BARBARA STOW
INDEPENDENT ADJUDICATOR FOR CITIZENS ADVICE
stow_adjudicator@btinternet.com
25 April 2008
by e-mail to:
Mr Erik Ribsskog
Dear Mr Ribsskog
REVIEW OF YOUR COMPLAINT
Thank you for the two e-mails you sent in response to my final report on your complaint.
I thought it would be helpful for you to have my reply in the form of a letter that you can attach to the report. I am copying this letter to Citizens Advice so they can make a note of it too.
The ‘out of office’ response to your e-mail
The first thing I want to say is that you are quite right in saying that there is an error in paragraph 16. The second sentence should say:
“On 3 and 16 [not 22] August, the client e-mailed the chief executive of Citizens Advice to say he had received no answer.”
I apologise unreservedly for the mistake. I do not know why the automated response was not sent until 22 August but I think my report makes very clear that I thought the failure to reply to your e-mails was wrong and unfair and, although I do not like to make mistakes, the unexplained delay does not alter my general conclusion nor do I think there is anything sinister about it.
The bureau’s e-mail address – paragraph 51 of the report
I was unable to open the screenshot you sent me. I think I do not have the right software. I checked again the website I had looked at. I went through the national citizens advice site www.citizens.advice.org.uk and asked for the address of the Liverpool Central bureau. It gave me bureau@liverpoolcab.org which is correct. However, I have now also checked the website www.bureau@liverpoolcab.org. The location page gives the e-mail address bureau@liverpoolcab.f9.co.uk. I tried it and the message bounced back. Clearly it needs to be corrected or people will continue to be misled. I am drawing this to the attention of Citizens Advice.
Other matters
You also wrote about issues connected with your former employment, your dealings with the solicitor’s firm that you were introduced to by the bureau, the lighting in the bureau, and things that happened outside the bureau. The issues that I was concerned with did not require me to go into any further detail about these matters.
I would like to apologise again for the two inaccuracies in the report. Thank you for pointing them out. This now concludes my involvement.
Yours sincerely
Barbara Stow