The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to refund Mr X for theatre tickets he purchased but was unable to attend. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault with the actions taken by the Council to warrant an Ombudsman investigation.
The complaint
Mr X complains that the Council refused to refund the cost of tickets to a theatre production he was unable to attend due to his mother’s ill health. Mr X states that is should be abundantly clear when purchasing tickets that they are not available to exchange or refund. In addition, Mr X complains the Council has not acted in accordance with its complaint process during stage one of his complaint.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
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) The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide: there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating, or we could not add to any previous investigation by the organisation, or further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.
(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
The Council explained it is within its terms and conditions that tickets are not available for exchange or refund. The website is clear once tickets have been purchased, they cannot be exchanged or refunded.
Terms and Conditions | Eastbourne Theatres . There is not enough evidence of fault to warrant an investigation.
Mr X complains the Council failed to follow its statutory complaint process. We would not normally investigate the complaint process if we are not investigating the substantive matters. That is the case here. However, the Council has acknowledged this and has offered to exchange the tickets for a different production. We are satisfied this remedies the fault.
Final decision
We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman