Mr M complained that Cardiff Council had failed to appropriately respond to a complaint he made to it about charges for work completed to a driveway.
The Ombudsman found that the Council’s complaint response had failed to advise Mr M what stage of the procedure it was being issued under or how he could escalate his concerns further. Furthermore, Mr M responded to the email he received, but the inbox is not monitored. He therefore did not receive a response to his ongoing concerns. The Ombudsman said this caused him frustrated and she decided to settle the complaint without a formal investigation.
The Ombudsman sought and gained the Council’s agreement to apologise to Mr M for the complaint handling issues, explain the reason/s his email did not receive a response, offer a £50 redress payment, and to issue a further complaint response within 2 weeks.
The Council also agreed to remind all staff that deal with complaints that they must advise complainants of their next steps in the complaints process, and to remind all staff that use the complaints email address to advise recipients that the inbox is not monitored within 4 weeks.