Renewable Energy Assurance Limited

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REAL Assurance Scheme

How to complain

The expertise of members and the assurance provided by this Code make sure that micro generators supplied and installed under the scheme are free from manufacturing or installation faults. Occasionally, however, problems can develop.

If you want to complain about the quality of the equipment, the installation, the advice given, the standard of service or any other aspect of the contract, they should use the following procedure. [But note that nothing in this Code will hinder you or the company in question from attempting to obtain immediate relief from the problem, such as a court injunction, if that was appropriate.]

1. You should tell the company who you agreed the contract with about any complaint within three months of first noticing the problem.
2. As soon as possible, and at most within 20 working days from receiving the complaint, the company must arrange to inspect the system.
3. If the complaint is about under-performance, you should try to make evidence available to the member who he or she agreed the contract with.
4. The company will consider the details of the complaint and report the findings clearly to the consumer within seven working days from this inspection.
5. The company will try to find an agreed course of action to solve the complaint to the consumer’s satisfaction.
6. The company must co-operate fully with local consumer advisers or any other person that you consult when making a complaint.
7. If a complaint cannot be sorted out through the above procedure, you or the company can use the conciliation service set out below. [You and the company not take action through the courts without first trying to solve the problem through the conciliation service, except in a case where immediate action is needed.]

Conciliation service

The scheme offers a conciliation service which can be used in the unlikely event of complaints not being sorted out amicably between the two sides. This service aims to reach a non-legal solution to the dispute in a reasonable timescale. It is also available to trading standards offices, consumer advice centres, citizens’ advice bureaux and similar organisations to help them sort out any complaints involving a member. There is no extra charge for using this service. Members should always agree to use it if a consumer wishes to do so.

1. Anyone wanting to use the service will enter the details of the matter on the conciliation form provided when the contract was agreed. You should then send the form to the scheme administrator. Companies must arrange for someone to help vulnerable consumers to fill in the form.
2. Within seven working days the scheme administrator will send a copy of the form to the other people identified in the form as being involved in the dispute.
3. Those people will fill in the relevant sections and return the form to the scheme administrator as soon as possible, but in any event within 10 working days.
4. The scheme administrator will appoint a suitably qualified independent expert (or experts) to consider the matter. This person may or may not be linked to the panel. The expert will review the written evidence and may discuss the details and possible solutions with the people involved.
5. After considering all the evidence, the expert will recommend what they believe to be a fair settlement of the dispute.
6. If everyone accepts this, it will be put into practice and the complaint closed.
7. If the conciliator’s advice is not acceptable to either side, either side may refer the dispute to arbitration below, or look for a solution through the legal processes.

Please click here to download the Conciliation Form as a PDF

Independent arbitration

In exceptional cases in which conciliation cannot solve the dispute, either side has the right to ask for the matter to be referred to the independent arbitration service. Neither side is required to refer the dispute to independent arbitration, and may choose to deal with the matter in other ways, including taking legal action.

The scheme administrator has appointed the independent organisation whose details are shown in attachment D (the ‘independent arbitrator’) to carry out the arbitration process as an alternative to legal action.

The arbitration process will work as follows.

1. Both sides must first have gone through the conciliation service (as described insection 9.2, above).
2. Both side must agree to refer the dispute to the independent arbitrator and both will pay an initial fee of £250 (in the case of any consumer involved in arbitration, this fee will be refundable if the appointed arbitrator recommends it).
3. The forms and other documents, including a summary report, from the conciliation service will be sent to the independent arbitrator.
4. The independent arbitrator will give both sides the opportunity to provide evidence to back up their case and decide whether a site visit or product tests are needed.
5. Any further costs will be explained to both sides and divided between them, as the independent arbitrator may decide.
6. After considering all the evidence, the independent arbitrator will send their decision to both sides and the scheme administrator.

An award made under the independent arbitration service shall be final and binding on both the consumer and the member. They may only challenge it only on certain limited grounds under the Arbitration Act 1996. If the arbitrator makes a decision in favour of the consumer, the member must refund their fee.