I would like to commend Alex Isaacs, operations manager at Pikitup’s Norwood depot, and the supervisor of the Fairmount area (whose name I did not get) for the manner in which they dealt with my complaint.
I had contacted the Pikitup call centre to complain about the fact that in the past two weeks, refuse collection employees had rung our bell on two separate occasions asking for Christmas money. On both occasions the request bordered on intimidation.
The response from the Pikitup’s call centre was that I should contact the Metro police and that instructions from management was that Pikitup was not prepared to deal with these complaints. When questioning this absurd policy I was given Isaacs’ number and related this to him. His response was swift and clear: Pikitup are concerned with these issues provided that the persons are in fact Pikitup employees (as I suppose there are imposters around).
Upon advising him that I could prove it was Pikitup employees, he was at my house within 20 minutes where he received concrete proof of both events, which included identification of the employees in question.
Isaacs advised me that Pikitup had issued no less than three notices to employees during December that these acts would not be countenanced, and that such acts could lead to disciplinary procedures being instituted against the employee concerned. He further advised that employees received end of year bonuses from the company.
I raised my concerns with Isaacs that such actions on the part of employees leave one with a sense of insecurity, and are designed to intimidate residents to accede to the request for fear of reprisals. I was assured that Pikitup regarded such conduct in a serious light and that steps would be taken to ensure this did not happen again.
Well done to the management team at Norwood depot.
