CONSUMER PROTECTION AND CUSTOMER
SERVICE UNDER THE 1992 CABLE ACT
By ANDREW T. FREUND and RICHARD G. FLOOD, Zukowski, Rogers, Flood & McArdle
This is the third article in a series of four articles addressing
municipal regulation of the cable television industry. This
article will explore consumer protection and consumer service
issues under the 1992 Cable Act.
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The extraordinarily rapid growth in the cable television industry brought with it unhappy customers as a
result of the industry's inability to adequately service
the millions of new subscribers. In response to this
situation. Congress required the Federal Communication Commission ("FCC") to adopt customer service
standards relating to "(1) cable system office hours and
telephone availability, (2) installation, outages, and service calls, and (3) communications between the cable
operator and the subscriber, including standards governing bills and refunds."1
The standards adopted by the FCC are "self-executing" and cable operators are expected to comply
with the standards by July 1, 1993. Municipalities may
establish and enforce these service requirements if they
provide the cable operator with 90 days' written notice
by certified mail of their intent to enforce the standards.
The first step in initiating enforcement is for the municipality to adopt an ordinance. Municipalities may determine their own specific enforcement mechanisms
and procedures or alternatively may adopt those set
forth by the FCC.2 These enforcement procedures
preempt any franchise agreement provisions to the contrary. Customer service standards which are more
stringent than FCC standards are allowable.3
The minimum standards set forth by the FCC are
relatively straight forward. During normal business
hours, the cable operator must provide non-automated
answering of its telephone system. In addition, during
normal business hours and under normal operating
conditions, the time from when the connection is made
until the phone is answered must not exceed 30 seconds,
including wait time. Transfer time shall not exceed 30
seconds. These standards must be met 90% of the time.
Also a caller may receive a busy signal only three percent of the time during normal operating conditions.
Unless the number of complaints indicates a clear failure to comply with the FCC standards, the operator
does not need to perform special surveys or require
special equipment to comply with these standards, but
only needs to use its best efforts to document compliance.
Bill payment and customer service locations must
be open during normal business hours and be conveniently located. Further, under normal operating conditions, a cable operator is required to meet the following
four standards at least 95% of the time: (i) Standard
installations are required to be performed within seven
business days after the order is received; (ii) The FCC
now requires the operator to give a customer a four-hour window of time during the day when service will
be provided; (iii) A cable operator must begin working
on "service interruptions" no later than 24 hours after
learning of the outage. Work on other service problems
must begin the next business day; and (iv) Cancellation
of appointments must be made prior to the close of
business before the scheduled appointment. Where the
cable operator is late, he is obligated to contact the
customer and reschedule the appointment at a time
convenient for the customer.
The FCC now requires that subscribers be notified
through announcements on the cable system and in
writing of any changes in rates, programming services
or channel positions as soon as possible. Where possible, this must be a 30-day notice. Bills must be fully
itemized and note all activity during the billing period.
Refunds are required to be issued within 30 days of the
next billing cycle after resolution of a refund request.
The FCC has not established customer service enforcement guidelines regarding reporting requirements, refunds or penalties. Therefore, local governments are free to establish "reasonable remedies to
assure the compliance and fairness to all parties." Municipality imposed remedies could include refunds,
credits and court actions.
1. The Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of
1992 (the "Act"), §6,32.
2. §632(c)(l) of the Act.
3. §632(c)(2) of the Act.
January 1994 / Illinois Municipal Review / Page 9
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