Overview
The complainant, (Mr C), complained that The City of Edinburgh Council (the Council) had failed to respond reasonably to his enquiries about a statutory notice that had been served on his property. He complained to the Council's Customer Care Team (within the Corporate Contact Centre) that his enquiries were not being responded to. Thereafter he complained that the Customer Care Team had failed to respond to his complaints.
Specific complaints and conclusions
The complaints which have been investigated are that the Council:
- (a) did not reasonably respond to Mr C's enquiries about a statutory notice served on his property (upheld); and
- (b) failed to respond to Mr C's complaints about the Edinburgh City Development Department and the Customer Care Team (upheld).
Redress and recommendations
The Ombudsman recommends that the Council:
- (i) provide a full apology from the Edinburgh City Development Department to Mr C for failing to appropriately respond to his enquiries about an outstanding statutory notice affecting his property;
- (ii) following consideration of the findings of the external enquiry, report back to the Ombudsman about the measures being put in place in the Edinburgh City Development Department in relation to customer care and in particular in relation to enquiry handling, to ensure a similar situation does not occur;
- (iii) provide a full apology to Mr C for the failures identified regarding the handling of his complaints by the Customer Care Team; and
- (iv) review the Corporate complaints policy, and provide evidence to the Ombudsman that procedures are being adhered to effectively when handling complaints from customers.
The Council has accepted the recommendations and will act on them accordingly.