(1) Company responsibility.

(a) Complaints from customer. When a company receives a service or rate complaint from a customer it must:

(i) Acknowledge the complaint within twenty-four hours;

(ii) Investigate promptly;

(iii) Report the results of the investigation to the complainant;

(iv) Take corrective action, if warranted, as soon as appropriate under the circumstances;

(v) Inform the complainant that the decision may be appealed to a higher level representative of the company, if any;

(vi) Advise that if the complainant is still dissatisfied after speaking with the higher level representative, the commission is available to review the complaint; and

(vii) Provide the complainant with the commission's address and toll-free telephone number.

(b) Complaint referred by commission. When commission staff refers an informal complaint to the company, the company must:

(i) Investigate and report the results to commission staff within two business days (commission staff may grant an extension of time for responding to the complaint if requested and warranted);

(ii) Keep commission staff informed of progress toward the resolution on a weekly basis; and

(iii) Inform the commission staff of the final result.

(c) Complaint record. A company must keep a record of all complaints for at least three years. The record of complaints must be readily available for commission review. The record must contain:

(i) The complainant's name and address;

(ii) Date and nature of the complaint;

(iii) Action taken;

(iv) The final result; and

(v) All official documents regarding the complaint.

(2) Complaints to commission. Customers may file with the commission either:

(a) An informal complaint against the company under the provisions of WAC 480-07-910; or

(b) A formal complaint against the company under the provisions of WAC 480-07-370.