City Trash Issues!

[CoveredinGrace]

Okay, I'm ticked. Our city water/trash/sewage is all on one bill and they charge you regardless of if you leave trash out or not. For years, every holiday that our trash day falls on they just push it back a day. For example, if trash day were Friday and it was also a holiday, they would pick trash up in our neighborhood on Saturday. EVERY TIME!
Well, trash day was Friday, everyone put out their trash on Friday, knowing they would come on Saturday or at the very latest Monday, right?

No one picked up trash. There are blocks and blocks of trash just sitting out there stinking up our neighborhood. So we called, and you know what they said? WE'LL PICK IT UP ON FRIDAY! They said they came around on THURSDAY last week to pick up trash in our neighborhood. NO NOTICE, nothing. They changed their policy FOR THIS HOLIDAY ONLY and didn't tell anyone. They said we could call BEFORE EACH HOLIDAY IN THE FUTURE to see when they will be picking up our trash! But you can bet they will still charge all of us for pickup even though the trash wasn't picked up!

I'm so mad I could spit...what can be done? Does anyone know who to contact to complain about an issue such as this? I mean trash gathers rats and other unmentionables, and is a serious health issue if left out for a week, there has to be SOMEONE we can complain to and get this handled isn't there?

[puakinikini]

Same thing happened to us here - except it was our Recycle trash. I am sorry to say that we use enough paper, glass and plastic to fill our recycle trashcan every week - now I have to go ask a neighbor if we can use some of their space. We do try to recycle everything that we can.

[jonjaktez]

Call and talk to the manager. They have one.

In my town, we are charged a monthly fee reguardless if we use the service or not. This also includes items other than household trash.

[CoveredinGrace]

Since they are closed for the day, I'll be calling the manager tomorrow. Perhaps a mention of calling the news media in our area (consumer watch division) would change their tune? If not, I guess we can go through the city council and ask for a review of their practices, and on up the governmental chain if need be. I truly believe that this is caused by discrimination (we live in a very low-income area of the city), b/c you don't see trash piled up on anyone's sidewalks in any other neighborhood.

It just seems so wrong that they can change their "policy" at their whim, without notifying their customers at LEAST through a note in the newspaper, while maintaining a monopoly on the trash business in our town AND charging regardless of whether you use their service or not.

[jonjaktez]

I'm going ot assume that you're inside the city limits. Most cities have trash pickup and charge a fee. That's not going to change. They also won't just charge those who use the service. It's part of living inside the city limits.

What they charge is based on the number properties in the area. They only charge what it cost to provide this service. They are not making any money off of this. They can't make a profit. They also won't change the way they charge you or anyone else. They aren't going to have people sign up for the serive and only charge them. If they do then those people's amount will increase and they will be unhappy. They spend the same amount of money to just ride by your house and pick up your neighbors trash.

In my city you pay for this service even if you choose not to use it. Personally I think it's nuts not to use the service. You aren't spending the money in gas and time to take off trash. Plus you don't have to load it up in your truck/car and then go to he dump. Get out of your truck/car and throw each bag into the dumpster. You also don't have to find the time to get to the dump/landfill before it closes. I love this service and I love living inside the city limits. I wouldn't live anywhere else.

We missed last weeks pick up and will wait until the next pick up with is tomorrow.

You may be able to change how they notify if the pick up date has changed. Here they leave a slip of paper between the lid and the trashcan that tells us that the pick up date has changed.

[mom2Isaac]

Couldn't you contact the city about this because of the health issues? I know that is how it could be where I used to live, but where I live now they have someone pick up the trash MON-THURS in our complex.

[ShoppingCartDiva]

Definitely call the manager. While I agree you can't get them to change their rates, they SHOULD have some system in place for notifying people of when trash will be picked up if it falls on a holiday.

[CoveredinGrace]

:dance3:

Just doin' the happy dance, b/c we got a call back from the Health Dept. today who informed us that the trash people would be picking up our trash OUT OF SCHEDULE tomorrow as a favor to the health department b/c of the public health risk that creepy crawlies and animals drawn to the trash pose to humans.

That's all I ever wanted-them to do their job, and I'm very content with the outcome.

[angelmvm]

Here they leave a slip of paper between the lid and the trashcan that tells us that the pick up date has changed.

That must be nice. Once they've tossed the trash in our neighborhood, they toss the can and the lid wherever they feel like. Half the time I'm fishing it out of the street or the neighbor's yard.