Big Bear Lake Municipal Code Art. X Complaint Procedures

The city may do all things necessary and proper to supervise, inspect, and regulate the construction and operation of cable systems franchised under this chapter and implement complaint procedures. The responsibility for such supervision, inspection and regulation is delegated to the cable administrator who is empowered, among other things, to adjust, settle or compromise any controversy arising from the operations of any franchisee, either on behalf of the city or any subscriber, in accordance with the best interests of the public, provided that any person aggrieved by a decision of the cable administrator may appeal the matter in accordance with this chapter for hearing and determination. The city council always reserves the right to reject or modify the decision of the cable administrator and may adjust, settle or compromise any controversy arising from the operation of a franchisee or from any provision of this chapter. At the request of the cable administrator, franchisees are encouraged to participate in any advisory committee meetings established by the cable administrator relating to cable service provider operations.

(Ord. 98-287 § 2, 1998)

A franchisee shall maintain a business office or customer service center within the city limits which shall be open during the business hours stated in the franchise agreement, and shall maintain a publicly-listed local and a toll-free telephone number and sufficient lines which shall be so operated and staffed to respond to customers in at least five ways: accept payments and resolve billing difficulties; give out and exchange or accept return of converters; schedule service or technician calls (or provide an on-site, toll-free telephone for customers to schedule such service calls); answer subscriber inquiries; and receive complaints and commence the resolution thereof. Subscribers shall be promptly notified of any change of address of such office or of telephone number(s).

(Ord. 98-287 § 2, 1998)

Franchisee shall maintain sufficient repair and maintenance crews capable of responding to subscriber complaints or requests for service in accordance with subscriber service standards described in this chapter, including, without implied limitation, any state law requirements concerning the same.

(Ord. 98-287 § 2), 1998)

A franchisee shall establish procedures for receiving, acting upon, and resolving subscriber complaints in conformance with the requirements of this chapter and the franchisee's franchise agreement. Such procedures shall, at a minimum, contain the procedures set forth in this chapter. Adjustments to a subscriber's billing statement, where appropriate, shall occur in the next statement issued to the subscriber. All complaints will be expeditiously addressed and, if reasonably possible, resolved within the requirements set forth in this chapter. A franchisee shall furnish a notice of such procedures to each subscriber at the time of initial subscription of the cable system, at least annually thereafter, and at any time upon request.

(Ord. 98-287 § 2, 1998)

Failure to meet the requirements of this section will result in foreseeable damages in an amount specified in Article VIII, Liquidated Damages. The franchisee shall institute a complaint logging procedure as follows:

A. The franchisee shall maintain a log of all installation and service requests which require a service call to the subscriber's residence, place of business or other location as set forth in this chapter, together with a log of all complaints received requiring corrective action by the franchisee, whether such complaints are written, telephonic or otherwise. Franchisee's logs shall include the identity and address of the subscriber, the date of the request for installation or service or of the complaint, a description of the nature of the service request or of the complaint, the date of the service request or complaint and a description of any response by franchisee to the service request or corrective action by franchisee to remedy the complaint, together with the report of the service representative dispatched to such service location, if applicable.

B. This log shall be available for inspection by the city. Regarding complaints of the same type of problem, which evidence a violation by the franchisee in its obligations under this chapter or its franchise agreement, the city may serve the franchisee with a notice to cure. If no, or inadequate, corrective action is taken by the franchisee, the cable administrator may institute an inspection of the franchisee's system. If such inspection discloses a violation of any requirement of this chapter or the agreement, then the franchisee shall bear the costs of such inspection which are in excess of any liquidated damages assessed by the city for such violation. In the cable administrator's discretion, repeated complaints or lack of corrective action may constitute cause for imposition of liquidated damages and/or termination of the franchisee's franchise.

C. Upon request of the cable administrator, the franchisee shall, within ten days after receiving such a request, send a written report to the cable administrator with respect to any such complaint and its disposition. Such report shall provide a full explanation of the investigation, findings and corrective steps taken by the franchisee.

D. Franchisee shall keep and retain on file a copy of such subscriber service and complaint logs for a period of one year. The franchisee shall submit to the cable administrator this log, including a summary of the number and nature of requests for installation and service and complaints received as well as their disposition. A copy of the summary shall be completed for each six month period and submitted to city by the thirtieth day of the succeeding month. Copies of complaints received through the mail, together with copies of the franchisee's responses (if any), shall also be retained and made available for inspection in the franchisee's public file for not less than one year following the date of their receipt by the franchisee.

(Ord. 98-287 § 2, 1998)

A. A franchisee shall maintain an outage log showing the date, approximate time, location, duration, estimated or actual number of subscribers affected, type and probable cause of all head-end, trunk, or distribution line service failures due to causes other than routine testing or maintenance at reasonable times. Upon request by the city, a copy of such log showing the "reliability criteria" (below) shall be filed with the cable administrator by the tenth day of every month and shall be retained by a franchisee for a period of three years. The franchisee will design, procure, install and maintain its equipment to meet, under normal operating conditions, a monthly average system availability criteria to subscribers of ninety-nine and one-half percent measured as follows:

B. Franchisee may at any time propose a new reliability criteria standard for the city's acceptance. The monthly average system availability criteria set forth above shall not include such outages as are caused by or attributable to failure of electrical power from an electric utility that provides electric service to the city which exceeds the operational capacity of the cable system's backup generator and batteries. Where service interruptions or signal interruptions are the result of loss of electrical power from an electric utility and there are no backup generators or batteries or the backup generators or batteries fail to perform to their rated capacity, then the monthly average system availability criteria set forth above shall include such electrical outages.

(Ord. 98-287 § 2, 1998)