is presented to the caller within the first 90 seconds from the time the call is answered by the automated response system, and, if that option is exercised, the caller is not required to wait more than 30 seconds to be connected to a service representative.
(4) Under normal operating conditions, a subscriber will receive a busy signal less than 3% of the time.
(C) Complaints.
(1) Complaints by any subscriber may be filed with the cable operator in writing or delivered to the cable operator orally in person or by telephone.
(2) Any complaints regarding service interruption received from subscribers by the cable operator or referred to the cable operator by CCRC shall be investigated by the cable operator and service restored within 48 hours of their receipt. In the event service is not restored within 48 hours, the subscriber shall be credited with a reduction in the subscriber’s monthly payment for each full day or portion of a day that such service is not restored by determining from the subscriber’s monthly charge the pro rated charge for each day’s service, then multiplying said daily charge by the number of days during which service was not wholly restored and subtracting the result from the subscriber’s monthly charge. Any complaints not regarding service interruption received from subscribers by the cable operator or referred to the cable operator by CCRC shall be investigated and responded to by the cable operator within two business days of their receipt. If a complaint is sent to the cable operator by CCRC, the cable operator shall respond to CCRC and report on the status of that complaint within 24 hours of the time CCRC delivers the complaint to the cable operator.
(3) The procedure for reporting and resolving complaints shall be stated in writing by the cable operator to each subscriber at the time of initial installation of cable service to the cable system, at least annually thereafter, and at any time upon request.
(2004 Code, § 93-13) (Ord. 41, passed 4-28-1983; Ord. 08-10, passed 12-18-2008)