A.
Office hours of operation; telephone.
(1)
Each grantee shall maintain an office at a location reasonably
convenient to subscribers that shall be open at least 50 hours each week,
including during the hours of 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday
and 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Saturday, exclusive of all state and federal holidays,
to allow subscribers to request service and conduct other business. Each grantee
shall ensure that its office shall meet all applicable access requirements
of the Maine Human Rights Act[1] and Americans with Disabilities Act and all other applicable federal
and state laws and regulations.
[1]
Editor's Note: See 5 M.R.S.A. § 4551 et seq.
(2)
Each grantee shall perform service calls, installations,
and disconnections during at least the hours for which its office is open
for business, provided that a grantee shall respond to outages 24 hours a
day, seven days a week.
(3)
Each grantee shall establish a publicly listed tollfree
telephone number and shall either ensure that its telephone service has TTY
and TDD capabilities or contract with a third party to provide the grantee
with such services. The phone must be answered by customer service representatives
at least during the hours for which the grantee's office is open for business
for the purpose of receiving requests for service, inquiries, and complaints
from subscribers. After those hours a grantee shall arrange for the phone
to be answered so that customers can register complaints and report service
problems on a twenty-four-hour-per-day, seven-day-per-week basis and so that
the grantee can respond to service outages as required herein.
B.
Telephone answering time. Telephone answering time shall
not exceed 30 seconds or four rings, and the time to transfer the call to
a customer service representative (including hold time) shall not exceed an
additional 30 seconds. This standard shall be met 90% of the time, measured
quarterly. When the business office is closed, an answering machine or service
capable of receiving and recording service complaints and inquiries shall
be employed. Any after-hours answering service used shall comply with the
same telephone answer time standard set forth in this section. If required
by its franchise agreement, a grantee shall supply statistical data to verify
it has met the standards set forth herein.
C.
Staff. A grantee must hire sufficient staff so that it
can adequately respond to customer inquiries, complaints, and requests for
service in its office, over the phone, and at the subscriber's residence.
A.
Appointments. All appointments for service, installation,
or disconnection shall be specified by date. Each grantee shall offer a choice
of morning, afternoon, or all-day appointment opportunities. If at any time
an installer or technician believes it impossible to make a scheduled appointment
time, an attempt to contact the customer will be made prior to the time of
appointment and the appointment rescheduled.
B.
Missed appointments. Subscribers who experience a missed
installation appointment due to the fault of a grantee shall receive standard
installation free of charge. If the installation was to have been provided
free of charge, or for other appointments, the subscriber shall receive one
month of the subscriber to service tier free of charge or a credit of $20,
whichever is greater.
C.
Mobility-limited customers. With regard to mobility-limited
customers, upon subscriber request, each grantee shall arrange for pickup
and/or replacement of converters or other grantee equipment at the subscriber's
address or by a satisfactory equivalent (such as the provision of a postage-prepaid
mailer).
D.
Acknowledgment of and response to customer requests.
Requests for service, repair, and maintenance must be acknowledged by a grantee
within 24 hours or prior to the end of the next business day. A grantee shall
respond to all other inquiries (except billing inquiries) within five business
days of the inquiry or complaint. A grantee shall acknowledge receipt of billing
inquiries within five days and provide a detailed response within 30 days.
E.
Completion of work. Repairs and maintenance for service
interruptions and other repairs not requiring in-unit work must be initiated
within 24 hours and must be completed within 62 hours. All other requests
for service must be completed within three days from the date of the initial
request, except installation requests, provided that a grantee shall complete
the work in the shortest time possible where, for reasons beyond the grantee's
control, the work could not be completed in those time periods even with the
exercise of all due diligence; the failure of a grantee to hire sufficient
staff or to properly train its staff shall not justify a grantee's failure
to comply with this provision. Except as federal law requires, no charge shall
be made to the subscriber for this service, except for the cost of repairs
to the grantee's equipment or facilities where it can be documented that the
equipment or facility was damaged by a subscriber.
A.
Provision of information to subscribers. A grantee shall
provide each subscriber at the time cable service is installed, and at least
annually thereafter, written instructions for placing a service call, filing
a complaint, or requesting an adjustment. Each grantee shall also provide
a notice informing subscribers of how to communicate their views and complaints
to the cable company, the proper municipal official and the State Attorney
General; stating the responsibility of the State Attorney General to receive
consumer complaints concerning matters other than channel selection and rates;
and stating the policy regarding and method by which subscribers may request
rebates or pro-rata credits as provided in this chapter or applicable federal
or state law or regulation. In addition, all grantees shall provide subscribers
to their services a schedule of rates and charges, a copy of the service contract,
delinquent subscriber disconnect and reconnect procedures, and a description
of any other of the grantee's policies in connection with its subscribers.
Copies of these notices shall be provided to the Town. A grantee shall provide
the Town and each subscriber at least 30 days' advance notice of any significant
changes in any of the information required by this section.
B.
Disclosure of price terms. All grantee promotional materials,
announcements, and advertising of residential cable services to subscribers
and the general public, where price information is listed in any manner, shall
clearly and accurately disclose price terms. In the case of pay-per-view or
pay-per-event programming, all promotional materials must clearly and accurately
disclose price terms, and in the case of telephone orders a grantee shall
take appropriate steps to ensure that the customer service representatives
clearly and accurately disclose price terms to potential customers in advance
of taking the order.
C.
Public file. Each grantee shall maintain a public file
containing all notices provided to subscribers under these customer service
standards, as well as all written promotional offers made to subscribers by
the grantee. Material in the file shall be retained for a least one year after
the later of the date of mailing or public announcement of the information
contained in a notice.
A grantee may intentionally interrupt service on the cable system only
for good cause and for the shortest time possible and, except in emergency
situations, only after a minimum of 48 hours' prior notice to subscribers
and the Town of the anticipated service interruption; provided, however, that
planned maintenance that does not require more than two hours' interruption
of service and that occurs between the hours of 12:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. shall
not require such notice to subscribers, and notice to the Town may be given
no less than 24 hours prior to the anticipated service interruption.
A.
Proration of first billing statement. A grantee's first
billing statement after a new installation or service change shall be prorated
as appropriate and shall reflect any security deposit made or given by the
subscriber to the grantee.
B.
Itemization. A grantee's billing statement must itemize
each category of service and equipment provided to the subscriber and state
clearly the charge therefor.
C.
Payment due date. A grantee's billing statement must
show a specific payment due date not earlier than 10 days after the date the
statement is mailed. Any balance not received within 30 days after the due
date may be assessed a late fee not exceeding 1.5% of the amount due or any
higher amount allowed by state law. The late fee shall appear on the following
month's billing statement.
D.
In person payments. A grantee must notify the subscriber
that he or she can remit payment in person at the grantee's office and inform
the subscriber of the address of that office.
E.
No late fees for failures by grantee. Subscribers shall
not be charged a late fee or otherwise penalized for any failure by a grantee,
including failure to bill timely or correctly the subscriber or failure to
credit properly the subscriber for a payment timely made.
F.
Credit for lack or impairment of service. Upon request,
the account of any subscriber shall be credited a prorated share of the monthly
charge for the service if said subscriber is without service or if service
is substantially impaired for any reason for a period exceeding six hours
during any twenty-four-hour period, except where it can be documented that
a subscriber seeks a refund for an outage or impairment which that subscriber
caused or in the case of a planned outage occurring between the hours of 12:00
midnight and 6:00 a.m. of which the subscriber had prior notice.
A.
Subscriber termination. A subscriber may terminate service
at any time.
B.
Prompt disconnection or downgrade on request; charges.
A grantee shall promptly disconnect or downgrade any subscriber who so requests
from the grantee's cable system, unless the subscriber unreasonably hinders
access by the grantee to equipment of the grantee or the subscriber's premises
to which the grantee must have access to complete the requested disconnection.
No period of notice prior to voluntary termination or downgrade of service
may be required of subscribers by any grantee. No charge may be imposed for
any voluntary disconnection, and downgrade charges must comply with the requirements
of federal law. So long as the subscriber returns equipment necessary to receive
a service within five business days of the disconnection, no charge may be
imposed by any grantee for any cable services delivered after the date of
the request to disconnect.
C.
Subscriber return of equipment. A subscriber may be asked,
but not required, to disconnect a grantee's equipment and return it to the
business office, provided that if a subscriber requests that a grantee pick
up the equipment, the subscriber shall provide reasonable access to the subscriber's
premises during the grantee's business hours to allow the grantee to retrieve
the equipment.
D.
Refund of security deposit. Any security deposit and/or
other funds due the subscriber shall be refunded on disconnected accounts
after the converter has been recovered by the grantee. The refund process
shall take a maximum of 30 days or the next billing cycle from the date disconnection
was completed as required herein to the date the customer receives the refund.
E.
Disconnection for failure to pay fee. If a subscriber fails to pay a monthly subscriber or other fee or charge, a grantee may disconnect the subscriber's service outlet; however, such disconnection shall not be effected until at least 45 days after the due date of the monthly subscriber fee or other charge and after 10 days' advance written notice of intent to disconnect is given to the subscriber in question. If the subscriber pays all amounts due, including late charges before the date scheduled for disconnection, the grantee shall not disconnect service. Subject to Subsection B of this section, after disconnection, upon payment by the subscriber in full of all proper fees or charges, including the payment of the reconnection charge, if any, the grantee shall promptly reinstate service.
F.
Disconnection for damage to system or equipment. A grantee
may immediately disconnect a subscriber if the subscriber is damaging or destroying
the grantee's cable system or equipment. After disconnection, the grantee
shall restore service after the subscriber provides adequate assurance that
it has ceased the practices that led to disconnection and paid all proper
fees and charges, including reconnect fees, a reasonable security deposit,
and amounts owed the grantee for damage to its cable system or equipment.
G.
Disconnection for signal leakage. A grantee may also
disconnect a subscriber that in any way, intentionally or otherwise, causes
signal leakage in excess of federal limits. It may do so in accordance with
federal rules and requirements or if the subscriber fails to take steps to
correct the problem. It may also do so without notice in the event of a danger
to the public safety, provided that the grantee shall immediately notify the
subscriber of the problem and, once the problem is corrected, reconnect the
subscriber without charge.
H.
Removal of grantee property. Except as federal law may
otherwise provide, if a subscriber terminates service, a grantee may offer
the subscriber the opportunity to acquire any wiring located on the premises
that is the property of the grantee at replacement cost. If the subscriber
declines to purchase the wiring, the grantee must remove its property from
the subscriber's premises within seven days, if requested by the subscriber.
If a grantee fails to remove the wiring in that period, the grantee shall
make no further attempt to remove the wiring or restrict its use.
In addition to rights reserved by the Town, subscribers shall have rights
with respect to alterations in service. The grantee may not alter the service
being provided to a class of subscribers (including by retiering, restructuring
or otherwise) without the express permission of each subscriber, unless it
complies with this section. At the time the grantee alters the service it
provides to a class of subscribers, it must provide each subscriber 30 days'
notice, explain the substance and full effect of the alteration, and provide
the subscriber the right within the thirty-day period following notice to
opt to receive any combination of services offered by the grantee. Except
as federal law otherwise provides, subscribers may not be required to pay
any charge (other than the properly noticed rates), including an upgrade or
downgrade charge, in order to receive the services selected. No charge may
be made for any service or product for which there is a separate charge that
a subscriber has not affirmatively indicated it wishes to receive. Payment
of the regular monthly bill does not in and of itself constitute such an affirmative
indication.
A grantee may require a reasonable, nondiscriminatory deposit on equipment
provided to subscribers. Deposits shall be placed in an interest-bearing account,
and the grantee shall return the deposit, plus interest earned to the date
repayment is made to the subscriber. Interest will be calculated at the prevailing
commercial savings rate on all late payments.
A grantee shall maintain a record of subscriber complaints in accordance
with 30-A M.R.S.A. § 3010(4).
A.
Every franchisee shall keep a record or log of all written
complaints received regarding quality of service, equipment malfunctions,
billing procedure, employee attitude and similar matters. These records shall
be maintained for a period of two years.
B.
The record shall contain the following information for
each complaint received:
(1)
Date, time and nature of the complaint;
(2)
Name, address and telephone number of the person complaining;
(3)
Investigation of the complaint;
(4)
Manner and time of resolution of the complaint; and
(5)
If the complaint regards equipment malfunction or the
quality of reception, a report indicating corrective steps taken, with the
nature of the problem stated.
C.
Consistent with subscriber privacy provisions contained
in the Cable Act and applicable FCC regulations, every grantee shall make
the logs or records of complaints available to any authorized agent of any
franchising authority having a franchise with that grantee or any authorized
agent of a municipality considering a franchise with that grantee upon request
during normal business hours for on-site review.
In addition to the remedies set forth elsewhere in this chapter and
in the franchise agreement, subscribers shall have available the remedies
provided by 30-A M.R.S.A. § 3010(7).
