[Ord. No. 93-20 §I, 8-24-1993]
A. The
rules contained in this Chapter are adopted to set forth standards
regarding the operation of the business office of any cable television
systems operating within the City. Nothing in this Chapter should
be construed to prevent or prohibit:
1. The City from amending or subsequently changing this Chapter or cable
television franchise agreement and thereby imposing customer service
requirements that exceed the standards set forth herein;
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;
3. The City from enforcing any existing State consumer protection law
to the extent it has not been specifically preempted by the Federal
Communications Commission; or
4. The establishment or enforcement of any local ordinance or regulation
concerning customer service that imposes customer service requirements
that exceed, or address matters not addressed by the standards set
forth by the Federal Communications Commission in Title 47 of the
Code of Federal Regulations Part 76, Subpart H.
[Ord. No. 93-20 §II, 8-24-1993]
A. Any
operator of a cable system within the City of Carl Junction shall
maintain their system subject to the following minimum requirements:
1. The cable operator will maintain local, toll free or collect call
telephone access lines which will be available to the cable operator
subscriber twenty-four (24) hours per day seven (7) days a week.
a. Trained company representatives will be available for customer telephone
inquiries during normal business hours.
b. 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 within the first (1st) four (4)
hours of the next business day.
2. Under normal operating conditions, telephone answer time by a customer
representative, including wait time, shall not exceed thirty (30)
seconds when the connection is made. If the call needs to be transferred,
transfer time shall not exceed thirty (30) seconds. These standards
shall be met no less than ninety percent (90%) of the time under normal
operating conditions, as measured on a weekly basis.
a. If a customer complains that their telephone call has not been answered
within the time limits herein established, the cable television operator
shall have the burden of proving either that the telephone was answered
within the time limits herein established, or that the cable company
does answer its telephone calls within these time standards. In the
absence of affirmative evidence from the operator, demonstrating compliance
with this rule, credible evidence that a particular call was not answered
within these standards shall establish a presumption that the operator
is in violation of said rule.
b. The operator is hereby required to acquire telephone equipment and
perform surveys to measure compliance with the telephone answering
standards above, it being clear that the operator has a historical
record of complaints indicating a clear failure to comply with these
types of standards in the past.
3. The customer will receive a busy signal on the telephone no more
than three percent (3%) of the time. If a customer alleges that he/she
made two (2) successive telephone calls and each was the subject of
a busy signal, it shall be presumed that this standard has been violated.
However, on an affirmative showing by the company of some extraordinary
operating condition (a temporary outage due to a storm is not an extraordinary
operating condition) or that the average for the customer for a busy
signal is less than three percent (3%), this presumption shall be
overcome.
[Ord. No. 93-20 §III, 8-24-1993]
A. Under
normal operating conditions, each of the following three (3) standards
will be met no less than ninety-five percent (95%) of the time measured
on a weekly basis.
1. Standards installation 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 twenty-five (125) feet
from the existing distribution system. Other installations will be
performed within fourteen (14) business days after an order has been
placed. If a customer complains that he/she placed an order and the
installation was not completed within that period of time, the company
shall have the burden of proving compliance with this standard, or
providing a reasonable explanation of why the standard was not met.
Merely demonstrating statistical compliance, without a specific reason
why this particular installation did not occur will not overcome the
presumption of neglect of these customer service standards.
2. Excluding conditions beyond the control of the operator (storm damage
is not a condition unexpected to the operator and is a circumstance
that the operator should anticipate and be within the operator's control)
the cable operator will begin working on "service interruptions" promptly after being notified and shall initiate a response no later
than twenty-four (24) hours after the interruption becomes known.
The service interruption work should be completed promptly thereafter
as conditions require.
3. The cable operator shall establish an "appointment window" for installations, service calls and other installation activities
at a specific time or, at maximum, a two (2) hour time 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.
a. The cable operator may not cancel an appointment with a customer
after the close of the business day prior to the scheduled appointment.
b. If a cable operator representative is running late for an appointment
with a customer and will not be able to keep the appointment as scheduled,
the customer will be contacted and the appointment will be rescheduled
as necessary. However, this rescheduled appointment will be at a time
which is convenient for the customer and the cable operator will provide
a service representative at that time.
c. If the cable operator cancels an appointment less than two (2) hours
before the scheduled time or the beginning of the "appointment
window" the cable operator shall compensate the customer
for the inconvenience created by the cancellation an amount equal
to twenty-five dollars ($25.00) or twice the customer's missed wages
from work required to meet the appointment, whichever is the greater
amount. This compensation shall be made to the customer within one
hundred twenty (120) hours of the canceled appointment; in addition,
the company shall provide credit for the customer against its bill
for the time that service was disconnected to the extent that service
was unavailable for twenty-four (24) hours or more.
[Ord. No. 93-20 §V, 8-24-1993]
A. The
cable operator shall provide written information on each of the following
areas at the time of installation of service; at least annually to
all subscribers; at any time upon request of any person; and shall
provide copies to the City which shall be available for distribution
at the City Hall:
1. Products and services offered.
2. Prices and options for programming, services and conditions of subscriptions
and other services.
3. Installation and service maintenance policies.
4. Instructions on how to use the cable service.
5. Channel positions of probate carried on the system.
6. Billing and complaint procedures, including the address and telephone
number of the City's cable complaint officer.
[Ord. No. 93-20 §VI, 8-24-1993]
Customers will be notified of changes in rates, programming
services or channel positions as soon as possible through announcement
on the cable system and in writing. Notice must be given to subscribers
a minimum of thirty (30) days in advance of such changes, unless the
change is not within the control of the cable operator. The cable
operator shall have the burden of demonstrating that the change is
not within his/her control, and in so doing must make available documents
showing previous costs and increased costs, and when the cable operator
became aware of them. In addition to changes in cable rates, the cable
operator shall notify subscribers thirty (30) days in advance of any
significant changes in any of the policies required by the preceding
Section.
[Ord. No. 93-20 §VII, 8-24-1993]
A. Bills
will be clear, concise and understandable. Bills must be fully itemized,
with itemization including, but not limited to, basic and premium
service charges and equipment charges. Bills will also clearly delineate
all activity during the billing period, including optional charges,
rebates and credits.
B. In
case of a billing dispute the cable operator must respond to a written
complaint from a subscriber within thirty (30) days. A copy of this
response shall be provided to the City. In the case of a telephone
complaint from a subscriber the company must respond to that complaint
at the time of the telephone call, and must follow up with a written
response within fifteen (15) days, a copy of which shall also be provided
to the City.
[Ord. No. 93-20 §VIII, 8-24-1993]
A. Refund
checks will be issued promptly, but no later than either:
1. The customer's next billing cycle following the resolution of the
request or thirty (30) days, whichever is earlier, or
2. The return of the equipment supply by the cable operator if service
is terminated. Refunds shall be provided for every service outage
that occurs and which last longer than twenty-four (24) hours.
[Ord. No. 93-20 §X, 8-24-1993]
This Chapter is adopted under police power of the City, and
is expressly intended to follow the lead of the Federal Communications
Commission, with certain amendments making the provisions more strict
against the interest of the cable company with express understanding
that the Federal Communications Commission has authorized the City
to do so. Violations of this Chapter shall be an offense under this
Code, and upon conviction the cable operator shall be fined not more
than five hundred dollars ($500.00), and the cable franchise term
shortened by up to thirty (30) days, provided that in no event shall
the cable television franchise be shortened below a thirty-six (36)
month period to allow the cable operator to exercise his/her rights
under the Communications Act of 1934 to attempt to obtain renewal
of the franchise.