The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Miss B’s complaint about Transport for London’s failure to refund her for delayed journeys. This is because there is not enough evidence of significant injustice to warrant investigation.
The complaint
Miss B complains she hasn’t received three refunds Transport for London (TfL) has issued to her for delayed journeys. She says she is paying over the price for delayed journeys and she would like TfL to pay her the outstanding refunds and process all future refunds properly.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect 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 an investigation if we decide: any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement; or there is another body better placed to consider this complaint (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
TfL says it issued refunds to Miss B for delayed journeys, but she says she has not received them. She says she has contacted TfL and it has asked her to send proof, but it will not accept her evidence. TfL has asked Miss B to send copies of her bank statements rather than transaction screenshots. Miss B says she has asked TfL for details of the refunds so she can pass them on to her card issuer for it to investigate, but TfL has not responded. TfL has since emailed Miss B to confirm it has sent her a one-off payment for the amount of the refunds, to resolve the issue.
We do not investigate all the complaints we receive. In deciding whether to investigate we need to consider various tests. These include the alleged injustice to the person complaining. We only investigate the most serious complaints.
While I appreciate Miss B is unhappy she did not receive the refunds, we work on limited resources and the amounts Miss B claims are not significant enough to warrant investigation. And TfL has now provided her with a one-off payment to cover the amount anyway.
Miss B may also contact London TravelWatch about the issues she has raised. London TravelWatch is an independent body that can consider complaints from transport users about services operated and licensed by TfL.
Final decision
We will not investigate Miss B’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of significant injustice to warrant investigation.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman