Commerce Municipal Code Art. 5 Consumer Protection and Service Standards

(a) Except as otherwise provided in the franchise agreement, grantee shall meet or exceed the following consumer protection and service standards under normal operating conditions:

(1) Sufficient toll-free telephone line capacity during normal business hours to assure that telephone answer time by a customer service representative, including wait time, shall not exceed thirty seconds; and callers needing to be transferred shall not be required to wait more than thirty seconds before being connected to a service representative. Under normal operating conditions, a caller shall receive a busy signal less than three percent of the time.

(2) Emergency toll free telephone line capacity on a twenty-four hour basis, including weekends and holidays. After normal business hours, the telephone calls may be answered by a service or an automated response system, including an answering machine and calls received after normal business hours by such service or automated response system must be responded to by a trained company representative by the next business day. During periods when an answering device, including, but not limited to voice-mail, is used, grantee shall provide personnel who shall contact the answering device or machine, at a minimum, every four hours to check on requests for service or complaints.

(3) A business and service and payment office conveniently located to subscribers open during normal business hours where grantee provides adequate staffing to accept subscriber payments and the return or exchange of subscriber equipment. Normal business hours shall include some evening hours, at least one night per week, and/or some weekend hours. The grantee may petition the grantor to reduce its business hours if the extended hours are not justified by subscriber demand, and grantor may not unreasonably deny the petition.

(4) An emergency system maintenance and repair staff, capable of responding to and repairing major system malfunction on a twenty-four hour per day basis.

(5) An installation staff, capable of installing service to any subscriber requiring a standard installation within seven days after receipt of a request, in all areas where trunk and feeder cable have been activated. "Standard installations" shall be those that are located up to one hundred twenty-five feet from the existing distribution system, unless otherwise defined in any franchise agreement.

(6) Grantee shall schedule, within a specified four hour time period during normal business hours, all appointments with subscribers for installation of service, service calls and other activities at the subscriber location. Grantee may schedule installation and service calls outside of normal business hours for the express convenience of the customer. Under normal operating conditions, grantee shall not cancel an appointment with a customer after the close of business on the business day prior to the scheduled appointment. If a grantee representative is running late for an appointment with a customer and will not be able to keep the appointment as scheduled, the customer shall be contacted and the appointment rescheduled, as necessary, at a time which is mutually agreeable to the grantee and the customer.

(b) Under normal operating conditions, the standards of subsections (a)(1) and (a)(2) of this section shall be met not less than ninety percent of the time measured on a quarterly basis. For the purposes of this section, "quarterly" means any consecutive three calendar month period and is not necessarily coincident with a calendar quarter. The standards of subsection (a)(4) through (a)(6) of this section shall be met not less than ninety-five percent of the time measured on a quarterly basis.

(c) Grantee shall not be required to acquire equipment or perform surveys to measure compliance with the telephone answering standards above unless an historical record of complaints indicates a clear failure to comply.

(d) The grantee shall offer and fully describe to those wishing to become a subscriber and existing subscribers who have experienced a missed appointment (where the missed appointment was not the subscriber's fault) that the potential or existing subscriber may choose from at least the following options:

(1) 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;

(2) An opportunity to elect remedies under California Civil Code Section 1722, if applicable.

(Ord. 570 §1(part), 2003).

(a) Grantee shall render efficient service, make repairs promptly, and interrupt service only for good cause and for the shortest time possible. Scheduled interruptions, insofar as possible, shall be preceded by notice and shall occur during a period of minimum use of the cable system, preferably between midnight and six a.m. local time.

(b) The grantee shall maintain a repair force of technicians normally capable of responding to subscriber requests for service within the following time frames:

(1) For a system outage. Within two hours, including weekends, of receiving subscriber calls or requests for service which by number identify a system outage of sound or picture of one or more channels, affecting at least ten percent of the subscribers of the system.

(2) For an isolated outage. Within twenty-four hours, including weekends, of receiving requests for service identifying an isolated outage of sound or picture for one or more channels that affects five or more subscribers. On weekends, an outage affecting fewer than five subscribers shall result in a service call no later than the next business day.

(3) For inferior signal quality. Within two business days of receiving a request for service identifying a problem concerning picture or sound quality.

(c) Grantee shall be deemed to have responded to a request for service under the provisions of this section when a technician arrives at the service location and begins work on the problem. In the case of a subscriber not being home when the technician arrives, the technician shall leave written notification of arrival.

(d) Grantee shall not charge for the repair or replacement of defective or malfunctioning equipment provided by grantee to subscribers, unless the defect was caused by the subscriber, or the equipment owned by the subscriber requires repair or replacement.

(e) With regard to subscribers with mobility-limiting disabilities, 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 providing postage-prepaid mailer).

(f) Unless excused, grantee shall determine the nature of the problem resulting in a request for service within two business days of beginning work and resolve all cable system related problems within five business days unless technically infeasible.

(Ord. 570 §1(part), 2003).

(a) 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 charges therefor.

(b) A grantee's billing statement must show a specific payment due date not earlier than the later of:

(1) Fifteen days after the date the billing statement is mailed; or

(2) The tenth day of the service period for which the bill is rendered.

(c) A late fee or administrative fee (collectively referred to below as a "late fee") may not be imposed for payments earlier than twenty-seven days after the due date specified in the bill.

(1) A late fee may not be imposed unless the subscriber is provided written notice at least ten days before the date the fee is imposed that a fee will be imposed, the date the fee will be imposed and the amount of the fee that will be imposed if the delinquency is not paid. A late fee may not be imposed unless the outstanding balance exceeds ten dollars.

(2) Subscribers shall not be charged a late fee or otherwise penalized for any failure by a grantee, including failure to timely or correctly bill the subscriber, or failure to properly credit the subscriber for a payment timely made. Payments shall be considered timely if received by the due date.

(3) A grantee's bill must permit a subscriber to remit payment by mail or in person at the grantee's local office.

(d) In case of a billing dispute, the grantee shall respond to a written complaint from a subscriber within thirty days.

(e) Upon the request of a subscriber, grantee shall provide pro rata credits or refunds to subscribers whose service has been interrupted for two or more hours if the interruption was not caused by the subscriber, and grantee knows or should have known of such interruption.

(1) Credits or refunds shall automatically be provided by grantee on a pro rata basis to any subscriber(s) affected by interruption(s) of service for more than three hours due to actions or outages under the control of the grantee, exclusive of scheduled repairs, maintenance or franchise-required construction that grantee has provided advance written notice of to subscribers. In cases where advance written notice is provided to subscribers, the time period detailed in such notice shall not exceed six hours in any twenty-four hour period. In cases where such notice has been given to subscribers and the service interruption exceeds the period detailed in the notice, the provisions of this section shall apply.

(2) In the event grantee has improperly or inadvertently disconnected cable services to a subscriber, grantee shall provide for restoration without charge to subscriber as soon as possible, but no later than within two days of discovery of disconnection. Grantee shall credit or provide refunds to any subscriber improperly or inadvertently disconnected from receiving cable services for the period of time without cable service.

(3) All credits or refunds for service shall be issued no later than the customer's next billing cycle following the determination that a credit is warranted. For subscribers terminating service, refunds shall be issued promptly, but no later than thirty days after the return of any grantee-supplied equipment.

(f) Grantee shall provide written information on each of the following areas (i) at the time of the installation of service, (ii) at least annually to all subscribers, and (iii) at any time upon request:

(1) Products and services offered;

(2) Prices and options for programming services and conditions of subscription to programming and other services;

(3) Installation and service maintenance policies;

(4) Instructions on how to use the cable service;

(5) Channel positions of programming carried on the system; and

(6) Billing and complaint procedures, including the address and telephone number of the grantor office designated for dealing with cable-related issues.

(g) Upon the initial provision of cable service to any subscriber, grantee shall pro rate the first invoice for cable service to reflect, to the extent appropriate, any partial billing period due to the introduction of service at a time other than the initiation of a billing cycle.

(h) Subscribers shall be notified of any changes in rates, programming services or channel positions as soon as possible in writing and in accordance with applicable law. Notice must be given to subscribers a minimum of thirty days in advance of such changes if the change is within the control of the grantee. In addition, grantee shall notify subscribers thirty days in advance of any significant changes in the information required in subsection (d) of this section.

(Ord. 570 §1(part), 2003).

(a) Upon ten days prior written notice, grantee shall respond to a request for information made by grantor regarding grantee's compliance with any or all of the standards required in Sections 5.44.150 through 5.44.160 of this chapter. Grantee shall provide sufficient documentation to permit grantor to verify grantee's compliance.

(b) A repeated and verifiable pattern of noncompliance with the consumer protection standards of Sections 5.44.150 through 5.44.160 of this chapter, after grantee's receipt of due notice and not less than a thirty day opportunity to cure, may be deemed a material breach of the franchise agreement.

(c) The grantor, pursuant to subsection 5.44.150(c) of this chapter, may require grantee to acquire equipment to determine compliance with the telephone answering standards of Article 5. Should grantee have its own telephone equipment which can report on telephone line(s) usage, the grantee, upon written request from the grantor, shall submit such report from its own system in order to verify compliance with the telephone answering standards of Article 5.

(d) Grantee shall take necessary steps to ensure that adequate telephone lines and/or staffing are available to permit grantee to satisfy its obligations under this chapter and the franchise. Consideration shall be given for periods of promotional activities or outages. The monthly billing period shall be considered as a normal, daily activity for purposes of determining the availability of adequate telephone lines and/or staffing.

(Ord. 570 §1(part), 2003).

(a) Grantee shall establish written procedures for receiving, acting upon and resolving subscriber complaints without intervention by the grantor. The written procedures shall prescribe the manner in which a subscriber may submit a complaint either orally or in writing specifying the subscriber's grounds for dissatisfaction. Grantee shall file a copy of these procedures with grantor. The written procedures shall include a requirement that grantee respond to any written complaint from a subscriber within thirty days of receipt.

(b) Upon prior written request, grantor shall have the right to review grantee's response to any subscriber complaints in order to determine grantee's compliance with the franchise requirements, subject to the subscriber's right to privacy.

(c) Subject to applicable law, it shall be the right of all subscribers to continue receiving cable service insofar as their financial and other obligations to the grantee are honored. In the event that the grantee elects to rebuild, modify or sell the system, or the grantor gives notice of intent to terminate or not to renew the franchise, the grantee shall act so as to ensure that all subscribers receive cable service so long as the franchise remains in force.

(d) In the event of a change of control of grantee or in the event a new operator acquires the system, the original grantee shall cooperate with the grantor, new grantee or operator in maintaining continuity of service to all subscribers. During such period, grantee shall be entitled to the revenues for any period during which it operates the system.

(e) Grantee response to subscriber complaints, as well as complaints made by subscribers to grantor and provided by grantor to grantee, shall be initiated within one business day of receipt by grantor. The resolution of subscriber complaints shall be effected by grantee not later than three business days after receipt of the complaint, or a longer period if such complaint cannot reasonably be resolved within three business days. Should a grantee supervisor not be available when requested by a subscriber, a supervisor shall respond to the subscriber's complaint at the earliest possible time, and in no event later than the end of the next business day. For complaints received by grantor and provided by grantor to grantee, grantee shall notify grantor of grantee's progress in responding to, and resolving, such complaints.

(Ord. 570 §1(part), 2003).

(a) Each grantee shall take appropriate steps to ensure that all written franchisee promotional materials, announcements, and advertising of 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 grantee will take appropriate steps to ensure that price terms are clearly and accurately disclosed to potential customers in advance of taking the order.

(b) Each grantee will maintain a file available 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 will be kept in the file for at least one year from the date of such notice or promotional offer.

(Ord. 570 §1(part), 2003).

(a) In the event grantee fails to operate the system for seven consecutive days other than for reasons beyond the control of grantee, without prior approval or subsequent excuse of the grantor, the grantor may, at its sole option, operate the system or designate an operator until such time as grantee restores service under conditions acceptable to the grantor or a permanent operator is selected. If the grantor should fulfill this obligation for the grantee, then during such period as the grantor fulfills such obligation, the grantor shall be entitled to collect all revenues from the system, and the grantee shall reimburse the grantor for all reasonable costs or damages in excess of the revenues collected by grantor that are the result of grantee's failure to perform.

(b) All officers, agents or employees of grantee or its contractors or subcontractors who, in the normal course of work come into contact with members of the public or who require entry onto subscribers' premises shall carry a photo-identification card in a form approved by grantor. Grantee shall account for all identification cards at all times. Every vehicle of the grantee or its major subcontractors is clearly identified as working for grantee.

(c) Additional service standards and standards governing consumer protection and response by grantee to subscriber complaints not otherwise provided for in this chapter may be established in the franchise agreement or by separate ordinance as permitted by applicable law.

(Ord. 570 §1(part), 2003).