[CC 1990 § 7.5-21; Ord. No. 947 § 1, 9-19-1994]
A. 
The rules contained in this Article are adopted to set forth standards regarding the operation of the business office of any cable television systems operating within the City or business office responsibility for the operation of the cable franchise for the City. Nothing in this Article should be construed to prevent or prohibit:
1. 
The City from amending or subsequently changing its ordinance or cable television 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, preexisting service requirements that exceed the standards set forth in this Article;
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 47 CFR 76, Subpart H.
[CC 1990 § 7.5-22; Ord. No. 947 § 2, 9-19-1994]
For the purposes of this Article, certain terms shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this Section, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.
COMPLAINT
Includes notice of dissatisfaction by customers about service or operations by the cable operator that requires a service call or that are made in writing but shall exclude those matters that are resolved on the phone between customer and the cable operator. Complaints as defined herein shall not include requests for additional channels or programming.
NORMAL BUSINESS HOURS
Those hours during which most similar businesses in the community are open to serve customers. In all cases, "normal business hours" must include some evening hours at least one (1) night per week and/or some weekend hours.
NORMAL OPERATING CONDITIONS
Those service conditions which are within the control of the cable operator. Those conditions which are not within the control of the cable operator include, but are not limited to, natural disasters, civil disturbances, power outages, telephone network outages and severe or unusual weather conditions. Those conditions which are ordinarily within the control of the cable operator include, but are not limited to, special promotions, pay-per-view events, rate increases, regular peak or seasonal demand periods and maintenance or upgrade of the cable system.
SERVICE INTERRUPTION
The loss of picture or sound on one (1) or more cable channels.
[CC 1990 § 7.5-23; Ord. No. 947 § 3, 9-19-1994]
A. 
Any operator of a cable system within the City of Chesterfield 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 to 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 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 quarterly 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 these 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, if 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 not more than three percent (3%) of the time under normal operating conditions. If customers allege that they 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, upon an affirmative showing by the company of some extraordinary operating condition or that the average for the customer for a busy signal is less than three percent (3%), then this presumption shall be overcome.
4. 
The City, upon request, may review all written complaints on file with the cable operator within one (1) year of the request.
[CC 1990 § 7.5-24; Ord. No. 947 § 4, 9-19-1994]
The cable operator shall provide a customer service center and a bill payment location that is open at a minimum during normal business hours and which is conveniently located to the customers.
[CC 1990 § 7.5-25; Ord. No. 947 § 5, 9-19-1994]
A. 
Under normal operating conditions, each of the following four (4) standards will be met no less than ninety-five percent (95%) of the time measured on a quarterly basis.
1. 
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 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 they are located within one hundred twenty-five (125) feet from the existing distribution system. 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, 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 four-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 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 in the amount of fifteen dollars ($15.00) unless such cancellation is necessitated by severe weather conditions. This compensation shall be made by providing credit to the customer against their next bill.
d. 
If an appointment is missed and verified, the company shall provide credit for the customer against their bill for the time that service is disconnected/interrupted to the extent that service is unavailable for twenty-four (24) hours or more.
[CC 1990 § 7.5-26; Ord. No. 947 § 6, 9-19-1994]
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 extra 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.
[CC 1990 § 7.5-27; Ord. No. 947 § 7, 9-19-1994]
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 information required by the preceding Section.
[CC 1990 § 7.5-28; Ord. No. 947 § 8, 9-19-1994]
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 which shall also be provided to the City.
[CC 1990 § 7.5-29; Ord. No. 947 § 9, 9-19-1994]
A. 
Subscriber refunds due to service outages will not be issued automatically. The subscriber must affirmatively ask for the refund, either orally or in writing, and describe the event which triggered the request. The cable operator has the right to confirm that such a refund is necessary under the circumstances.
B. 
Cash refunds, authorized by the cable operator and due to service outages or for other reasons, will be provided only to those subscribers that disconnect their cable service. Active subscribers who are due a refund will have their accounts credited the requisite amount.
C. 
Refunds will be issued promptly, but not later than either:
1. 
The next billing cycle following resolution of the subscriber request or thirty (30) days, whichever is earlier, or
2. 
Thirty (30) days after the return of the equipment supplied by the cable operator if service is terminated.
D. 
A "service outage" shall be defined as one occurring to any individual basic and satellite channels or individual premium channels being unavailable on the system for more than twenty-four (24) hours that is caused by the cable operator. Upon customer notification and verification that service outage occurred and lasted longer than twenty-four (24) hours, they shall be given a credit to that account.
[CC 1990 § 7.5-30; Ord. No. 947 § 10, 9-19-1994]
This Article modifies the existing cable television franchise agreements now in full force and effect and the City shall enforce all other existing customer service obligations imposed by Federal or State law, local ordinances or by the franchise agreement unless specifically amended and waived in writing.
[CC 1990 § 7.5-31; Ord. No. 947 § 11, 9-19-1994]
This Article is adopted under the police power of the City and is expressly intended to follow the lead of the Communications Commission, with certain amendments making the provisions more strict against the interest of the cable company with this express understanding that the Communications Commission has authorized or does not prevent the City from doing so. Violations of this Article shall be an offense under the Ordinance Code of the City and upon a finding by the Municipal Judge the cable operator violated the terms of this Article, the operator shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars ($500.00) per violation. Each complaint or multiple complaints arising out of conditions under the control of the cable operator shall be a separate violation subject to the maximum fine as set out herein.