§ 30-55. Consumer protection provisions.
(a)
Definitions. For purposes of this section, the following terms and words shall have the meaning herein unless the context clearly indicates that another meaning is intended. When not inconsistent with the context, words used in the present tense include the future, words in the plural number include the singular number and words in the singular number include the plural.
Conditions beyond the control of a franchisee shall include (1) hurricanes, floods, windstorms and tornadoes, (2) fires and explosions, (3) vandalism, sabotage and tampering by subscribers, (4) construction cuts and other major damages by others of the cable trunk and distribution system, (5) transmittal failure by cable programming providers, both broadcast and satellite fed, (6) and commercial electrical power outages in areas where the cable system does not have backup power installed.
Normal operating conditions means those service conditions which are within the control of the franchisee. Those conditions which are not within the control of the franchisee 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 franchisee include, but are not limited to, special promotions, pay-per-view events, rate increases, regular peak or seasonal demand periods and maintenance or upgrade of the cable system.
Service interruptions means the loss or deterioration of picture or sound of one or more channels of a single subscriber, excluding interruptions caused by the program originator.
System interruption means the loss of picture or sound of one or more channels of multiple subscribers in common system distribution or trunk service area or areas, such as in subdivisions and neighborhoods.
(b)
Service.
(1)
The franchisee shall not without good cause fail to provide available service to individuals or prospective subscribers, nor shall the franchisee terminate service without good cause. Service shall be provided to all interested customers where economically feasible.
(2)
Termination of services. Upon termination of service to any subscriber, the franchisee shall promptly remove all portions of its system, facilities and equipment from the premises of such subscriber upon his request.
(c)
Customer complaints.
(1)
All subscriber complaints regarding quality of service, equipment malfunctions and similar matters shall be acted upon by the franchisee as soon as possible.
(2)
Except where there exists an emergency situation necessitating a more expedited procedure, the franchisee may interrupt service, for the purpose of repair or upgrading of the system, only during periods of minimum use.
(3)
The franchisee shall establish procedures for receiving, acting upon and resolving subscriber complaints. These procedures shall be filed with the county administrator. The franchisee shall furnish a notice of such procedures to each subscriber at the time of initial subscription to the system and at least once a year thereafter, which notice shall include complaint telephone numbers of the franchisee.
(4)
The franchisee shall keep a record of and investigate all written complaints from subscribers. Such records shall identify the subscriber, his address, the nature, location and date of the complaint, and a technician's report on the disposition of the complaint. The county may, during normal business hours, inspect the subscriber written complaint records of the franchisee which shall be kept in the public inspection file.
(5)
The county administrator is hereby designated by the county as having primary responsibility for the continuing administration of the franchise and implementation of complaint procedures.
(6)
The franchisee shall within seven days after receiving written request from the county, send a written report to the county with respect to any complaint. The report to the county shall provide a full explanation of the investigation, findings and corrective steps taken by the franchisee.
(7)
In all situations where cable service is disrupted to 500 or more subscribers for a time period greater than four hours due to the franchisee's plant equipment failure, the franchisee shall notify the office of the county administrator immediately.
(d)
Customer's right upon failure of service.
(1)
Efficient repairs and services. Each franchisee shall render efficient service, make prompt repairs, and interrupt the service only for good cause and for the shortest time possible.
(2)
Notification of interruptions. Such interruptions, insofar as possible, shall be preceded by notice and shall occur during periods of minimum use of the system.
(3)
Limitation of failures. The franchisee shall limit failure to a minimum by locating and correcting area service outages promptly, as provided in this section 3-55.
a.
A complete report may be required by the county for any failure lasting longer than 48 hours.
(4)
Commercial power outages. In the event of prolonged commercial power outages beyond battery capacity, the franchisee will maintain the system with portable generators at backup power locations to the limits of the franchisee's equipment availability, in local inventory.
(e)
Office hours and telephone availability.
(1)
Each franchisee must maintain local, toll-free or collect-call telephone access available to its subscribers 24 hours per day, seven days per week.
(2)
Each franchisee shall have trained company representatives who will be available to respond to customer telephone inquiries during normal business hours which shall be from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. each weekday, excluding national holidays.
(3)
After normal business hours as described above, the access line may be answered by company representatives or a staffed answering service, or an automated response system. Inquiries received after normal business hours must be responded to as provided herein.
(4)
Under normal operating conditions, telephone answer time by a customer representative, including wait time, shall not exceed 30 seconds when the connection is made. If the call needs to be transferred, transfer time shall not exceed 30 seconds. These standards shall be met no less than 90 percent of the time, under normal operating conditions measured on a quarterly basis, during normal business hours as defined herein. Quarters shall be defined as three-month intervals and shall end on December 31st, March 31st, June 30th and September 30th. The franchisee will 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. An historical records of complaints shall mean a significant increase in complaints as determined by Collier County, compared to the same time periods of previous years, by customers or property owner associations to Collier County, concerning the franchisee's performance under this section. Upon this evidence, besides investigating to determine compliance, Collier County may also request, and the franchisee shall supply, monthly reports until the customer's complaints subside or the county investigation fails to verify non-compliance.
(5)
Each franchisee shall maintain the following telephone statistics and provide a written summary report by franchise area which shall include:
a.
Number of calls received; and
b.
Number of calls answered within 30 seconds.
The summary report will be delivered to Collier County within 20 days following the end of the same period the statistics cover. Statistics will be maintained on all telephone operation centers.
(6)
Under normal operating conditions, the customer will receive a busy signal (a condition of all trunks busy) less than three percent of the time. Customers will experience a busy signal not to exceed three percent of the time on a cumulative basis on any business day during normal business hours as defined herein. Upon evidence of a significant increase in customer complaints or other evidence of possible telephone service violations as determined by Collier County, the franchisee shall perform measurements of compliance if internal equipment has the capability or the franchisee shall request the local telephone provider to perform tests to determine compliance or authorize the local telephone provider to perform tests and compile data at the request of Collier County. In any event, the test times and intervals shall be determined by Collier County.
(f)
Installations, system and service outages.
(1)
Customer service centers and bill payment locations will be open at least during normal business hours as defined herein and will be conveniently located.
(2)
Under normal operating conditions, the following four standards will be met no less than 95 percent of the time, measured on a quarterly basis:
a.
Standard installations will be performed within six business days after an order has been placed. "Standard installations" are those that are located up to 125 feet from the existing distribution system. This time limit shall not apply to installations requested in advance of more than six business days. In those cases, the applicable time limit shall be the requested date of installation. For purposes of calculating time, unless otherwise provided herein, said time shall begin the next business day after an order has been placed or upon issuance of a permit, if required. Installations in excess of 125 feet must be completed within 20 calendar days and installations requiring a distribution line extension will be completed within 30 calendar days after a feasibility study has been completed by the franchisee and an agreement has been reached between the franchisee and intended customer on construction costs, if any. The time provision shall not apply when conditions beyond the control of the franchisee prevent completion of the installations. Such condition shall include inability to obtain permits after application has been made or the lack of availability of necessary equipment within a reasonable time period. This section does not impose any requirement on the franchisee to serve an area. For each violation of this section, the subscriber shall not be charged for the primary outlet installation charge. The primary outlet installation charge shall be credited to the subscriber's account within the next billing cycle. This penalty shall be automatically executed by the franchisee, but shall not apply if the customer refused service that was not at the requested service location as agreed. In the latter case, the franchisee shall leave written notice to the subscriber of its effort to provide service.
b.
Excluding conditions beyond the control of the franchisee, the franchisee will make a bona fide effort to correct (a) service interruptions no later than within 24 hours after the interruption becomes known and (b) system interruptions within four hours after the interruption becomes known if between the hours of 6:00 a.m. to 12:00 midnight. If a system interruption is reported after 10:00 p.m., this requirement applies beginning at 8:00 a.m. the next day. The franchisee must begin actions to correct other service problems the next business day after notification of the service problem. For each violation of this section, each subscriber who does not receive service as provided herein may request a credit of $10.00 per incident in the next billing cycle but not if (1) the customer refused service, (2) the customer was not at home or (3) the franchisee determines that the request is not a valid one as supported by the service records. In the case of a customer not being at home, the franchisee shall leave written notice to the subscriber of its effort to correct service.
c.
The appointment window alternatives for installations, service calls and other installation activities will be either a specific time or, at maximum, a four-hour time block (a.m. or p.m.) during normal business hours. (The franchisee may schedule service calls and other installation activities outside of normal business hours at the express convenience of the customer.) A franchisee may not cancel an appointment with a customer after the close of business on the business day prior to a scheduled appointment. For such violation of this subsection c., each subscriber who does not receive service as provided herein may request a credit of $10.00 per incident in the next billing cycle but not if (1) the customer refused service, (2) the customer was not at home or (3) the franchisee determines that the request is not a valid one as supported by service records. In the case of a customer not being at home, the franchisee shall leave a written notice at the subscriber's home of its effort to provide service. However, calls on which subscribers were at fault will not be eligible for this credit as documented in service records.
d.
If a franchisee representative is running late for an appointment with a customer and will not be able to keep the appointment as scheduled, the customer will be contacted. The franchisee will make a bona fide attempt to reassign the appointment to another agent or employee prior to canceling an appointment. The appointment will be rescheduled, as necessary, at a time which is convenient for the customer. For each violation of this subsection d., each subscriber who does not receive service as provided herein may request a credit of $10.00 per incident in the next billing cycle but not if (1) the customer refused service, (2) the customer was not at home or (3) the franchisee determines that the request is not a valid one as supported by service records. In the case of a customer not being at home, the franchisee shall leave a written notice at the subscriber's home of its effort to provide service. However, calls on which subscribers were at fault will not be eligible for this credit as documented in service records.
(3)
If there is evidence of non-compliance with customer credits as provided in this section, upon request by the county, each franchisee shall provide the county manager's office a monthly report of non-compliance with requirements of this section and resulting credits. This report shall be provided to the county manager by the 20th of each month following the reporting period.
(g)
Communications between franchisee and subscribers.
(1)
The franchisee shall provide written information on each of the following areas at the time of installation of service, at least annually to all subscribers, and at any other time upon request: (1) product and services, (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 local franchise authority's cable office.
(2)
Customers will be notified of any changes in rates, programming services or channel positions, as soon as possible through announcements on the cable system and in writing to each customer. Notice must be given to subscribers a minimum of 30 days in advance of such changes if the change is within the control of the franchisee. In addition, the franchisee shall notify subscribers 30 days in advance for any significant changes in the other information required in the preceding paragraph.
(3)
Bills will be clear, concise and understandable. Bills must be fully itemized, with itemization including, but not limited to, basic and service tiers and premium service charges and equipment charges. Bills will also clearly delineate all activity during the billing period, including optional charges, rebates and credits.
(4)
In the case of a billing dispute, the franchisee must respond to a written complaint from a subscriber within ten days after receipt at the local franchisee's office.
(5)
Refund checks will be issued promptly, but no later than either (a) the customer's next billing cycle following the resolution of the request or 30 days, whichever is earlier, or (b) the date of return of the equipment supplied by the franchisee if service is terminated. Credits for service will be issued no later than the customer's next billing cycle following the determination that a credit is warranted.
(h)
Privacy/use of data.
(1)
The franchisee shall comply with all federal and state laws regarding the collection and storing of individual subscriber information.
(2)
The county or the franchisee shall not, without prior valid written authorization from each subscriber so affected, provide any data identifying subscriber's name or address to any person except as provided by law and pursuant to procedures established by state and federal law.
(3)
No authorization for procurement or dissemination of subscriber-identifiable information or data shall be valid unless it does the following:
a.
Specifies the type or types of information or data covered; and
b.
Identifies the parties authorized to collect, receive, store, record, transmit or otherwise convey this information or data.
All authorizations shall specify the maximum period of time that any subscriber-identifiable information or data shall be preserved in any manner or form.
(4)
A written copy of all subscriber-identifiable information or data which is retained and/or disclosed and the disposition of this information or data, together with any explanation necessary to make it understandable to the subscriber, shall be provided to the affected subscriber within 30 days of procurement except that information which is necessary for purposes of billing the subscriber or keeping the subscriber informed of programming. Further disclosure shall be fully detailed in writing to the affected subscriber within 30 days of such disclosure.
(i)
Miscellaneous.
(1)
The franchisee shall grant pro-rated credits upon request by subscribers experiencing outages for more than 24 hours. The credit shall be retroactive to the beginning of the outage.
(2)
Any of the customer service standards may be waived by the county manager's office for no-competitive (overbuilt) systems of small size if found to be impractical when comparing costs versus subscriber benefits.
(j)
Interest on subscriber deposits. If and when the franchisee collects deposits from its subscribers, it shall pay interest at an annual rate equal to the legal rate pursuant to Florida Statutes on any deposit of $100.00 or more as required of a subscriber. The franchisee may elect to pay such interest annually in the form of credits to subscriber accounts.
(Ord. No. 88-90, § 30; Ord. No. 94-12, § 4)