NAPIER COUNCIL POTHOLE APP NOW REPLYING 'WE FEEL YOUR PAIN' TO EVERY SINGLE COMPLAINT
Taradale woman reports same pothole 14 times. Gets 14 identical hugs from a server.
Napier City Council's much-trumpeted pothole reporting app is now auto-replying with the phrase "we feel your pain" to every submission, regardless of whether the pothole is the size of a teacup or has swallowed a Mazda Demio whole.
The issue has been particularly noted in Taradale, where Gloria Penberthy, 71, has reported the same crater on Gloucester Street fourteen times since August. "Fourteen pains they've felt," she told The Daily Yarn over a flat white at the café next to the New World. "Fourteen! And the bloody thing's still there. Bigger now, actually. You can see the gravel underneath."
A second resident, Mehemea Tonga of Greenmeadows, said he'd reported a pothole on his street and then, as an experiment, reported a pothole that didn't exist. "Got the same reply. They felt my pain for a pothole I made up. I don't know what that says about the council but it's not flattering."
A Napier City Council spokesperson confirmed the auto-reply was "part of a customer-experience refresh" rolled out by a consultancy whose name they declined to share. Asked how many potholes had actually been filled since the app launched, the spokesperson said the data was "being collated" and would be available "in due course". Pressed on a timeframe, she said "we feel your pain" and ended the call.
Meanwhile in Hastings, the district council has reportedly filled 23 potholes this month without an app at all, which Taradale residents are choosing not to think about.
Gloria has lodged complaint number fifteen. The reply, received at 4.42pm Tuesday, read: "We feel your pain."
The issue has been particularly noted in Taradale, where Gloria Penberthy, 71, has reported the same crater on Gloucester Street fourteen times since August. "Fourteen pains they've felt," she told The Daily Yarn over a flat white at the café next to the New World. "Fourteen! And the bloody thing's still there. Bigger now, actually. You can see the gravel underneath."
A second resident, Mehemea Tonga of Greenmeadows, said he'd reported a pothole on his street and then, as an experiment, reported a pothole that didn't exist. "Got the same reply. They felt my pain for a pothole I made up. I don't know what that says about the council but it's not flattering."
A Napier City Council spokesperson confirmed the auto-reply was "part of a customer-experience refresh" rolled out by a consultancy whose name they declined to share. Asked how many potholes had actually been filled since the app launched, the spokesperson said the data was "being collated" and would be available "in due course". Pressed on a timeframe, she said "we feel your pain" and ended the call.
Meanwhile in Hastings, the district council has reportedly filled 23 potholes this month without an app at all, which Taradale residents are choosing not to think about.
Gloria has lodged complaint number fifteen. The reply, received at 4.42pm Tuesday, read: "We feel your pain."