Providing a clear explanation of how an error was made and the steps taken to rectify the issue is key to a good complaint handling process.

Joey contacted our office because he was concerned with how the City of Surrey (the City) had responded to his complaint about business licensing. Joey discovered that his business had been removed from the City’s Full Business Directory list. He contacted the City to sort the issue out but staff were unable to explain to him why his business had been removed. After bringing his concern forward, Joey’s business was added back to the list but he was concerned that he was never notified.

Frustrated with the City’s handling of his complaint, Joey reached out to us for assistance.

We reviewed the communication between Joey and the City’s staff, its internal staff communications as well as the City’s account of its handling of his  complaint. We also looked into the City’s Business Licence Program and the purpose of the Directory. The City’s Business Licence flowchart describes how it responds to business licensing questions and complaints and how it is informed by the City’s Business Licence Bylaw.

Based on our review, it appeared that the City tried to address Joey’s complaint and the steps taken were in line with their typical practice. The City advised us that its Business Licensing Supervisor had followed up with Joey and apologized for the inconvenience. However, there was no evidence the City had provided Joey with an explanation about why the error occurred or any steps it had taken to avoid this from happening again.

To resolve this, we asked the City to send Joey a letter explaining why his business was left off of the Directory and to outline what measures the City had taken to reduce the likelihood of this problem happening again. The City agreed and we considered this matter settled.