One Way, Inc.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 7, 2015/07/11) */
Customer initially signed up in May 2009. Upon sign up, customer selected "two can" residential service. The industry standard for a container was 32-gallons; "two can" service was equivalent to 64-gallons of regular household trash. It came to...

management's attention that using the term "can" was confusing to customers so the terminology was changed from "cans" to "gallons" to avoid confusion. A notification was sent out with the new billing explaining the change. August 2009 through February 2015, the customers invoice clearly reflected either "64-gallon" or "96-gallon" regular residential service.
Regular residential service includes collection of regular household waste. All of our invoices clearly reflect the following statement regarding services that incur extra fees: "Bulky items, such as construction debris, furniture, appliances, carpet or pad, etc. Volumes exceeding your current limit, including items outside of your container. Heavy or overloaded containers. Returning to collect refuse or recycling that was not out on time or not accessible."
In October 2014, a new route driver had been assigned to the customer's route. It came to this driver's attention that he was collecting, on average, three to four 96-gallon containers, often containing heavy, non-compactable construction/demolition debris. The new route driver noticed that the customer was only subscribed to "64-gallon" residential service.
Accounts are eligible for extra fees according to the above mentioned, and clearly posted, "services that incur extra fees" policy. This customer's account was often eligible for extra fees throughout their service term with One Way, Inc. However, extra fees are at the discretion of the route driver.
Despite the customer's belief that One Way holds contracts, this is not true. Instead of the traditional contractual agreement, it is our policy to attempt to resolve issues in an agreeable manner. We work hard to offer great customer service so customers want to continue service.
Upon the dispute of extra charges on the customer's account, One Way, Inc. agreed to reverse the fees. It was also brought to our attention that a service hold credit was missing from the account. Even though we were unable to find record of a requested hold, we honored the customer's word and posted the credit to their account. At this time it was clarified to the customer what their limit was and our policy on extra fees. The customer was warned if they continued to exceed their weekly limit and place construction/demolition debris in their household trash that their account would be eligible for further extra fees. The customer believed that they were entitled to continue to not receive extra fees because the previous route driver had not issued any prior charges.
February 2015, the customer negotiated a price match with Republic services. Republic offered the customer collection of 96-gallons plus seven 30-gallon bags of branches at a set rate. At this time, the customer was notified that this does not include bulky items. The customer was advised to change services until their regular weekly volume decreased and there was no further need for collection of bulky items. The customer insisted on keeping their account active with the rate match.
May of 2015 it was brought to management's attention that the customer was still placing out large volumes of non-compactable construction/demolition debris with their regular residential service. Instead of charging the customer according to the "services that incur additional fees" we contacted the customer to notify them that One Way would need to adjust their service to continue to collect bulky items. The customer refused to cooperate, making it very clear that they expected more service than they were subscribed to and refused to pay for a higher subscription.
One Way, Inc. spent a considerable amount of time attempting to resolve this issue with the customer. We were unable to find a solution that would meet the customers' demands. If the customers' demands were met, then a loss of revenue would have been realized which in turn affects the entire community with raised service rates. We did not find this to be a fair or comprisable solution. With no further progress being made, One Way has ceased service for this customer.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 9, 2015/07/14) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
The two largest waste collection companies in the United States today, Waste Management & Republic Services, both utilize industry standard 96 gallon containers for residential trash collection along with most other trash companies and city municipals - this size is industry standard. One Way, Inc. also advertises these containers with their company name on the receptacle on their website Services page in a residential setting. http://www.onewaytrash.com/service.html
As referenced on the companies response, I received and paid for a consistent service utilizing my 96 gallon containers for 5 1/2 years without ever being charged extra or being informed that I was not complying with the service level I was signed up for. This created a long standing implied contract and/or mutual understanding of services agreement between the parties. A notification of new billing was never given in 8/09 nor was such a thing ever followed through with for the 5 years following said notification.
Upon receiving multiple "extra" charges and fees starting in 10/14, I called One Way to cease my service. One Way pleaded with me to stay by offering up their companies price match service which was verified, honored and set up by One Way in 2/15. This price match was for services with One Way not Republic Services as their response states. As stated in my initial compliant, in 5/15 I received a call from One Way that they were not making any money on my account because of their own price match, that they would not honor their own price match policy for my account and that they would like me to take my business elsewhere.
After all the time, effort and diligence on my part to stay with and support a local privately owned company I was very disappointed yet still believed that a resolution could be reached by utilizing Revdex.com to reach an agreement between parties. Shortly after I contacted Revdex.com, One Way sent an email canceling my pre-paid services with less than 24 hours before my next regularly scheduled trash pick up. Not only was this a major inconvenience but this was yet another contradiction and retracement the company has made to an ensurance they had given for services through my pre-paid time of May - July 2015 in an email from One Way dated 5/15/15.
Unfortunately, with the continuance of bad business practices I do not see an opportunity for a resolution between the parties. I am saddened by companies that take advantage of and mistreat their loyal customers and utilize enticing company policies only when it benefits their bottom line as is the case with One Way, Inc.