(a) Office Hours and Telephone Availability.
(1) Company shall maintain a business office in the City which is conveniently located and which shall be open during normal business hours. Company shall also maintain at least one centrally located bill payment center in the City of York which shall be open during normal business hours. The term “normal business hours” is defined herein.
(2) Company shall provide and maintain a toll free telephone access line which will be available to subscribers twenty-four (24) hours a day, seven (7) days a week. Trained 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. Inquiries received after normal business hours must be responded to by a trained company representative on the next business day.
(3) Under normal operating conditions, telephone answering time by a customer representative, including wait time, shall not exceed thirty (30) seconds after the connection is made. If the call must be transferred, transfer time shall not exceed thirty (30) seconds. These standards shall be met no less than ninety (90) percent of the time under normal operating conditions.
(4) Under normal operating conditions, the customer shall receive a busy signal less than three (3) percent of the time.
(5) Company shall not be required to acquire equipment or perform surveys to measure compliance with the telephone answering requirements above unless an historical record of complaints indicates a clear failure to comply. If the City determines, after receiving complaints itself and/or receiving a record of complaints made to Company in accordance with Section 8 below, that there is a clear failure to comply with the telephone answering requirements above, the City shall notify Company in writing that it must measure its compliance with these requirements for the next ninety (90) days and report to the City with its results.
(b) Installations and Service Calls.
(1) Company shall maintain a competent staff of employees sufficient to provide adequate and prompt service to its subscribers.
(2) Standard installations will be performed within seven (7) business days after an order has been placed. “Standard” installations are those that are located up to one hundred fifty (150’) feet from the existing distribution system.
(3) Excluding conditions beyond its control all service calls not affecting public health, safety or welfare shall be commenced within a maximum of forty- eight (48) hours after notice to Company or scheduled at the convenience of the customer.
(4) Upon scheduling of appointments with the customer for installations, service calls and other activities, Company shall provide the customer with either a specific time or an “appointment window” of a maximum of four (4) hours during normal business hours. Company may schedule service calls and installation activities outside of normal business hours for the express convenience of the customer.
(5) Company may not cancel an appointment with a customer after the close of business on the business day prior to the schedules appointment. If, at any time, an installer or technician is running late, an attempt to contact the customer must be made prior to the time of the appointment. If the appointment must be reschedules, it must be done so at a time which is convenient for the customer.
(c) Notices.
(1) Company shall provide written notice to each subscriber upon initial subscription, at intervals not more than one (1) year thereafter to each subscriber and the City, and at any time upon request, on each of the following areas:
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. Channel positions and programming carried on the Cable System;
E. Billing and customer complaint procedures;
F. Policy and procedures for disconnecting or terminating a subscriber’s service;
G. Company’s address, telephone number and office hours;
H. The subscriber’s right to obtain a parental control device contained in Section 323.11(f); and
I. A notice of subscriber privacy rights as required by federal law.
(2) Company shall notify subscribers in writing of any changes in rates, programming services or channel positions a minimum of thirty (30) days in advance of such changes. Company shall not be required to provide prior notice to subscribers of any rate change that is the result of a regulatory fee, franchise fee or any other fee, tax, assessment or charge of any kind imposed by any federal agency, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania or the City on the transaction between Company and the subscriber.
(3) Company shall maintain a file available to the public containing all written notices provided to subscribers pursuant to the requirements contained in 47 C.F.R. §76.305 as set forth on the effective date of this Agreement.
(d) Billing.
(1) Bills shall be clear, concise and understandable. Bills must be fully itemized, with itemizations including, but not limited to, Basic Service, Additional Services , if applicable, equipment charges and any installation or repair charges. The bill shall state the billing period, including an effective due date, the amount of current billing and any relevant credits or past due balances.
(2) Company shall provide bill payment locations which are conveniently located and which are open at least during normal business hours.
(3) Company shall not assess late fees for non-payment of a current bill unless and until thirty (30) days have elapsed since the receipt of the current bill by the subscriber.
(e) Customer Complaint Procedures. Company shall establish clear written procedures for resolving all customer complaints, which shall include at least the following:
(1) Company shall provide the customer a written response to a written complaint within thirty (30) days of its receipt. Such response shall include the results of its inquiry into the subject matter of the complaint, its conclusions based on the inquiry, and its decision in response to the complaint.
(2) If the City is contacted directly about a customer complaint, it shall notify Company in writing. When Company receives such notification, the time period for Company to respond as required above shall commence.
(3) Any subscriber who, in good faith, disputes all or part of any bill sent by Company has the option of withholding the disputed amount, without finance charges, the initiation of collection procedures or disconnection until Company has investigated the dispute in good faith and has made a determination that the amount is owed provided that:
A. The subscriber provides a written complaint to Company in a timely fashion and includes identifying information;
B. The subscriber pays all undisputed charges; and
C. The subscriber cooperates in determining the appropriateness of the charges in dispute.
(4) Company shall maintain a record of customer written complaints, which shall contain the date each such complaint is received, the name and address of the affected subscriber, a description of the complaint, the date of resolution, and a description of the resolution. Subject to the privacy protections of subsection (h) herein, Company shall provide such information (not including names of subscribers) to the City upon specific written request.
(5) Company shall submit to the City upon request, a report showing the number of complaints that have generated a work order and/or necessitated a response (“trouble calls”) received during a specified reporting period, and the general nature of the complaints generating the calls.
(f) Disconnection. Company may disconnect or terminate a subscriber’s service for cause:
(1) If at least thirty (30) days have elapsed from the due date of the bill in which subscriber has failed to pay; and
(2) If Company has provided at least ten (10) days written notice to the affected subscriber prior to disconnection, specifying the effective date after which cable services are subject to disconnection; and
(3) If there is no pending written dispute regarding the bill to which Company has not issued a final decision in writing; or
(4) If at any time and without notice Company determines in good faith that subscriber has tampered with or abused Company’s equipment or is engaged in theft of cable service.
(g) Credit for Service Outages. In the event that Company’s service to any subscriber is completely interrupted for six (6) or more consecutive hours, and upon that subscriber’s written or credible oral request, it will grant such subscriber a pro rata credit or rebate, of that portion of the service charge during the next consecutive billing cycle, or, at its option, apply such credit to any outstanding balance that is currently due. Company shall give a loss of service credit of fifty percent (50%) for a loss of service which is due to Unforeseen or Uncontrollable Acts that exceeds twelve consecutive hours from the time of notification. For purposes of this paragraph, loss of service shall be considered a Subscriber’s receipt of less than two-thirds of the available channels. The credit shall be determined by dividing the number of hours of loss of service by the total hours in a month multiplied by the subscriber’s monthly bill multiplied by fifty percent (50%).
(h) Privacy.
(1) Company shall protect and abide by the rights of privacy of every subscriber and shall not violate such rights through the use of any device or signal associated with the Cable System. Company shall at all times comply with the privacy provisions of Section 631 of the Cable Act and all other applicable federal, state and generally applicable local privacy laws and regulations.
(2) Company shall be responsible for carrying out and enforcing such privacy policy, and shall at all times maintain adequate physical, technical and administrative security safeguards to ensure that personal subscriber information is handled and protected strictly in accordance with this policy and all applicable laws and regulations.
(3) Company shall notify all third parties who offer cable services in conjunction with Company, or independently over the Cable System, of the subscriber privacy requirements contained herein.
(4) Neither Company nor its designee shall tap, monitor, arrange for the tapping or monitoring, or permit any person to tap or monitor, any cable, line, signal, input device, or subscriber outlet or receiver for any purpose, without the prior written authorization of the affected subscriber or user, provided, however, that Company may conduct system-wide or individually addressed “sweeps” solely for the purpose of verifying system integrity, checking for illegal taps, controlling return-path transmission, billing for pay services or monitoring channel usage in a manner not inconsistent with the federal law. Company shall report to the affected parties any instances of monitoring or tapping of the Cable System or any part thereof, of which it has knowledge, whether or not such activity has been authorized by Company. Company shall not record or retain any information transmitted between a subscriber or user and any third party, except as required for lawful business purposes.
(5) Except as permitted by Section 631 of the Cable Act as amended, neither Company nor its designee nor its employees shall make available to any third party, including the City, information concerning the viewing habits or subscription package decisions of any individual Subscriber. If a court authorizes or orders such disclosure, Company shall notify the subscriber not less than fourteen (14) calendar days prior to disclosure, unless such notification is otherwise prohibited by applicable law or the court.
(6) Upon a request by a subscriber, Company shall make available for inspection at a reasonable time and at its local principal place of business all personal subscriber information that Company maintains regarding said Subscriber. Company shall ensure that all information related to billing and service requests is accurate and up to date and shall promptly correct any errors upon discovery.
(7) Company shall not make its subscriber list or lists, or any portion thereof, available to any person or entity, with or without remuneration, except where expressly permitted by applicable law.
(Ord. 11-2005. Passed 2-15-05.)