Billing & Special Arrangement Policies:

Billing Policy

The following is NHTC’s standard policy for the payment of service by customers:

Bills mailed to customers 1st of each month.

Payment Due on or Before 20th of each month

  • Late notices mailed on 21st of each month.
  • Bills paid after the 20th of the month will have a late fee of 1.5 percent added.
  • Accounts not paid in full by the end of the month will be subject to having services suspended.
  • All charges (including long distance) are payable on demand, delivery, or upon receipt of statement.
  • No toll adjustments will be made unless the subscriber calls the business office and the office authorizes the subscriber to make the toll adjustment deduction.

Non-Payment or Violation of Contract

In the event of the abandonment of the station, the non-payment of any sum due or any other violation by the subscriber of the Telephone Cooperative rules and regulations applying to subscriber’s contracts or to the furnishing of service the Cooperative may without notice, whether a) suspend service until all violations have ceased, or b) terminate the subscriber’s contract without suspension of service, or c) following a suspension of service sever the connection and remove any of its equipment from the subscriber’s premises. When instruments have been removed for non-payment, the contract is considered to have been terminated. Re-installation of service may be made only upon the execution of a new contract.

Special Arrangement Policy

The following is NHTC’s Special Arrangement Policy for customer bill payments:

  • Subscriber must give reasoning for needing to make special arrangements for bill payments. Acceptable reasons are: death in family, hospitalization, loss of job or other special circumstances to be approved by Management.
  • Subscriber cannot be placed in Special Arrangements more than 3 times in one calendar year.
  • Subscribers who do not comply with the Special Arrangements will not be allowed to make further arrangements for 6 months.
  • No subscriber will be allowed to be placed in Special Arrangements for more than one month with Management approval.
  • Arrangements cannot be changed after they have initially been made.
  • Once the service has been disconnected, it is too late for Special Arrangements to be made.

Reconnecting Service

  • If service has been disconnected due to non-payment, all past due amounts must be paid in full before service is restored.
  • Once a non-paid service has been disconnected for more than 30 days, the service is removed from the NHTC system. To reinstate such an account, all past due amounts must be paid along with full connection fees.

Telephone Directory Information:

Telephone Directories

Numbers not in the current directory may be secured by dialing “411”. No binder, holder, or other cover, except those furnished by the Telephone Cooperative shall be used in connection with any telephone directory. The Telephone Cooperative and the Publishers of this directory assume no liability, whatsoever, for damages arising from errors or omissions in the sales, make-up or printing of the directory. The utmost care is used, in listing all subscribers as correctly as possible.

How to Obtain Directories

A printed directory may be obtained by visiting the NHTC Office.

Errors in Directory Listings

If your listing is incorrect or omitted from this directory, please contact the NHTC Office. We will correct our records to ensure that such an error or omission does not recur.

Non-Published (Private) Listing

  1. A non-listed number is not listed in the alphabetical section of the Company’s directory but is available through Directory Assistance.
  2. A non-published listing is not listed in either the alphabetical section of the Company’s directory or directory assistance records and will not be furnished upon request of a calling party.
  3. An incoming call to a subscriber with a non-published listing will be completed by the Company only when the calling party places the call by number. The Company will adhere to this practice notwithstanding any claim of emergency the calling party may present. The acceptance by the company of the subscriber’s request to furnish a non-published telephone number does not create any relationship or obligation, direct or indirect, to any person other than the subscriber.
  4. In the absence of gross negligence or willful misconduct, no liability for damages arising from publishing a non-published telephone number in the directory or disclosing said number to any person shall attach to the Company. Where a non-published listing is published in the directory, the Company’s liability shall be limited to and satisfied by a refund of any monthly charges which the Company may have had made for such lusting. The subscriber indemnifies and saves the Company harmless against any and all claims for damages caused or claimed to have been caused, directly, or indirectly, by the publication of a non-published listing or the disclosing of said listing information to any person.
  5. For accounting purposes, the telephone number, name, and address of a subscriber with a non-published listing will be provided to the Long Distance Carrier(s) which furnished the subscriber long distance message telecommunications service.
  6. The telephone number, name, and address of the calling party may be displayed at a Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) located on the premises of a customer subscribing to 911 Service, on a call-by-call basis only, for the purpose of responding to emergency calls from non-published numbers. The subscriber forfeits his right to privacy upon making a call to 911.

General Information:

NHTC Protection Plan

Worry-free protection from NHTC. The Protection Plan covers issues with your NHTC equipment, wiring, material, labor, and truck rolls associated with a service trouble.

National and Alabama Do Not Call Registry

The Alabama Public Service Commission has partnered with the Federal Trade Commission to help Alabama consumers who want to reduce the number of telephone solicitations they receive. Alabama has adopted the National Do Not Call Registry and has merged its register with the national list administered by the FTC. If you enrolled on Alabama’s Do Not Call Register before August 14, 2003, you do not have to register again to be included on the national register. You can enroll on the national Don Not Call Registry now. Alabamians can also register by phone at 1-888-382-1222, TTY 1-866-290-4236. More information on the National Do Not Call Registry is available at https://www.donotcall.gov/.

Disputing a Third-Party Charge

You may request, free of charge, a service that blocks the inclusion of charges from third-party providers on your telephone bill by contacting us at 1-877-474-4211 or 256-723-4211.

You may contact the third-party provider or New Hope at the toll-free number listed on your bill to discuss the charges and/or request that they be removed. New Hope will remove any disputed third-party charge from your bill and reverse those charges back to the provider. New Hope will not disconnect your local service for failure to pay disputed third-party charges.

Third-party provider charges may be disallowed or reduced due to billing errors, including overcharges, or if the provider used fraudulent, deceptive, or misleading practices. Refunds for all over-billed charges you paid may be made for up to 36 months prior to the date you objected to those charges, and the subscription to the provider’s products or services may be cancelled.

You may contact the Alabama Public Service Commission’s Consumer Services Division at 1-800-392-8050 to register a complaint concerning a third-party provider.

Classification of Areas as the Basis for Furnishing Telephone Service

Economical operation of the telephone business, to secure protection to the whole body of rate payers and to the business itself, requires that property be built and operated in accordance with a definite plan under which specified classes of service are regularly furnished in specified areas, or types of areas. The Telephone Cooperative does not undertake to furnish any desired class of service at any desired location, nor does it undertake to extend its plant to remote sections where such extension is not warranted by public necessity as distinguished from personal desire, except where protection is afforded. The general plan for furnishing telephone service is based on a classification of areas by types for the determination of the classes of service available and for the application of rates.

Telephone Contracts – Rules & Regulations:

Tariffs

Tariffs which show rates, rules and regulations for telephone service are on file with the Regulatory Commission having jurisdiction over such matter and are available for public inspection at our business office.

Residential

The use of a subscriber’s telephone is limited to the subscriber, his family, or employees in his interest. Subscribers have no right to allow its use by other parties. The telephone may be removed if this condition of the contract is disregarded. The subscriber assumes all responsibility for local or toll messages received at such stations on which the charges are reversed with the consent of the person called.

Business

Service subject to the business rate may be determined by the location of the telephone instrument or the primary use made of the service. The business rate will apply when the telephone is located on premises primarily and essentially used for business purposes such as offices, stores, shops, factories, and garages. The business rate may also apply to telephones located in domestic establishments when the service is used substantially for, or advertised for, business purposes. A residence telephone will be changed to business service, if used primarily or substantially for business purposes, or if the residence telephone number is advertised in connection with the sale of products or services, and the subscriber has no business service elsewhere within our system.

Numbers May be Changed

The subscribers have no property right in the telephone number and the Telephone Cooperative may change the telephone number whenever it deems it desirable in the conduct of its business.

Consumer Responsibilities – Providing Your Own Equipment

Under the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Registration Program, you may supply your own telephone or other terminal equipment and connect it directly to the nationwide telephone network. The equipment must be approved by the FCC, and you are responsible for its proper connection, maintenance, and repair. FCC rules also require that you notify the telephone company before connecting your equipment.

Access to Subscriber’s Premises

For the purpose of inspecting, repairing, or removing any part of the Telephone Cooperative’s equipment, apparatus, and lines on the subscriber’s premises, the Cooperative’s employees shall have access thereto at any reasonable hour. No liability shall attach to the Telephone Cooperative by reason of any defacement or damage to the subscriber’s premises, resulting from the placing of the Cooperative’s instruments, apparatus, and associated wiring on such premises, or by the removal thereof when such defacement or damage is not the result of negligence on the part of the Cooperative or its employees. The Telephone Cooperative shall not be liable for damages or statutory penalties in any cases where a Claim is not presented in writing within sixty days after the alleged delinquency occurs.

Uninterrupted Service Not Guaranteed

In the event service is interrupted due to malfunction of telephone company equipment and not by the negligence or willful act of the customer and it remains out of order for more than 48 consecutive hours after being reported and access is made available for repairs, appropriate pro rata adjustments shall be made to the customer upon request.

Privacy Information:

Subscriber Information Privacy Policy

New Hope Telephone Cooperative is the sole owner of all information collected while conducting business with individuals or businesses. We will not sell, share, or rent this information to others in ways other than those outlined in this statement.

The ways we may collect information

NHTC may collect non-public information about you from the following sources: application for service; verify employment with employer; credit bureaus; and consumer reporting agencies.

The ways we use customer information

Personal information provided by subscribers will be used by NHTC to provide a more personalized experience for the customer, but information which identifies a specific individual will not be disclosed to others without the user’s permission unless necessary to provide services which the subscriber has requested. We take every precaution to protect our customers’ information. All of our customers’ information is restricted in our offices. Only employees who need the information to perform a specific job are granted access to non-public personal information.

The circumstances under which we disclose customer information

We may disclose all the non-public information we collect, as described above, to companies that perform marketing or public information services for us. Except for the customers signing non-publish/private telephone agreements, we may disclose your name, address, and phone number to companies that produce, publish, print, mail or in any way maintain customer correspondence for our company. These would include, but not limited to, emergency services providers (911), directory publishing companies, directory assistance providers, and companies handling NHTC publications. We ensure that such outside service providers sign legal agreements stating that they will use your information only for the purpose for which they have been hired. If we decide to change our privacy policy, we will notify all subscribers no less than 30 days in advance. Customers will always be given a choice as to whether or not we use their information in a different manner. Inquiries may be addressed to : NHTC, Attention : Privacy Policy, 5415 Main Drive, P.O. Box 452, New Hope, AL 35760.

CPNI

New Hope Telephone Cooperative, Inc. (NHTC) wants you to understand your right to restrict the use of, disclosure of, and access to your Customer Proprietary Network Information, or CPNI. You have a right and NHTC has a duty, under federal law, to protect the confidentiality of your Customer Proprietary Network Information.

What is CPNI?

It is the information that NHTC obtains that relates to the quantity, technical configuration, type, destination, location, and amount of use of the telecommunications service you subscribe to from NHTC. It includes information found in your bills, but it does not include subscriber list information (name, address, and telephone number). Examples of CPNI would be the telephone numbers you call, the times you call them, the duration of your calls, or the amount of your bill.

Use of your CPNI

CPNI may be used by NHTC to market services that are related to the package of services to which you currently subscribe, when providing inside wiring installation, maintenance and repair services, and when marketing “adjunct to basic” services, such as call blocking, call waiting, and caller I.D. CPNI may also be used for the provision of customer premises equipment (“CPE”) and services like call answering and voice mail or messaging, and to protect company property and prevent fraud. A carrier may use CPNI to bill and collect for the services you receive from the company. NHTC and its affiliated companies offer additional communications-related services. We seek your approval to access your CPNI so that NHTC, and its affiliates, can provide you information on new services and products that are tailored to meet your needs or may save you money.

If you approve of our use of your CPNI as described above, no action is necessary on your part

You have the right to notify us at any time to object to the use of this information. Your election will remain valid until you notice us otherwise. To disapprove this use, contact us in writing at P.O. Box 452, New Hope, AL 35760, or by phone at 256-723-4211. If you disapprove of our use of your CPNI, you may not receive notice of new services or promotions, but your existing services will not be affected. If you do not notify us of your objection, we will assume you do not object and will use your CPNI for these purposes.