Stericycle, Inc.

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

We will have one of our Managers reach out to Ms. [redacted] directly in order to review potential solutions to this matter.

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because: We were deceived into signing the new agreement by their sales person named [redacted] by saying that our facility will be charged with overages should there be extra containers picked up but in reality there was only one time that we had more containers than usual.  So to avoid the overages we were made to sign a new contract with increased rates and more containers when in reality the increase in container only happened one time and we are not even able to use all the containers alloted to our facility as it was an unusual increase in our medical waste.  And during the times that we are not able to use all the containers provided we were not given credit for the smaller volume.  We were continuously charged with the amount for the bigger volume when it was just a one time occurrence.  What they conveniently fail to point out is that overgages are not charged unless the overall annual amount is exceeded. In other words, a spike in monthly usages carries no adverse effect (in fact it should be anticipated) unless the client exceeds the overall annual amount of barrels. With all the unethical business practice, even the charging of $28,479 is unfair considering they have not been servicing our facility for a few months now.  
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 6, 2015/08/03) */
Firstly, please note that the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act does recognize electronic signatures as having the same legal and binding effect as a written signature. This act can be referenced online at...

[redacted]
Our e-signature process is done through EchoSign, a reputable electronic signature company, which features a multi-step process to accept an agreement. The service also tracks and records the IP address of the computer on which the agreement was accepted to ensure integrity. This service is globally marketed and accepted at thousands of business and we have never had any reports of the service not working properly. It seems unlikely that we would have received verified, e-signed documents for site [redacted] from [redacted] and site [redacted] from [redacted] if they had not completed all of the steps to accept the agreement.
Nonetheless, although we feel the contract under which we have operated is entirely valid, as a measure of good customer relations, we will agree to waive liquidated damages as requested.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (2000, 8, 2015/08/12) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)
We disagree that the "contracts" are valid. On one, you claim that I e-signed it, but I NEVER received that email nor did I give anyone permission to "sign" on my behalf so if you have a "contract" with MY "e-signature," it is a forgery. The second "contract" you claim was "e-signed" by our lowest level employee who does NOT have the authority to enter into contracts on behalf of this practice. She knows that and would not have knowingly signed a contract if she fully understood what she was doing.
If the "liquidated damages" are in fact waived, then we are satisfied with this outcome. However, since Stericycle already referred us to[redacted] for collections and [redacted] is threatening to sue us, if these collection efforts continue and [redacted] does in fact file a lawsuit, we will resume this complaint with the Revdex.com.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 11, 2015/08/14) */
We preface our signature line with the statement "By signing below I acknowledge that I am the customer's authorized officer or agent and that I have the authority to bind customer to this agreement..." so that the individual reading the document will verify before signing that they are authorized to do so.
On our end we have no way of knowing who is or is not authorized to sign an agreement for a particular office. Typically accepting and paying for the service for a significant period of time also serves to ratify the agreement. It is unfortunate that your client's representative did not read and understand what was signed.
In closing, although we believe our agreement to be entirely valid, in the interest of maintaining positive relations, we have canceled the Stericycle account [redacted] and removed the penalty as requested.
Final Consumer Response /* (2000, 13, 2015/08/17) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)

While we regret Mr. [redacted] dissatisfaction, we preface our signature line with the statement “By signing below I acknowledge that I am the customer’s authorized officer or agent and that I have the authority to bind customer to this agreement…” so that the individual reading the document will...

verify before signing that they are authorized to do so.
On our end we have no way of knowing who is or is not authorized to sign an agreement for a particular office. Typically accepting and paying for the service for a significant period of time also serves to ratify the agreement. It is unfortunate that your representative did not read and understand what was signed.
In closing, although we believe our agreement to be entirely valid, in the interest of maintaining positive relations, we will remove the penalty billed of $1,825.88, on account #[redacted] leaving the amount due 0.00. We truly appreciate the opportunity we have had to serve [redacted],DDS. over the years and wish continued success for the business.

As stated previously, while we regret Ms. [redacted] dissatisfaction, we believe we have acted in full accordance with the service agreement signed by [redacted]. We have offered to work with [redacted] on potential resolutions to this matter, however they have insisted upon proceeding with the early termination of a service agreement still within its’ initial term therefore we feel the liquidated damages provision outlined in section 2c is valid. In addition, as a part of an amicable resolution, we have waived half of the originally billed liquidated damages fee. Should [redacted] wish to resume discussions around continuing services with Stericycle and finishing out the remainder of their agreement, we would be happy to continue that dialogue.

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because: I finally spoke to a manager at Stericycle.  They recognize that the call that resulted in a 5 year contract term was misleading and could be 'valuable to use in training' and leaves us not wanting to continue business with their company.  We would have had a renewal option available in September of 2015 that was eliminated by a misleading phone call. Instead of allowing us to cancel our services using that contract term end date, they are standing firm to the fact that we would have renewed in September (and we would not have).  They have offered to only make us continue their service until May of 2018 when that automatic renewal would have expired.  We explained that this was not satisfactory to us.  In order to even reduce this term, we have to sign another contract accepting this offer....and it is our ONLY option.  I asked to have any automatic contract renewal removed from the revision, as we want to sever service ties as soon as possible.  We were told that it was not possible.  So we will end this dispute feeling mislead and forced into service that we are not happy with.  We recognize that there was a contract attached to a call to remove the $30 a month cost of online services we did not use.  However, their representative said that she just needed us to sign to approve a reduction in service level.  So, they essentially sneak it in under the radar and then hold all of the cards.  It may say something about the customer service when they keep customers by handcuffing them into long and expensive contracts.Their practices are very deceptive.  To any potential customer, we would say BUYER BEWARE.  Be aware that any service you use with them will come with a very long term contract.  You will also be locked into automatic renewals of equally long terms.  Essentially, you can find yourself locked into extensive and expensive contracts terms.  If you become unsatisfied, you are still responsible to pay out the entire term on these contracts in order to cancel services.  Also beware that any calls and attempts to add services that you are 'required' to have, are also deceptive.  Research any statement they make independently before agreeing to anything.  Be very careful to document every interaction with them.  We essentially have no choice but to sign this reduction in terms, as we are hostage to whatever they choose to offer.  We will be holding our nose while signing this agreement.  The only alternative is to pay the full contract term of 5 years.  I made them aware that we are not satisfied in being forced to continue services with a company that has such misleading practices.  I told them that we will not hesitate to warn others about committing to any services through Stericycle.  We will now count down until the time when we no longer have to do business with them.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Our
service agreements do allow for periodic price increases and these increases
are a standard condition of our service agreement to help cover any cost
increases we may face to meet regulatory requirements across local, state, and
federal standards as well as prepare for investments in our...

business to keep
abreast of needed technology and ensure the protection of our customers as part
of our 'cradle to grave' service offering. However, we are more than willing to work with our customers to find a service
program with a rate that works for them. We offer a variety of different
program levels and pick-up frequencies and can help to evaluate these options.
We will have one of our Managers reach out to Ms[redacted]  directly in order to review potential
solutions to this matter.

We are more than willing to work with our customers to find a service program with a rate that works for them. We offer a variety of different program levels and pick-up frequencies and can help to evaluate these options. We will have one of our Managers reach out to Mr. [redacted] directly in order...

to review potential solutions to this matter.

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:I do not want to continue to do business with your company.  I request that you let me get out of this unfair, oppressive and misleading contract without penalty.  I have spoken to several members of the [redacted] Society Board of Directors, of which I am a member, and many have similar complaints; some of whom you have already let out of your one-sided contract.  I will continue to be an advocate against your unfair business practices, until I am unencumbered by your inequitable contract.I will continue to speak out negatively about your business to my local [redacted] Society and thus through the California [redacted] Society and ultimately through the American [redacted] Society.  The more people I speak to, the larger our voices become.  You simply have to look at the Revdex.com website to see how many complaints are lodged against your company.  No solution is acceptable to me except dissolution of the contract without penalty.
Sincerely,
[redacted], DDSStockton Representative to [redacted] Society

We regret Dr. [redacted] dissatisfaction; we are more than willing to work with our customers to find a service program with a rate that works for them. We offer a variety of different program levels and pick-up frequencies, we have had one of our Managers attempt to reach Dr. [redacted] directly in order to review potential solutions to this matter. So far we have been unable to connect with Dr. [redacted], but we hope that he will return our message and give us an opportunity to resolve their concerns. We will also continue trying to connect with Dr. [redacted] directly and can help to evaluate these options.

In the interests of maintaining positive relations we have remove the balance due $400.56 on account #[redacted] leaving the amount due $0.00.

Although we believe our agreement to be entirely valid and enforceable, [redacted] DPM has been a good customer to us over the years. In the interests of maintaining positive relations we will waive the penalties billed on account [redacted].

While we regret Ms. [redacted]’s dissatisfaction, we believe we have acted in full accordance with the service agreement signed by [redacted] Pediatric Dentistry that does not expire until October 1, 2018. We are willing to work with Ms. [redacted] on potential resolutions to this matter, however if they insist upon proceeding with the early termination of a service agreement still within its' initial term therefore we feel the liquidated damages provision outlined in section 2c would be valid. We will have one of our Managers reach out to Ms. [redacted] directly in order to review potential solutions to this matter.

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:  While Stericycle has reached out to us and offered us other options the other options that they offered are still double the cost of what other biohazard companies are offering for the same frequency of pick ups, same number of bins.  I cannot see paying Stericycle the price that they are offering when another company offers half the price for same service.  I will never recommend Stericyle to any other business and will offer this advice:  read the fine print in service agreement carefully and be aware of automatic renewal because they will not remind you of it!
Sincerely,
Leanne [redacted]

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
A remittance for $595.19 will be forthcoming within the next 10 days.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

While we regret Ms. [redacted] dissatisfaction, we believe we have acted in full accordance with the service agreement signed by [redacted] Dental Care that expires June 1, 2020. Our agreements reflect an additional charge for service usage above the contracted amounts. The charge for using additional containers that indicates container charge plus 10% that calculates to $437.25 per container. Our records indicate your agreement effective 6/1/2015 for a 60 month term allowed 8 containers for the year and we collected 11 containers to date, leaving the container overage at 3. In consideration of our service relationship Stericycle is willing to reduce the amount billed for overages from $1,311.75 to $655.88 plus waiving half of the liquidated damages fee from $5,697.50 to $2,848.75 effectively removing the fees billed where no services were rendered, leaving the amount due to Stericycle at $ 3,504.63.
We look forward to reaching an amicable resolution over this outstanding amount payable to Stericycle.

We will have one of our Managers reach out to Ms. [redacted] directly in order to review potential solutions to this matter.

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because: Although Stericycle has continued to service our location against our wishes, we have proven with that Stericycle has not acted within the guidelines of their contract.  We believe, that we have canceled Stericycle within the terms and conditions of their contract and in accordance with California State Law (Unilateral Rescission On The Basis Of Mistake, Fraud, or Duress: A contract is subject to unilateral rescission by a party whose consent to the contract (or the consent of another party jointly contracting with the rescinding party) was given by mistake or obtained through duress, fraud or undue influence exercised by or with the connivance of the party against whom rescission is sought or any other party to the contract jointly interested with the party against whom rescission is sought. [Ca Civil § 1689(b)(1)])This was verified by Stericycle employee "[redacted]" on 08/17/2016 Ref#: [redacted]We insist that Stericycle immediately waive any liquidated damages.
Sincerely,
[redacted]