Annette Yates, Lansdowne
In these days of extreme drought, I am shocked at the City of Cape Town’s attitude to leaks such as mine. I reported it at about 5.30pm on Saturday February 18. By 7pm the water meter device had shut my household water off all together, without even the emergency trickle.
I phoned the related department, quoting my reference number, but was cut off when I ran out of airtime – after being put on hold for ages.
I phoned much later again, around 11.30pm and was told that no technicians would be coming out at that time.
The meter reading at the start was 307kl and 18 hours later it was 59kl. A clever, helpful neighbour, Jonathan Murie, came and shut off the supply to the meter. What a relief.
Council has an 0860 number that is so expensive (for us pensioners), why not an 0800 to be helpful to the residents and themselves?
I tried the 31373 SMS number but to no avail, as it still has not gone through at all. I tried the City’s service request online, but it would not submit my request. Water TOC stated in their automated response that they closed at 8pm. As a last resort, I called the police’s 10111 number, and they gave me the 107 emergency number to try.
Well, the contractors eventually arrived at 1pm on Sunday February 19, and said that they’d only received notification of my complaint that morning. Absurd.
Come on council…help us to help you. Do you realise the anxiety one feels in this situation?
