A Token Exchange

What Happened

In November 2006, TTC replaced its token with a new design. The old tokens were supposed to be good until January 31, 2007. TTC advised people with more than 100 tokens to go to the TTC head office and exchanged them. Ms. D had 1,145 tokens. She also had a TTC brochure that said she had until December 31, 2007 to exchange them. She took her tokens to TTC’s head office on December 6, 2007. TTC staff told her that the deadline had passed. Ms. D wrote to her Councillor, and also went to a legal clinic with her complaint. The clinic sent a letter to the Ombudsman on behalf of Ms. D, along with a copy of the TTC brochure with the December 31, 2007 deadline.

What We Did

We contacted several people at TTC. Staff said their office was trying to resolve the complaint, and that the brochure was withdrawn soon after its release because the deadline was subsequently changed to January 31, 2007. However, TTC only published this change on its website.

The Result

TTC agreed to honour Ms. D’s claim because she had relied on their public information. They exchanged the 1,145 old tokens for new ones.