Chapter 11.06
MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS
Sections:
Article I. Miscellaneous
11.06.020 Calculation of time.
Article II. Cable Customer Service Standards
11.06.040 Telephone and office availability.
11.06.060 Notice to subscribers.
11.06.070 Interruptions of service.
11.06.090 Disconnection/downgrades.
11.06.110 Parental control option.
11.06.120 Relation to other standards.
11.06.130 Customer service waiver.
Article I. Miscellaneous
11.06.010 Captions.
The captions to sections throughout this title are intended solely to facilitate reading and reference to the sections and provisions of this title. Such captions shall not affect the meaning or interpretation of this title. (Ord. 1402 § 1(11.06.1), 2001)
11.06.020 Calculation of time.
Unless otherwise indicated, when the performance or doing of any act, duty, matter, or payment is required under this title or any franchise, and a period of time or duration for the fulfillment of doing thereof is prescribed and is fixed herein, the time shall be computed so as to exclude the first and include the last day of the prescribed or fixed period of duration time. (Ord. 1402 § 1(11.06.2), 2001)
11.06.030 Severability.
If any term, condition, or provision of this title shall, to any extent, be held to be invalid or unenforceable by a valid order of any court or regulatory agency, the remainder hereof shall be valid in all other respects and continue to be effective. In the event of a subsequent change in applicable law so that the provision which had been held invalid is no longer invalid, said provision shall thereupon return to full force and effect without further action by the city and shall thereafter be binding on the franchisee and the city. If, as determined by the city upon appropriate legal advice, or applicable court decision, any term, condition or provision of this title imposes a requirement which is prohibited by applicable federal or state law, or prohibits an action which must be allowed under applicable federal or state law, then any such term, condition or provision shall be construed to not impose the requirement which is prohibited by valid federal or state laws or not to prohibit the action which must be allowed under valid federal or state law. (Ord. 1402 § 1(11.06.3), 2001)
Article II. Cable Customer Service Standards
11.06.040 Telephone and office availability.
A. Each franchisee shall, unless agreed otherwise, maintain an office at a convenient location in the city that shall be open for walk-in traffic at least 10 hours per day (except legal holidays), Monday through Friday, with some evening hours, and at least five hours on Saturday to allow subscribers to pay bills, to drop off equipment and to pick up standard analog converters. Each franchisee shall perform service calls, installations, and disconnects at least 10 hours per day Monday through Saturday, except legal holidays; provided, that a franchisee shall respond to outages 24 hours per day, seven days per week. Each franchisee shall establish a publicly listed local toll-free telephone number. The phone must be answered by customer service representatives at least 10 hours per day, Monday through Saturday, except legal holidays, for the purpose of receiving requests for service, inquiries, and complaints from subscribers. After such business hours the phone shall be answered so that customers can register complaints and report service problems on a 24-hour-per-day, seven-day-per-week basis, and so that the franchisee can respond to service outages as required herein. Phones shall be answered in accordance with subsection B of this section.
B. 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. Under normal operating conditions, this standard shall be met 90 percent of the time, measured quarterly. Under normal operating conditions customers will receive a busy signal less than three percent of the time. When the business office is closed, an answering machine or service capable of receiving and recording service complaints and inquiries shall be employed. The after-hours answering service shall comply with the same telephone answer time standard set forth in this subsection. (Ord. 1402 § 1(11.06.4.1.1), 2001)
11.06.050 Scheduling work.
A. All appointments for service, installation, or disconnection shall be specified by date. Each franchisee shall specify a time at which the work shall be done, or offer a choice of time blocks, which shall not exceed four hours in length. A franchisee may also, upon request, schedule service installation calls outside normal business hours, for the express convenience of the customer. If at any time an installer or technician is running late for an appointment and believes he will not be able 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 at a time convenient to the customer, if rescheduling is necessary. It is the operator’s burden to prove it met the appointment.
B. The franchisee shall offer and fully describe to subscribers who have experienced a missed appointment (where the missed appointment was not the subscriber’s fault) that the subscriber may choose between the following options: installation or service call free of charge, if the appointment was for an installation or service call for which a fee was to be charged; one month of the most widely subscribed to service tier free of charge if an installation or service call was to have been provided free of charge; or one month of such service free of charge for other appointments.
C. With regard to disabled or handicapped customers, upon subscriber request, each franchisee shall arrange for pickup and/or replacement of converters or other franchisee equipment at the subscriber’s address or by a satisfactory equivalent (such as the provision of a postage-prepaid mailer).
D. Under normal operating conditions, requests for service, repair, and maintenance must be acknowledged by a trained customer service representative within 24 hours, or prior to the end of the next business day, whichever is earlier. A franchisee shall respond to all other inquiries (including billing inquiries) within five business days of the inquiry or complaint. Under normal operating conditions, repairs and maintenance for outages or service interruptions must be completed within 24 hours after the outage or interruption becomes known to franchisee where the franchisee has adequate access to facilities to which it must have access in order to remedy the problem. Under normal operating conditions, work to correct all other service problems must be begun by the next business day after notification of the service problem, and must be completed within five business days from the date of the initial request. When normal operating conditions do not exist, a franchisee shall complete the work in the shortest time possible. The failure of the franchisee to hire sufficient staff or to properly train its staff shall not justify a franchisee’s failure to comply with this provision.
E. A franchisee shall not cancel a service or installation appointment with a customer after the close of business on the business day preceding the scheduled appointment.
F. Under normal operating conditions, service shall be provided within the times and in the manner provided by FMC 11.04.130(B). Requests for additional outlets, service upgrades or other connections (e.g., DMX, VCR, A/B switch) separate from the initial installation will be performed within seven business days after an order has been placed.
G. Under normal operating conditions, the standards of subsections D through F of this section shall be met at least 95 percent of the time, measured on a quarterly basis. (Ord. 1402 § 1(11.06.4.1.2), 2001)
11.06.060 Notice to subscribers.
A. A franchisee shall provide each subscriber, at the time service is installed, clear and accurate written information: on placing a service call, filing a complaint, or requesting an adjustment (including when a subscriber is entitled to refunds for outages and how to obtain them); showing the telephone number of the city office responsible for administering the franchise; providing a schedule of rates and charges, channel positions, services provided, a copy of the service contract, delinquent subscriber disconnect and reconnect procedures; notifying subscribers of the availability of parental control devices; and describing any other of the franchisee’s policies in connection with its subscribers. The same information shall be provided to the subscriber annually thereafter, except another copy of the service contract need not be provided. Copies of the notices provided to the subscribers shall be provided to the city. Except as applicable federal, state and local rate regulations may provide to the contrary, a franchisee shall provide the city manager at least 60 days’ notice and all subscribers at least 30 days’ notice of any significant changes in the information required to be provided under this section. Such notice shall be made in writing.
B. Each franchisee shall take appropriate steps to ensure that all written franchisee promotional materials, announcements, and advertising of residential cable service to subscribers and the general public, where price information is listed in any manner, clearly and accurately discloses price terms. In the case of telephone orders, a franchisee shall take appropriate steps to ensure that price terms are clearly and accurately disclosed to potential customers in advance of taking the order.
C. Each franchisee shall maintain a file open for public inspection containing all notices provided to subscribers under these customer service standards, as well as all promotional offers made to subscribers. The notices and offers shall be kept in the file for at least one year from the date of such notice or promotional offer. (Ord. 1402 § 1(11.06.4.1.3), 2001)
11.06.070 Interruptions of service.
A franchisee shall provide 48 hours’ prior notice to subscribers and the city before interrupting service for planned maintenance or construction; 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 midnight and 6:00 a.m. shall not require such notice to subscribers, and notice to the city must be given no less than 24 hours prior to the anticipated service interruption. (Ord. 1402 § 1(11.06.4.1.4), 2001)
11.06.080 Billing.
A. A franchisee’s first billing statement after a new installation or service change shall be prorated as appropriate and shall reflect any security deposit.
B. A franchisee’s billing statement must be clear, concise and understandable, must itemize each category of service and equipment provided to the subscriber and must state clearly the charge therefor.
C. A franchisee’s billing statement must show a specific payment due date not earlier than the later of (1) 15 days after the date the statement is mailed, or (2) the fifteenth day of the 30-day period in which the service being billed is rendered. A late fee or administrative fee may not be imposed for payments before the due date. Subscribers shall not be charged a late fee or otherwise penalized for any failure by a franchisee, including failure to timely or correctly bill the subscriber, or failure to properly credit the subscriber for a payment timely made.
D. A franchisee’s bill must permit a subscriber to remit payment by mail or in person at the franchisee’s local office.
E. The account of any subscriber shall be credited a prorated share of the monthly charge for the service upon subscriber request if a subscriber is without service or if service is substantially impaired for any reason for a period exceeding four hours during any 24-hour period, or automatically if the loss of service or impairment is for 24 hours or longer, except where it can be documented that a subscriber will obtain a refund for a loss of service or impairment which was caused by the subscriber or by subscriber-owned equipment (not including, for purposes of this section, in-home wiring installed by the franchisee).
F. Franchisee shall respond to all written billing complaints from subscribers within 30 days.
G. Refunds to subscribers shall be issued no later than: (1) the earlier of the subscriber’s next billing cycle following resolution of the refund request, or 30 days; or (2) the date of return of all equipment to franchisee, if cable service has been terminated.
H. Credits for cable service shall be issued no later than the subscriber’s next billing cycle after the determination that the credit is warranted. (Ord. 1402 § 1(11.06.4.1.5), 2001)
11.06.090 Disconnection/downgrades.
A. A subscriber may terminate service at any time.
B. A franchisee shall promptly disconnect from the franchisee’s cable system or downgrade any subscriber who so requests. No period of notice prior to voluntary termination or downgrade of cable service may be required of subscribers by any franchisee. Charges for any voluntary disconnection, and any downgrade charges shall conform to applicable law.
C. Any security deposit and/or other funds due a subscriber that disconnects or downgrades service shall be returned to the subscriber within 30 days or in the next billing cycle, whichever is later, from the date disconnection or downgrade was requested except in cases where the subscriber does not permit the franchisee to recover its equipment, in which case the amounts owed shall be paid to subscribers within 30 days of the date the equipment was recovered, or in the next billing cycle, whichever is later.
D. A franchisee may not disconnect a subscriber’s cable service for nonpayment unless:
1. The subscriber is delinquent in payment for cable service;
2. A separate, written notice of impending disconnection, postage prepaid, has been sent to the subscriber at least 20 days prior to the date on which service may be disconnected, at the premises where the subscriber requests billing, which notice must state the date by which disconnection may occur, and the amount the subscriber must pay to avoid disconnection;
3. The subscriber has failed to pay the amounts owed to avoid disconnection by the date of disconnection; and
4. No pending inquiry exists regarding the bill to which franchisee has not responded in writing.
E. Payment is not delinquent until the fifteenth day of the month in which the service being billed for is rendered; the notice required under subsection (D)(2) of this section may not be sent to a subscriber prior to the delinquency date. If the subscriber pays all amounts due, including late charges, before the date scheduled for disconnection, the franchisee shall not disconnect service. After lawful disconnection, except in cases where disconnection is also subject to subsection F of this section, upon payment by the subscriber in full of all proper fees or charges, including the payment of the reconnection charge, if any, the franchisee shall promptly reinstate service.
F. A franchisee may immediately disconnect a subscriber if (1) the subscriber is damaging, destroying, or unlawfully tampering with or has damaged or destroyed or unlawfully tampered with the franchisee’s cable system; (2) the subscriber is not authorized to receive a service, and is facilitating, aiding or abetting the unauthorized receipt of service by others; or (3) subscriber-installed or attached equipment is resulting in signal leakage which is in violation of FCC rules, provided the subscriber has failed to correct the leakage within three business days after receiving written notice of the problem from the franchisee. After disconnection, the franchisee 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 any reconnect fees and all amounts owed the franchisee for damage to its cable system or equipment.
G. Except as federal or state law may otherwise provide, a franchisee may remove its property from a subscriber’s premises within 30 days of the termination of service. If a franchisee fails to remove its property in that period, the property shall be deemed abandoned unless the franchisee has been denied access to the subscriber’s premises, or the franchisee has a continuing right to occupy the premises under federal or state statutes. (Ord. 1402 § 1(11.06.4.1.6), 2001)
11.06.100 Deposits.
A franchisee may require a reasonable, nondiscriminatory deposit on equipment provided to subscribers. Deposits shall be placed in an interest-bearing account, and the franchisee shall return the deposit, plus interest earned to the date the deposit is returned to the subscriber, less any amount the franchisee can demonstrate should be deducted for damage to such equipment. (Ord. 1402 § 1(11.06.4.1.7), 2001)
11.06.110 Parental control option.
Without limiting a franchisee’s obligations under federal law, a franchisee must provide parental control devices at no charge to all subscribers who request them that enable the subscriber to block the video and audio portion of any channel or channels of programming. (Ord. 1402 § 1(11.06.4.1.8), 2001)
11.06.120 Relation to other standards.
Nothing in these standards shall be read to relieve a cable operator of an obligation to comply with federal, state or local consumer protection laws, to relieve an operator of an obligation to comply with stricter cable customer service standards, or to foreclose remedies that may be available to subscribers under applicable law. (Ord. 1402 § 1(11.06.5), 2001)
11.06.130 Customer service waiver.
The city manager may grant a waiver of any or all of the customer service standards set out in FMC 11.06.040 through 11.06.110 for a specified period of time, not to exceed two years if the city manager finds (A) that application of a standard to a particular cable system is unnecessary or inappropriate because of the characteristics of the cable system (including size, or number of subscribers), and (B) the operator is willing to be bound by any alternative standards that the city manager determines is necessary to provide adequate protection to subscribers. The waiver may be extended after a hearing reviewing the adequacy of the operator’s customer service. (Ord. 1402 § 1(11.06.6), 2001)