Pinole Municipal Code Art. IV Minimum Consumer Protection and Service Standards

A. Except as otherwise provided in the franchise agreement, grantee shall maintain the necessary facilities, equipment and personnel to comply with the following consumer protection and service standards under normal conditions of operation:

1. Sufficient toll-free telephone line capacity during normal business hours to assure telephone answer time by a customer service representative, including wait time, shall not exceed thirty seconds; and callers needing to be transferred within grantee's operation 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. The term “normal operating conditions. those service conditions, which are within the control of the grantee. Those conditions which are not within the control of the grantee include, but are not limited to, natural disasters, civil disturbances, power outages, telephone network outages, and severe or unusual weather conditions. Those conditions which are ordinarily within the control of the grantee include, but are not limited to, special promotions, payper-view events rate increases, regular peak or seasonal demand periods, and maintenance or upgrade of the cable system.

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. Calls received after normal business hours must be responded to by a trained company representative on the next business day. During periods when an answering service or machine is used, grantee shall provide on-call personnel who shall contact the answering service or machine, at a minimum, every four hours to check on requests for service or complaints.

3. A local business and service and/or payment office located within five miles of franchise area, open during normal business hours at least eight hours daily, and at least four hours weekly on evenings or weekends, and adequately staffed to accept subscriber payments and respond to service requests and complaints. The grantee may petition the grantor to reduce its business hours if the. extended hours are not justified by subscriber demand.

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. 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 as soon as possible and the appointment rescheduled, as necessary, at a time which is convenient for the customer, and within reason.

B. The standards of paragraphs (a) (1) and (a) (2) above shall be met not less than ninety percent of the time measured on a quarterly basis. The standards of paragraphs (a)(4)-(6) above 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 kept by either grantee or grantor, indicates a clear failure to comply. (Ord. 02-101 § 8 (part), 2002)

A. Grantee shall render efficient service, make repairs promptly, and interrupt service only for good cause and for the shortest time possible. Scheduled interruptions of an anticipated duration of two consecutive hours or longer, 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 three or more subscribers. On weekends, an outage affecting fewer than three 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. In the event a service problem requires a visit to a subscriber's residence, 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 service calls, repairs or replacement of defective or malfunctioning equipment provided by grantee to subscribers, unless the problem or defect was caused by the subscriber's negligence or has been previously established as having been non-cable in origin.

E. Unless excused, grantee shall determine the nature of the problem within two business days of beginning work and resolve all cable system related problems within five business days unless technically infeasible. Lack of trained personnel does not constitute a technical infeasibility. (Ord. 02-101 § 8(part), 2002)

A. Subscriber bills shall be clear, concise and understandable. Bills shall be fully itemized, with itemizations including, but not limited to, basic and premium service charges and equipment charges. Bills shall also clearly delineate all activity during the billing period, including optional charges, rebates and credits.

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

C. Upon request, grantee shall provide credits or refunds to subscribers whose cable service has been interrupted for two or more consecutive hours for interruption(s) not caused by the affected subscriber(s).

The minimum credit or refund issued, pursuant to this section shall be equal to one day's charge for cable service for the affected subscriber.

In the event grantee has improperly or inadvertently disconnected cable services to a subscriber, grantee shall provide for restoration without charge to subscriber 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.

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.

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

1. Cable services offered; and.

2. Prices and options for programming services and conditions of subscription to programming and other cable services; and

• 3. Installation and service maintenance policies; and
• 4. Instructions on how to use the cable service; and
• 5. Channel positions of programming carried on the system; and
• 6. Billing procedures, including an explanation of how to read monthly cable bill; and

7. Complaint procedures, including the address and telephone number of both the grantor office designated for dealing with cable-related issues and the grantee's local office hours and local phone number, and

• 8. Policies and procedures for credits and refunds outlined in (c) above; and
• 9. Subscriber termination policies;
• 10. Subscriber privacy rights as required by federal law.

E. Subscribers shall be notified of any changes in rates, programming services or channel positions as soon as possible in writing and in accordance with state and federal 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 Section 13.18.210(d) above. (Ord. 02-101 § 8 (part), 2002)

A. Upon thirty calendar 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 13.18.190 through 13.18.210 above. Grantee shall provide sufficient documentation to permit grantor to verify grantee's compliance for the previous twenty-four month period. Grantee may request, and grantor shall not unreasonably deny, a request for a reasonable extension of time in which to produce such documentation.

B. A repeated and verifiable pattern of noncompliance with the consumer protection standards of Sections 13.18.190 through 13.18.210 above, after grantee's receipt of due notice and a reasonable opportunity to cure, may be deemed a material breach of the franchise agreement.

C. In order to determine whether sufficient telephone lines are provided, the grantor may require upon thirty calendar days written notice, the grantee to submit a report verifying the adequacy of its telephone line capacity. If grantee is unable to provide such a report, grantor may require that a busy study, traffic study or other study be conducted, at grantee's expense, if any, by the local telephone company. Should grantee have its own telephone equipment, which can report on telephone line(s) usage, the grantee may submit such report from its own system. The grantor, pursuant to Section 13.18.190C of this chapter, may require grantee to acquire equipment to determine compliance with the telephone answering standards of this Article IV.

D. Should the grantor determine that insufficient telephone lines or inadequate staff exists, 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. 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. 02-101 § 8(part), 2002)

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 at least the following elements:

1. A simple procedure for making complaints orally or in writing, consistent with these standards, and identification of a person responsible for resolving complaints.

2. Notice to subscribers that they may file any complaint with the city if not resolved to the subscriber's satisfaction after thirty days, and that the city may recommend a resolution.

3. The grantee must provide its initial response to a complaint within five days of its receipt and final written response to any unresolved complaint (other than a complaint about the carriage or the lack of carriage of a particular programming service or about the content of a programming service or about the level of any unregulated rate) within thirty days of the date the complaint is made.

Nothing in this agreement shall limit the rights of a subscriber to initiate a court action to enforce these standards. This paragraph shall not be interpreted to limit the rights of the city to enforce the customer service standards.

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 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 grantee. The resolution of subscriber complaints shall be effected by grantee not later than three business days after receipt of the complaint. 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, said complaints. (Ord. 02-101 § 8 (part), 2002)

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. Grantee shall account for all identification cards at all times. Every vehicle of the grantee or its major subcontractors shall be clearly identified as working for grantee.

C. Additional customer 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 chapter. A verified and continuing pattern of noncompliance may be deemed a material breach of the franchise, provided that grantee shall receive due process, including prior written notification and a reasonable opportunity to cure, prior to any sanction being imposed. (Ord. 02-101 § 8(part), 2002)