Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  02/23/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On 15 February 2024, *********** took an amount of ***** from my **** for payment of Trash Services for 3 months. On the 17th of February I spoke to them and cancelled this upcoming 3 months and asked them to return the ***** to my ****. They told I me they would do this and said it would take 10 days to see the refund. On February 22 I sent them a message and inquired what the problem was. I was then notified by them that it would take ***** Weeks for me to get a refund via my ****. I asked them if this date was correct and they answered Yes. I told them this was not appropriate. I do have emails to back this up with them. I think they are trying to get even with me and I cannot believe it would take ***** weeks . I would sincerely appreciate it if you can do something about this. I believe they are trying to get even with an 84 senior

  Business response

  03/06/2024

  We apologize ****************** was given an extended time frame to expect reimbursement. This representative incorrectly stated weeks instead of days. After reviewing the account, we show that ******************** were billed for March, April and May on February 15th. We were contacted on February 16th to cancel services prior to this period.  Equipment was removed from ********************** home on February 19th and funds were reimbursed on February 29th. Attached is a statement showing the dated transactions on ********************** account. We're happy to help if there is anything else that needs to be done, but believe ********************** request has been fulfilled.

• Initial Complaint

  12/09/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  In Aug 23 I signed up with Choice Waste services. The contract agreement said if I changed from my current service that choice would give me six months free and upon a bill due my cost would be ***** a month. At the time I was currently paying $16 a month with county waste, but I opted for the $six months free, After I agreed to the terms the representative said I needed to pay the first month up front and I reluctantly agreed and gave him $20. So, with this agreement after paying the first months bill of $20, the bill should start in March 24. On Nov 15 I received my first bill. It was not $18 a month but ***** a month for service. And the additional free garbage car that the young man said was free now cost $9.00. The organization has completely duped me. Request assistance in resolving this. I have called them several times and they will not answer the phone.

  Business response

  12/11/2023

  As agreed, the account is being charged $18.00 monthly for trash service. The first attachment (Sumpter1) shows the rate as $15.00 for the trash service and $3.00 for the second cart. The first six months are to be free, unfortunately the account was incorrectly credited three months. As soon as we were notified of this on November 28, the account was properly credited the additional three free months (Sumpter3). The initial $20 payment was posted to the account when service began and is still reflected as a credit. This can be seen on all three attachments. We believe this concern to be resolved, but we are happy to help if further assistance is needed.

• Initial Complaint

  07/18/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  Early May - Choice Waste Services sent out marketing materials for their new recycling program. Said "no glass".Early June - I decided that I need glass recycling so I hired a new company.July 18 - called Choice Waste Services to end my service. Was told they do accept glass but they did not want to advertise this fact. Was told to pay $300 for early contract term fee (3 year contract for trash - seriously). They will not "cancel" until I pay the $300. I am surprised a trash company can require a 3 year contract. Even if this is legal (assume it is), this is worst customer experience, and a great way for a company to make extra money they did not actually earn.

  Business response

  07/19/2023

  Choice has recently added recycling services due to Chesterfield County ending the collection program offered to residents. In preparation of implementing this service, we have been in communication with the recycling facilities in the area, including the one that was performing the county pickup for Chesterfield, TFC. TFC had shared that they are expecting to decline glass as an acceptable recycling material in the near future. This would prevent any haulers that use their facility to accept glass as part of their recycling collection. Due to this being a new program, we thought it helpful to encourage customers to dispose of glass as trash to prevent confusion in the future. TFC is currently still accepting glass, and Choice Waste is removing recycling that containers glass presently. I can understand ************************ confusion as to why we made the decision to state it is unacceptable, but hope this explanation is helpful. In the past, when changing acceptable material to unacceptable, we have found it difficult for some homeowners to modify their practices.

  While ******************** did begin collection with Choice under a promotional agreement, we appreciate the opportunity we've had to service him thus far. Attached is the agreement for reference, we provide copies at the time of sale for customer's records. We would be disappointed to see him go to another hauler if we are providing satisfactory service and are still able to collect glass and process it as desired. If preferred, we can close out account without penalty. 

  Customer response

  07/19/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  If Choice is willing to end my services with them, with no term fee, then I will accept and consider this complaint resolved. 

  Regards,
  

  ***************************
  
  
  
  

  
  

  Business response

  07/20/2023

  Choice will close the account effective the date ******************** wishes and there will not be any additional charges or penalties.

  Customer response

  07/20/2023

  [A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's offer.  If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the offer made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me. I will wait for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved. If the company does not perform as promised I can get back to you at: **********************************************.
  
  Regards,
  
  ***************************
  
  
  
  

• Initial Complaint

  07/05/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Paid my balance in full on February 24th 2023 in the amount of $45.66 Was charged $83.45 on 6/20/23 with an outstanding balance from February of $35 Spoke to a supervisor who would not explain the discrepancy and claimed the system is not letting me review the call from February and made it clear they are not happy to do it but am going to refund me the $35 and tried to rush me off of the phone, I asked for their manager and got the standard they will give you a call back and of course have heard nothing.I have made multiple attempts to contact them about the situation with the balances and about the fact my garbage can disappeared in the middle of March. They are of course blowing me off and the very little contact I have had was you already spoke to the manager no, actually I have not, they never called back. Account number: ******** 6 Service Address: ******************************************************************

  Business response

  07/19/2023

  Mr. ******* service for ******** February, and March 2023 was invoiced on 12/15/22 with a due date of 01/15/23. When payment was not received, we went through the steps of the collection process and closed his account in February. At that time, his account was credited $35.34 for service he would not be using as the equipment was removed and service would not be provided. Mr. ***** called and reinstated service, making payment in full for the current balance due of $45.66. When reinstated, Mr. ***** enrolled in automatic payments and was not charged any additional reinstatement fees as a courtesy. Service resumed, and we charged for the services in February through the end of March because we had already billed for this period on 12/15 and it was removed when the account was closed.
  Mr. ***** was invoiced 03/15/22 for ****** May, and June 2023 with a due date of 04/15/23. Mr. ******* payment method was unable to be processed and we did not receive payment by the due date. We began the collection process again and the account was closed due to nonpayment. When Mr. ***** contacted us on June 20, he had issued payment that day. He requested a breakdown of how he arrived at the amount due. We began to explain, but Mr. ***** continued to interrupt and refused to understand that the $35.34 amount from February did not impact his account being in a delinquent status. His March 15 payment was not received, and his account was closed.  To confirm the account status was not due to the February charges, he was immediately refunded the $35.34. He did not ask for this, we did it as a courtesy due to his confusion. He repeatedly asked to speak with a manager, although he was being assisted by our Customer Experience Director. He was told that his request for another manager call back would be passed along but did not understand he had already been assisted. At this time, we have asked Mr. ***** repeatedly what we can do for him but he has shared he has been with a new service provider for months. He does not have business with Choice Waste, nor is he owed a reimbursement. We are unsure what more we can do to assist him.

  Customer response

  07/22/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the offer and/or 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.
  
  [Provide details of why you are not satisfied with this resolution.]

   

  Allow me to correct the misinformation provided by the company. The question of the $35.34 was should I have been charged this in February and if so why wasn't I. I was informed that I had an outstanding balance from February which as of February 24th I was informed I owed no money. The "manager" said she was unable to review the call from February so cannot confirm what happened. I was asked if I would like that card on file, not if I wanted autopay, I agreed to on file, not autopay. The complaint is from how that question was handled. It took 3 weeks to get an answer as to if I was supposed to be charged that in February and if so why was I not. This was not out of my confusion, this was out of out right refusal to answer the question. I did not ask for a refund I asked for an explanation of charges, giving me a refund as a "courtesy" instead of an explanation of charges that I am asking for to get me off the phone is in no way resolving my question or helping build any trust with this company. The director they refer to is the person that I requested to speak to their superior because she was the one that was not answering the question. I spoke to other agents who were beyond unhelpful. I had one male representative that all he would say is "yeah?" when he got on the phone and I asked who he was because it was a time I asked for a manager, his response was "you got a question?" to again I asked was I speaking to a manager, to which I got "so do you have a question or what?". After that call was a complete failure I got another one who when I said what I wanted to know, which is was this a charge that I was supposed to pay in February or not started screaming at me about how I was not going to yell her and acted like a child. To be clear I had not raised my voice at all. I responded to her childish temper tantrum to let her know that I would like to speak to her manager and that I do plan to file a complaint because of her behavior. The fact that no one wants to answer this question because it means admitting the company made a mistake is just frustrating. You ask for weeks and provide a receipt showing that you paid what you were told you owed so it is not possible to have an outstanding balance from February. It was a simple, did your company s**** up, yes or no. Consumers need to know what charges are for what reason because telling me I accrued a $35 balance in 4 days when I have a receipt saying I was paid in full is frustrating. Now onto the part about a new service provider. That is incorrect as well as I stated on the phone with them, but this company has proven their customer service staff cannot be trusted to handle any customer service related issues, I am not surprised this is documented incorrectly. I have contacted all of the other service providers in my area and they do not service my neighborhood, only choice does now. The others are only picking up the legacy contracts. I wasn't even refuting the charge, I was simply asking the origin of the charge. Apparently having to get them to explain why I am being charged certain amounts is wrong. This has nothing to do with my confusion, I was not confused, I asked for confirmation if this supposed to be charged on February 24th or not and could not get a straight answer. It was a yes or no question that took weeks and multiple phone calls to get an answer to. They also informed me they would not provide me service in the future, which at this point no one had been yelled at or told off or anything, they did not like that I called them out on their shady business practices they were trying to pull on me. I never asked for a refund, if I did not ask for a refund and instead wanted an explanation of charges how is just refunding the money and hanging up on me considered resolving my problem? It's not, that tells me that I should have been charged that $35 at all or someone made a mistake in February, these are things you need to know going forward so it does not happen again, and that is the reason I wanted an answer. So long story short is the response is full of misinformation and after 3 weeks I finally got an answer to a simple yes or no question but somehow got me banned from being a customer. I stayed calm so I can only imagine how they would react to an actual angry customer.
  
  Regards,
  
  ****** Point
  
  
  
  
  

  Business response

  07/24/2023

  Mr. ***** has had an explanation of charges more than once. We have explained his balance by phone, as well as the initial complaint. At this time, his account is closed, and no money is due to either party. Mr. ***** has reached out repeatedly by phone and was not respectful to our team or allowed us to assist him. I will forward separately our final conversation with Mr. ****** we are here to support our customers but will not allow customers to abuse our staff. Cursing and derogatory language to our staff is not tolerated. Due to Mr. ******* clear dissatisfaction with Choice, we agree he should not continue to use our service. 

• Initial Complaint

  03/16/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  The county will be terminating its recycling service effective 6/30/23 and encourated residents to contract with independent companies effective 7/1/23. I did so, but I (and lots of my neighbors) got signed up for recycling service effective 5/1/23 without our authorization. I notified them and they stated they would correct my enrollment to 7/1/23, but now, almost a month later, they have billed me and taken $17.29 out of my account for ******** recycling. Since I am paying attention, I have asked for a refund of this money, but I am concerned that many of their customers are not paying attention and they are illegally making money off of people who do not complain. My ask is that they correct their inappropriate business practices of enrolling people and billing them for services they didn't order and then not correcting it unless the customer complains. And I want my money back.

  Business response

  03/28/2023

  We apologize for the inconvenience adding the recycling automatically to *********************** account *** have caused. We processed the credit and removed the services the same day we were contacted, March 16. we d our best to process refund requests as quickly as we can. The refund request of $17.90 has been approved and sent to our accounting team. The credit card refund will be released on our end by Wednesday, March 29. ******************* should see these funds on her end in a few business days.

• Initial Complaint

  02/22/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Choice Waste Services bought Republic Waste Services in October of 2022. Unaware to me and prior to any letters of a new ************* taking over, I sent my payment (for 3 months in advance) to Republic Services as billed. Days later, (Oct. 20, 2022) I received a letter of the sale and that I would be cancelled by Nov. 30, 2022. The Acct. No. given to me by Choice Waste was *****. I called Choice and they said they would issue a refund after December 1, 2022. Today is February 22, 2023 and after 7 or 8 calls they continue to give me the runaround by giving me different dates they mailed out my refund. The last date that was given was February 8 and no refund has arrived. Please help.

  Business response

  02/22/2023

  Services at ******************************* were acquired from another trash hauler beginning November 1, 2022.  It was found that this home was outside of our designated service area. ****** was mailed to *************************** that collection would end as of 12/01/22. Unfortunately, it took longer than desired to confirm payment was received for services past November 1 with the previous hauler. Once confirmed, the refund was processed and approved. Check #**** for $74.13 has already been mailed out for reimbursement.

  Customer response

  02/24/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the offer and/or 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.
  
  [Provide details of why you are not satisfied with this resolution.]
  As stated in my complaint, this company has given me three different dates of mailing my refund.  As of February 24th, including today's mail, no refund has been received.  I noticed they did not give the date they mailed a refund as they claimed.  The last date given to me for a date of mailing as stated in my original complaint was February 8, 2023.  
  Regards,
  
  ***************************

  Feb. 24, 2023
  
  
  
  

  
  

• Initial Complaint

  11/18/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  Bait and switch with prices. After a competitor raised their prices, Choice sent employees door to door convincing people to switch to them. I signed a 3 year agreement for waste services at a set fee in November of 2021. Less than a year passed before they contacted me saying they were raising the prices. I questioned the increase and they said the agreement I signed states they can raise the price if certain costs for them increased greater than 10%. I said to provide proof to me that the specific costs they referenced did in fact increase and they refused to do so.

  Business response

  11/21/2022

  ******************** signed up with Choice Waste Services November 15, 2021. The attached agreement is a copy of the contract, also provided to ******************** at the time of sale. Service was scheduled to begin December 1, 2021. The agreement specifies that the rate will remain the same unless operating costs exceed a certain percentage. We honored the $17 per month rate for 12 months. ******************** was notified that as of December 1, 2022, his monthly rate would be increasing. We spoke with ******************** on November 7, 2022 and agreed to honor his $17 per month rate for the following year. Our records indicate this complaint was resolved on November 7, 2022.

   

  Customer response

  11/21/2022

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the offer and/or 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.
  
  They did not in fact keep the price at $17 as these documents show.  My credit card was billed the ***** amount.  I also want the price kept at $51/qtr for the full contract length. 

  
  Regards,
  
  ***************************
  
  
  
  
  

  Business response

  11/21/2022

  The rate of $17 per month was to be honored as discussed. It appears this was not properly updated in our billing. ******************** account has since been corrected and the difference of $16.29 will be refunded to the card used for his most recent payment. As we have already shared, rates will remain the same unless we experience an increase in operating costs that exceeds a percentage of what we are currently paying. If this does happen, ******************** will be notified prior to the rate change.

  Customer response

  11/21/2022

  [A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's offer.  If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the offer made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me. I will wait for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved. If the company does not perform as promised I can get back to you at: **********************************************.
  
  Regards,
  
  ***************************
  
  
  
  

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩