Republic Services, Inc.

Unfortunately due to the student’s privacy rights protected by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), I am unable to provide any specific details regarding this caseHowever, we have come to a mutual agreement with Ms*** and the complaint has been resolvedMs
*** would like to remove the complaint

Please allow me to offer my apologies about this situation. I have reviewed this account and have discovered errors in the customer’s perception. This customer was turned to collections for an amount of $145.39. In addition, $of collection fees has now been added for a total outstanding balance of $188.99. I have reached out to our accounting team and reviewed the invoices on this account. This customer has made payments to multiple invoices in the past. This would be a legitimate debt for this customer. Payment was done via check from 06/through 12/2012. From that point forward all payments were stopped resulting in the account being closed due to non-payment
However, while researching this situation I came across a partial credit that can be issued to this customer. A $container fee was assessed due to the customer’s failure to make the container available for removal from the property. At a later date a new resident setup service with us utilizing the same container and therefore we are able to transfer responsibility of this container to the new resident. Mr*** can expect this credit to be applied to his account shortly. The remaining balance will need to be paid in order to remove the account from collections. This will be to cover services rendered
If you have any further questions please contract my office at *** *** *** ***
Sincerely,
Jenna M***
Customer Service Manager
Republic Services of ***
*** *** ***

I received my most recent quarterly invoice and noticed the rate had increased over 12% I received no advanced notice That's not acceptable When questioned, a customer service rep explained that "We do have an annual price increase...due to disposal cost increases."

Republic services has on their web site that they are Revdex.com accredited
Had a driver block my driveway for minutes this morningI was getting ready to leave when I first notice him sitting out front not doing anythingFinished getting ready then went to leaveWhen I asked him to move so I could leave He told me I had to wait till he was done and that is when he started working and emptying cansHe hadn't done anything but sit in his truck until I asked him to move

At the time the credit was promised by the sales rep, money was owed on the account. Mr***, the sales rep, tried to explain the difference between the old rate and the new rate would equate to three months of service. Because money was past due on the account, when the credit applied it went towards the prior owed invoice. This brought him current on his bills. This may have been what confused the customer but no promise was made to waive all past due AND apply a three month credit. Mr*** attempted to explain this but the customer discontinued the call after stating to cancel the service. We processed the cancellation which does include liquidated damages for early cancel

I called and spoke with Ms***As she was at work, I asked for an email address and we continued to correspond this wayI apologized to her that she was not transferred to a supervisor when she requested oneShe should have been advised one was not available and then given an
opportunity to leave a voice mail for a return callI let her know she had been a valuable customer for many years and I appreciated her businessI advised I would not speak as to what another company does or how they determine their costsI explained that when she first signed up for services at the rate available at that timeOver the next 13 years her rate was adjusted timesI explained our costs in this industry (as with all industries) continue to riseThis includes maintaining the landfills and general business costsWe do strive to provide our customers with affordable service that is manageable for them and we are always willing to work with our customers. I advised Ms*** that while I could not go back in time to make adjustments, I did appreciate her taking the time to share her concernsHer feedback is valuableI have issued a credit on her account for months of free service at her new agreed upon rate and will have the credit refunded to her as soon as possible

We have contacted the owner of this account, who is also the authorized decision maker on this accountThe person making these complaints is not the authorized decision maker on the account
The rates and services have been reviewed, and we are continuing our communication with the owner
and account manager to resolve any issues

Horrible serviceThey continuously place the dumpster in the middle of our drivewayWe have complained about this numerous times and it does no goodCustomer service is nice, and friendlyThe driver's are out of control If you don't mind driving through your yard to get in your driveway, this is the company for you

The response provide is inaccurate and invalid DrB*** is a 15% owner of our organization and all contracts and executive decisions are to be reviewed and approved via our CEO, Bridget B***, and owner, Ben B***, only after thorough review by our legal staff and other supporting staff to include the accounting department DrB*** has been advised to no longer participate in communications with Republic Services since they are not following our mandated protocol DrB*** has not accepted or communicated with Republic Services since the proposal was submitted
Republic Service payments are paid via our management organization, Smile Systems, where the payments are signed by DrBen B*** and only DrB*** Republic Services has been advised of this and refuses to adhere to our protocol even with their response
We demand that our services be canceled immediately and the waste receptacles be removed from the premises With the organizations inability to provide any existing contractual obligations to our business entity or to DrB*** we must assume that there are no contractual obligations and see no reason why Republic Service to not cancel our services as requested for the last months We are attempting to resolve this matter with the minimal exposure at this time and would appreciate due consideration in our request to cancel our service and sever any and all contracts You all are more than welcome to assist DrB*** with his other business that are not related to our dental organization and have our organization removed from the liability of billingPlease cancel both services that are attached to this request as soon as possible

I have attached a copy of the service agreement Mrs*** agreed to and signed. The second attachment are copies of each weight ticket of her loads showing truck weight in and weight outThe truck leaves the site with the container, so the charged amounts are accurate. The quote provided to Mrs*** included 8,Lbs.(tons) any weight over the 8,Lbswas charged per ton per the agreement. The fuel and environmental fees are stated in the agreement and should have been explained to Mrs***. I will agree to refund the dry run fee of $even though the charges are valid. Mrs***'s total invoice was $1,and one credit has been applied to her account for $Respectfully,
Keith C***

Mrs*** sent an email to Republic Services on Friday 9/9/regarding the billing matter that she wrote about. An email was sent back to her on Monday 9/12/that, in part, said:
"Please do not reply to this message as the mailbox is not monitored
Thank you for contacting Republic ServicesWe are pleased to inform you that your message has been received and assigned case number ***Additional information is required to answer your billing questionPlease contact us at ***, referencing the case number above, and we will be happy to assist you."
Mrs***'s service started at the end of 2012 under a promotional rate that was guaranteed for one year. She was still paying $13/qtr over two years later, through February, 2015. Her guaranteed time period expired well before that timeAs for the reason behind the adjusted rate, costs of doing business rise each day. We are not able to keep a customer's rate the same indefinitely. As any householder who keeps a budget knows, these growing expenses need to be covered through income. Therefore, at some point we need to ask for a fair-share adjustment from our customers to be able to continue providing serviceAs for the service errors, Mrs*** has called our office on several occasions and we have no record of any calls to report items that were not collected. The calls all had to do with billing matters. We base our business on quality service. I would like to assure Mrs*** that we will not tolerate missed pickups. If she experiences any issues, please have her call 1-844-REPUBLIC. We will be happy to send someone back to collect her items

To whom this may concern:
I apologize for the poor service that this customer has experiencedThe exchange fee was billed to him incorrectly and was removed on 9/30/This customer currently resides in the city of Toledo and they are billed for trash services through their water department therefore I can not credit him anything further. Due this I have notated his account that we will grant him one additional free bulk pick up to use by the end of the year.
In addition, I have taken the proper corrective action with the customer service agents that were involved
I have attempted to reach out to the customer to discuss this but have received no call back
Thanks,
*** ***
Customer Service Supervisor

I left *** *** a message regarding this complaint along with my direct phone#I reviewed the account as well as all letter, notices and statements that were mailed out for the listed property address and there was only one letter that was sent to *** *** which was the intent to lien
noticeThe charges for trash service should have been $for service dates of 1/1/- 12/31/which leaves a credit of $due to *** *** *** took ownership of *** *** *** *** *** *** ** *** 8/17/but the account was paid current through 12/31/which is why her service date begins 1/1/Here is outcome of my review: a credit of $will be applied to *** *** account and here is the breakdown:$late fees, collection fees and penalties
*** ***Customer Service SupervisorLien Department*** ***

STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY!!

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.My complaint is about a past breach of contract and is based on facts which *** *** did not discuss in her responseWhile she is correct that (following my instructions from over days ago) she has discontinued our service, that fact is irrelevant hereMy decision to discontinue service is naturally parallel to my efforts to recover ***/Republic's overcharges and notify other consumers of ***/Republic's dishonest practices.My contract with ***/Republic provides two mechanisms by which my invoice may change: (1) The Schedule of Charges is to reflect any changes (up or down) in the Consumer Price Index, and (2) Contractor may increase the unit price of collection service in an amount equal to increases in disposal costsPlease refer to the contract as presented to me by ***/Republic (*** and my transcription of the relevant sections (***Mechanism (1) is described in the TERM section while mechanism (2) is under SANITARY LANDFILL COST INCREASES.Now here is a summary of the actual increases to our invoice over the past four years, as offered to me by *** *** in an email dated Nov The third column is from my records of what we have actually paid to ***/Republic.Rate: Effective Date: Actual invoice:$ 10/01/ $251.88$ 12/01/ $218.89$ 2/01/ $189.94$ 3/1/ $161.74$ 4/1/ $133.62Let's deal with mechanism (1) firstThe CPI has risen by about 1%/year over the past four years(*** *** *** ** *** *** ***.) This obviously does not explain either the 19%/year increase in the Rate column or the 23%/year increase in the actual invoice(Over the entire period that I use, Sept - Nov 2014, the invoice growth rate is actually 24.7%/year.)Now mechanism (2)When I asked *** *** to explain the increase in my invoice, she wrote (in the same email): "The reason that the overall cost has been significant is due to the fact that the fuel and environmental fees is a percentage based off of your basic rates causing you to see the total cost increased at a higher margin." When I pointed out that fuel prices have been flat over the past four years and asked her to show me information about the "environmental fees," she referred me to *** for diesel pricesThe EIA data shows that diesel prices have risen by roughly 25% since Sept Because the fuel price is only a fraction on the invoice, the change in my invoice due to a 25% rise in fuel cost can only be a fraction of 25%And yet my invoice has increased by 137%Diesel prices therefore cannot be the explanationAnd *** *** made no further mention of environmental fees in response to my question. So I have seen no evidence that the exorbitant increases in our invoice are due to disposal costs, as *** *** claimedIn fact, I believe her claim is simply false.This was later confirmed, when *** *** offered me a new contract at a total invoice of $(See ***) If our bill rose from $to $due to disposal costs, then those costs are at least $251-$= $So how could ***/Republic possibly offer to continue my service for $62? They have effectively admitted that the increases in our invoices were not due to costs and therefore were not contractual.So my conclusion is that neither the increases in our "Rate" as reckoned by ***/Republic, nor in my total invoice, are allowed by the contract.Therefore I believe my organization has been overcharged, from Sept to now, by ***/RepublicI am seeking to recover the amount of this overchargeI calculate that amount by starting with $106, which we agreed to pay, and increasing this by the prior-year CPI as time goes forwardI consider this to be the contractual price of their service over the past four yearsI then subtract this from the amount we actually paid, and discount our payments at 5%/year for the time-value of the overchargeThis discounted difference, which I believe to be a fair accounting of our overpayment, comes to $This number means *** keeps roughly $110/month for their service over the past four years, a price which was already too high by about $50/month, based on ***'s latest quote as well as three other quotes we have obtainedI believe this would be a fair resolutionFor my records and calculations, please refer to RepublicServicesOverpayments.xls.Finally, I believe these deceptive practices, where unsuspecting customers are gouged without their knowledge and left with no way to recover their money, is an acknowledged part of the business of ***/RepublicThey have been sued for this in the past ***), and the CEO of *** remarked publicly, "One of the things that did help us, frankly, was the price of the - fuel price increases that allowed us to go to the customer and really begin to accelerate pricing in a meaningful wayI would say that the companies all used that as [their cover] to really begin the process of getting pricing moving," (***)This business practice of theirs is abusive and has personally cost me a large amount of timeTherefore I would seek an additional penalty of $for my wasted timeAnd at a minimum, I hope that the Revdex.com will consider removing the accreditation that appears on the homepage of Republic Services
Regards,*** ***

Our Operations Manager, *** *** has spoken with this Brockton resident as a follow up to his complaint. The resident stated that he hired someone to clean up the yard waste that was missed. Unfortunately, he does not have any receipts for this expense. Greg confirmed with
him that he has had no recent issues and pick ups have been on schedule
*** *** will follow up again with customer this week for resolution of this issues

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***5, and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.I see Republic Services did not respond to my request for Outcome/Settlement- refund.Since Sept 20th 2010:My month service agreement over payment amount was $585.95For months following the service agreement period I was overcharged $(higher than I originally thought it was)I request that Republic Services reimburse total amount I was overcharged $2943.35.I would like a service agreement that clearly states limits of price increases no more than inflation rates (1-2%) and only increases every months.I would like month to month service so not to be held to a month agreement if Republic Service raises their rates more than 5% or more frequently than every months
Regards,
*** ***

Our customer service department did receive a phone call from *** ** 12/11/4:39pm, informing Republic Services of possible cancellation, customer also had mention they might move, we offered the option to relocate their service or to please submit proof of business closure to end
contractAttached is a copy of contract signed by *** *** *** in 2009, same name on billing invoices. Site check was issued and confirmed location was empty, per agreement signed by Customer and company, there is a six day notice to giveCustomer emailed proof, a forwarded email from landlord asking Der W*** to vacate on 12/15/Republic Services closed account in days as agreed from day we received notice, balance on account is up to 2/15/Increases on account were advised days in advance on their invoiceService Charge has been creditedOur customers can call if there is a missed pick, during the holidays company does have a different route schedule, reviewing account there are no phone calls or record of customer ever calling in to report the miss pick upI apologize for that inconvenience, had customer called we would of sent driver back next dayBalance remaining is *** *** *** ***
*** *** *** ***
We have issued a credit for the month of February as a courtesy
Account has been closed since 2/15/Bin was removed on 3/10/Response being emailed to *** today 4/1/
Bin was removed on 3/10/

We have reached out to the customer this morning and will continue to try and call until we are able to make contactThe service day for this location is on Friday 12/26/and due to service issues reported this location will be placed on a Hot Stop sheet until all service issues have been
corrected

Customer reached our office at 10:on 5/after the phones were down due to a mandatory meeting in the service center. The customer's payment was applied to the wrong account in error by a new customer service representative. We were able to have the money applied to the correct
account, service interruption fees have been credited and account is in good standing at this time. If you have any other questions, please contact me at ***
Brenda G***
Customer Service Supervisor
Republic Services