Vocal Voices

I've been getting really frustrated with the company who deliver and collect the equipment that my dad had at home.

They were excellent in delivering it - really quick service but we are still waiting for it to be collected. They told the district nurse it would be gone by 1 December but its still there. A constant reminder to my mum and not helped that she is in a bungalow and the bedroom that it is in has a window onto the conservatory so she can't even avoid it by not going into the room. She sees it every time she goes in and out of the back door.

I have rung on numerous occasions and just been told they will collect it asap. I know their priority is getting equipment to people and I know that they can't use the same van for collections and deliveries (cross contamination) and I'm pretty sure they only have one driver covering a very big area. Mums friend was coming for the funeral and would have been staying - she now can't make it which is a good job really as she would have been sleeping on the sofa. And mum was starting to worry that it would still be there over xmas and new year, meaning that the girls couldn't stay with her.

So last night I looked their details up and emailed the Operational Director of the local branch and copied in the CEO. I had a reply within half an hour from the Operational Director (at about 7.30pm) apologising and telling me to contact the customer services supervisor this morning who, by the time I ring will know all about it and if the response she gives me is not satisfactory I am to either speak to him or email him to let him know. Then at about 9.30pm I got an email from the CEO apologising and telling me that he would pass the matter on to the Regional Director for him to speak to our local depot about.

So I'm hoping when I ring them today to get a date from them so that the stuff is gone by the funeral - and if not then by the end of next week at the latest.

It makes me so cross that I have had to do this - plenty of people wouldn't have thought about contacting someone as a possibility and would still be getting upset at the equipment being there. When its gone I will email them again to say that the service we got at first was excellent but they are very let down by their collection service and it must cause great distress to lots of people having to wait so long to have that visual reminder removed.

I'll let you know what they say when I ring later.

Good morning Debih.

I think you did the right thing in complaining to the Operations Director. It has always been my
policy to go right to the top man when I have a serious complaint, and it invariably produces results
in double-quick time.

Well done ,Debih.
There is a list which shows the contact details for most of the major organisations. It includes email addresses and phone numbers.
I have used the information and it worked for me. I was polite and just stated the facts and got what I wanted.

The supervisor rang me about 15 minutes ago and was incredibly apologetic. She had a driver waiting until she had contacted me to find out when was the best time to come so that she could send him immediately if that suited us.

We have arranged for someone to come and collect it all after 3pm today as mum is out until then.

Mum cried when I rang her - I think its the relief of it being sorted.

I know she wants to give the room a clean before the furniture goes back in. Unfortunately Mick can't put the furniture back until next weekend though none of it was particularly heavy so if need be I can do it on Monday if her neighbour will give me a hand to carry it back down, though I think she will be happy to wait. Her priority was to just get rid of all the equipment.

Well done Debih, as you say it's awful that you've had to do it that way and yes it is a horrid reminder for everyone xx

What Di said (((x)))

Exactly what Di said.

And a hug for your mum, very upsetting for her - and for you.

Well done Debih, it's terrible that you have to jump up and down when things are bad enough. I do remember when my mother moved into the nursing home, it took quite a few (increasingly cross) phone calls before our health service people collected her toilet seat and walker.

I'm glad it has been sorted Debih. Sometimes it is a case of who shouts the loudest. It shouldn't be like this though, because as you say not everyone would know where to go for help. Well done you x

Really pleased that it's sorted now Debbie, such a shame that you had to take it this far to get the equipment collected though xx