DEAR Editor,
The apparently unwarranted social media site ‘Ugu Complaints Public Group’, which currently has over 2 500 Ugu paying customer followers refers. AfriForum Margate chairman, Wessel Pretorius, requested a meeting with DD Naidoo a couple of months ago in which a ‘wish list’ of problems with Ugu was submitted and he gladly accepted the idea. Thereafter Mr Naidoo had, on more than one date, failed to make himself available himself for any said meeting opportunity.
In general, DD Naidoo’s comments to Bevis Fairbrother were unjustly skewed to cover up for Ugu’s failures and misinform Herald readers and Ugu’s paying customers. You just have to go to the Ugu complaints Facebook page and peruse months of reports and feedback to get a clear picture of where the truth lies and the value of the site to Ugu paying customers, not to mention to Ugu themselves.
It’s amazing, but not surprising, how much emphasis was placed on one set of events about stolen Eskom cables.
This was likely one of only a handful of ‘knee-jerk’ reaction comments by ‘distraught’ Ugu paying customers, which nevertheless could be fully expected from people who have been suffering from ‘dry taps’ for days on end, water being restored and shortly thereafter disappearing again.
If Mr Naidoo really cared about his Ugu paying customers, he would have done what most professional business owners would if a customer complained about any specific service or staff members’ conduct towards customers. As a rule, they would find out the facts and ensure that procedures and processes are in place to prevent reoccurrence.
Ugu however, apparently, does not respect its paying customers, so this does not happen.
Ugu management and Mr Naidoo could learn a lot from comments on the Ugu complaints Facebook page and, where appropriate, positive changes can be made within the Ugu operation generally. Randomly scanning through months of comments, by virtue of comment details on various problems, one can easily come to logical assumptions and conclusions:
1 Ugu Call Centre complaints. Problems here relate to rude, uncooperative call centre operators who do not answer customer calls; take too long to answer calls; not providing constructive responses regarding intended action and/or repair timeframes, or promising to call back and not doing so.
2 Ugu’s sms complaints. This appears to work better than the call centre, but fails because it doesn’t guarantee receipt of feedback, reference numbers and/or actual follow-up repair service or details.
3 Ugu Facebook complaints page. This is where one would expect Ugu to handle complaints in the same manner as done by me and Ugu’s paying customers on the page. However, looking at the actual page, there is only a handful of old complaints where complainants resort to complaining of no response. No one mans this most important ‘public relations’ duty. People need water and water is life, so Ugu’s maintenance and repair water service delivery practices and problem reporting feedback ability must be functional at all times.
4 Sub-standard pipe repairs. This happens all too frequently and comments highlight this fact. The far too common reappearance of problem sites is also testament to the fact. Ugu’s and sub-contractors’ workers are technically unskilled and unknowledgeable on ‘correct’ pipe repair and associated digging and backfilling processes and procedures. Ugu does not check this qualification requirement before dishing out contracts.
5 Damage to sewage pipes and Eskom cables. Ugu and sub-contractor workers are likely to damage ‘sewage pipes’ and main power cables during the digging process of repairing burst pipes because Ugu does not refer to or just doesn’t have, the necessary ‘comprehensive’ drinking water pipes, sewage pipes and Eskom cable ‘layout diagrams’ of the South Coast urban and industrial areas. A recent case of unintentional, but time-consuming and expensive, damaged sewage pipe was outside the Waffle House in Ramsgate!
6 TLB usage for digging trenches. Ugu needs to ensure only qualified TLB operators are contracted for trench digging purposes.
7 Damaged/faulty meters. Too many cases of problem meters and most ultimately need replacing, but Ugu lags in changing them. Often new meters are not even professionally installed, many have leaking pipe connections after installation, while others appear to be temporarily installed with input and output pipes exposed above ground.
8 Exorbitantly inaccurate Ugu accounts. Too often Ugu customers complain of unusually high water accounts without due cause on their part. History shows that Ugu is insensitive to these people’s pleas and in most cases cut the water supply (which is illegal unless a registered letter was sent to the client) and demand the full amount before they will sort things out and refund any money. This is irresponsible management and unacceptable public relations for paying customers.
Conclusion: The fact remains that, if it were not for a few Ugu staff and four or five dedicated DA ward councillors who regularly provide input regarding Ugu problems and appropriate solutions, and the now notorious Ugu Complaints Facebook page, the South Coast would likely have a lot less of a permanent supply of water on tap than currently experienced.
It appears that it is mainly the continued communication between the paying customers on the Facebook page and a few dedicated people that we have the water continuity luxury that we experience today. One can’t even speculate what the rest of Ugu staff in the respective complaints and repairs departments do each day to earn their excessively high salaries. In fact, it would be interesting to see the latest organogram of Ugu management, indicating each manager and each one’s allocated departments and responsibilities. Can we get a copy of this current Ugu management organogram from DD Naidoo – for obvious reasons?
PATRICK McCABE
AfriForum member, Uvongo
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