Thursday, October 9, 2008

Consumer Alert - Waste Management - read the fine print

For the past three years I've been using Waste Management for my dumpster service at my business. I was unpleasantly surprised from the get go at the fuel surcharges. Didn't they know when the came up with pricing that their trucks would be using gas? When we moved the shop 2 blocks away during the term of the contract, they charged $50 to pick up the dumpster at the old location and another $100 to drop it off at the new location, across the street.

I at least took comfort in the fact that my contract expired in October and told them on the phone I had no interest in renewing. When I called today to verify the expiration date, I was informed that since I did not send them written notice within 30 days of the contract's expiration I would be charged an additional $350 penalty for choosing not to business with them anymore. I'm sure that clause is indeed buried somewhere in their contract. That made me no less infuriated and the customer service rep got an earful. In the end, I told her it was well worth $350 to never do business with them again.

The intention in their policies seems to be to get your signature on a contract, then squeeze you for every dime they can get. All told over three years, with surcharges, pick up and drop off charges and termination charges, I'll have paid over $700 in bogus fees and charges. By not getting roped into another two year deal to avoid paying the termination charge, I'm probably saving money.

In fact, my new service provider MDI (719-492-8682), has twice the pick up frequency at half the price, and no surcharges or surprises.

I hope the folks at Waste Management put my additional $350 to very good use. There wont be anymore where that came from.

1 comment:

Linda said...

Whenever a company rips me off, I make it a point to cost the jerks AT LEAST what they cost me.