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2006 Annual Report Ms. V was in a car accident when she was a child. Her ICBC
settlement was administered by the Public Guardian and Trustee (PGT)
until she reached the age of majority. Ms. V was concerned about
the fees the PGT charged her to administer her account and she
expressed these concerns to the PGT. The PGT agreed, in writing,
to waive the fees. When Ms. V received her cheque from PGT only a
small portion of the fees were reversed.
We investigated Ms. V’s concern that the PGT acted unfairly by
failing to follow through on its commitment to waive the fees for
administering her account. The PGT reviewed Ms. V’s concern and
explained that in issuing the cheque to her and responding to her
subsequent appeal, they were unaware of the fact that PGT staff
had sent a letter to Ms. V indicating that PGT was not going to
charge her commission for administering the account. PGT explained
that the information in the letter to her was incorrect and that
PGT only should have agreed to refund a small amount of its fees.
In light of this mistake and in the interest of fairness PGT
agreed to reimburse Ms. V for the full amount of the commissions
charged plus interest. As a result, we considered the complaint to
be settled.
Telephone charges
corrected
North Fraser Pretrial Centre
2006 Annual Report
This office serves all of the general public, including those in
provincial custody. It is those who have more difficulty being
heard, such as those imprisoned, who may need our services the
most.
Mr. U contacted our office from
the North Fraser Pretrial Centre (NFPC) where he was preparing
to be discharged as an inmate. He believed it was unfair of NFPC
to charge his account for phone calls he needed to make to a
social agency to help him prepare for his discharge. It was his
understanding that calls to this agency were supposed to be free
of charge.
We discussed Mr. U’s complaint
with a Deputy Warden at NFPC, who confirmed that telephone calls
to the social agency should be free of charge for inmates. He
looked into the matter and discovered that changes needed to be
made to NFPC’s telephone database to correct the problem. In
addition to making these changes, he ensured that Mr. U and
other inmates who had paid for phone calls to the social agency
were reimbursed.
Telephone messages left for ex-employee go unreturned by
government office
Ministry of Small Business and Revenue
2006 Annual Report
This is a case that
illustrates the impact one employee can have on the public if he
simply forgets to update the message on his telephone when he
moves to another job.
We received a complaint from Ms. G that the Ministry of Small
Business and Revenue would not return her phone calls. She told
us that she had left numerous messages for someone at the
Ministry to discuss what she needed to provide in order to
demonstrate that she was eligible for an exemption from social
services tax on a transfer in the ownership of a motor vehicle.
When we contacted the Ministry we learned that the employee
she was trying to contact was no longer employed there. We also
learned that the employee had left his position without changing
his personal voice mail message to indicate that he was no
longer available. This meant Ms. G’s concerns went unanswered,
while she continued to leave messages on a government telephone
line that was no longer being used.
Shortly after we notified the Ministry of this problem, Ms. G
was contacted by a manager from the Ministry to discuss her
situation. The manager received enough information from Ms. G to
cancel over $1,500 in taxes, penalties and interest that the
Ministry had been seeking from her. The Ministry issued her a
written apology and advised her that steps had been taken to
update the voice mail of its former employee.
Hunter says he was not told about an early closure to hunting
season
Ministry of Environment
2006 Annual Report
We received a
complaint from a man who said Fish and Wildlife Recreation and
Allocation Branch did not notify hunters that it was initiating
an early closure to the spike-fork moose hunting season.
Mr. S told us that on October 22 he had purchased a tag to
hunt moose in a management area in the Chilcotin, and it was his
understanding that hunting season closed on November 30. However
when he arrived to hunt on October 24 he was told that hunting
season had closed on October 15.
According to Mr. S, Branch staff responded to his complaint
by telling him that the closure date was noted on its website to
which Mr. S responded that he did not have access to the
Internet. The Branch told him his fees for the hunting tag were
non-refundable and non-transferable.
The Director of the Branch explained to us that a number of
steps were taken to communicate the early closure to hunters in
the region. He said that public communication material had been
released on the issue, and that it was the responsibility of
Government Agents to notify the holders of hunting licences of
early closures.
However after acknowledging that they could not be certain
that the vendor who sold Mr. S his licence knew about the early
closure prior to selling him the licence, the Director agreed to
refund Mr. S’s hunting fees.
Professional association challenged on assessment processes
Certified Management Accountants Society of British Columbia
2006 Annual Report
In addition to having jurisdiction to investigate ministries,
municipalities and school boards, the
Ombudsman’s Office also has the authority to investigate
complaints against governing bodies of professional and
occupational associations.
One such case involved a woman
contacting us with a number of complaints about a training
program run by the Certified Management Accountants Society of
British Columbia (CMA).
Ms. N’s complaints related to
her participation in the CMA Fast Track Program, which she did
not successfully pass.
Ms. N complained that the CMA
had changed the examination structure for the program after she
had enrolled; that the program was shorter in duration than she
had been told; and that the CMA had acted unfairly in not
allowing her to appeal her grade without a medical reason to do
so.
We agreed to investigate whether
unfair changes were made to the program by the CMA that resulted
in Ms. N failing the program and whether she should have been
given an opportunity to appeal her grade.
We concluded that the changes to
the examination process that were put in place for subsequent
courses were done in a considered, not an arbitrary, manner. We
found that the length of the program had always been the same
but that it consisted of two phases. Finally we were satisfied
there were mechanisms in place that allowed students to question
the appropriateness of exam questions. In concluding our
investigation we found that the CMA had, in each area of
complaint by Ms. N, acted reasonably in the changes they made to
the Program. We also concluded that the CMA had properly
considered Ms. N’s request for an appeal.
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