Source · SPSO (Scottish Public Services Ombudsman)

Business Stream

SPSO (Scottish Public Services Ombudsman) Upheld Reference 201301770 Sector Water Category meter reading Decided 01 April 2014

Full decision

Summary

Mr C had complained about aspects of his billing, which Business Stream then resolved after we became involved. However, we had concerns about their handling of his complaint. Mr C explained his perspective of this in detail, and Business Stream acknowledged that their service to him was not what they would have expected. They apologised and offered him a payment. However, this outcome took almost three months to provide, needed the intervention of senior staff in SPSO to obtain, was very brief and did not indicate any intention to take action to help avoid a recurrence.

Although we upheld the complaint, after careful thought we decided not to make a recommendation about complaints handling. This was because we published an investigation report in December 2013 (case 201300283), in which we upheld a complaint about Business Stream's complaints handling and made a recommendation that they arrange an independent external audit of their complaints process and how it was being applied. Business Stream accepted this, and were also at the time completing an internal review of their process. We were, therefore, satisfied that they were addressing the issue.

Recommendations

We recommended that Business Stream: apologise to Mr C for their poor handling of his case.

Related reading

View Decision Report 201301770 as a PDF (12.15 KB) Updated: March 13, 2018

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Other decisions involving Business Stream

Reference Date Summary Outcome
202101632 01 Mar 2023 C complained about Business Stream's communication regarding their account. There was also disagreement between C and Business Stream over the … Resolved / Early Resolution
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201900738 01 Dec 2021 C complained that Business Stream had not billed their business accurately. C said that they had been told by an … Not Upheld
201806006 01 Jul 2021 C purchased a former business premises for conversion to domestic property. At the time of the original purchase the business … Resolved / Early Resolution
201808488 01 Nov 2020 Mr C complained that Business Stream incorrectly arranged for a meter to be installed at a vacant property belonging to … Not Upheld
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