Summary: Mrs X complained about the Council’s refusal to refund her son’s membership of a leisure centre which she says she cancelled years ago. The Ombudsman should not investigate this complaint. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall call Mrs X, complains about the Council refusing to refund overpaid membership subscriptions going back seven years. She says she informed the Council she was cancelling her membership, but it continued to receive monthly payments amounting to over £2,000 over the period.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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’. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe:

• it is unlikely we would find fault, or
• it is unlikely we could add to any previous investigation by the Council, or
• it is unlikely further investigation will lead to a different outcome.

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

3. I have considered all the information which Mrs X submitted with her complaint. I have also considered the Council’s response and Mrs X has been given the opportunity to comment on the draft decision.

Back to top

What I found

4. Mrs X paid for her son’s membership of a local leisure centre. She says that at some point she cancelled the membership by calling at the leisure centre reception. Recently she discovered that the Council has continued to receive monthly payments of £30 by direct debit even though she says she has not used the service for seven years.
5. The Council says it has no record of her cancelling the membership. Its terms and conditions require cancellation in writing, and she would have been advised to submit this. The Council does not know if her son stopped using the facilities because it does not record attendance by members who have paid a subscription.
6. Mrs X says the direct debit payment showed as a code reference on her statements and she was not aware it was for the membership payment.
7. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. In this case the Council says there is no evidence that the membership was cancelled and the onus was on Mrs X to check her bank statements and ensure the payment was cancelled.

Back to top

Final decision

8. The Ombudsman should not investigate this complaint. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman