The good news!

So the other day I tweeted that I had some really good news and that you would have to wait until Friday to hear what it was.

Well I dont have to wait until Friday anymore.

I received a call from the Group HR manager of Dischem to tell me that the nurse that had hurt my baby had been fired.  He also called to let me know that she was taking them to the CCMA and to ask if I would testify on Friday.  He explained that she had been let go, not only because of our complaint but because of subsequent complaints as well but that ours was the pivotal one.

I assured him that I would be there.  When I called to confirm the time today he said that he had tried to get a hold  of me earlier to tell me that her lawyers had withdrawn  the case from the CCMA and that he wanted to thank me for being willing to help them with my testimony.

Im am so happy that no one else will be put in that situation!

I’m so mad!

Its partly my own fault and that makes me madder…

Faith turned 12 weeks old last Sunday.

I had scheduled to take her to have her 12 week vaccinations on Tuesday.  I was going to take her to the sister at our family doctor but even though she is lovely she is expensive (higher than medical aid rates) and you have to pay up front and then submit.

I spoke to a friend of mine who suggested taking her to the clinic at the Pick n Pay Norwood pharmacy.  Apparently the sister there is amazing and they charge medical aid rates and submit without payment.  When I got there at 2:30pm she had just taken lunch (late) and I didnt feel like waiting an hour for her to get back so against my better judgment I went to the clinic at Dischem.

A bit if background… I do not like the clinic sister at Dischem, I find her very rude, abrupt and impatient.  We stopped taking Aaron there because if this.

So I wait in the queue adn eventually it is our turn.  I try make conversation and get one word answers.  She doesnt ask me anything about Faith and barely looks at either of us.  She weighed her, measured her and then got all the medicine ready.

The first shot was ok, she said it wouldnt hurt and of course Faith cried.  The second shot was supposedly the painful one and oh boy, Faith screamed!  I also noticed that the sister wasnt holding her leg tight enough and Faith kept moving it, I could see the needle moving in and out of her thigh while the sister was pushing the plunger.

Now I dont cry when the kids get shots.  Its part of life, they get the shot, they cry, its over, they forget about it.  I dont cry or faint when I get shots or blood drawn.  I was so close to crying when Faith got that last shot!!

I tried to get Faith to breastfeed to calm her down and she was so upset she wouldnt even take my boob.  Eventually I got her to latch and she hiccuped while sucking for the next 10 minutes.  Meanwhile the sister tried to get the invoice printed and proceeded to swear at the computer and abuse the tech she had on the phone.  Im not a prude but some kind of professionalism would have been nice.

I came home and Faith seemed ok.  She was super niggly the next day and I put that down to side effects of the shots (when I asked the sister said there would be no side effects).  When I was changing Faith I noticed that the second injection site was extremely red and swollen and hard, about teh size of two R5 coins.

To cut a long story short, our family doctor sent us to have Faith’s leg scanned with an ultrasound to make sure that the huge hard lump wasnt an abcess and that it didnt need to be drained.  According to the radiologist it was just a massive bruise.  Our family doctor was furious that the sister would administer an injection that left such a huge bruise on a child.

When I went back into Dischem and told her about it, she shrugged, said that it was normal and that I should put arnica on it.  She didnt even ask to see it.

The bruise is slowly going away and the hard lump is getting smaller.  I will never go back to that Dischem clinic ever again.  And I will be sending a letter of complaint to Dischem head office.

*Paul posted his thoughts here with a pictuer taken the day after the shot.

When it rains…

Today started of quite well.  I woke up on time, got hugs and kisses from Aaron and was out the door without a hitch.  Then I got to work…

We have spent many many hours capturing data for a new project, we have had some hiccups but they seemed to be sorted out and we started to capture the financial info for a debit run that needs to be finalised on Thursday (thats tomorrow just so you know).  Three days later we come across a small massive glitch in the system, our data has disappeared.  We were checking each batch as they were posted to the system and they were fine until this morning when one batch wasnt there, so we went back and spot checked other batches and THEY. WERE. MISSING!  They were there yesterday and the day before but now they are gone!

To make matters worse our programmer has no frigging clue why this is happening!  She will be back tomorrow and hopefully with a little more work she can figure it out.  If she doesnt… well lets not go there…

Then, yesterday I took my sick baba to the doctor again, he thinks Aaron needs to be nebulised and gave me a prescription for him and one for some meds I need.  I got home too late to fill it so Paul scanned it and faxed it to Dischem so that I could collect it today.

I called Dischem at 12:15 to confirm that everything was in order and that I could collect at 1pm.  I informed them that there were two scripts and that they were for me and for Aaron.  The lady on the phone assured me they were ready to be collected.  When I got there only my script was filled.  They didnt even have Aarons.  The same one that was faxed at the same time as mine!

This is not the first time that a faxed script has been lost by them.  Thats why I called to check it was ready.  I gave the poor pharmacist such a  go that half the customers were giggling at us and half were backing away very slowly.

When I got back to work I tried faxing the script again but could not get through to either of the two fax numbers they gave me.  So in desperation I sent our office driver to them with the original.   I then called to make sure they had it and am now going to collect it all after work.

GGGGRRRRRR!!!!!

On a happier note, I love the Woolies Sale.  I got me a lovely white handbag for R112.00 marked down from R250.00 and a JT T-shirt for R37.00 instead of R90.00.  WIN!

Positive Customer Service!!

A few months ago I noticed that Pick n Pay, Clicks and Dischem stopped stocking white Lux soap.  I asked around and was told that they are no longer manufacturing it.  WTF!

I use white Lux soap because it does not make me break out, its really the only soap that is ok for me to use.  I have tried literally a dozen other brands for sensitive skin and I have a reaction to most of them, others have a smell I cant stand or a texture I dont like.  Lux was my Holy Grail.

So I Googled it and found that Unilever makes Lux and an email was sent off post haste.

I didnt receive a response… until today. Better late than never I say.

Here is the email I received.

Dear Gina


We  recently discontinued our Lux White Bar due to a new Global Lux  Re-Launch which did not include a plain white bar.

After receiving literally thousands of requests from loyal users in South Africa asking us to reinstate the product, immediate investigations were undertaken with our manufacturing facilities to determine whether we could reintroduce this variant without compromising production of the full range.

The outcome was favourable and Lux White is now back in production. Available in both 100g and 200g bars, Lux White will be  in stores from the end of June 2009 everywhere in South Africa.


May we suggest that until the the White bar is back, that you try either our Vaseline white bar or our Sunlight white bar as an alternative.

We pride ourselves in understanding the real needs of our consumers and providing them with products that not only meet, but exceed, their expectations of our brands.  Please could you kindly forward me your postal details, so I can send you a formal letter with regards to the return of the Lux white soap.


Thank you.

Kind Regards

Sindi Ngcobo

Personal Care

Consumer Affairs Department

Unilever SA

Well done for listening to your customers!