Appendix D

Consumer Protection Rules

Detariffed Services (Contract Option)

Rule 1:

a. Rate information and information regarding the terms and conditions of service shall be provided in writing upon request by a current or potential customer. All of the rates, terms and conditions of service must be stated in a contract that must be signed by the customer and otherwise be enforceable. Although no terms may be incorporated by reference, formulae may be used to calculate rates or charges, where the components of the formulae can be readily ascertained from a public source. All ambiguities will be construed against the carrier. A carrier shall make available to any customer, who requests in writing, information about other service plans pertaining to the product(s) or service(s) the customer is ordering and for which the customer is eligible.

b. The contract must provide for written notice to the customer at least 7 calendar days prior to termination of service by the carrier, and refund of any customer deposits within 30 days after service has been terminated.

Rule 2:

No change in the rates, terms, and conditions of any service specified in such a contract shall be enforceable unless such change is set forth in a writing signed by the customer who signed the original contract, or that customer's duly authorized agent. As currently provided in D.97-06-096 (as may be amended or superceded), customers must be notified of any change of ownership of the company providing service to the customer as follows:

a. The notice must be in writing;

b. The carrier must provide it to customers no later than 30 days before the proposed transfer;

c. The notice must contain a straightforward description of the upcoming transfer, any fees the customer will be expected to pay, a statement of the customer's right to switch to another carrier, and a toll-free telephone number for questions; and

d. The notice and the carrier's description of service to customers must be included in the advice letter seeking approval of the change in ownership.

Rule 3:

a. Pursuant to Public Utilities Code § 2889.5, no carrier or any person, firm, or corporation representing a carrier, shall change a customer's presubscribed telephone service provider without the customer's authorization. All carriers shall comply with the provisions of § 2889.5 as well as other applicable state and federal law as they may be amended or superceded from time to time. Carriers shall be held liable for any violation of § 2889.5 including, but not limited to, the unauthorized termination of a customer's service with an existing carrier and the subsequent unauthorized transfer of the customer to the carrier's own service. Violations may incur a penalty or fine pursuant to Public Utilities Code § 2107 as well those allowed pursuant to other law and Commission policy.

b. No carrier whose service has been terminated by a customer shall re-establish service for that customer without the express consent of the customer, which consent may not be founded upon any purported term in an agreement for service that binds the customer to take service from the carrier for a specified term, or continually.

c. All solicitations by carriers or their agents provided to customers must be legible and printed in 10 point type at a minimum.

d. All promotional and marketing materials used in the offering of detariffed telecommunications services shall be wholly separate from the written contract the customer signs. All terms must be plainly stated in understandable language, and must be in the same language employed when the carrier negotiated the contract with the customer.

Rule 4:

a. Each bill must prominently display a toll-free number for service or billing inquiries, along with an address where the customer may write to the carrier.

b. In case of a billing dispute between a customer and the carrier, the carrier will comply with any customer request for the carrier to undertake an investigation and review of the disputed amount.

c. If a customer fails to pay the undisputed portion of the bill by the Due By Date (no sooner than fifteen days of the date of presentation) shown on the bill, the carrier may notify the customer in writing of such delinquency and indicate that service may be terminated

d. A carrier may not disconnect service to a customer who has submitted a claim to CSD for investigation and decision, has either paid the disputed amount or has deposited the amount in dispute with the Commission within seven calendar days after the date the carrier notifies the customer that the carrier's investigation and review are completed. However, in no event shall the carrier disconnect service prior to the Due By Date shown on the bill.

e. In no event shall a carrier disconnect service to a customer who has deposited the full amount in dispute with the Commission so long as the undisputed amount is paid.

Rule 5:

Carriers are restricted from releasing nonpublic customer information in accordance with PU Code §§ 2891, 2891.1, and 2893, and any other applicable state or federal statutes or regulations, as they may be amended from time to time, that pertain to customer privacy. Carriers shall also comply, so long as those rules remain generally applicable to other carriers, with the Commission's rules set forth in Appendix B of Decision Nos. 92860 and 93361, as modified, which generally prohibit, with certain exceptions, the release of calling records and credit information of all subscribers -both residential and business -absent the receipt of a search warrant under federal or state or in response to a subpoena or subpoena duces tecum authorized by a federal or state judge.

Rule 6:

Consistent with our authority over all other carriers, IECs offering detariffed service are directed to cooperate fully by responding in a timely fashion to any request by the Commission or its staff for documents including but not limited to the customer-carrier contract, billing records, customer calling records, solicitations and correspondence from the carrier to the customer, applicable third party verifications, and any other information or documentation regarding a customer complaint. The carrier shall fully comply with a request for such documents or information by the Commission or its staff no later than ten business days from the date of request. Failure by an IEC to comply with this rule may result in penalties as set forth in PU Code §§ 2107, 2110, and 2111. 7.

Any limitation of liability provision contained in a contract for detariffed services shall in no way limit the ability of a complainant to recover reparations before the Commission.