DEAR Editor,-
Since January 2018 to date, I have experienced significant difficulty in getting an explanation from Ugu for a great number of anomalies associated with our water account. Fictitious amounts were carried over between December 2017 and January 2018 and incorrect water meter readings used by Ugu resulted in significant over-billing ever since.
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On June 2, after exhausting my efforts to get an explanation from junior staff at the Ugu offices, I emailed the financial manager and, guess what? I received a reply in the form of a reference number (C180607/32) via sms on June 7.
BUT no explanation or correction regarding the incorrect account. To my surprise, I received a sms on June 20 (ref C180607/32) referring to a burst pipe which has been resolved.
Conventional wisdom has it that people do not do things they must do for two reasons only: They do not know how to do it OR they do not want to do it. It is also well known that people’s behaviour is dictated by risk and reward.
I shall gladly avail myself to the most suitable person at Ugu to show him or her how the water billing system is supposed to be correctly calculated in order to address the ‘how’.
In terms of the ‘do not want to’, I am now forced into a position where I may need to explore changing behaviour.
Since I cannot ‘reward’ anybody regarding this matter, I may need to explore the risk option. Perhaps the laying of theft charges against somebody most suitable (in that the person allows customers’ money to be stolen by Ugu under their watch) may introduce the ‘risk’ which somebody may or may not be subjected to. This ultimately may correct behaviour.
It would be extremely helpful if the most suitable person at Ugu responds to this letter. All that is needed is for an incorrect account to be corrected, without any further inconvenience to either party.
NOT HOLDING MY BREATH
Hibberdene
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