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Case ref:201402357
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Date:August 2015
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Body:Fife Council
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Sector:Local Government
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Outcome:Some upheld, recommendations
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Subject:repairs and maintenance
Summary
Mrs C complained on behalf of her father (Mr A). When Mr A moved out of his property, the council had sent him a bill for rechargeable repairs. Mrs C appealed the bill. The council told her that the charges were accurate and that she had completed their complaints procedure.
When Mrs C brought her complaint to us, we asked the council for a copy of their final complaint response. The council told us that the complaint had not been logged or responded to in line with the complaints procedure. In the circumstances, we referred Mrs C back to the council for them to provide a full and final position, and closed the complaint.
Mrs C then returned to our office. We found that the council had still not responded to her complaint and so we upheld her complaint that it had not been reasonably handled. We made recommendations to address this.
However, regarding the charge for repairs, we found that Mr A had told the council he wanted the repairs completed and agreed to them being recharged to him. Therefore, we did not uphold this complaint.
Recommendations
We recommended that the council:
- reflect on why Mrs C's complaint was not responded to appropriately and how to prevent this in future;
- remind the staff involved in this case of the complaints procedure; and
- apologise to Mrs C for the failings identified.