Coeur d’Alene Garbage Service

Review: I received a letter from the company stating I had an outstanding balance that was due and that all accounts are due by the 15th of the month that the bill is sent. It stated that accounts remaining past due will be subject to account suspension and a reinstatement fee. The letter did not state when that would happen and did not state that my account had reached that point. I called in on September 23, 2013 and paid my bill. I was charged $49.25 not the $29.25 that was stated in the letter. When I called the company to ask why I was charged $49.25 I was told that there was a $20.00 reinstatement fee added to my account. I think that fee needs to be refunded to me because I never received notification that my account was suspended and that a fee had been added.My husband has not been able to work for 3 months due to having 2 strokes this summer. Money is tight and I do realize that my account was late. However, I believe that the company has an obligation to inform a customer that their account has been suspended and the amount that must be paid to reinstate it.Desired Settlement: I should have a refund of the $20 reinstatement fee since I was not notified that my account was suspended and did not receive a bill including that fee. The refund may be applied as a credit to my account. This complaint and settlement also must not be held against us nor impact our service from this company in any way.

Business

Response:

Per our conversation last week, I did not have any prior knowledge of this complaint before I received your letter of October 7t,\

We do not show any notes in the customer file of any complaints made to our office. The customer did not speak to anyone here concerning her reinstatement fee. If there had been a complaint, either myself or the General Manager would have been asked to contact Mrs, [redacted].

Our residential accounts are billed in advance for a 3 month period, this practice has been in effect several years and aJl customers are noti fied upon starting service of our billing practices. Service in Mrs. [redacted]’s area is not mandatory, she may opt to haul her own or use another hauler.

Our records show (copies attached) that the [redacted] account is habitually late and was also sent a notice of outstanding balance for August, September and October, which was due August 15*. The letter was sent 8/28/13 noting that a reinstatement fee would be charged if we did not receive payment or the customer did not contact our office. Reinstatement fee was not added until 9/15/13, as we had not received payment or a call from the customer. Since service was stopped 9/15/13 also, Mrs. [redacted] was aware service had been suspended before she made her payment on the 23rcl.

The [redacted]s were properly notified of the consequences of late payment. My records show five late notice letters (Letter #10 as indicated) have been sent to this account since May 2012. We will not be refunding or crediting this account and stand by our policies,

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

The response from Coeur d'Alene Garbage states that they were not aware of my complaint prior to the letter received from the Revdex.com. I called them on September 25th and spoke by phone with their employee and asked specifically about my account. I asked why I had been charged an extra $20.00 when I called in and paid my bill on the 23rd. She said it was for a reinstatement fee. I told her that they could not do that without written notice that the account was suspended and that there was a $20.00 reinstatement fee. I told her that my account had not been suspended. She said they would address the notification issue on any future billings. I told her that the $20.00 charge should be changed to a credit on my account. She did not respond to that statement and offered no further comment. I cannot be held responsible for what their employee did or did not put in the file.