COMPLAINTS. 137 



CHAPTER XIII. 



COMPLAINTS. 



ThE subject of gasfittings and appliances is rather outside 

 the plan of this work, but a few words on the best way of 

 dealing with ordinary complaints may not be out of place, 

 especially as, in the average small district, there are one or 

 two consumers who are always in a chronic state of dissatis- 

 faction. Incidentally, we have referred to some of the 

 causes which account for this state of affairs. In all cases, 

 the rule should be not to drop a complaint without arriving 

 at a complete and permanent cure. The first thing is to 

 be sure of the cause, or rather of the causes, for it usually 

 happens that- there are more than one. One source of the 

 chronic dissatisfaction just referred to is the perfunctory 

 manner in which complaints are attended to. A complaint 

 comes in, the manager calls and stops a leak, or blows 

 out the service ; things are said to be better the next night, 

 and so matters are left. Sometimes the cause is ridiculously 

 simple, and on other occasions considerable difficulty may 

 arise in definitely locating it. 



People are now getting extremely fanciful on the matter 

 of " smells," and therefore frequent leakage, if allowed to 

 go unchecked, is likely to do serious harm. The system of 

 testing fittings for soundness is by no means general, but it 

 is indispensable under modern conditions. Very frequently 



