Customer Service Standards
Grantee shall at all times comply with the more stringent of the customer service and consumer protection provisions of the town’s Master Cable Services Regulatory Ordinance, the franchise agreement or the FCC.
(A) Grantee will at all times comply with the town’s Customer Service Standards in addition to compliance with the FCC standards (Title 47 C.F.R., pt. 76 (Cable Television Service), subpt. H (General Operating Requirements) as amended.
(B) The town’s Customer Service Standards are:
(1) The Customer Service Standards as set forth below are the standards set for all affected cable operators. This provision is the town’s notice of its intent to enforce the standards.
(2) Effective with adoption of this chapter, a cable operator shall be subject to the following Customer Service Standards.
(a) Cable system office hours and telephone availability.
1. The cable operator 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.
a. Trained company representatives will be available to respond to customer telephone inquiries during normal business hours.
b. After normal operating conditions, 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 company representative on the next business day.
2. 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.
3. The operator is required to have equipment or perform surveys to measure compliance with the telephone answering standards above.
4. Under normal operating conditions, the customer will receive a busy signal less than 3% of the time.
5. Customer service center and bill payment locations will be open at least during normal business hours and will be conveniently located.
(b) Installations, outages and service calls. Under normal operating conditions, each of the following six standards will be met no less than 95% of the time measured on a quarterly basis.
1. Standard installations will be performed within seven business days after an order has been placed.
2. Excluding conditions beyond the control of the operator, the cable operator will begin working on “service interruptions” promptly and in no event later than 24 hours after the interruption becomes known. The cable operator must begin actions to correct other service problems the next business day after notification of the service problem.
3. 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. (The operator may schedule service calls and other installation activities outside of normal operating hours.)
4. An operator may not cancel an appointment with a customer after the close of business on the business day prior to the scheduled appointment.
5. If a cable operator 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 that is convenient for the customer.
6. Complaint log. The cable operator shall establish a complaint log. The log will be provided to the town, upon reasonable request for the purpose of ascertaining compliance with the ordinance or franchise agreement. The complaint log shall be available for review for the current and past two years and be in a format convenient to the grantee. The log shall have sufficient information to indicate the date of the complaint, nature of the complaint and the grantee’s resolution of the complaint.
(c) Communications between cable operators and cable subscribers.
1. Notifications to subscribers.
a. The cable operator shall provide written information on each of the following areas at the time of installation of service, at least annually to all subscribers, and at any time upon request:
(i) Products and services offered;
(ii) Prices and options for programming services and conditions of subscription to programming and other services;
(iii) Installation and service maintenance policies;
(iv) Instruction on how to use the cable service;
(v) Channel positions of programming carried on the system; and
(vi) Billing and complaint procedures, including the address and telephone number of the local franchise authority’s cable office.
b. Customers will be notified of any changes in rates, programming service or channel positions as soon as possible through announcements on the cable system and in writing. Notice must be given to subscribers a minimum of 30 days in advance of the changes if the change is within the control of the cable operator, in addition, the cable operator shall notify subscribes 30 days in advance of any significant changes in the other information required by the preceding division.
2. Billing.
a. Bills will be clear, concise and understandable. Bills must be fully itemized, with itemizations, including but not limited to basic and premium service charges and equipment charges. Bills will also clearly delineate all activity during the billing period, including optional charges, rebates and credits.
b. In case of a billing dispute, the cable operator must respond to a written complaint from a subscriber within 30 days.
3. Refunds. Refund checks will be issued promptly, but no later than either:
a. The customer’s next billing cycle following resolution of the request of 30 days, whichever is earlier; or
b. The return of the equipment supplied by the cable operator if service is terminated.
4. Credits. In the case of an outage, multiple or single, in excess of 24 hours, the grantee shall make every effort to credit the subscriber’s account based on the period of outage, reasons for outage and general good business practices. Credits for service will be issued no later than the customer’s next billing cycle following the determination that a credit is warranted.
(d) Late payment for cable service.
a. If grantee assesses a processing fee for late payments, each bill shall specify on its face in a fashion emphasizing same, such as bold-face type, underlined type or a larger font: “For payments received after [date] a $ processing fee for late payment may be charged.”
b. No processing fees for late payment, however denominated, shall be added to a subscriber’s bill less than 15 calendar days after the date printed on mailing of the bill to the subscriber, and shall not exceed the amount permitted under applicable law.
(Ord. eff. 10-18-2001)