Warren Reid, of Bidston St, said he could not work out why his hot water cylinder had ``run dry'' on Wednesday night.
``I had a plumber come round because I thought that was the problem, but it wasn't.''
On Friday, a letter arrived from the Dunedin City Council detailing a disruption to the water supply from Outram Reservoir due to upgrade work at the Outram water treatment plant.
The letter warned residents to ``draw off sufficient water for your needs'' before the planned disruption because a water supply would not be available between 9pm and midnight on Wednesday.
After the letter arrived on Friday, Mr Reid rang the council to tell them ``it's not good enough''.
A woman at the council told him postal companies were to blame for the delay.
Dunedin City Council water and waste group manager Dr Laura McElhone said council posted 342 letters about the ``planned water shutdown'' to affected residents a week in advance.
``However, postal delays meant that it didn't arrive until after the shutdown took place.
``We apologise for any inconvenience caused and will ensure timelier dissemination of such information in future.''
Rural delivery contractor Dean Matheson, of Outram, said the council used DX Mail to post the letters.
DX Mail did not post directly to Outram residents but had an agreement with NZ Post to deliver its mail in Outram.
Mr Matheson said DX Mail gave him, as a NZ Post contractor, the disruption letters in Outram on Tuesday afternoon.
They were then transported to the NZ Post depot in Christchurch for processing. The letters arrived back in Outram on Wednesday night.
Mr Matheson's wife, contract postie Bernice Matheson, delivered mail in Outram on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
She delivered the disruption letters to Outram residents on Friday, two days after the water shutdown.
Mr Matheson feared Outram residents would wrongly blame his wife for the delay.
It appeared DX Mail was to blame, he said.
If the council had given DX Mail the letters on Wednesday as stated, then DX Mail had held the letters for six days.
If DX Mail had given NZ Post the letters when they should have, Outram residents would have got the letter on August 12, five days before the disruption.
``DX have let them down.''
If the council needed a letter to be in Outram by a certain time, they should use NZ Post and ``avoid the middle man'' DX Mail.
A NZ Post spokeswoman said NZ Post delivered the letters to Outram within its normal standard mail target of three working days.
``It is unfortunate that these letters were not lodged in our network earlier.''
Dr McElhone said the council had asked DX Mail to investigate what had happened.
Freightways managing director Dean Bracewell said DX Mail, which is owned by Freightways, took full responsibility for the delay and apologised to the residents of Outram.
``We had an issue with some equipment and our contingency processes weren't up to scratch, so the mail was delayed for two days within DX Mail.''
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Comments
I don't think the blame for this delay can be leveled at DXMail alone.
"Mr Matheson said DX Mail gave him, as a NZ Post contractor, the disruption letters in Outram on Tuesday afternoon.
They were then transported to the NZ Post depot in Christchurch for processing. The letters arrived back in Outram on Wednesday night.
Mr Matheson's wife, contract postie Bernice Matheson, delivered mail in Outram on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays."
So a NZ Post contractor had possesion of the Outram mail on the Tuesday afternoon, yet they were not delivered till Friday.
What possible value was added to this mail by sending it to Christchurch for 'processing'? The answer is of course - none.
It is just another example of the service degradation everyone expected once NZ Post decided to shift mail sorting to Christchurch.