Biffa Contracts...trying to escape!

sharkman999

I have had a business contract with Biffa waste for several years. Recently their charges have been spiralling which they put down to government increases. My prices went up in Nov 12 and I had to sign a new contract,- however they sent me another letter in February letter stating that the government have put up landfill charges by 12.5%, and so they want to put my rates up by 63%!!
I informed them immediately in February of my displeasure with regard to this when I first received the letter and was informed that someone would call me to discuss the rates. By 4th March no call, so another call made on 7th March, again promises of a return call...nothing. Called again and was informed my account manager was on holiday but that she would definately call me before April when the new prices were due to kick in. Surprise surprise no phone call.
On the 2 April I was informed that my case would be escalated to a manager because my account manager had failed to call me. Two days later my account manager rang me to say that they could offer better prices but that I would have to sign a new contract. If I didn't accept that, then I would have to pay the new prices (63% higher) until I was allowed out of my contract in November as by then it would be the end of my old contract. The wording to justify this is
"Either party may terminate this agreement by the service of notice, which must be of not less than three months’ duration and not more than six months duration, must be expressed to expire on the date which is three months after expiry of the Initial Period or any subsequent anniversary of the Commencement Date, and must be given in the manner set out in Clause 18"

So in other words I cant get out of my old contract, and they will only offer me the new lower prices if I agree to sign another new 12 month contract, surely this cant be right, its basically blackmail?

gb12345

sharkman999 wrote: »

So in other words I cant get out of my old contract, and they will only offer me the new lower prices if I agree to sign another new 12 month contract, surely this cant be right, its basically blackmail?

Is there anything in your contract that allows them to increase prices mid-term?

leveller2911

Hi Sharkman, there was a similar thread on here a couple of years ago regarding the same issues your having but the company was PHS Wastetec (sharks). It was a long thread with many disgruntled customers.If I remember correctly the company took the customers to court and the judge threw it out say the customer had a fixed rate contract and if PHS increased their charges during the contract then the customer can write and cancel the contract within 30 days. I can't seem to find it but someone else may be able too.


The clauses they added into the contracts were not legal and the judge threw them out, in fact he made PHS pay compensation to the customers.We used PHS Wastech and they were awful, went on to Biffa and they doubled our contract after a few months saying it cost them more to take the rubbish away than they charged us for the skip so we terminated the contract 1 month later.
Have a listen to the link below and it may be of help.Its about PHS but the same problem your having.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01h73pl

sharkman999

gb12345 wrote: »

Is there anything in your contract that allows them to increase prices mid-term?

there 4th clause states "Biffa shall have the right to increase the charge at any time..................."

but it gives no options to be released from the contract because they want to put up prices by a huge percentage?

gb12345

sharkman999 wrote: »

there 4th clause states "Biffa shall have the right to increase the charge at any time..................."

but it gives no options to be released from the contract because they want to put up prices by a huge percentage?

Then it comes down to whether that is a legal clause in the contract and whether the increases they are making are fair (which is something that is mentioned in the link that leveller2911 gives).

You need legal advice on the legality of the contract, but then it comes down to is the cost of getting that legal advice justified based on what the increase will cost you between now and November (you don't actually say how much the increases are costing you)

dacouch

leveller2911 wrote: »

Hi Sharkman, there was a similar thread on here a couple of years ago regarding the same issues your having but the company was PHS Wastetec (sharks). It was a long thread with many disgruntled customers.If I remember correctly the company took the customers to court and the judge threw it out say the customer had a fixed rate contract and if PHS increased their charges during the contract then the customer can write and cancel the contract within 30 days. I can't seem to find it but someone else may be able too.


The clauses they added into the contracts were not legal and the judge threw them out, in fact he made PHS pay compensation to the customers.We used PHS Wastech and they were awful, went on to Biffa and they doubled our contract after a few months saying it cost them more to take the rubbish away than they charged us for the skip so we terminated the contract 1 month later.
Have a listen to the link below and it may be of help.Its about PHS but the same problem your having.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01h73pl

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=488208&page=8

greyteam1959

And don't forget that Biffa slap a £96.00 EPA certificate charge ON TOP of whatever you are paying.
Thats why I stopped using them several years ago.

DELBERT

hi

After working for Biffa for over 15 years dealing with contracts, heres the get out clause.

Inform them you are closing / selling the business, give them a date when the bin needs to be removed (give them a couple of weeks, looks good), they will mostly likely ask you to put it in writing, what they wont and cant do is ask you to prove i you are closing down/ selling , that bit is called the Data protection act.

They have to remove the bin as there are legally responsible for it

Also NEVER ever pay for EPA / duty of care you can do this bit yourself, you can get the form from the Environmental agency website

Always shop around for your bin, and when filling in a contract amend the contrat terms to 30 days as most waste contracts state ' Termination to the aniversaryt date blah blah which could mean they can hold you for over a year (if you dont know the cheeky get out clause)

Any problems please contact me for advise

runforyourlife

We are having a similar problem with Biffa. They want to put our prices up from £11.68 to £19.05 per lift. The only way we can get the price down is if we sign up to another 12 months. If we want to terminate we have to give 3 months notice on the anniversary date which makes it a 15 month contract - not 12 months.
Has any one else tried this tactic (telling them we have sold/moved on) and has it worked?

Recycle1

I would ask (if) you have tried calling biffa? And asked for an account manager as to why your lift has increased by around £7.00?

I would say you have a general waste bin to start with at £11.68 but
It could be because your bin is always over weight? Your account manager or customer services will be more than willing to help, ask the question........

I also can't believe a x-Biffa employee would give advice to tell lies?? Not the way I would do it.

Regards duty of care, all waste companies charge it,again they have to as they are legal bound to and they are doing the paper work. So why not charge?

I hope you have already managed to sort it out by now? Would like to here...

Savvy_Sue

Recycle1 wrote: »

I would say you have a general waste bin to start with at £11.68 but
It could be because your bin is always over weight? Your account manager or customer services will be more than willing to help, ask the question........

You would think, however, that if the bin was regularly overweight (or even ever overweight) that Biffa would inform the customer of this.

DH had a problem with his waste disposal, they tried to increase the prices and said bins had been over filled etc, he asked for dates, amounts etc and as no evidence could be supplied he declined to pay the increase.

Also the company we'd been using transferred their business to another company, we didn't have to go but we were assured nothing would change and our new contracts would be on the same terms as previously. Then we found that the new company had different arrangements for glass, for which we had no contract. Then they started to charge for Duty of Care notes every month. When I asked about that, they realised that these shouldn't have been raised because not in our contract (as not in previous contract), so have now issued credit notes.

The moral of these stories is to check, check, check, and query any unexpected charges!