Herschel Accredited Installer Network – Terms & Conditions

Herschel Accredited and Approved Installer Network

Eligibility Criteria

The following criteria are to be met throughout the membership:

• The Member must be qualified and a member of an appropriate nationally recognized body.
• The Member must have a trading history prior to the date of commencement of Membership of at least 12 months
• The member must hold appropriate Public Liability Insurance throughout the term, taken out and maintained in full plus comprehensive insurance policies for professional indemnity, employer’s liability (if applicable) and public liability in respect of the carrying out of Member’s works.
• The Member must have a health & safety policy
• The Member must, as a minimum have successfully passed the Herschel Infrared Technology Centre Installer course (“How to plan and Install Herschel Infrared”).

Status and Authority of the Member:

• Each member is an independent contractor and should not declare themselves an employee, worker, agent or partner of Herschel and the Member shall not hold himself out as such.
• All members are in competition with one another and there is no guarantee of any volume of work or of any level of income through the Network.
• The Member must declare if they are a member of any other Scheme relating to Far Infrared Heating.

Advertising & Marketing

• Members may only promote and advertise their services in a clear, honest and lawful manner. Any advertisement placed by a Member must comply with statutory and national standards to ensure that all advertisements are legal, honest and truthful and that they are clearly identifiable as an advertisement. Members must operate under fair and honest sales practices.
• Members must not engage in any commercial practices that are misleading or likely to mislead consumers; use physical force, harassment, coercion or undue influence; be party to charging fees that are discriminatory or excessive; exploit the trust vulnerability or lack of experience of consumers or encourage or condone unsafe or harmful practices.

Continuing Eligibility and Disclosure of Information

• All Members continue to be fit and proper throughout their duration within the Network and hold all relevant qualifications and continue to be competent to practice as an installer of electrical heating appliances.
• The Member shall immediately notify the Herschel upon any breach or potential or alleged breach of the terms of the guidelines and rules by the member, specifically;
• Any event of circumstance which means that the Member is or may become ineligible which shall include in particular but without limitation the member having a criminal conviction or otherwise ceasing to be fit and proper; and
• Any breach or potential or alleged breach of the Terms & Conditions, Rules or the Code of Practice.
• Loss of accreditation.

Suspension and Withdrawal Of/From Membership

Herschel shall be entitled to withdraw membership at any time if:

• The Member commits a serious breach of contract of the rules which is capable of remedy and which the Member fails to rectify within a reasonable period or
• The Member commits a serious breach of contract of the rules which is not capable of remedy
• The Member becomes insolvent or subject to insolvency proceedings
• If the member commits a serious offence.

The member may withdraw from membership at any time by serving written notice to Herschel or its appointed agent.

With the withdrawal of/from Membership, the Member shall;

• Complete and register all installations which have been committed to be carried out, or make appropriate arrangements for such installations to be carried out by another Member to the satisfaction of the relevant customer.
• Immediately remove all Herschel branding and all references in its marketing materials and website to Herschel or as an Approved and Authorised Herschel Installer.

Herschel Complaints Procedure

Any complaints from the consumer are required to be sent in writing to Herschel Infrared Ltd. Shore House, 68 Westbury Hill, Bristol, BS9 3AA, United Kingdom.

Upon receiving the letter

• The Member may be taken off “Find an Installer” pages and stop receiving sales leads whilst the situation is being investigated
• If result of this investigation is in favour of the consumer dependent on the severity of the case, the Member will if applicable
• Be asked to rectify the issue
• Be asked to complete additional training on the relevant products for the relevant staff within a 3 month time period. If this has proved satisfactory, sales leads will resume.
• OR be removed from the scheme in full.
• If the result of this investigation is in favour of the Member, sales leads will resume (if originally taken off).

The decision taken by Herschel will be final.

Code of Conduct

This Code of Conduct sets out the standards of professional conduct and practice expected of Members. This Code does not repeat obligations placed on Members by the general law, for example in the areas of discrimination or employment

Integrity

A Member shall at all times act with integrity, honesty and trustworthiness. Avoid conflicts of interest and any actions or situations that are inconsistent with its professional obligations.

Competence

A Member shall carry out its professional work with due skill, care and diligence and with proper regard for the technical standards expected of it.

Service

A Member shall carry out its professional work with expedition and with proper regard for standards of service and customer care expected to it.

Training

A Member shall have in place the necessary procedures to ensure that all of their staff are properly trained to do their work including ongoing continual professional development

Complaints handling

A Member shall acknowledge in writing all complaints and set out a likely timescale for resolving the complaint and include a point of contact for the customer.

Professional indemnity insurance

A Member shall ensure that all previous and current professional work is covered by adequate and appropriate professional indemnity insurance cover which meets standards approved by the Regulatory Board.

Advertising

A Member shall promote its professional services only in a truthful and responsible manner.

Technical Bulletins

Members are requested to keep up to date with the latest requirements, this can be done via the Herschel Infrared Technology Centre and Herschel newsletters / technical bulletins.

Sales Leads

• All Members are entitled to sales leads in their areas obtained via our technical sales line, general promotional activities or from our “Find an installer” web pages.
• Members must ensure that all sales leads are dealt with swiftly and efficiently. Contact is to be made with the consumer within 3 working days of receipt of any enquiry via the Network. If it is not possible to quote a customer due to overload of work, the member is asked to contact the end-user to advise them to refer to the “Find an installer” web page. It is of the utmost importance that the consumer continues to hold all accredited installers and the “Find an Installer” web page in high regard.
• All sales leads received by the Member must quote a Herschel product
• Herschel will monitor sales leads to ensure fairness. Members not responding to sales leads repeatedly will be dealt with on an individual basis and may be taken off the scheme.
• Sales leads are for the sole use of Member, they are not to be passed/sold on to other installers or third parties.
• Herschel has the right to remove Members from the “Find an Installer” site.

Use of Marketing materials

Members are entitled to use Herschel marketing materials for the promotion of Herschel Far Infrared products provided they agree to the terms of access to the Marketing portal and comply at all times with Herschel’s terms and conditions and code of conduct. All such materials to be removed from use immediately upon demand of Herschel.

Accredited Training

Training Is a key aspect of the Herschel Accredited Installer Network, The Member must take any additional training or revision to the training as offered by Herschel from time to time.