Pensioner’s pipe dream becomes a reality

About 20 people offered to help Moya Croukamp of Bothasig when a sewer pipe on her property became blocked and later collapsed (“Pipe down and pay for your sewer line,” Off My Trolley, September 13).

The municipality told her that it was her responsibility, but as a pensioner, she could not afford to pay for it to be replaced.

After the story was published, she was “overwhelmed” by offers of help from readers.

First to offer his services was David Olivier, from Drainmen, of Table View.

There were others as well but Ms Croukamp decided to go with them. A former City building inspector, Dan Lewendal, came from Mitchell’s Plain to assess the situation at no charge.

“My biggest debt of gratitude goes to Mr Olivier. He not only came personally to see for himself, he also organised a team to unblock it to give temporary relief and do a free photographic inspection.

“This was followed up by an unbelievably generous quote, with 16 months to pay it off, with a 40% discount and no interest charged. What a godsend for a pensioner, especially one who cares for two mentally disabled family members,” Ms Croukamp said.

“The collapsing pipe was replaced with a new one and concreted in. The paving that had to be taken up to get at the pipe was replaced so well it appears that it had never been disturbed.

“The old pipe was attached to another one leading to a further, potentially hidden manhole in the backyard, but Mr Olivier has assured me this secondary pipe will be inspected and repaired or replaced as necessary – at the same generous terms. I cannot express my gratitude enough to Mr Olivier for his incredible generosity, help and support.

“The Drainmen’s work is of the very highest quality, and the team he sent worked like Trojans to ensure there was never a moment’s disruption. Off My Trolley has certainly helped me out of a sewer pipe nightmare. My deepest gratitude to all.”
Mr Olivier confirmed that Drainmen did the work for Ms Croukamp.

First Drainmen carried out a free inspection, then removed the damaged pipeline and installed a new system which Drainmen tested.

“We also replaced the paving to Ms Croukamp’s satisfaction. It took us a week to do the work but it was our pleasure to assist her to a happy finale,” Mr Olivier said.

Finally, just what the doctor ordered

Jose de Sousa, from Panorama, gets his chronic medication, which he needs daily, couriered to him by Clicks Direct Medicines (CDM), from Clicks Pharmacy at N1 City and because of his medical aid option, he can only get it from Clicks.

“For years the service was good, but for the past six months it has been terrible. The delivery is late, or there is no delivery at all, emails are not acknowledged, nobody answers the phone, nor do we get notification by SMS,” Mr De Sousa said.

“I did not get my September medication and had to collect it from Clicks at N1 City where I had to make a co-payment. I didn’t think that a company with Clicks’s reputation would play with a patient’s health,” said Mr De Sousa, who added that there were numerous complaints on Hello Peter. So what’s going on?

ClicksDirectMedicines migrated from one dispensing system to another, which resulted in some system delays.

“In order to assist Mr De Sousa and fast-track delivery of his medication, our N1 City store pharmacist dispensed the medication and cancelled the September delivery (to avoid duplication), not knowing that it would result in a co-payment (a normal CDM delivery does not have a co-payment). We will therefore refund the co-payment fee.

“We have also processed his next lot of medication and have been in contact with Mr De Sousa,” said Clicks who apologised to him.

“While most of the system issues have been resolved, we have appointed a dedicated IT team stationed at Clicks Direct Medicines to quickly pick up and resolve any issue if and when they occur. As an additional measure, we have appointed more customer-service agents in the call centre as well as extra sessional staff in the dispensary,” Clicks said.

Customers can contact the CDM call centre at 0861 444 414 or email Clicks.directmedicines@dirmed.co.za for details.