Missed rubbish collection

PhilE

So the bin men failed to take my rubbish last week, I've phoned the council twice and each time they've told me that it will be collected within two working days, which hasn't been the case. They state on their website that missed collections will be dealt with within two working days also.

I've made a complaint to the council online about this, I feel strongly about paying for a service I'm not receiving. This isn't the first time this has happened, at the beginning of the year it was terrible and I'm sick of turning a blind eye to it. We all pay our tax round here, its not cheap and the least they could do is collect our rubbish as they say they will.

Any suggestions as to how to actually get my rubbish collected would be appreciated. If they fail to, I'm considering writing to my MP.

elsien

Try contacting your local councillor - that tends to get a quicker response if it's an ongoing problem. Have to be honest, can't see it being top of the MPs list of priorities.

magn8p

I second @elsien.

Also, if it was the first time I guess you should let it go. However, if it isn't have a word with your neighbours and if this has happened to them as well, forward your written representation to your local councillor and if that doesn't work do it again and send a carbon copy to your local news paper.

docmatt

We had no collections for 3months due to the strike. Absolute ball ache.

PhilE

docmatt wrote: »

We had no collections for 3months due to the strike. Absolute ball ache.

Hope you had some sort of refund on your council tax, but Im guessing probably not.

In my area they introduced a new system, and then didn't collect anything for a while.

EachPenny

elsien wrote: »

Try contacting your local councillor - that tends to get a quicker response if it's an ongoing problem. Have to be honest, can't see it being top of the MPs list of priorities.

It depends, if the MP represents the same political party as the council administration then it is unlikely to be much use. But if they are in opposition then they may view it as an opportunity to $**t-stir and make a point about the council's inefficiency. Most casework issues like this get dealt with by MP's admin staff, the MP is unlikely to get much involved themselves unless there is an opportunity to self-promote.

PhilE wrote: »

Any suggestions as to how to actually get my rubbish collected would be appreciated. If they fail to, I'm considering writing to my MP.

The council will have a formal complaints process, usually involving three steps. When that is exhausted you can complain to the Ombudsman. Find details of this council's complaints process. An initial complaint is usually referred to as 'stage 1'. If you don't get a satisfactory response now and/or the bins continue to be missed, make a further complaint requesting it is dealt with as a 'stage 2' complaint (or however the council's process works). The final stage usually involves the Chief Executive's office, and if that happens somebody's backside will usually be firmly kicked. You have to make it clear in a letter/email which stage of the process you want your complaint to be handled at, otherwise they will default it down to 'stage 1'.

Another strategy, if you have a car, is to inform the council that due to repeated missed collections and your concerns about health and smells from the bin, the next time the collection is missed you will take the bags to the nearest civic waste centre yourself and will send them the bill for your fuel. You have no legal right to receive such a payment, but making a claim will create waves and work for someone to do. Managers will wish to avoid that happening, so will normally ensure the crew collecting from your street clearly understand the need to not miss your bin again It also means that if your complaint eventually escalates to the Ombudsman you can demonstrate that you have suffered a financial loss.

Don't be tempted to over-estimate the cost of taking the rubbish to the tip. And if you don't have a car then it doesn't really work - you'd struggle to justify the cost of a taxi for example.

sevenhills

PhilE wrote: »

Any suggestions as to how to actually get my rubbish collected would be appreciated. If they fail to, I'm considering writing to my MP.

It should really be solved via your council.

Why have they not emptied, over-full, steps, wrong items in bin, just your bin or the whole street?