Grantee shall maintain a convenient bill payment location in the town for receiving subscriber payments and handling billing questions, which shall be appropriately staffed to handle such tasks. The grantee shall comply with the standards and requirements for customer service set forth below and shall comply with all applicable regulations relating to customer service obligations, including 47 CFR 76.1602 and any amendments to 47 CFR 76.309 during the term of this franchise, that impose higher or additional customer service standards on a cable operation.
(1) Cable system office hours and telephone availability:
a. Grantee will 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:
1. Trained grantee representatives will be available to respond to customer telephone inquiries during normal business hours.
2. 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 must be responded to by a trained grantee representative on the next business day.
b. 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 percent of the time under normal operating conditions, measured on a quarterly basis.
c. Grantee will 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.
d. Under normal operating conditions, the customer will receive a busy signal less than three percent of the time.
e. Customer service center and bill payment locations will be open at least during normal business hours and will be conveniently located.
(2) Outages and service calls. Under normal operating conditions, each of the following standards will be met no less than 95 percent of the time measured on quarterly basis:
a. Excluding conditions beyond the control of grantee, grantee will begin working on "service interruptions" as follows: (i) on such interruptions affecting less than 12 subscribers promptly and in no event later than 24 hours after the interruption becomes known; and (ii) on such interruptions affecting 12 or more subscribers promptly and in no event later than six hours after the interruption becomes known. grantee must begin actions to correct other service problems the next business day after notification of the service problem.
b. The "appointment window" alternatives for installations, service calls and other installation activities will be either a specific time or, at maximum, a four hour time block during normal business hours. Grantee may schedule service calls and other installation activities outside of normal business hours for the express convenience of the customer.
c. Grantee may not cancel an appointment with a customer after the close of business on the business day prior to the scheduled appointment.
d. If grantee's representative is running late for an appointment with a customer and will not be able to keep the appointment as scheduled, the customer will be contacted. The appointment will be rescheduled, as necessary, at a time which is convenient for the customer.
(3) Communications between grantee and subscribers:
a. Refunds. Refund checks will be issued promptly, but no later than either:
1. The subscriber's next billing cycle following resolution of the request or 30 days, whichever is earlier, or
2. The return of the equipment supplied by grantee if cable service is terminated.
b. Credits. Credits for service will be issued no later than the subscriber's next billing cycle following the determination that a credit is warranted.
(4) Review by town. The town may review and monitor unresolved customer complaints.
(Ord. No. 04-009, § 6-43, 8-26-2004)