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(A) 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.
(B) In addition:
(1) Trained company 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 company representative on the next business day;
(3) A cable operator shall comply with any applicable FCC standards concerning customer response, installations, outages and service calls; and
(4) In order to assist the town in assessing the resolution of customer service requests, inquiries and complaints, a cable operator shall be required to keep and maintain service logs as required by the FCC, subject to any limitations imposed by state or federal law (including any subscriber privacy limitations).
(Prior Code, § 13.20.140) (Ord. 96-13.20, passed - -1996)
A cable operator shall provide written notification containing information as required by the FCC at the time of installation of service, at least annually to all subscribers, and at any time upon request.
(Prior Code, § 13.20.150) (Ord. 96-13.20, passed - -1996)
(A) Bills will be clear, concise and understandable. Bills must be fully itemized, with itemizations including, but not limited to, basic, tiered 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.
(C) Refund checks will be issued promptly, but no later than either the customer’s next billing cycle following resolution of the request or 30 days, whichever is earlier.
(D) Credits for service will be issued no later than the customer’s next billing cycle following the determination that a credit is warranted.
(Prior Code, § 13.20.160) (Ord. 96-13.20, passed - -1996)
Under normal operating conditions, each of the following four standards will be met no less than 95% of the time measured on a quarterly basis.
(A) Standard installations will be performed within seven business days after an order has been placed. “Standard” installations are those that are located up to 1,000 feet from the existing distribution system.
(B) Excluding conditions beyond its control, a cable operator will begin working on “service interruptions” promptly and in no event later than 24 hours after the interruption becomes known. A cable operator must begin actions to correct other service problems the next business day after notification of the service problem. Except in emergency situations, all service problems shall be handled or corrected within 48 hours from the time the cable operator first received notification (except for intermittent problems not present at the time of the service call).
(C) 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. A cable operator may schedule service calls and other installation activities outside of normal business hours for the express convenience of a customer.
(D) A cable operator may not cancel an appointment with a customer after the close of business on the business day prior to the scheduled appointment.
(E) 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 which is convenient for the customer.
(Prior Code, § 13.20.170) (Ord. 96-13.20, passed - -1996)
A 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:
(A) Products and services offered, itemizing the basic, premium and informational services offered, as well as the service tiers offered;
(B) Prices and options for programming services and conditions of subscription to programming and other services;
(C) Installation and service maintenance charges and policies;
(D) Instructions on how to use the cable service;
(E) Channel positions of programming carried on the system;
(F) Billing and complaint procedures, including:
(1) The address and telephone number of the cable operator’s local office;
(2) Payment due and delinquent dates;
(3) Amount or percentage of late charges, if any; and
(4) Resolution procedures for billing disputes, complaints and inquiries.
(G) The customer service hours and telephone number(s);
(H) The method of securing a voluntary disconnection;
(I) The extent of the credit/refund policy;
(J) The equipment use and return policy together with any required security deposits;
(K) The additional rights of blind, hearing-impaired or ambulatory impaired customers; and
(L) Notification of a subscriber’s ability to purchase or lease from the cable operator a lock box, parental control mechanism, or other device which will prohibit the viewing of a particular cable service during a period determined by the subscriber. Subscribers will be notified of any changes in rates, programming services, channel positions or service tiers 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 these changes if the change is within the control of the cable operator. In addition, the cable operator shall notify subscribers 30 days in advance of any significant changes in the other information required by this section.
(Prior Code, § 13.20.180) (Ord. 96-13.20, passed - -1996)
(A) (1) A cable operator shall provide a subscriber with credit or a rebate for a service outage or interruption exceeding eight hours in duration beyond the time that the customer notified the cable operator of the outage.
(2) The credit for purposes of determining the amount of the credit or rebate shall be deemed to be equivalent to or the same as a 24-hour service outage.
(3) No credit or rebate shall be required where the outage was due to matters beyond the immediate control of the cable operator.
(B) In addition:
(1) For notifications by the customer after hours, these credit refund requirements shall only apply if three customers have provided notice in a given area;
(2) In the case of a regional or area outage, all affected subscribers shall be due a credit or refund if the cable operator is able to reasonably determine the subscribers affected. If the cable operator is not able to reasonably determine the subscribers affected by a regional or area outage, a credit or refund shall be given to all customers affected by the outage who make a claim for credit or refund within 30 days of the outage; and
(3) In the case of a charge for unsolicited service, a cable operator shall provide a subscriber with an adjustment or billing credit on the next available billing statement, and the subscriber shall not be considered delinquent for failure to pay a charge for unsolicited service.
(Prior Code, § 13.20.190) (Ord. 96-13.20, passed - -1996)
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