Site Logo

Our Approach to Complaints

Complaints about an MCS installation or installer

If something goes wrong — whether a customer complains to you, or you want to complain about MCS or another MCS certified Installer — we’re here to help. Our process is clear, fair, and easy to follow. 

Home|Installers
Man sat at desk smiling.

Responding to a customer complaint

We always encourage your customers to talk to you as soon as they realise that there is a problem. As an installer, it’s in your best interests to solve any issues quickly, to your customers’ satisfaction, ensuring that they have the best possible experience. 

They should: 

  • Explain what the problem is and what they would like to happen.  
  • Give you a reasonable amount of time in which to respond. How long this takes and what the process looks like, will depend on your processes, appropriate to the size and complexity of your business.  

Larger organisations often have a formal complaints process on their website, including clear response times. If you’re an SME or sole trader, your approach might be more flexible — and that’s fine too, as long as it’s clear and fair for your customers.  

In all cases, however, 14 days (10 working days) is a reasonable maximum time in which your customers should expect a response. It may not be possible for you to fully resolve the issues in this time – but you should at least have agreed on a plan of action with your customer.  

Handling complaints well

It’s important that any staff involved in complaint handling are appropriately trained and that they comply with all aspects of the MCS Customer Commitment.  

MCS CUstomer Commitment
Couple stood infront of their new home.

When MCS can help

If a customer has complained to their MCS certified installer and after giving reasonable time, haven’t had their issue resolved, MCS will take ownership of the complaint.

  • We’ll let you know about any complaints that we receive about your business.
  • We’ll communicate with third parties on your customer’s behalf, so that they don’t have to.  
  • We’ll undertake a technical review of the installation if needed so that we can understand the issues.
  • We’ll work with you to come to a resolution.  
  • We’ll refer the case to the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) provider that we partner with, if we can’t get to a resolution that both you and your customer agree on. 
  • We’ll pay for the referral to the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) provider that we partner with. 
Two women sat behind desk smiling.

When MCS cannot help

We will always do what we can to help you and your customer to reach a positive conclusion in a complaint process.  

But we will not be able to help if: 

  • Your customer hasn’t made a complaint to you first or given you the opportunity and a reasonable enough time for you to respond and resolve the issues. 
  • The complaint has previously been escalated to Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) but the customer doesn’t agree with the ruling. 
  • You were not MCS certified at the time of the installation; for the renewable technology that has been installed.
  • You are no longer trading – but we’ll let the customer know of any other routes that may be open to them.
  • The installation was completed over six years ago. The Consumer Rights Act 2015 provides protection for 6 years in England, Wales and Northern Ireland – and 5 years in Scotland.  
  • If a complaint is about a financial product or a finance provider that has been used to fund an installation. Consumer may instead be able to raise a complaint with the Financial Ombudsman Service, who can be contacted as follows:

Write to: Financial Ombudsman Service, Exchange Tower, London, E14 9SR
Phone: 0800 0 234 567 (free from landlines) or 0300 123 9 123 (charged at a national rate)
Email: complaint.info@financial-ombudsman.org.uk 
Website: www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk 

Homeowner and contractor looking at laptop, pointing to screen.

When complaining to MCS

If you don’t resolve a complaint within a reasonable time, your customers are able to escalate their complaint to MCS. We’ll do all we can to work with you and your customer to come to a resolution.  

We’ll acknowledge complaints within 2 working days and then contact your customer within a further 7 working days to get a full understanding of their complaint and the impact it’s had on them. We’ll also share details of the complaint with you and your Certification Body.  

Most complaints should be fully resolved within 8 weeks, but we’ll keep you and your customer fully informed along the way so that you know exactly what to expect.  

If a resolution still can’t be agreed on, and a complaint has therefore become a dispute, MCS are not accredited to offer dispute resolution and so won’t be able to help directly anymore at this point.  We will, however, support you by escalating the dispute to our Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) provider if your customer asks for this. MCS will fund the ADR  and so it’s totally free to use for both you and your customer.  

We aim to work constructively with installers to help resolve complaints. However, if a complaint is serious, remains unresolved, or if we receive multiple complaints about the same installer, we may need to take further action. How the installer engages with the process is also important. In some cases, this could include suspension or removal of MCS certification.  

Whistleblowing

If you want to let MCS know your concerns about the safety and/or compliance of an installation you’ve seen by an MCS certified installer, we can help. 

Any whistleblower complaints that we receive regarding the safety, quality or compliance of an MCS certified installation will therefore always be taken incredibly seriously.  

You can raise a whistleblower complaint, including anonymously if you wish by sending detailed evidence, including photographs, in any of the following ways: 

FIND OUT MORE
Phil Collier, Customer Support Specialist at MCS.

Complaints about your experience with MCS

We want to have a long and successful relationship with all MCS certified installers. 

If you’re an MCS certified installer and want to complain about any aspect of the service that you’ve received from MCS, please refer to the Installer Complaints Promise.  

If you’re unhappy with any aspect of your interactions or service that you’ve received from MCS, please contact us in any of the following ways, giving full information and detailing what you want the outcome to be and why.  

  • Complete an online form
  • Send us an email
  • Write to us: First Floor, Violet 3, Sci-Tech Daresbury, Keckwick Lane, Daresbury, Cheshire, WA4 4AB.
  • Phone us on 0333 103 8130
  • Live chat with an available advisor

If your complaint is related to a rejection of an application to become MCS certified, or a suspension or withdrawal by MCS or your Certification Body of your certification, please instead use our appeals process. 

contact us

We need as much detail as possible about what you believe has gone wrong and why you are not satisfied with the service from MCS. If related to a consumer complaint, tell us, in as much detail as possible, why you don’t agree with the outcome or the handling of the complaint by MCS. 

We’ll acknowledge your complaint within 2 working days and will respond within a further 7 working days. We’ll want to talk to you using your preferred contact method, to get a full understanding of your complaint and the impact it’s had on you. We aim to resolve any complaint from an installer as soon as possible, but within 4 weeks and will keep you fully informed if this can’t be achieved so that you know what to expect. 

Once the complaint has been fully investigated and concluded, you’ll be sent an outcome. This will include: 

  • Summary of your complaint
  • Detail of investigation
  • Whether your complaint has been upheld or rejected
  • Reasons for the complaint being upheld or rejected
  • Any actions taken to resolve your complaint
  • Any preventative actions taken more broadly

If you’ve been through the MCS complaints process but you’re not happy with the suggested resolution or the outcome, you can be assured that MCS will have done everything that we can to help you get to a fair and reasonable outcome.  

You can apply to have your complaint reviewed by our Head of Customer Experience. To have this reviewed, please email our Complaints Team at mcscomplaints@mcscertified.com with Complaints Appeal and the MCS case number in the subject line.  The outcome of this review will be issued to you within 4 weeks of the date of appeal and is the final stage in the installer complaints process.