(a) Standards. Grantees shall be subject to the following customer service standards which are to be certified quarterly by the grantee to the County.
(1) The grantee shall maintain local, toll-free or collect call telephone access lines which will be available to subscribers twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, including holidays. Use by the company of a telephone answering machine (except for an automated call handling and audio response unit) in connection with its customer service functions is prohibited. Use of an answering service shall be limited to no more than twelve hours per day, except on Saturday, when twenty hour coverage by an answering service, and Sunday, when twenty-four hour coverage by an answering service, shall be permitted.
(2) When a trained company representative is not required, the telephone access lines shall be answered by a trained, qualified answering service or an automated response system. A trained company representative shall respond to inquiries received by the service or automated response system on the next business day.
(3) Except in those cases where a menu-driven automatic response unit is being used to direct incoming messages, the company shall at least ninety percent of the time, connect a telephone caller to a live service representative staff member or operator within thirty seconds, seven days per week.
(4) Under normal operating conditions, the customer shall receive a busy signal less than three percent of the time measured on a quarterly basis. Additionally, the calls abandoned shall not exceed three percent. A grantee shall provide and maintain equipment that can be used to continually monitor compliance with all telephone standards.
(5) At least one customer service center and/or bill payment location will be open for business in the County at least twelve hours per day on week days and four hours on weekends and will be conveniently located.
(6) A grantee shall keep an emergency system maintenance and repair staff, capable of responding to and repairing system malfunctions or interruptions, on a twenty-four hour basis under normal operating conditions.
(7) Standard aerial installations shall be performed within seven business days after an order has been placed unless a later date is requested by the subscriber. A standard underground installation shall be performed within fourteen calendar days unless a later date is requested by the subscriber. Standard installations are those that are located up to 150 feet from the existing distribution system.
(8) At least ninety percent of the time, any service call request involving a problem other than an outage shall be scheduled at the customer's convenience within a two-hour window on the next business day (defined as Monday through Saturday, exclusive of holidays) between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. A grantee may schedule service calls and other installation activities outside of normal business hours for the express convenience of the customer.
(9) Under normal operating conditions, a grantee may not cancel an appointment with a customer after the close of business on the business day prior to the scheduled appointment. If a grantee representative is running late for an appointment with a customer and will not be able to keep the appointment as scheduled, the customer shall be contacted. The appointment shall be rescheduled, as necessary, at a time which is convenient for the customer.
(10) Each report of an outage of multiple channels that is received prior to 11:00 p.m. shall be responded to immediately, regardless of the day of the week.
(11) The business day following each service call report that is received and acted upon during the time an answering service is being used, a company staff member shall follow up to verify that the reported problem has been corrected.
(12) Drop wires in underground service areas that are temporarily placed above ground shall be buried within fourteen calendar days of the date and time of the temporary installation, except in those situations where weather conditions make trenching impractical.
(13) Between the time a new customer is signed up for service and the time service is installed, he or she shall be afforded a right of rescission.
(14) The installation completion objectives shall be met at least ninety-five percent of the time as measured on a quarterly basis.
(15) At least a twenty dollar ($20.00) rebate shall be given to subscribers when the company fails to meet its service appointment schedule, and no installation fee shall be charged for basic cable television installation when the company's installers miss their appointments.
(16) The grantee 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;
B. Prices and options for programming services and conditions of subscription to programming and other services, including credit and/or rebate for system outages;
C. Installation and service maintenance policies;
D. Instructions on how to use the cable services;
E. Channel positions of programming carried on the system; and
F. Billing and complaint procedures, including the business address and telephone number of the grantee and of the County office designated to receive cable complaints.
(17) Customers will be notified of any changes in rates, programming services, or channel positions. Notice must be given to subscribers a minimum of thirty days in advance of such changes if the change is within the control of the cable operator. In addition, the grantee shall notify subscribers thirty days in advance of any significant changes in other information required by the preceding paragraph.
(18) Bills shall be clear, concise, and understandable. Bills must be fully itemized with itemizations, including, but not being limited to, basic and premium service charges and equipment charges. Bills shall clearly delineate all activity during the billing period, including operational charges, rebates, and credits. In case of a billing dispute, a grantee must respond to a written complaint from a subscriber within thirty days.
(19) A grantee shall provide a subscriber with a credit or rebate for a service outage that has been caused by a failure of the cable system. System failures caused by normal operating conditions which were not the fault of or under the control of the grantee are not subject to a rebate or credit by the grantee except as stated below. In any given month, subscribers shall automatically be compensated through the use of a rebate for cable service outages lasting longer than twelve hours. For an outage of twelve to twenty-four hours, the credit or rebate shall be calculated at twenty percent of the subscriber's monthly cable bill for that period. For outages in excess of forty-eight hours, the credit or rebate shall be calculated at 100 percent of the bill. This policy shall be clearly stated to a subscriber when he or she is reporting an outage and described in the annual subscriber notice (see paragraph (a)(16) hereof).
(20) Refund checks shall be issued promptly, but not later than:
A. The customer's next billing cycle following resolution of the request or thirty days, whichever is earlier; or
B. Upon the return of the equipment supplied by the cable operator if service is terminated.
(21) Credits or rebates will be issued no later than the customer's next billing cycle following the determination that a credit or rebate is warranted.
(b) Exceptions. Nothing in this chapter is intended to prevent or prohibit:
(1) The County and a grantee from agreeing to customer service requirements that exceed the standards set forth in this chapter;
(2) The County from enacting or enforcing any consumer protection law; or
(3) The establishment or enforcement of any ordinance or regulation concerning customer service that imposes customer service requirements that exceed or address matters not addressed by the standards set forth in this chapter.
(c) Enforcement.
(1) A grantee shall file with the County, on a quarterly basis, within thirty days following March 31, June 30, September 30, and December 31, of each year, throughout the term of a franchise agreement, a notarized statement signed by an officer or local system manager demonstrating and certifying compliance with these customer service standards.
(2) An officer or local system manager who knowingly and/or intentionally signs a false certificate shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.
(3) Failure to file a certificate within the timeline specified in paragraph (c)(1) hereof shall subject a grantee to pay a civil forfeiture to the County of five hundred dollars ($500.00).
(4) A grantee in non-compliance with the specified customer service standards shall, on a quarterly basis, and in conjunction with the filing of the statement of compliance required under paragraph (c)(1) hereof, file with the County a statement specifying areas of noncompliance along with a remedial plan. Failing to file a non-compliance statement and a remedial plan shall subject a grantee to pay a civil forfeiture to the County of one hundred dollars ($100.00) per day. Failure of a grantee to remedy such non-compliance as set forth in the remedial plan shall be deemed a breach of the customer service standards set forth in this section and the County Administrator/Designee may invoke the liquidated damages provision of the franchise agreement, without prejudice to any other remedy otherwise available to the County.
(d) Grantee to Furnish Service to Each Person in Franchise Area Making Request for Service. A grantee shall furnish and maintain cable service to each person within the franchise area who makes a bona fide request to receive such service that is based upon the requirements of this chapter. Nothing in a franchise agreement shall limit the right of the grantee to deny service to any person which has a negative credit or service history with the grantee, which may include non-payment of bills or theft or damage to the grantee's equipment, or who has threatened or assaulted employees of the grantee in the course of their employment, provided that in the event service is denied, the grantee will give written notice to the person requesting service of his or her right to appeal to the County the grantee's decision to deny service, and of the County's authority to reverse the grantee's decision in instances where it is determined by the County that the grantee has acted unreasonably.
(Ord. 98-05. Passed 4-15-98.)