Summary: Mr C complained about the conduct of the Council during several telephone calls about a failure to provide him with a bin and bin liners. We find the Council took too long to provide the bin but has now resolved the problem and we do not find fault with officers during the telephone calls.

The complaint

1. Mr C complains that Bury Metropolitan Borough Council (the Council):
• was rude and unprofessional to him during three telephone calls about bins and bin liners; and
• failed to provide a brown bin and bin liners as agreed in November 2019.
2. This caused Mr C frustration and inconvenience.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
4. If we are satisfied with a council’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I have considered the complaint and the documents provided by the complainant, made enquiries of the Council and considered the comments and documents the Council provided. Mr C and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

Brown bin service

6. The Council provides a brown bin to residents for garden and food waste. The service is free but there is a £10 administration charge for delivery. This applies to all residents regardless of whether they have had a bin before. If residents choose to have a brown bin the Council will also deliver a roll of recyclable liners which the waste management service will then replace during the brown bin collection round.

What happened

7. Mr C telephoned the Council on 7 November 2019 to request a roll of bin liners. He believed they were available free to every resident. The customer service officer (Officer D) he spoke to explained that they were only available if he had a brown bin which was available for a £10 charge. Mr C was unhappy with the way the officer spoke to him. He said she shouted, talked over him and was unhelpful. He disputed that there was a charge for the bin and asked to speak to a specific officer in the waste management department. When that officer was not available, he asked for their direct number. The customer service officer said she was not allowed to give out that information. He asked to make a complaint against the officer. She said her manager would call him back later that day.
8. Mr C sent an email complaint about Officer D after the call. This was forwarded to her manager, Officer E. She replied to Mr C within two hours. She said she had listened to the call and was satisfied that the advice Officer D had given was correct. But she offered to provide a brown bin free of charge with a roll of bin liners to be delivered the following day.
9. Mr C reluctantly accepted the bin but said he wanted to escalate his complaint to the Ombudsman. Officer E said he could do so and provided a link to our service. Mr C complained to us on 8 November 2019.
10. On 7 January 2020 Mr C called the Council again to chase up the brown bin as it had not arrived. He spoke to Officer F who said there was no record of a bin request on his account. Mr C then tried to explain what had happened in November 2019 and said Officer E (the manager had not called him back). Officer F asked Mr C to leave the matter with her and she would look into what had happened. Mr C did not want to leave the matter with Officer F and said he wanted to make a complaint about Officer E. Officer F said she would forward a complaint to Officer E’s line manager. Mr C wanted her to send him a copy of the email. Officer F explained that she could not do this. He disagreed with this and said he wished to make a complaint against Officer F. She said he could either send an email or ring another customer service officer to do that as she could not take a complaint against herself.
11. Officer G (a manager of the contact centre) rang Mr C back later that day. She said she had arranged for a brown bin and liners to be delivered. She said she did not know why the previous order had not been implemented. She had searched for an email but could not find it. She had not listened to the call with Officer F but felt that all staff and done their utmost to help Mr C and had not shouted at him, Mr C questioned how she could say this when she had not listened to the call.
12. We assessed the complaint in January 2020 and first decided there was insufficient injustice to investigate the matter. Mr C provided further information that he had not received the bin or the bin liners and he had experienced two more calls with the Council where the officers were unhelpful and rude. We decided to investigate the complaint and it was allocated to me in March 2020. I made enquiries of the Council, but the investigation was then delayed due to the pandemic.
13. The Council recently replied to my enquiries and provided recordings of the telephone calls Mr C had with the Council in November 2019 and January 2020.
14. It explained that it had listened to the calls and maintained that the advice given by the officers (regarding bin liners, charge for bins and personal numbers/emails) was correct.
15. It explained that there was no record of Officer E’s response to Mr C’s complaint in November 2019 because she had had to go on leave suddenly and the emails were not accessible to anyone else. As it was not a bin request within the usual processes no-one else was aware of it.
16. The Council did not agree that either Officer D or Officer E constantly spoke over Mr C but accepted that Officer G should have listened to the relevant calls before speaking to Mr C and had been spoken to about this. The Council had also sent a general email to all customer service staff reminding them that they can and should take complaints over the telephone even if it is about them.

Analysis

17. I accept Mr C was unhappy during the telephone call with Officer D, but I do not consider the officer was rude or unhelpful and neither did she shout. She explained the Council’s procedures in respect of bin delivery, bin liners and giving out information. Mr C perceived her to be unhelpful because he was dissatisfied with the information the officer provided.
18. I cannot find fault with the actions of Officer E. She did not call Mr C back as agreed by Officer D, because Mr C had by that point submitted a complaint by email. Officer E responded promptly to the email with a solution to Mr C’s problem: she would arrange for a delivery of a brown bin and bin liners the following day.
19. Unfortunately, due to exceptional circumstances she was then suddenly out of the office for an extended period and no-one was aware of the email, so the bin was not delivered. This was fault which the Council has acknowledged and apologised for.
20. However, Mr C did not chase it up until January 2020 when we contacted him, so I do not consider this caused him an injustice which warrants any further remedy.
21. The Council resolved the problem as soon as he contacted it in January 2020. I do not consider that either Officer F or Officer G shouted or were rude to Mr C. They were firm and at points interrupted him but not to an unacceptable extent. Again, Mr C was frustrated because the Council had no record of his previous bin request of the agreement to provide one made by Officer E. However, this was resolved the same day when Officer G called him back. I do not consider this caused him an injustice which warrants any further remedy.
22. The only remaining issue was the fact that two officers said they could not take a complaint from Mr C over the telephone about themselves. This was not correct, but it did not prevent Mr C making a complaint and the Council has reminded all contact centre staff that they can take complaints over the telephone.

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Final decision

23. I have completed my investigation as I consider the Council has resolved the issue Mr C complained about by providing a bin and bin liners. I do not consider the delay in doing so caused Mr C a significant injustice and I do not consider the officers were rude or unhelpful during the telephone calls.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman