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HomeMy WebLinkAboutIR 7966 INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 7966 �HaR�eA� November 21,1995 as }k To the Mayor and Members of the City Council �q XA5 Subject: 1875 TRANSFER OF FORT WORTH CABLE FRANCHISE AND CUSTOMER SERVICE MONITORING On August 29, 1995, the City Council approved the transfer of a cable franchise from Sammons of Fort Worth to Marcus Cable Associates, L.P. Marcus Chief Operating Officer Louis A. Borrelli Jr. has informed the City that the formal sale and transfer of the system occurred on November 1, 1995. Marcus purchased the right to continue to use the"Sammons"name for at least 180 days after the sale of the system. "Marcus Cable" is appearing in advertisement, on correspondence and other selected places already. Bills, vehicles, buildings and other locations, which are not easily renamed, will continue to use the "Sammons"name. Marcus officials have indicated they are considering a marketing campaign after the first of-the year to emphasize their acquisition. The transfer agreement between the Grty of Fort Worth and Marcus dealt with a number of issues. However, City Council indicated that improved customers service was a priority. Customer service standards for Marcus are set out by the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) and by the City's franchise agreement. In the transfer agreement, Marcus agreed to abide by the FCC's standards, except where local standards exceed federal criteria, and to expand its customer service program to include the cable industry's "On-time Guarantee" for installations. The FCC standards which Marcus will meet are: *Maintain telephone service 24-hours per day. After regular business hours, telephones may go to an answering service or voice mail system. *Calls will be answered with in 30 seconds and transferred within another 30 seconds. *Callers will receive a busy signal less than 3 percent of the time. *Work on service interruptions will begin immediately. In no event will work begin later than 24 hours after becoming known. *Standard installation will be accomplished within seven days. *Appointments for service will be within a 4-hour block of time or at a specified time. *Customer service/bill payment locations will be open during normal business hours and located conveniently. Fort Worth exceeds the FCC standards in the area of business hours. Marcus hours are 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. through 1 p.m. on Saturday. The City receives few calls complaining about the hours of operation. The complaints in this area are about the lack of a physical address of the customer service center. Marcus has agreed to list th 0 ry" of the center, along with the post office box billing address, on its cable bills. U a 7 ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH,TEXAS ~ INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 7966 otRTEA�o November 21,1995 Page 2 of 3 g�4p'AP_- To the Mayor and Members of the City Council Ak %*j-P X Subject: Transfer of Fort Worth Cable Franchise and Customer 1813 Service Monitoring The.majority of cable subscriber calls to the City are complaints about the difficultly in reaching a cable representative via telephone. During normal heavy use times subscribers can have difficultly reaching a service representative. Any additional problem, such as an outage, overloads the telephone system and aggrevates the problem. Under those circumstances, cable subscribers "give up" and make a second call to the City to lodge a complaint about the cable With Marcus' entry intoyort Worth and its written commitment to customer service,the City of Fort Worth is working with Marcus to improve the company's customers service while also streamlining the City's customer service monitoring and complaint resolution system. The City has asked Marcus to change-�� recorded message so a customer service representative can be reached by the subscriber with"I having to listen to the lengthy recorded message. Marcus has agreed to address the problem. City staff will test the cable company's customer telephone service no less than 15 times each month to determine if calls are being answered and transferred within the FCC and local standards. Marcus has begun a process in which it notifies the City immediately when major outages occur. This information will enable the City to inform customers of existing problems, in the event the subscriber cannot contact Marcus, or to assist in the event a dispute develops over whether an outage occiirred. If the City is not notified of a cable outage or telephone service interruption, it is assumed that Marcus is operating under"normal conditions." Natural disasters, civil disturbances, power outages,telephone network outages and unusual weather conditions are not considered normal conditions. All cable customer complaints received by the City will be logged on a form. A draft of the form is attached. The form will be used to track resolution of the complaint by Marcusapd to insure a reply is made the subscriber. When the city receives a complaint and the forrn is completed, a written copy is faxed to Marcus. If the complaint requires a letter from Marcus to the subscriber, a copy is sent to the City. If Marcus calls the subscriber, the City also follows-up to confirin that the problem has been resolved. If there is a discrepancy, the City will discuss the matter with The City is reviewing existing Marcus reports to determine the best method of monitoring adherence to the "On-Time" guarantee. If a subscriber calls the City to complain that Marcus was late for a service call or installation, it is presumed that the customer is correct. Under the "On-time"policy which Marcus is following, the customer is due a reftind. The City will review Marcus records and its own complaint logs to determine compliance. A Marcus Customer Service Report will be compiled by City staff and submitted to City Council quarterly. IfMarcu' s is found to be in non-compliance during any month, the liquidated damage, ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS ^ INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 7966 ASTEp4b November 21,1995 ,'"$N To the Mayor and Members of the City Council Cg Transfer of Fort Worth Cable Franchise and Customer 1873 Service Monitoring as outlined in the transfer agreement, will be triggered. City Council will be informed immediately of the non-compliance so an official notice of non-compliance can be issued. If liquidated damages are to be collected, the City staff will use the same methods that are used in other City contracts to collect. To insure that Fort Worth cable subscribers are aware of the customer standards that Marcus Cable is committed to deliver, a series of City marketing efforts will be undertaken during the course of the next few months. The Citizens Cable Programming Advisory Committee, as well as staff, will use the five community channels, the Cily Page and City Times, news releases, and other means to inform and educate the subscriber about customer service standards and how to lodge complaints with Marcus and theC'ity. If Council needs additional information, please contact Assistant to the City Manager Pat prow, 4GO'44 "7 Bob Terrell City Manager ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH,TEXAS Marcus,Cable completes deal. for .4rea Sammons systems 103y DAN PILLER Sammons Chairman James N. Fort Worth Star-Telegram Whitson said"this is the end of an Mai-cis Cable said yesterday era at Sammons as we have been in that it completed its$1 billion pur- the cable television business since chase of Sammons Communica- 1961.We do believe,however,that tions systems covering Fort Worth 'Jeff and his company will carry and rn�st of Tarrant County, as forth in a manner of which we will well as,Duncanville, Denton and be proud"and we wish Marcus the Paktities in Dallas County. Cable well." The deal will add more than Sammons sold its other major 100,000 new subscribers to Mar- cable TV properties,in Pennsylva- cus, -�'systcm, which extends nia and New York, to Tele- thro* 19 states.With 1.2 million Communications Inc. subs,Tibers, Marcus is the nation's To finance the purchase,Marcus ninth; cableTV operator. raised $275 million of new equity capital from its existing partners as Marcus Cable Chief Executive well as Hicks Muse,Tate&Furst in Off ii er Jeffrey A.Marcus said"we Dallas, the State of Wisconsin In- ;, ar leased to have completed the vestment Board and First Union' ac isition and we now can get on Corp. w t the task of taking these sys- The ex-Sammons franchise in tt il e s to the next level. There is Fort Worth that Marcus now con- much to be done, but we are ex- trols extends through 2006. Mar- citid about the potential of these cus also holds the franchise in properties." Mansfield. ll, ✓ute; Call Received By. Gall Bar Name (H) (d) Address Telephone Numbers Nort-Subscriber Subscriber Account No. Complaint/Question: Not Getting Information _Not Qettiug Service Other History (Start date of Problem) Has+customer tallmd to operator? What was response? ©ato Marcus contacted Mamrw rCSpoxtse to city (Date) (Staff Person) Customer Fallow Up; Was Outage reported? Telephone service interruption? Other? If service terminated,when? Date refund made? Marcus Cable RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED November 1, 1995 Mr. Bob Terrell City Manager City of Fort Worth 1000 Throckmorton Fort Worth, TX 76102 Dear Mr. Terrell, I am pleased to inform you that Marc46able Associates, L.P. completed its acquisition of cable television assets from Sammons Communications and affiliates on November 1, 1995. Under the terms of the consent resolution, the cable television franchise was transferred to Marcus Cable Associates, L.P. concurrent with the closing on November 1, 1995. If required, a Certificate of Insurance and Performance Bond have been included. Please accept my thanks and'appreciation for your patience during this long process. We look forward to a long mutually beneficial relationship providing your citizens the best possible cable television service. If at any time y;u have any concerns or if I may be of any further assistance, please feel free to contact me at (214) 521-7898. Yours tru Louis A. Bo fielli, Jr. Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer 2911 Turtle Creek B'6'L:11cN'ur6 ,Spite 1300 • Dallas, Texas 75219 (2 14) 521-7898 Fa\' (214) 526-2151,