Southwark large item collection

[Cora]

Not charging yet...

[Rockets]

Just had an explanation from Southwark why the fence panels weren't collected on Saturday...and it is laughable and obviously they are making it up as they go along....

On the system at Southwark it is saying that the collection team informed us that they now have a policy that they don't collect fence panels due to "health and safety".

Firstly, no-one spoke to us, we didn't even see anyone try to collect it and two, they have changed their tune from their first attempt to collect it a week or so before....

[Rockets]

Now lodged official complaint - not sure that will get us anywhere...I might just drive said fence panels to the council offices and leave them there for them.......I bet they'd want to deal with it then....

Our local council is fast becoming a joke....

[antantant]

I know you're being facetious but if you can drive them you could take them to the Southwark Recycling Centre, which I think is pretty much the best the best thing about Southwark. I go there nearly every Saturday dropping something off.

http://www.southwark.gov.uk/info/10070/recycling/1364/reuse_and_recycling_centre

[Rockets]

Yes I was being facetious...;-)

....my car isn't big enough to take them...which is why I requested the bulk collection service but they are worried about splinters/killer vegetation on the fence attacking them Triffid-like/spontaneous combustion of wood/the communicable diseases carried by wood lice and a host of other health and safety horrors associated with loading fence panels onto a van.......

I bet we wish we all had jobs where you could say...nah, don't fancy doing that today...let me quote health and safety.....

[Loz]

antantant Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I know you're being facetious but if you can drive them you could take them to the Southwark

> Recycling Centre, which I think is pretty much the best the best thing about Southwark.

Funniest sentence I've seen on the EDF in a while...! When people ask you about the best thing about the area, the Southwark Recycling Centre is always the first thing that comes to mind. :D

[James Barber]

Hi Rockets,

The address is 160 Tooley Street SE1...

[Peckhampam]

I have always had very good experience with the bulky rubbish removal and think it is a really good and useful service. I got a new mattress and the store would have charged ?19 to take away my old one. I emailed my request using the Southwark site, put it outside this morning and it has been taken . Free and easy

[Rockets]

Had a message left on my mobile from Veola...or whatever they are called...dealing with my complaint. The lady who left the message (she didn't leave her name...more on that shortly) said that she had dealt with my complaint and that they have a policy not to collect fence panels....which is quite obviously a lame excuse as James Barber got the response earlier in this thread from the council/Veola that said:

"The service requested was for collection of 8 fence panels with attached fence posts and 4 bags. The bulky waste collection crew went to carry out this job on 29th September. They found that the fence panels could not be safely removed as they were breaking up in hand as soon as any attempt was made to lift them, and also some of the fence panels were overgrown with trailing vegetation making them more difficult to safely handle. The collection crew took such items as they were safely able to and left the remainder."

So it now appears in the space of a week or two their policy towards fence panels changed.......hmmmmmmmmm! ;-)

So I thought I would call the unnamed lady back. As mentioned earlier she didn't leave a message just said call me back on this number....needless to say the number she gave was a switchboard number and the kind lady on the phone said that they have 50 people in their department so she would try to find the person who "dealt" with my complaint....

It is now getting utterly ludicrous the amount of time having to be spent to try and get the council to do the job they should have done on Sept 29th......the levels of incompetence (deliberate or otherwise) are eye-opening and if this is indicative of the way this council is run.....

[Rockets]

Received a call yesterday from the lady who left the message who was incredibly helpful and actually managed to get the collection arranged for today and....magically....the items were removed.

When she called she said that they had been having a lot of complaints from residents about similar issues as the one I had been experiencing and she went to Deborah Collins directly and engaged with her and the supervisor of the bulk team who had said they had a policy of not collecting fence panels. She agreed that it appeared the team was changing their story each time they were supposed to collect the items.

She called to say the collection would be made today my wife saw the team who came to collect who were very apologetic and cleared it without any fuss - they did, however, say that they have another team of younger council workers who "won't get their hands dirty" and that if they had come the first time the job would have been done properly.

So, finally, the fence panels have gone and big thanks to Cllr Barber who really helped by contacting the council in the first instance. And if anyone else is having issues do lodge a formal complaint - the folks at Veolia are aware of the issues and will try to get it resolved for you.

[cella]

Deborah Collins - the highly paid invisible Director? Blimey - that's a first - was beginning to think she was a carboard cut out.

[simonethebeaver]

Having had no problems with the service before, this week no one turned up for a booked collection. My polite email asking what happened and whether it can be rescheduled has had no response. I am disappointed.

[Rockets]

I would call them - the folks on the phone are helpful and are aware of the problems with the collection teams and the rogue collection teams are supposed to log (their pitiful) excuses for why they didn't collect items.

Keep persisting and if need be lodge a formal complaint - that way you get through to the company responsible for the collections.

There is obviously a problem and the council needs to get on top of it.

[simonethebeaver]

My husband mentioned to me yesterday that he'd seen a group of men taking photos of the rubbish, so presumably we've been deemed non-compliant. But no one has told us this, or what the issue is. I've emailed Deborah Collins to ask why no one is responding. I called but was told that if I'd already emailed someone would be in touch, which then didn't happen. In the meantime, carpet is rotting on our driveway.

[Penguin68]

A cynic might suggest that this sudden breakdown of a service which hitherto has worked well is an expected precursor to the introduction of charges, when, no doubt, more items will be discovered to be suitable for collection, and when there is a back-log of items (and hence revenues) to be collected.

[simonethebeaver]

I've had a call from a very polite and reasonable person at Southwark. Apparently our rubbish didn't conform to requirements that aren't on the website. We should have had a card and in her view our transgression is mild anyway, and the team is coming back to get the rubbish today. All the points coming out of this will be included in forthcoming training. So I am satisfied. But clearly this team aren't working in the way they should.

[Rockets]

Or as the team who came to finally pick-up our fence panels very succinctly put it: "The young'uns in the other team don't want to get their hands dirty...."

Must be the risk of carpet burns.....

[cella]

In all my various correspondence, despite my copying her in on all messages, she has never responded. Does she actually exist?

[rabbitears]

If she's a myth, you might need to complain to the Director of Spiritual Realm, not Director of Public Realm. Or maybe the Rubbish Faerie.

[Earl Aelfheah]

So after the charges are introduced, what happens to stuff that's fly tipped? If you report things just left on the street will they be picked up for free? I do wonder what will happen?

[Azalea]

Large amount of fly tipping on Everthorpe Rd today.

[louisemurray]

I booked the collection of a mattress from them for yesterday. It all went seamlessly. And still free. Excellent service in my opinion.

[ourbubbleonline]

Hi there,

I was about to book the a collection online and I gather that you now have to pay for it? Is this correct? I remember using the service in the past and it was free?

Thanks :-)

[ed_pete]

http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?5,1609137