The grantee agrees to the following consumer service goals or any other goals established by federal or state governmental authorities, whichever are higher.
(A) Complaint resolution. The grantee shall resolve all complaints within 15 days, or shall notify the county of those not resolved within 15 days.
(B) Subscriber information.
(1) The grantee shall provide all prospective subscribers with complete, clear and concise information concerning all services and rates provided by the grantee upon solicitation of service and prior to the confirmation of any agreement for the installation of cable service.
(2) Such information shall include but not be limited to the following: all services and rates; deposits, if applicable; installation costs; additional set charges; service upgrade and downgrade charges; and stolen or lost converter charges.
(C) Subscriber handbook. A subscriber handbook, or other such similar notification, shall be provided to each subscriber upon installation. This handbook should include information:
(1) Regarding complaint, billing, and collection procedures, methods of ordering changes, termination of services, refund policies, and the telephone number and address of the appropriate county department to whom problems with complaint procedures can be addressed;
(2) Installation and service maintenance policies;
(3) Instructions on how to use the cable service;
(4) Channel positions of programming carried on the system;
(5) Concerning parental lock-out devices;
(6) About use of the grantee's converters;
(7) Explaining the bill;
(8) Describing community programming;
(9) Regarding office hours and customer-related telephone numbers; and
(10) Regarding addresses for the grantee's offices.
(D) Services. Unless modified by terms of the grantee's franchise agreement, the grantee's office shall be open weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and on Saturdays from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
(1) Additional payment centers located elsewhere in the county should be provided throughout the term of the franchise, as consumer needs demand.
(2) Where feasible, the grantee shall provide contract services for the purpose of exchange or retrieval of converter equipment outside the normal business hours.
(3) The grantee shall respond to repair calls, either by telephone contact with the subscriber for an appointment, by a visit to the premises, or by a doorknob hanger if no one is at home, within 24 hours.
(E) Maintenance notices.
(1) The grantee shall notify subscribers of routine maintenance activities which may impact service through methods such as notes in the monthly guide, bill inserts, newspaper ads and video commercials.
(2) Whenever possible, routine maintenance should be done by the grantee in the early morning so that the subscribers are inconvenienced the least amount possible.
(F) Corrective actions.
(1) Excluding conditions beyond the control of the grantee, the grantee will begin working on the loss of picture or sound on one or more channels promptly and in no event later than 24 hours after the interruption becomes known.
(2) The grantee must begin actions to correct other service problems the next business day after notification of the service problem.
(G) Installations. The grantee shall install cable television service to new subscribers and perform service changes to existing subscribers within seven business days of initial requests under standard conditions.
(H) Appointments. Appointment window alternatives for installations, service calls and other installation activities will be either for a specific time or no more than a four-hour block of time during the business day.
(1) Appointments cannot be canceled after the close of business the day before an appointment is scheduled.
(2) Customers must be contacted and offered another time at their convenience if the company representative is running late and cannot keep the scheduled appointment.
(3) The above standards must be met no less than 95% of the time, as measured on a quarterly basis.
(I) Telephone response. For consumer telephone calls, the grantee should answer 90% of all calls handled within 60 seconds.
(1) No more than 15% of the total calls received and held for over 60 seconds should be lost. Busy signals cannot be received more than 3% of the time, under normal operating conditions.
(2) The grantee shall provide information to the county annually or upon special request regarding the number of active telephone lines, the time period in which telephone calls are answered, and the percent of calls lost.
(3) Such backup information as deemed necessary by the county which can be provided by the grantee's telephone management information system should be provided by the grantee.
(J) Trained representative.
(1) A trained company representative will answer consumer calls during normal business hours.
(2) Calls made after normal business hours are to be answered by trained company representatives on the next business day.
(K) Consumer education. The grantee shall provide ongoing consumer education programs regarding modifications in billing, which shall include at a minimum annual subscriber notification of the billing process and cycles and 30 days prior notification of changes to this process or the cycles.
(L) Consumer research. The grantee, on an ongoing basis, shall research customer needs, including, but not limited to, the areas of automated response units, universal remote controls, and cable converter boxes.
(M) Performance review information. The grantee shall provide information deemed necessary to the county for a triennial performance review of the grantee's performance and to evaluate consumer service performance.
(N) Billing. The grantee, at a maximum, shall bill subscribers monthly, but this shall not preclude other payment arrangements expressly agreed upon by the grantee and the subscriber.
(O) Bill clarity. All bills must be clear, concise and understandable.
(1) Bills must be itemized, including itemization for basic and premium service charges, and equipment charges.
(2) All activities during the billing period must be shown, including optional charges, rebates, and credits.
(P) Complaint response. The grantee must respond to written complaints from subscribers regarding billing disputes within 30 days.
(1) Refund checks must be issued promptly, but not later than:
(a) The customer's next billing cycle following resolution of the customer's request, or 30 days, whichever is earlier; or
(b) Upon return of equipment supplied by the grantee if service is terminated.
(2) Credit is to be issued no later than the customer's next billing cycle following determination that credit is warranted.
(Q) Notices.
(1) Customers must be notified of any changes in rates, programming services or channel positions in writing and by announcements on the cable system.
(2) If the change is within the grantee's control, notice must be provided at least 30 days in advance.
(R) Repair response. The grantee shall resolve 80% of all repair calls within 48 hours, unless otherwise stipulated in grantee's franchise agreement.
(S) Prior approval. The grantee shall secure formal approval from the administrator prior to any and all changes to all the aforementioned items of this section, which approval shall not unreasonably be withheld.
(T) Service-related procedures. In addition to the above, the grantee shall comply with all service-related procedures contained in the franchise agreement.
(Ord. 3502, passed 10-7-02)