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BEIJING, May 15 -- Shanghai's consumer watchdog released the country's first industry guidelines for home decoration companies to improve service and communication with clients.

The guidelines, which were put together based on consumer complaints about the industry, will be first promoted among six well-known local house decoration companies, and then spread to all companies operating in the industry in the city, according to the Shanghai Commission of Consumers' Rights and Interests Protection.

The guidelines require decoration companies to adopt new service measures to guarantee a quick response to consumers' requests, including sending a client service representative to the client after signing a decoration contract.

"The representative will be in charge of the communication between the client and the company during the whole process," said Tang Jiansheng, deputy director of the commission's legal department.

As consumers are not experts in the decoration field, the guidelines require companies to set up a free hotline to provide consulting service during the work.

The companies should also provide consumers with a project quality record after signing the contract, in which the quality standard and time limit for the work should be listed, to prevent consumers from being cheated because of a lack of knowledge about the industry.

"The guidelines are expected to be promoted to more companies after half a year," said Tang. "We will improve them according to the problems found during the six-month trial."

The commission said it would help consumers file a suit against any company that doesn't follow the guidelines.

The commission received more than 1,400 complaints about house decoration last year, involving around 30 million yuan (US$3.9 million). The problems focused mainly on the quality of decoration materials and work, as well as bad after-sale service.

"Many consumers said their kitchens and restrooms leaked and cracks appeared on the walls shortly after the decoration," said Cao Baofa, deputy secretary general of the commission's real estate decoration office. "And their requests for repairs received no reply."

Cao said the conflict between companies and consumers were often caused by poor communication.