(a) Nothing in this chapter is intended to prevent or prohibit:
(1) The City and a grantee from agreeing to customer service requirements that exceed the standards set forth in this chapter;
(2) The City from enforcing through the end of the franchise term pre-existing customer service requirements that exceed the standards set forth in this chapter and are contained in current franchise agreements;
(3) The City from enacting or enforcing any consumer protection law; or
(4) 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.
(b) A grantee is subject to the following customer service standards:
(1) The grantee will maintain a local, toll-free, 1-800 or collect call telephone access line which will be available to subscribers twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Trained company representatives shall be available to respond to customer telephone inquiries during normal business hours. 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.
(2) Under normal operating conditions, telephone answer time by a company representative, including wait time, shall not exceed thirty seconds when the connection is made. If the call needs to be transferred, transfer time shall not exceed thirty seconds. These standards shall be met no less than ninety percent of the time under normal operating conditions measured on a quarterly basis. The operator may be required to acquire equipment or perform surveys to measure compliance with these telephone answering standards if complaints indicate a failure to comply.
(3) Under normal operating conditions, the customers may receive a busy signal less than three percent of the time measured on a quarterly basis.
(4) A grantee shall arrange to have one or more convenient locations available within eight miles of the City (in facilities operated either by grantee or by unrelated third parties retained by the grantee for such purpose) where customers will be allowed to pay their cable bills in person. A grantee shall further arrange to have service technicians available to pick up set-top boxes from subscribers within twenty-four hours of the grantee's receipt of the subscribers' request.
(5) Under normal operating conditions, each of the following five standards will be met no less than ninety-five percent of the time measured on a quarterly basis:
A. Standard installations will be performed seven business days after an order has been placed. Standard installations are those that are located not more than 125 feet from the existing distribution system; they do not include commercial or multiple-dwelling unit building ("MDU") installations, nor inside "wall-fish" installations.
B. Excluding conditions beyond the control of the operator, a grantee shall begin working on service interruptions promptly and in no event later than twenty-four hours after the interruption becomes known. The grantee must begin actions to correct other service problems the next business day after notification of the service problem.
C. The appointment window for installations, service calls and other installation activities will be either a specific time or, at maximum, a four-hour block during normal business hours. The operator may schedule service calls and other installation activities outside of normal business hours for the express convenience of the customer.
D. A grantee 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 grantee representative is running late for an appointment 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.
(6) A 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;
C. Installation and service maintenance policies;
D. Instructions on how to use the cable service;
E. Channel positions of programming carried on the system; and
F. Billing and complaint procedures, including the address and telephone number of the grantee and of the City.
(7) 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 operational charges, rebates and credits. Customer service standards which exceed Federal standards may be treated as external costs under Federal rate regulations. In case of a billing dispute, a grantee must respond to a written complaint from a subscriber within thirty days.
(8) Where applicable, refund checks will be issued within sixty days of:
A. The resolution of any billing inquiry;
B. The return of the equipment supplied by the grantee if service is terminated; or
C. The termination of service, when a refund is due.
(9) Credits will be issued no later than the customer's next billing cycle following the determination that a credit is warranted.
(Ord. 1996-17. Passed 5-21-96.)