With regard to the customer care complaints system in respect of installations under its central heating programme administered through Eag…

In January 2003 Eaga introduced a new system for recording and dealing with complaints. They now have a comprehensive register of complaints and action taken on them and a dedicated complaints team.In the period 1 January to 30 May 2003 there have been 48 complaints about standards of workmanship by contractors; 19 have been upheld, seven have not been upheld and a decision has yet to be made in 22 cases. There have been a total of 73 complaints about excessive mess and upheaval, damage to decoration or household goods, and debris left behind. Twenty-nine of these complaints have been upheld, 17 have not been upheld and 27 are pending. There were 2,854 installations in this period, so the number of complaints relates to 4.24% of this total.Eaga have two staff who deal with complaints and a further member of staff who deals with enquiries from MSPs. Other members of staff, up to and including the manager, are available if required and senior members of staff will become involved in individual cases if an adjudication or second opinion is required. For those complaints, which have been resolved, the average time taken to resolve them was 12 days.Eaga have not previously maintained a central register of remedial works required to resolve complaints or additional expenses incurred as a consequence. They will now keep such a register.Installations are inspected by Eaga's technical monitoring officers. They ensure that the required specifications, such as the number and siting of radiators and the position of the boiler, have been met. Eaga also employ two specialist companies who carry out a 100% inspection of installations to ensure that quality standards are met.Where a complaint is upheld and remedial works are required to the central heating system, or other substantial works are needed, those works are inspected on completion.