Case Stories
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Ms M is a single mother and full-time student who receives monthly support cheques form the city. The city mistakenly deducted too much money from her benefit cheques. The decline in income had a serious effect. Ms M tried many times to get the city to make the correction. The city did send her a cheque, but Ms M thought she was owed more and asked for an explanation of the figure.
City employees did not explain the discrepancy in a way that made sense to Ms M and declined to give her other options to pursue her complaint. By the time Ms M contacted the Ombudsman’s office she was borrowing money from family to pay her rent.
Ombudsman staff made repeated calls to the city over the ensuing 10 days, to establish if a discrepancy still existed. Finally, staff agreed to check into the matter.
Result: After a more detailed review, the city found Ms M was entitled to additional funds, and they sent her a cheque.
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