Cancelling Biffa waste contract for breach of contract.

WWW

Hi there. Firstly, these forums have consistently been a fountain of useful information and I dreaded the day I had to register to post but it was inevitable and I thank everyone who contributes regularly.

Now, I wasn't surprised to find a few threads about Biffa here already, (I've read them all).But my situation is slightly different.

I've been with Biffa since the inception of my business (a small cafe) and from the beginning, their customer service was appealing.

It took a month to finally chase their staff up about the contract (they never returned calls as promised, sent me the wrong thing, 'lost' stuff in the post - others have experienced this on this forum). I even had the police visit to warn me about the growing pile of waste. Once finally set up, I thought we would just pay they quarterly fee via direct debit and they would collect the rubbish. How wrong I was.

I checked the invoices recently and found out they have been charging me for the 'additional service' of extra collections every time I called them to complain that they hadn't collected my bin on the day stipulated in the contract. :cheesy: They missed collections many many times.

They delivered a bin that had no triangle lock even after I asked for one and didnt replace it when I reported it to them and as a result my bin was stuffed full of unidentified rubbish.

9.1 The Equipment shall be deemed to be in good working order and condition and fit for the Customer`s purpose (save for defects not discoverable by a reasonable examination) except to the extent that the Customer has notified Biffa to the contrary within three working days of acceptance

also relevant:

Biffa shall “Provide the Service in accordance with the standard conditions of supply ("Conditions") overleaf/attached and which are available from Biffa” AND
“Deliver the Equipment detailed in Section 2 to the Collection Site and collect Waste in the Equipment during the term of this Agreement”

Standard conditions refer to section 6.1 of the STANDARD CONDITIONS OF SUPPLY,

PERFORMANCE DATES AND FORCE MAJEURE

6.1 Biffa will use reasonable endeavours to meet the dates for collection (which shall always be Working Days unless expressly agreed otherwise between Biffa and the Customer) set out in Section 2 but shall not be liable for late performance or delay in performance of the Service and delays shall not entitle the Customer to rescind the agreement.

They failed on numerous occasions to collect our 1100l bin and still havent replaced the one with the missing lock which caused many problems. Customer service was atrocious; at one point the biffa guy sarcastically yelled 'gooodbyeee' at me on the phone before hanging up after I waited ages.

They alsodelivered bins which I hadnt asked for and sent me contracts to sign for variations such as two lifts in one week. (I had always said I only want one 1100L bin and for it to be collected once a week. I only called to complain when it hadnt been collected and I recently found out they charged me between 10.8 to 18.38 EX VAT for each 'complaint' when they sent the truck to finally collect it. They never returned phone-calls like they promised.

They also say that they are not liable for the breakdown of their vehicles if that's what causes the delay. If so, they need to provide me with documented evidence of vehicle breakdown every time my bin was not collected.

I'm cancelling my direct debit so that they dont charge me from 27th this month until next year for three months and asking them to refund nearly £200.00 for these additional lifts which I never asked for. I want them to cancel the contract due to their material breaches. There are emails where I ask for the 1100l bin and they send me a contract for something entirely different.

I'm also reminding them of they company ethos published in 2012 at their 100th anniversiary:

Biffa want to build on our reputation for delivering sustainable solutions that help our customers meet their legislative and corporate responsibility requirements. To be known as a company which looks after the needs of our customers and of the environment…along with a strong focus on providing excellent service to our commercial, industrial and municipal customers.

They have since removed this from their website but luckily I had it saved in an earlier letter of complaint I sent (to which I had no reply!)

What are the chances they tell me to **** off? Theyve done a good job trying to of limiting liability in their contract but I still feel like I'm not getting the service I signed up for. I want out. Now.

OhReally_2

I suggest you seek independent legal advice if you want to break the contract you entered into.

Cancelling a direct debit does not affect the underlying contract.
(It can, on occassions, involve you in paying even more money)

cesco

Hi www , i am having the same issues with Biffa, have you resolved anything yet?

Many Thanks