Duarte Municipal Code Art. IX Operations and Maintenance

A. The grantee shall maintain an office in the franchise area open during all usual business hours, but in no case less than forty hours per week including at least one evening or weekend day per week. Grantor shall have a publicly listed non-toll- charge telephone number, and operated as to receive subscriber complaints and requests on a twenty-four-hour basis. A current record shall be maintained listing all complaints and their disposition and a summary thereof shall be submitted to grantor upon request but no more often than monthly.

B. The grantee shall maintain a force of technicians capable of responding within twenty-four hours after receipt of request for repairs relating to a service outage and forty-eight hours excluding Sundays for all other complaints and requests for repair. No charge shall be made to the subscriber for such a service or repair except as provided in the franchise agreement.

C. TELEPHONE SERVICE. The grantee shall provide a state-of-the-art telephone system to receive all construction and service complaints. A sufficient number of customer representatives will be provided so that callers are not required to wait beyond an average of five minutes for phone answering. The telephone number of the local office shall be listed in the telephone directories serving the San Gabriel Valley. The telephone service shall be operable to accept complaints twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

D. Upon request, grantee shall provide subscribers with the option of scheduling a four hour period in which the service call was made.

(Ord. 646 § 10.1, 1988)

Grantee's complaint handling procedures shall be designed to accomplish the following:

A. Receipt and acknowledgment of any complaint made in person or by telephone within twenty-four hours, regardless of the time the complaint is made excluding Saturdays;

B. Acknowledgment of any complaint received by mail at grantee's office within five business days of the date such complaint is received;

C. Maintain a record of all complaints, including the complainants' name, address and telephone number, the date of its acknowledgment, and information given as to how the complaint would be resolved, and the action taken;

D. Complaints not resolved within forty-eight hours of receipt shall be listed in a log of "Delayed Action on Complaints" which shall give the information above and add the detailed reasons for nonresolution within the forty-eight hour period;

E. Provide complete information to the complainant regarding his ability to take his complaint to the grantor's representative if it is not resolved by the grantee.

(Ord. 646 § 10.2, 1988)

The following remedies for loss of service are established which may be invoked only after grantee has been given a hearing to present evidence regarding said alleged violations.

Except for rebuild outages approved in advance by grantor, in the event a subscriber notifies grantee that he or she is not receiving one or more basic services due to an outage, and if grantee fails to remedy said outage within twenty-four hours of said subscriber's call, then said subscriber shall receive a rebate equal to two days' prorated basic service subscription charges, plus one additional days' prorated basic subscription charges for each day, or portion thereof, after the second day that said outage is not corrected.

Except for rebuild outages approved in advance by grantor, in the event a subscriber notifies grantee that he or she is not receiving one or more pay services due to an outage, and if grantee fails to remedy said outage within twenty-four hours of said subscriber's call, then said subscriber shall receive a rebate equal to two days' prorated subscription cost for any pay service not being received due to such outage plus one additional day's prorated subscription cost for any services not received for each day, or portion thereof, after the second day that said outage is not corrected.

(Ord. 646 § 10.3, 1988)

A. In addition to the provisions of Section 5.86.545, and except as provided in the franchise agreement, grantor may require, at its option, that performance audits of the system be conducted as often as every three years by an independent technical consultant, selected and employed by grantor and at grantor's sole expense, to verify compliance of the system to all technical standards and other specifications of the franchise, as provided in the franchise agreement unless said audit allows grantee to be in noncompliance in which case grantee shall bear all costs. Periodic testing, as provided in the franchise agreement, shall eliminate this performance audit.

B. Upon completion of a performance audit, the grantor and grantee shall meet publicly to review the performance of the cable television system. The reports required herein regarding subscriber complaints, the records of performance tests and the opinion survey report shall be utilized as the basis for review. In addition, any subscriber may submit complaints during the review meetings, either orally or in writing, and these shall be considered.

C. Within thirty days after the conclusion of the system performance review meetings, grantor shall issue findings with respect to the adequacy of system performance and quality of service. If inadequacies are found, grantor may direct grantee to correct the inadequacies within a reasonable period of time.

D. Grantor's and grantee's participation in this process shall not waive any rights they may possess under applicable federal and/or state law.

(Ord. 646 § 10.4, 1988)

Grantee shall maintain in its office a complete and up-to-date set of as-built system maps and drawings upon completion of construction or reconstruction, equipment specification and maintenance publications, and signal level diagrams for each active electronic piece of equipment in the system. As-built drawings show all lines and installed equipment, and tap valves and spigots. The scale of maps and drawings shall be sufficient to show the required details in easily readable form and size. Technical data shall also include approved pole applications, details and documentation of satellite and microwave equipment, mobile radio units, heavy construction vehicles and equipment, computer systems and their program documentation, video and audio equipment, and all other equipment and facilities normally used in the operation of the system. If grantor requires use of technical data in its own office, it may make copies of any items at grantor's expense.

(Ord. 646 § 10.5, 1988)

All technical data shall be available to grantor's inspection during normal business hours, upon reasonable notice, and, in the event of system failure or other operating emergency, at any time, so long as the provision of said data does not unreasonably interfere with grantee's operations.

(Ord. 646 § 10.6, 1988)

It shall be grantee's responsibility to assure that its personnel qualified to make repairs are available at all reasonable times and that they are supplied with keys, equipment location instructions, and technical information necessary to begin repairs upon notification of need to maintain or restore continuous service to the system.

(Ord. 646 § 10.7, 1988)

A. Dwelling units passed by cable and dwelling unit history shall be categorized and filed in computer-compatible form.

B. Technicians shall be assigned on standby to render service during nonoffice hours.

1. System or channel outages shall be responded to (a) within a reasonable time when occurring between ten p.m. and eight a.m., depending on the severity of the outage and the time of day; and (b) as quickly as reasonably possible when occurring between eight a.m. and ten p.m.

2. Technicians shall respond to service problems in the system.

3. Customer service representatives shall be trained to analyze customer complaints, to distinguish between those that are system-related and those that are subscriber equipment-related.

(Ord. 646 § 10.8(A), 1988)

A. The grantee shall, at the time service is initiated provide each new customer written information covering:

1. The time allowed to pay outstanding bills;

2. Grounds for termination of service;

3. The steps the grantee must take before terminating service;

4. How the customer can resolve billing disputes;

5. The steps necessary to have service reconnected after involuntary termination;

6. The fact that customer service personnel shall identify themselves by first names immediately;

7. The fact that customers shall have the right to speak with a supervisor, and if none is available, supervisor shall return customer call within one working day;

8. The appropriate regulatory authority with whom to register a complaint and how to contact such authority.

B. In addition, at least once each calendar year, grantee shall notify each customer that information is available upon request concerning subsection (A) (1) through (8) of this section.

(Ord. 646 § 10.8(B), 1988)

A. Except as provided in Section 5.86.230, bills for service shall be rendered monthly, unless otherwise authorized by the customer and the grantee or unless service is rendered for a period less than one month. Bills shall be rendered as promptly as possible. All bills shall contain a telephone number and a mailing address for billing inquiries or disputes.

B. Billing envelopes shall be individually marked to indicate the date mailed. The metering strip shall include the date on which the bill was delivered to the U.S. Post Office. This postmark date shall constitute proof of the date of issuance.

C. DISPUTED BILLS.

1. In the event of a dispute between the customer and the grantee regarding the bill, the grantee shall promptly make such investigation as is required by the particular case and report the results to the customer. In the event the dispute is not resolved to the satisfaction of both parties, the grantee shall inform the customer of the complaint procedures of the grantor. If the customer wishes to obtain benefits of subdivisions 2 or 3 of this subsection, notification of the disputed bill must be given to the grantee within five days after due date.

2. The customer shall not be required to pay the disputed portion of the bill until the earlier of the following:

a. Resolution of the dispute;

b. Expiration of the fifty-five day period beginning on the date of issuance; provided, that the procedures established in subdivision 1 of this subsection have been followed.

3. Pending resolution of the bill dispute, no termination notices shall be issued for the disputed portions of the bill, nor shall any other collection procedures be initiated for said amount. Any such activity may be interpreted as an attempt to avoid the provisions of these rules and shall constitute violation of the regulations.

(Ord. 646 § 10.8 (C), 1988)

A. Uncollected accounts may be referred to private collection agencies for appropriate action if the bill has not been paid by the earlier of (a) fifteen days following date of involuntary termination; or (b) the fortieth day following the date of issuance of the original uncollected amount, provided no notification of billing dispute has been made, or if procedures for resolution of billing disputes have not been followed as required above.

B. If the amount was voluntarily terminated, for any reason, the account may not be referred to a collection agency until at least fifteen days following rendering of the final bill. If notification of a billing dispute is made, all collection procedures shall be delayed as required in Section 5.86.405(C), "disputed bills." Referral to collection agent shall then occur no sooner than the fortieth day following issuance of the original uncollected amount.

(Ord. 646 § 10.8(D), 1988)

When a subscriber voluntarily discontinues service grantee shall refund the unused portion of any advance payments after deducting any charges currently due through the end of the present billing period. Unused payment portions shall be the percentage of time for which subscriber has paid for service and will not receive it because of his discontinuation of service.

(Ord. 646 § 10.9, 1988)

The quality of grantee's service refers to the services associated with day-to-day operations (e.g., response to customer complaints, billing, interruptions of service, disconnection, rebates and credits, signal quality, and the provision to customers or potential customers of information on billing or services). In order to assess the quality of service, grantee shall survey all subscribers at least once every other calendar year. This shall be accomplished as follows: the grantee shall include a self-addressed postcard addressed to grantor along with the subscriber's monthly bill for service or in conjunction with the Section 5.86.210 survey. The grantee shall also include along with this same bill a statement that the postcard has been sent to each subscriber as part of the biannual quality of service assessment required to be conducted by grantor; that quality of service refers to response to customer complaints, billing, interruptions of service, disconnection, rebates and credits, signal quality, the provision to customer or potential customers of information on billing or services, that if they provide their name and telephone number where they may be contacted for additional information; and, that the postcards should be returned within two weeks of receipt in order to be included in the survey.

A summary of the postcard responses shall be submitted to the grantor within thirty days of the due date of their submission.

As an alternative to the summary, postcard responses may be submitted to the grantor upon request. The grantor may require the grantee to follow-up on problems evidenced by the survey. The grantee shall comply with the grantor request.

(Ord. 646 § 10.10, 1988)