Small Mistake, Big Effect

What Happened

Ms. M is a single mother and full-time student who receives monthly support cheques from the City. Ms. M, who was upset because the City mistakenly deducted too much money from her benefit cheques and the decline in income had a serious effect, tried many times to get the City to correct the deduction. The City did send her a cheque, but Ms. M thought she was owed more and asked for an explanation of the figure. City employees did not explain the discrepancy in a way that made sense to Ms. M and declined to give her other options to pursue her complaint. By the time Ms. M contacted our office, she was borrowing money from family to pay her rent.

What We Did

We made several calls to the City to establish if a discrepancy still existed and staff agreed to look into the matter.

The Result

After a more detailed review, the City found Ms. M was entitled to additional funds, and sent her a cheque.