Expectations of a skip hire company

rjlarke

I_have_spoken wrote: »

Don't need all that nonsense about 'caring for the environment' and being 'responsible', just low price

Web site to book online, not a mobile # that always goes to voice mail.

A txt message 2 hours before pickup

It's a tricky one to nail with regard being able to book online because there are so many variables to the price mainly based on post code and waste type but also permits, parking suspension etc. The price is different for every customer so the database would have to be very sophisticated.
You also need to establish that a customer truly understands what the waste type is and the permitting specifics. Because otherwise the whole thing can get very expensive very fast. Skip companies pay different rates to tip different waste types so it's going to cause arguments if a customer has put the wrong thing in the skip and that's what governs the price you pay. Most of the bigger firms have dedicated customer service. It's the smaller non VAT registered guys that do the mobile thing, but if you buy on price that's what you get. You'll find skip companies to be non committal over time scales for the very reasons I've already stated sending you an ETA over text message and then having to back out of it is worse than not sending one at all. So they won't do it.

cyclonebri1

rjlarke wrote: »

It's the smaller non VAT registered guys that do the mobile thing, but if you buy on price that's what you get. .

Careful, that's not right and you are getting into Spam area.

No, you aren't promoting your firm but you are starting to focus on larger companies.
For me the small local firm, vat registered or not, (can't believe any are small enough not to be vat registered given the cost involved), are almost always the cheapest and that's what the majority on here want as you can detect from the drift.
I'll accept a skip being left a few days on my drive if it saves a few quid.

rjlarke

booksurr wrote: »

well your website doesn't work on the 2 postcodes i tried including one where there are at least 2 decent sized skip company depots located in that postcode so feel free to spam away

Not all areas are covered just yet. It doesn't work on a product feed. Companies have to sign up to it, there's close to 900 companies on there though so it's building nicely but it's still new. What's your partial post code? EG. AA1

rjlarke

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

Careful, that's not right and you are getting into Spam area.

No, you aren't promoting your firm but you are starting to focus on larger companies.
For me the small local firm, vat registered or not, (can't believe any are small enough not to be vat registered given the cost involved), are almost always the cheapest and that's what the majority on here want as you can detect from the drift.
I'll accept a skip being left a few days on my drive if it saves a few quid.

I'm sorry if I came across the wrong way but that's not what I meant. My site caters for big and small and is independent. What I meant is that if you want customer service staff then you have to price that in to your expectation. If you want to cut some of the cost then cut some of the expectation. The small firm is likely to be an owner operator and unsurprisingly spends most of his time driving so can't answer the phone so easily. If you want to pay him more, he'll pay someone to take his calls. If you want a cheap skip put up with the practicalities of that.

There are many non VAT registered skip hire firms. They keep themselves under the threshold (and radar) by only dealing in cash and declaring what they need to. It was these to who I was referring. Some of these companies are also shall we say, pay nothing for tipping. I have no apologies to make here and there should be limits to money saving shouldn't there?

Skip hire can't be too cheap because everyone has to pay the same landfill tax £80 per tonne (general waste) and of course the transfer station charges on top of that. If it's too cheap something is not right and you may end up like the guy earlier in the thread who, paid for a skip at his house which the skip firm then fly tipped on his land some miles away.

rustyboy21

Lockable skips is a good idea, but even them , I don't think would help out round ny me. All that would happen is you get up in the morning to find 8 sofas piled one on top of each other on top of the skip ! lol


Maybe something like an electric fence around a skip could help?

[Deleted User]

If the skip is going to be in a public area e.g on the road, make you request it to be collected when you are finished. Not like the neighbours who left their skip for days after they were finished. It only got collected after it was set on fire and damaged their own property in the process.

rjlarke

Deleted_User wrote: »

If the skip is going to be in a public area e.g on the road, make you request it to be collected when you are finished. Not like the neighbours who left their skip for days after they were finished. It only got collected after it was set on fire and damaged their own property in the process.

If it's on the road, the customer has paid for a permit from the council to put it there. If it's causing any kind of obstruction or is in a mess. It will breach the councils T&Cs a quick call to the council and they will revoke the permit/license and require the skip company to pick it up. It's not for the hire company to decide if a customer needs it picked up early within the hire period, is it? How would they know? If it's any consolation the neighbour would have been required to pay for the damage to the skip, you have a duty of care for it's well being just as if you hired anything else such as a car. So maybe they will be more considerate next time.

[Deleted User]

rjlarke wrote: »

If it's on the road, the customer has paid for a permit from the council to put it there. If it's causing any kind of obstruction or is in a mess. It will breach the councils T&Cs a quick call to the council and they will revoke the permit/license and require the skip company to pick it up. It's not for the hire company to decide if a customer needs it picked up early within the hire period, is it? How would they know? If it's any consolation the neighbour would have been required to pay for the damage to the skip, you have a duty of care for it's well being just as if you hired anything else such as a car. So maybe they will be more considerate next time.

I didn't say it was the skip company, I said the customer (neighbour) who had the skip didn't bother to ask the skip company to come and collect it after it was full and all work completed. Also I never said it was causing an obstruction.

And I highly doubt they had a permit on it. Most that get dropped on the road round here never do, nor do they have any of the safety features like cones and amber flashing lamps/reflectors etc.

rjlarke

Deleted_User wrote: »

I didn't say it was the skip company, I said the customer (neighbour) who had the skip didn't bother to ask the skip company to come and collect it after it was full and all work completed. Also I never said it was causing an obstruction.

And I highly doubt they had a permit on it. Most that get dropped on the road round here never do, nor do they have any of the safety features like cones and amber flashing lamps/reflectors etc.

In the context of a thread titled "Expectations of a skip hire company"

You said "make you request it to be collected when you are finished"

Who is doing the making? Because in the context of this thread you certainly are suggesting that the skip company should somehow force a customer to call them if they finish with their skip early.

If a skip is left on the highway for any longer than is necessary it is deemed as causing an obstruction. According to the highways act.

I suggested that there is no real way for the skip company to deal with that and it is the neighbour who needs to. I also told you how to get it moved if it's causing you a problem. Which would be 2x a effective if there was no skip permit on it as you suggest.

[Deleted User]

Why would the skip company request the customer to come and collect the skip?

Do I need a trailer?