(A) General provisions.
(1) This section sets forth minimum customer service standards that a grantee must satisfy. In addition, the grantee shall at all times satisfy any additional or stricter requirements established by FCC regulations, or other applicable federal, state, or local law or regulation, as the same may be adopted or amended from time to time.
(2) Nothing in this chapter may be construed to prevent or prohibit:
(a) The city and a grantee from agreeing to customer service requirements that exceed the standards set forth in this chapter;
(b) The city from enforcing, through the end of a franchise term, pre-existing customer service requirements that exceed the standards set forth in this chapter and are contained in current franchise agreements;
(c) The city from enacting or enforcing any customer service or consumer protection laws or regulations; or
(d) The establishment or enforcement of any city law 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, a franchise agreement or federal or state law;
(e) The city from waiving, for good cause, requirements established in this section.
(B) Nothing in this chapter in any way relieves a grantee of its obligation to comply with other applicable consumer protection laws and its franchise agreement.
(C) Installations, connections, and other grantee services.
(1) Standard installations. Except as federal rate regulations may otherwise require or preempt, the grantee shall not assess a subscriber any cost other than a standard installation charge for service drops, for a single outlet, unless the grantee demonstrates to the city's satisfaction that extraordinary circumstances justify a higher charge.
(2) The subscriber's preference as to the point of entry into the residence shall be observed whenever feasible. Runs in building interiors shall be as unobtrusive as possible. The grantee shall use due care in the process of installation and shall repair any damage to the subscriber's property caused by said installation. Such restoration shall be undertaken as soon as possible after the damage is incurred and shall be completed within no more than 30 days after the damage is incurred.
(3) Location of drops. In locations where the grantee's system must be underground, drops must be placed underground as well. Except as federal law may otherwise require, in any area where a grantee would be entitled to install a drop above-ground, the grantee will provide the homeowner the option to have the drop installed underground if requested, but may charge the homeowner the difference between the actual cost of the above-ground installation and the actual cost of the underground installation.
(4) Time for extension. Where a grantee is required under this § 117.34(C)(1) to provide service to a person, it must provide such service (i) within 30 days of the person's request if such person resides no further than 150 feet from the grantee's distribution system; (ii) within 60 days if the person resides more than 150 feet from the grantee's distribution system, but the distribution system need not be extended for one-half mile or more to provide service; and (iii) within six months if an extension of the distribution system for one-half mile or more is required.
(5) Deposits. A grantee may require a reasonable deposit on equipment provided to subscribers, in addition to any allowable monthly rental fees. Any subscriber deposit required by grantee shall bear interest in accordance with applicable law or at the going rate, which shall be not less than the prime rate of the bank being used by the city for the conduct of ordinary business. All deposits, with interest, shall be returned to the subscriber within 30 days after termination of service or return of the equipment, whichever is sooner.
(6) Antennas. A grantee shall not, as a condition to providing cable service, require any subscriber or potential subscriber to remove any existing reception devices for the receipt of over-the-air signals.
(D) Telephone and office availability.
(1) Each grantee shall maintain an office at a convenient location that shall be open during normal business hours to allow subscribers to request service, pay bills, and conduct other business.
(2) Each grantee will maintain at least one local, toll-free or collect call telephone access line which will be available to subscribers 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Trained representatives of a grantee shall be available to respond to subscriber telephone inquiries during normal business hours.
(3) Under normal operating conditions, the following standards shall be met by a grantee at least 90% of the time, measured quarterly.
(a) Telephone answering time shall not exceed 30 seconds, and the time to transfer the call to a customer service representative (including hold time) shall not exceed an additional 30 seconds.
(b) A customer will receive a busy signal less than 3% of the time.
(c) When the business office is closed, an answering machine or service capable of receiving and recording service complaints and inquiries shall be employed. Inquiries received after hours must be responded to by a trained representative of a grantee on the next business day. To the extent possible, the after-hours answering service shall comply with the same telephone answer time standard set forth in this section.
(4) A grantee must hire sufficient staff (which may include contract labor) so that it can respond to customer inquiries, complaints, and requests for service in its office, over the phone, and at the subscriber's residence as required by this chapter.
(E) Scheduling and completing service.
(1) Installations, outages and service calls. Under normal operating conditions, each of the following standards shall be met by all grantees at least 95% of the time, as measured on a quarterly basis:
(a) Repairs and maintenance for service interruptions and other repairs not requiring work within a subscriber's premises must be completed within 24 hours after the subscriber reports the problem to the grantee or its representative or the interruption or need for repairs otherwise becomes known to the grantee. Work on all other requests for service must be begun by the next business day after notification of the problem. All such work must be completed within three days from the date of the initial request, except installation requests. In any case where, for reasons beyond a grantee's control, the work could not be completed in the specified time periods even with the exercise of all due diligence, the grantee shall complete the work in the shortest time possible; the failure of a grantee to hire sufficient staff or to properly train its staff shall not justify a grantee's failure to comply with this provision. Except as federal law requires, no charge shall be made to the subscriber for this service, except for the cost of repairs to the grantee's equipment or facilities where it can be documented that the equipment or facility was damaged by a subscriber. System outages affecting more than 500 subscribers shall be acted upon within four hours after the grantee becomes aware of the outage, including Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays.
(b) The appointment window for installations, service calls, and other installation activities will be either a specific time or, at maximum, a 4-hour time block during normal business hours.
(c) A grantee may not cancel an appointment with a subscriber after the close of business on the business day preceding the appointment. If a grantee's representative is running late for an appointment with a subscriber and will not be able to keep the appointment as scheduled, the subscriber will be contacted, and the appointment rescheduled, as necessary, at a time which is convenient for the subscriber.
(d) Missed appointments. If a subscriber experiences a missed appointment due to the fault of a grantee, the grantee shall pay the subscriber $20 for each missed appointment, or such other amount as the city and the grantee may agree, in addition to any other penalties or liquidated damages.
(2) Each grantee shall perform service calls, installations, and disconnects at least during normal business hours. In addition, maintenance service capability enabling the prompt location and correction of major system malfunctions shall be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
(3) Emergency maintenance. A grantee shall keep an emergency system maintenance and repair staff, capable of responding to and repairing system malfunctions or interruptions, on a 24- hour basis.
(4) Other inquiries. Under normal operating conditions, billing inquiries and requests for service, repair, and maintenance not involving service interruptions must be acknowledged by a trained customer service representative within 24 hours, or prior to the end of the next business day, whichever is earlier. A grantee shall respond to all other inquiries within five business days of the inquiry or complaint.
(5) Repair of facilities. Except as federal law requires, no charge shall be made to the subscriber for repairs or maintenance of grantee-owned equipment or facilities, except for the cost of repairs to the grantee's equipment or facilities where it can be shown that the equipment or facility was damaged by a subscriber.
(6) Mobility-limited subscribers. With regard to mobility-limited subscribers, upon subscriber request, each grantee shall arrange for pickup and/or replacement of converters or other grantee equipment at the subscriber's address or by a satisfactory equivalent (such as the provision of a postage-prepaid mailer).
(F) Interruptions of service. A grantee may intentionally interrupt service on the cable system only for good cause and for the shortest time possible and, except in emergency situations or to the extent necessary to fix the affected subscriber's service problems, only after a minimum of 48 hours' prior notice to subscribers and the city of the anticipated service interruption; provided, however, that planned maintenance that does not require more than two hours' interruption of service and that occurs between the hours of 12:00 midnight and 6:00 a.m. shall not require such notice to subscribers, but shall require notice to the city no less than 24 hours prior to the anticipated service interruption.
(G) Notice to subscribers.
(1) When a subscriber is connected or reconnected to a cable system and at least once annually afterwards, and at any time upon request, the grantee shall provide each subscriber with written information concerning the following. Copies of all such materials provided to subscribers shall also be provided to the city. Such information shall also be made available on a generally accessible Internet site.
(a) A description of products and services offered, including a schedule of rates and charges, a list of channel positions, and a description of programming services, options, and conditions;
(b) A description of the grantee's installation and service maintenance policies, delinquent subscriber disconnect and reconnect procedures, and any other of its policies applicable to its subscribers;
(c) Instructions on how to use the cable service;
(d) Instructions for placing a service call;
(e) A description of the grantee's billing and complaint procedures, including the address and telephone number of the office responsible for receiving subscriber complaints;
(f) A copy of the service contract, if any;
(g) Notice regarding subscribers' privacy rights pursuant to 47 U.S.C. § 551;
(h) Notice of the availability of universal remote controls and other compatible equipment (a list of which, specifying brands and models, shall be provided to any subscriber upon request).
(2) The grantee shall provide to all subscribers at least 30 days' written notice before the implementation of any change in rates, programming services, business hours, or procedures for responding to inquiries after normal business hours. At least five working days before the subscriber notice, unless waived by the city, the grantee shall provide to the city the specific points to be contained in a subscriber notice and the text of the subscriber notice, if available. If the text is not available, it shall be provided to the city as soon as it is available.
(3) All grantee promotional materials, announcements, and advertising of residential cable service to subscribers and the general public, where price information is listed in any manner, shall clearly and accurately disclose price terms. In the case of pay-per-view or pay-per-event programming, all promotional materials must clearly and accurately disclose price terms and in the case of telephone orders, a grantee shall take appropriate steps to ensure that price terms are clearly and accurately disclosed to potential customers before the order is accepted.
(4) Each grantee shall maintain a public file containing all notices provided to subscribers under these customer service standards. Copies of all such notices sent to subscribers, and of any agreements used with subscribers, shall be filed promptly with the city.
(H) Subscriber agreements.
(1) Upon request, grantee shall promptly provide a copy of all agreements between the grantee and its subscribers to the city. All such agreements must comply with applicable consumer protection laws.
(2) No agreement with a subscriber shall contain false or misleading information.
(I) Billing.
(1) Bills shall 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 shall clearly delineate all activity during the billing period, including optional charges, rebates, and credits. Amounts itemized on bills pursuant to 47 U.S.C. § 542(c) shall not be identified as separate costs over and above the amount the franchisee charges a subscriber for cable service, but shall be shown in such a way as to make clear to the subscriber that these amounts are part of the total amount a grantee charges a cable subscriber for cable service, as set forth in the example in H.R. Rep. No. 628, 102d Cong., 2d Sess., at 86 (1992).
(2) Refund checks to subscribers shall be issued promptly, but no later than the later of:
(a) The subscriber's next billing cycle, or 30 days, following resolution of the refund request, whichever is earlier; or
(b) The return of all equipment supplied by the grantee, if service is terminated.
(3) Credits for service shall be issued no later than the subscriber's next billing cycle following the determination that a credit is warranted.
(4) A grantee's first billing statement after a new installation or service change shall be prorated as appropriate and shall reflect any security deposit.
(5) A grantee's billing statement must show a specific payment due date not earlier than the tenth day of the period for which the service being billed is rendered. Any balance not received by the end of the period for which the service is being billed ("current month") may be assessed a late fee not exceeding $5 in 2005 dollars, adjusted for inflation according to CPI-U All Urban Consumers U.S. City Average All Items, or such other amount as the city and the grantee may agree, consistent with state and local law. Any late fee shall appear on the billing statement for the month after the current month ("subsequent month"). If a late fee is shown on the subsequent month's billing statement and such late fee amount is paid before the end of the current month, then the grantee shall reverse such late fee and credit such subscriber's account for the amount of such late fee.
(6) A grantee must notify the subscriber that he or she can remit payment in person at the grantee's business office and inform the subscriber of the address of that office.
(7) Subscribers shall not be charged a late fee or otherwise penalized for any failure by a grantee, including failure to timely or correctly bill the subscriber, or failure to properly credit the subscriber for a payment timely made.
(8) The account of any subscriber shall be credited a prorated share of the monthly charge for the service upon the subscriber's reasonably prompt request and, without a subscriber's request, in any case where the grantee can identify the affected subscribers, if said subscriber is without service or if service is substantially impaired for any reason for a period exceeding four hours during any 24 hour period, except where (i) it can be documented that a subscriber seeks a refund for an outage or impairment which that subscriber caused, or (ii) in the case of a planned outage of two hours or less occurring between the hours of 12:00 midnight and 6:00 a.m. of which the subscriber had prior notice, or (iii) if the interruption is necessary to perform tests required by applicable law.
(9) A grantee shall respond to all written billing complaints from subscribers within 30 days.
(J) Disconnection/downgrades.
(1) A subscriber may terminate service at any time unless the subscriber has voluntarily entered into a contract for service for a term of longer than one month, in which case the contract terms shall govern.
(2) A grantee shall promptly disconnect or downgrade any subscriber upon request. No period of notice prior to voluntary termination or downgrade of service may be required of subscribers by any grantee. So long as the subscriber returns, or permits the grantee to retrieve, any equipment necessary to receive a service within five business days of the disconnection, no charge may be imposed by any grantee for any cable service delivered after the date of the disconnect request.
(3) Any security deposit and/or other funds due the subscriber shall be refunded on disconnected accounts after any customer premises equipment provided by the grantee has been recovered by the grantee. The refund must be made within 30 days or by the end of the next billing cycle, whichever is earlier, from the date disconnection was requested (or, if later, the date on which any customer premises equipment provided by the grantee is returned).
(4) If a subscriber fails to pay a monthly subscriber fee or other fee or charge, a grantee may disconnect the subscriber's service; however, such disconnection shall not be effected until after 45 days from the beginning of the period for which the service being billed is rendered, plus at least ten days' advance written notice to the subscriber in question of intent to disconnect, given after the 45 days have elapsed. If the subscriber pays all amounts due, including late charges, before the date scheduled for disconnection, the grantee shall not disconnect service. After disconnection, upon payment by the subscriber in full of all proper fees or charges, including the payment of the reconnection charge, if any, the grantee shall promptly reinstate service.
(5) A grantee may immediately disconnect a subscriber if the subscriber is damaging or destroying the grantee's cable system or equipment. After disconnection, the grantee shall restore service after the subscriber provides adequate assurance that it has ceased the practices that led to disconnection, and pays all proper fees and charges, including any reconnect fees and amounts owed the grantee for damage to its cable system or equipment.
(6) A grantee may also disconnect a subscriber that causes signal leakage in excess of federal limits. Disconnection may be effected after five days' written notice to the subscriber, if the subscriber fails to take steps to correct the problem. In addition, a grantee may disconnect a subscriber without notice where signal leakage is detected originating from the subscriber's premises in excess of federal limits, provided that the grantee shall immediately notify the subscriber of the problem and, once the problem is corrected, reconnect the subscriber.
(7) If a grantee fails to remove its subscriber terminal equipment from a subscriber's premises within 120 days of the termination of service, the property shall be deemed abandoned, unless such subscriber is responsible for the grantee's failure to remove such property.
(8) A grantee shall reconnect service to customers wishing restoration of service, provided such a customer shall first satisfy any previous obligations owed.
(K) Parental control option. A grantee shall make available to any subscribers upon request the option of blocking the video or audio portion of any channel or channels of programming entering the subscriber's home. The control option described herein shall be made available to all subscribers requesting it when any cable service is provided, or reasonably soon thereafter.
(L) Subscriber contracts. No grantee shall require a subscriber, as a condition of service, to waive any rights the subscriber may have against the grantee at law or equity.
(M) Enforcement.
(1) A grantee shall keep such records as are necessary to show compliance with these customer service standards and FCC customer service standards.
(2) A grantee shall file annually with the city a statement signed by an officer or employee certifying compliance with these customer service standards and FCC customer service standards for each calendar quarter. Each such certification shall be filed with the grantee's annual report. If a grantee is unable to certify full compliance for each calendar quarter, it must indicate in its filing each standard with which it is in compliance, and in non-compliance statement.
(3) If a grantee in non-compliance with any standard during any calendar quarter, it shall include in its annual filing a statement specifying areas of non-compliance, the reason for the non- compliance and a remedial plan.
(4) An officer or employee of a grantee who knowingly and intentionally signs a compliance certificate or noncompliance statement knowing that such statement is materially false shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
(5) A grantee that fails to file a compliance certificate or noncompliance statement as required herein shall be liable for the penalty specified for violation of customer service standards herein.
(6) In addition, except as prohibited by federal law, a grantee shall be subject to penalties, forfeitures and any other remedies or sanctions available under federal, state or local law, including without limitation this chapter and a grantee's franchise with the city, if it fails to comply with the standards herein.
(7) Violation of the consumer protection obligations referred to in this § 117.34 shall be a municipal infraction as set forth in Chapter 11, Municipal Infractions, and shall be punishable as provided therein.
(N) Exclusive contracts and anticompetitive acts prohibited.
(1) No grantee shall enter into an exclusive agreement to serve a subscriber, person or location unless the grantee has also offered cable service under terms not requiring an exclusive contract.
(2) No grantee shall engage in acts that have the purpose or effect of limiting competition for the provision of cable service or services similar to cable service in the city, except for such actions as are expressly authorized by federal or state law.
(Ord. 2015-20, passed 11-10-2015)