Ventura Municipal Code Art. 6 Consumer Protection and Rights

A. Each franchisee must satisfy the city’s consumer protection provisions required by this article or a cable franchise grant. In addition, each franchisee will at all times satisfy any additional or stricter requirements established by applicable law including, without limitation, FCC customer service standards and consumer protection laws.

B. Notwithstanding the requirements of this article, the director may, but is not required to, relieve a franchisee of its obligations under this article if:

1. Franchisee shows that there is an alternative standard that is substantially similar to that established by this article;

2. The director determines that there is sufficient competition among cable operators that renders application of these standards unnecessary; or

3. In light of the number of customers served by a cable operator, the requirements of this article are, in the director’s sole discretion, unduly burdensome and there is an alternative way to serve the same interest. (Ord. No. 99-38, § 4, 10-18-99)

A. Each franchisee will maintain an office at a convenient location in the city that will be open for walk-in traffic at least nine hours per day (except legal holidays) Monday through Friday, with some evening hours, and at least four hours on Saturday to allow subscribers to pay bills, drop off equipment and pick up equipment.

B. Each franchisee will perform service calls, installations, and disconnects at least nine hours per day Monday through Saturday, except legal holidays; provided, that a franchisee will respond to outages 24 hours a day, seven days a week. An outage is a loss or significant deterioration of the video, audio or other component of the signal transmitted on any channel, affecting more than one subscriber or more than one subscriber served from the same node, in the case of a system using fiber-to-the-node architecture. (Ord. No. 99-38, § 4, 10-18-99)

A. Each franchisee will establish a publicly listed local toll-free telephone number. Customer service representatives must answer the phone 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 will 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.

B. Telephone answering time will not exceed 30 seconds or four rings, and the time to transfer the call to a customer service representative (including hold time) will not exceed an additional 30 seconds.

1. Under normal operating conditions, this standard will be met 90 percent of the time, measured quarterly.

2. Under normal operating conditions customers will receive a busy signal less than three percent of the time. (Ord. No. 99-38, § 4, 10-18-99)

A. All appointments for service, installation, or disconnection will be specified by date. Each franchisee will specify a specific time at which the work will be done, or offer a choice of time blocks, which will 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.

B. If at any time an installer or technician is late for an appointment and believes a scheduled appointment time will be missed, an attempt to contact the customer will be made before the time of appointment and the appointment rescheduled at a time convenient to the customer, if rescheduling is necessary. It is the franchisee’s burden to prove it met the appointment. (Ord. No. 99-38, § 4, 10-18-99)

The franchisee will 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:

A. 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;

B. One month of the most widely subscribed to service tier free of charge for other appointments; and

C. An opportunity to elect remedies under California Civil Code Section 1722, if applicable. (Ord. No. 99-38, § 4, 10-18-99)

With regard to subscribers with mobility-limiting disabilities, upon subscriber request, each franchisee will arrange for pickup and/or replacement of converters or other franchisee equipment at the subscriber’s address or by a satisfactory equivalent (such as providing a postage-prepaid mailer). (Ord. No. 99-38, § 4, 10-18-99)

A. Under normal operating conditions, requests for service, repair, and maintenance must be acknowledged by a trained customer service representative within 24 hours or before the end of the next business day, whichever is earlier.

A franchisee will respond to all other inquiries (other than billing inquiries) within five business days of the inquiry or complaint.

B. 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.

C. 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.

D. When normal operating conditions do not exist, a franchisee will complete the work in the shortest time possible. The failure of the franchisee to hire sufficient staff or to properly train its staff will not justify a franchisee’s failure to comply with this provision.

E. Under normal operating conditions, a franchisee will not cancel a service or installation appointment with a customer after the close of business on the business day preceding the scheduled appointment.

F. Requests for installation or system extensions must satisfy the standards set forth in this chapter.

G. Under normal operating conditions, these service standards will be met at least 95 percent of the time, measured on a quarterly basis. (Ord. No. 99-38, § 4, 10-18-99)

A franchisee will provide each subscriber at the time service is installed, and annually thereafter, clear and accurate written information regarding:

A. 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);

B. The telephone number of the city office responsible for administering the cable franchise;

C. The schedule of rates and charges (which listing must identify any discounts offered), 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 the conditions under which they will be provided and the cost (if any) charged; provided, that a copy of the service contract need only be provided at the time of installation, unless subsequently changed;

D. Conditions that must be met to qualify for discounts;

E. Any other of the franchisee’s policies in connection with its subscribers; and

F. Any discounts, services, or specialized equipment available to subscribers with disabilities; explaining how to obtain them; and explaining how to use any accessibility features.

The term “discounts” as used in this section does not include temporary, promotional discounts. (Ord. No. 99-38, § 4, 10-18-99)

A franchisee will provide the city with copies of all notices provided to its subscribers pursuant to this article. (Ord. No. 99-38, § 4, 10-18-99)

Franchisee will provide prior written notice of any material changes in the information required to be provided under this article. Unless state or federal law establishes a shorter notice period and preempts this requirement:

A. All subscribers will be provided this written notice at least 30 days before the change;

B. The director will be provided this written notice at least 60 days before the change. However, if the change is the result of an action entirely beyond the control of franchisee or its affiliates, and notice could not have been timely given even with exercise of all due diligence, the director will be notified of the change as soon as possible. (Ord. No. 99-38, § 4, 10-18-99)

A. Each franchisee will 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 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 franchisee 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. No. 99-38, § 4, 10-18-99)

A franchisee will 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. will not require such notice to subscribers or the city, unless the city requests that it be given notice before such service interruptions. (Ord. No. 99-38, § 4, 10-18-99)

A franchisee’s first billing statement after a new installation or service change will be prorated as appropriate. (Ord. No. 99-38, § 4, 10-18-99)

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 franchisee’s billing statement must show a specific payment due date not earlier than the later of:

1. Fifteen days after the date the 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 27 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 10 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 $10.00.

2. Subscribers will 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. Payments will be considered timely if postmarked on the due date.

D. A franchisee’s bill must permit a subscriber to remit payment by mail or in person at the franchisee’s local office. (Ord. No. 99-38, § 4, 10-18-99)

A. A subscriber’s account will 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 where franchisee knew of the outage and can identify the affected subscriber groups with reasonable accuracy.

B. A franchisee need not credit subscriber where it establishes that a subscriber will obtain a refund for a loss of service or impairment caused by the subscriber or by subscriber-owned equipment. For loss or impairment of service caused by subscriber-owned in-home wiring, the subscriber will be entitled to a refund if the wiring was installed or repaired by franchisee; or if franchisee has responsibility for, or is charging for, maintenance of the wiring, in any form. (Ord. No. 99-38, § 4, 10-18-99)

Franchisee will respond to all written billing complaints from subscribers within 30 days. (Ord. No. 99-38, § 4, 10-18-99)

Refunds to subscribers will be issued not later than:

A. The earlier of the subscriber’s next billing cycle following resolution of the refund request, or 30 days; or, if later,

B. Fifteen days after the date of return of all equipment to franchisee, if cable service has been terminated. (Ord. No. 99-38, § 4, 10-18-99)

Credits for cable service will be issued no later than the subscriber’s next billing cycle after the determination that the credit is warranted. (Ord. No. 99-38, § 4, 10-18-99)

A. A subscriber may terminate service at any time.

B. A franchisee will promptly disconnect from the franchisee’s cable system or downgrade any subscriber who so requests. No charges for service may be made after the subscriber requests disconnection. No period of notice before voluntary termination or downgrade of cable service may be required of subscribers by any franchisee. There will no charge for disconnection, except for the collection fee authorized by applicable law, and any downgrade charges will conform to applicable law. (Ord. No. 99-38, § 4, 10-18-99)

Any security deposit and/or other funds due a subscriber that disconnects or downgrades service will 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 will be paid to subscribers within 30 days of the date the equipment was recovered, or in the next billing cycle, whichever is later. (Ord. No. 99-38, § 4, 10-18-99)

A. 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 written notice of delinquency and impending disconnection is furnished to the subscriber at least 15 days before the date on which service may be disconnected. The notice must be mailed, postage prepaid, no sooner than the sixteenth day after the date the bill for services was mailed to the subscriber. The notice must be mailed to the premises where the subscriber requests billing, and must identify the names and address of the subscriber whose account is delinquent, state the date by which disconnection may occur if payment is not made, and the amount the subscriber must pay to avoid disconnection, and a telephone number of a representative of the franchisee who can provide additional information concerning the account and handle complaints or initiate an investigation concerning the services and charges in question.

3. The subscriber fails to pay the amounts owed to avoid disconnection by the date of disconnection.

4. No pending inquiry exists regarding the bill to which franchisee has not responded in writing.

B. If the subscriber pays all amounts due, including late charges, before the date scheduled for disconnection, the franchisee will not disconnect service. Service may only be terminated on days in which the customer can reach a representative of the video provider either in person or by telephone.

C. After disconnection (except as noted below), upon payment by the subscriber in full of all proper fees or charges, including the payment of the reconnection charge, if any, the franchisee will reinstate service in accordance with its installation practices for other subscribers. (Ord. No. 99-38, § 4, 10-18-99)

A. 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 that is in violation of FCC rules.

B. After disconnection, the franchisee will 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. Provided, that a reconnection fee may not be imposed on a subscriber disconnected pursuant to this article if the leakage was the result of the franchisee’s acts or omissions; or in any case unless the franchisee notifies the subscriber of the leakage at least three business days in advance of disconnection, and the subscriber has failed to correct the leakage within that time. (Ord. No. 99-38, § 4, 10-18-99)

Except as applicable 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 within 30 days of a request for removal, the property will 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 applicable law. (Ord. No. 99-38, § 4, 10-18-99)

A franchisee may require a reasonable, nondiscriminatory, deposit on equipment provided to subscribers. (Ord. No. 99-38, § 4, 10-18-99)

A. Subscribers will have the right to attach VCRs, receivers, and other terminal equipment to a franchisee’s cable system. Subscribers will also have the right to use their own remote control devices and converters, and other similar equipment to receive signals which they are authorized to receive.

B. A franchisee will not, as a condition of providing service, require a subscriber or potential subscriber to remove any existing antenna, or disconnect an antenna except at the express direction of the subscriber or potential subscriber; provided, that such antenna is connected with an appropriate device and complies with applicable law. (Ord. No. 99-38, § 4, 10-18-99)

A franchisee will not deny service, deny access, or otherwise discriminate against subscribers, programmers, or residents of the city on the basis of race, color, creed, national origin, sex, age, conditions of physical handicap, religion, ethnic background, marital status, or sexual orientation. A franchisee will comply at all times with all applicable law relating to nondiscrimination. (Ord. No. 99-38, § 4, 10-18-99)

A franchisee will not discriminate among persons or the city or take any retaliatory action against a person or the city because of the exercise of any right the person or the city may have under applicable law, nor may the franchisee require a person or the city to waive such rights as a condition of taking service. (Ord. No. 99-38, § 4, 10-18-99)

A franchisee will not deny access or levy different rates and charges on any group of potential residential cable subscribers because of the income of the residents of the local area in which such group resides. (Ord. No. 99-38, § 4, 10-18-99)

Except to the extent the city may not enforce such a requirement, a franchisee is prohibited from discriminating in its rates or charges or from granting undue preferences to any subscriber, potential subscriber, or group of subscribers or potential subscribers.

A. A franchisee may, however, offer temporary, bona fide promotional discounts in order to attract or maintain subscribers, so long as such discounts are offered on a nondiscriminatory basis to similar classes of subscribers throughout the franchise area;

B. A franchisee may, however, offer discounts for the elderly, the disabled, or the economically disadvantaged; and

C. A franchisee may, however, offer such other discounts as it is expressly entitled to provide under applicable law. (Ord. No. 99-38, § 4, 10-18-99)

A franchisee will at all times protect the privacy of all subscribers pursuant to the provisions of 47 U.S.C. Section 551. A franchisee will not condition subscriber service on the subscriber’s grant of permission to disclose information which, pursuant to applicable law, cannot be disclosed without the subscriber’s explicit consent. (Ord. No. 99-38, § 4, 10-18-99)

A. Pursuant to California Government Code Section 53088.2, and any successor statute or regulation, penalties may be assessed against a franchisee for any material breach of the consumer protection provisions established by this article.

B. Penalties may be imposed as follows:

1. Two hundred dollars for each day of each material breach, not to exceed $600.00 for each occurrence of material breach.

2. If there is a subsequent material breach of the same provision within 12 months, $400.00 for each day of each material breach, not to exceed $1,200 for each occurrence of the material breach.

3. If there is a third or additional material breach of the same provision within 12 months of the first, $1,000 for each day of each material breach, not to exceed $3,000 for each occurrence of the material breach.

C. Any penalty assessed under this section will be reduced dollar for dollar to the extent any liquidated damage or penalty provision of a cable franchise grant imposes a monetary obligation on a franchisee for the same customer service failures, and no other monetary damages may be assessed.

D. The city will provide notice, and impose penalties, under this section pursuant to the procedures established by California Government Code Section 53088.2(r) and any successor statute or regulation. (Ord. No. 99-38, § 4, 10-18-99)