A. Pursuant to FCC Rules, the following procedure shall be adhered to in the event of subscriber complaints or complaints by city residents:
1. Grantee's complaint handling procedures shall be designed to accomplish the following:
a. Receive and acknowledge any complaint made in person or by telephone within fifteen minutes, regardless of the time the complaint is made.
b. Acknowledge any complaint received by mail within three business days of the date such complaint is received.
c. Complaints not resolved within twenty-four hours of receipt shall be listed in a log of "Delayed Action on Complaints" which shall give the information in subdivision 3 of this subsection A and add the detailed reasons for nonresolution within the twenty-four-hour period.
d. Provide the complainant access to the grantee's senior management personnel on a basis convenient to the complainant in the event resolution is not immediately obtained by grantee's personnel normally assigned to handling complaints.
e. Provide complete information to the complainant regarding his ability to take his complaint to the grantor's representative if it is not resolved by the grantee.
f. Grantee shall include notices of proposed rate adjustments in its regular billings at least one month prior to the public hearing on the rate request.
2. Grantee shall establish procedures for receiving, acting upon and resolving subscriber complaints to the reasonable satisfaction of the City Manager. The grantee shall furnish a notice of such procedures to each subscriber at the time of initial subscription to the system.
3. Maintain a written record, or "log" listing date and time of customer complaints, identifying the subscriber and describing the nature of the complaints and when and what action was taken by the grantee in response thereto; such record shall be kept at grantee's local office, reflecting the operations to date for a period of at least three years, and shall be available for inspection during regular business hours without further notice or demand by the City Manager.
4. As subscribers are connected or reconnected to the cable system, the grantee shall, by appropriate means such as a card or brochure, furnish information concerning the procedures for making inquiries or complaints, including the name, address, and local telephone number of grantee's employee or agent to whom such inquiries or complaints are to be addressed and furnish information concerning the City office responsible for administration of the franchise with the address and telephone number of the office.
5. Grantee shall provide written notice to each subscriber at intervals not to exceed one year of the procedure for reporting and resolving subscriber complaints, including the subscriber's right to complain in writing to the City of grantee's failure to resolve a service complaint which is preventable and reasonably with grantee's control. The proper address of the City and grantee to which complaints may be directed shall be included in said notice.
6. In the event that a customer complaint is not resolved to the mutual satisfaction of the customer or the grantee, either the customer or the grantee may request that the matter be presented to the City Manager for a hearing and resolution.
7. In the event that the decision by the City Manager is unsatisfactory to either party, the City Manager may submit the complaint to arbitration under the rules of the American Arbitration Association. In such a case, the decision of the arbitrator shall be final. The losing party shall pay all costs associated with the arbitration process, regardless of the findings of the arbitrator.
B. The following remedies and penalties for inadequate or untimely service to subscribers or system installation delays are hereby established:
1. In the event that any service(s) to any subscriber is/are interrupted for twenty-four hours, in any seventy-two-hour period, except for acts of God or other circumstances beyond grantee's control and outside the system, and except in circumstances for which prior approval of the interruption is obtained from the City Manager, grantee shall provide a ten percent rebate of the monthly fees to affected subscribers.
2. In the event that any service(s) to any subscriber is/are interrupted for forty-eight or more hours in any seven-day period, except for acts of God or other circumstances beyond grantee's control and outside the system, and except in circumstances for which the prior approval of the interruption is obtained from the City Manager, grantee shall provide a twenty percent rebate of the monthly fees to affected subscribers.
3. In the event that the system fails to meet any performance standards for a full three-month period, grantee may reduce all subscribers fees by twenty-five percent until all performance standards are met. The City Manager shall notify the grantee during the first month of the three-month period that the system has failed to meet performance standards.
4. For failure to commence construction in accordance with Section 3.14.090, unless the Council approves the delay because of reasons beyond the control of the grantee, the franchise term shall be reduced four days for each day of delay.
5. For failure to begin service to subscribers or complete construction and installation of the system as provided for in Section 3.14.090, unless the Council approves the delay because of reasons beyond the control of the grantee, the franchise term shall be reduced four days for each day of the delay, and liquidated damages shall be paid at the rate of five hundred dollars per day.
(Ord. 2476 Exhibit B §§ 6, 7, 1983; Ord. 2326 § 1 (part), 1980).