# Refuse Charges - check your bills - particularly the number of lifts you are being charged for



## Ger1966 (10 Nov 2020)

Hi all,

For those of you who have on-line billing with you refuse provider, just a quick suggestion to check the number of lifts they're charging you for.  

I've noticed 2 instances in the last couple of months where they're charging me for 2 extra lifts.  I don't believe it's a deliberate effort by the refuse company to overcharge thought. What appears to have happened is that when they emptied my black bin and put it down, it wasn't fully emptied, so they lifted it again. As a result, I was charged for 2 "black bin" lifts instead of 1.  Something similar happened for my green bin i.e. not fully emptied after the first lift so they lifted it again and fully emptied it but charged me for 2 lifts instead of 1.

I got on to the company and they've credited my account with the amount for the extra lifts.  It's not a lot of money, but it's better in my account than in theirs.


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## ArthurMcB (10 Nov 2020)

Thanks for this Ger.
Can I ask which bin company or which part of the country?


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## mathepac (10 Nov 2020)

With me it was Panda


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## Ger1966 (10 Nov 2020)

ArthurMcB said:


> Thanks for this Ger.
> Can I ask which bin company or which part of the country?


I'm in Dublin Arthur and it was Greyhound. 

As I said in my original post, I don't believe it was a deliberate attempt to overcharge. Once I pointed this out to them, they credit my account.


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## iamaspinner (10 Nov 2020)

For us the problem was that one day our black bin was inadvertently swapped with a neighbour's. They were a large family and took their bins out every week for 1-2 per month in our case. I think the culprit was another neighbour bringing our empty bins into our drives trying to be neighbourly.


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## Ger1966 (10 Nov 2020)

DublinStudent said:


> Bin charges seem reasonable in dublin -basic package - 3 bins -3 euro / week.
> 
> Is this ‘extra’ lift in post an additional fee ?


My charges are as follows DublinStudent
*Recycling* - 15 cent per KG - no "per lift" charge - + VAT
*Compost *- 23 cent per KG - €3 "per lift" charge - + VAT
*"Regular" Refuse* - 31 cent per KG - €3.50 "per lift" charge - + VAT


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## Ger1966 (10 Nov 2020)

DublinStudent said:


> Perfect - what does that work out for you on a monthly or annual basis ..
> Google any of the dublin based contractors and their packages are from 150 euro / year....


It depends on usage, but my charges average around €130 per 3 months.


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## twofor1 (10 Nov 2020)

Ger1966 said:


> It depends on usage, but my charges average around €130 per 3 months.


€520 a year is a lot, 4 living in this Dublin house, black bin lifted every 2nd week, final 3 monthly Panda invoice came in recently, total paid for the year €340.


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## SparkRite (10 Nov 2020)

DublinStudent said:


> When I checked things out - I was able to find multiple operators who offered service for c. 150 euro / year



Perhaps you might be good enough to share with us even one or two of these 'multiple operators' who offer a useful service for the price you mention, please?


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## Ger1966 (10 Nov 2020)

twofor1 said:


> €520 a year is a lot, 4 living in this Dublin house, black bin lifted every 2nd week, final 3 monthly Panda invoice came in recently, total paid for the year €340.


Hi twofor1, I'd love to see the Panda charges. Would you be able to post them? 

We're a family of 5 in Dublin. I tried to move to Panda a couple of years ago, but they weren't taking on any new customers in our because they said that their lorries couldn't take any more waste. I must follow up with them again and see if this is still the case.


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## twofor1 (10 Nov 2020)

Few years ago we asked Panda to take the brown bin back as we don’t use it, they never took it back but now don’t apply the service charge for it. As it is not used I don’t know how much the service, Kg or lift charge is.

There might not be any service charge for the green bin, invoice does not specify, just says service charge €64 per year plus VAT @ 13.5%

Recycling is charged @ €0.045 per kg and €0.80 per lift, VAT @ 13.5% applies to both.

General waste is charged @ €0.277 per kg and €3.20 per lift, VAT @ 13.5% applies to both.


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## Coldwarrior (10 Nov 2020)

twofor1 said:


> Few years ago we asked Panda to take the brown bin back as we don’t use it, they never took it back but now don’t apply the service charge for it. As it is not used I don’t know how much the service, Kg or lift charge is.
> 
> There might not be any service charge for the green bin, invoice does not specify, just says service charge €64 per year plus VAT @ 13.5%
> 
> ...


Panda has no service charge for the green bin and it's €3.20 per lift for general waste, at least in DLR.


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## Coldwarrior (10 Nov 2020)

DublinStudent said:


> Not an expert here - but my family had a long standing collector and didn’t question the rates. When I checked things out - I was able to find multiple operators who offered service for c. 150 euro / year and we seem to be within that rate - despite being a family household of 4 adults


Who in Dublin offers waste collection for 150 a year, genuinely interested, my panda bills are only increasing over the last few years.


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## twofor1 (10 Nov 2020)

Coldwarrior said:


> Panda has no service charge for the green bin and it's €3.20 per lift for general waste, at least in DLR.


Yeah €3.20 per lift for general waste, that was my typo, I have corrected it.


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## keving1989 (10 Nov 2020)

Strangely this has also happened to me in the last few months on two occasions and last year too, bins with AES Bord na Mona.


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## Ger1966 (10 Nov 2020)

My usage (weight) for first 10 months of 2020 are as follows:

Recycling - 267 KG
Compost - 556.5 KG
"Regular" refuse - 356.5 KG


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## Ger1966 (10 Nov 2020)

DublinStudent said:


> Have you checked any competitor online
> 
> ... I don’t know if we can promote / name any operators here. ... checked again now and the one we are with is 177 euro for year - and also a 25 discount for neighbour / new customer.
> 
> ...


My location isn't listed :-(


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## keving1989 (10 Nov 2020)

Paying 25e per month for both waste and recycling bins in midlands area with oxigen, anyone have cheaper suggestions?


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## Marsha25 (10 Nov 2020)

Just scrutinised my bills and lifts for the past few months and while it looked like one day had 2 recycling lifts, when I checked my bill I have only been charged for the one lift.  I'd never have thought to check the bills. They come via email and I rarely go into the account.  I'll keep a closer eye in future.


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## SparkRite (10 Nov 2020)

DublinStudent said:


> So technically it’s between 2.92 euro and 3.40 euro.
> 
> Obviously we will be happy to be your friend http://thorntons-recycling.ie/refer-a-friend/



Forget about the 'refer a friend' lark, Thorntons 'Eco lite' is €177 a year min.
On this plan if your general waste is over 12.5 Kg per lift you are charged an addition 25c per KG.
Not particularly *useful* with 6 persons living in the house and would work out quite a bit more than........


DublinStudent said:


> I was able to find multiple operators who offered service for c. 150 euro / year



Thorntons themselves even state....._'Suitable for 1-3 Person Households '._


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## Leo (11 Nov 2020)

SparkRite said:


> Not particularly *useful* with 6 persons living in the house and would work out quite a bit more than.......



In fairness 6 is more than double the average household size  

I'm on the not advertised pay-as-you-go plan with Thorntons, €70 annual service charge and then €10.50 per €40kg black bin, €1.75 for green.


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## RetirementPlan (26 Oct 2021)

Did anyone else notice a sneaky unannounced price increase from Greyhound during the year on their fixed price deal?
I was on the €22.50 per month, but I noticed the DD had gone up to €24.50 per month in the summer. I queried it recently, and they said that they had sent out details by email, but I had nothing like that - just their periodic blurb mailshot. They brought it back down when I queried it.

Was it just me?


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## Delboy (26 Oct 2021)

They do this every year. Up the price but bury the news in one of their monthly newsletter emails. Very underhand.
I threatened to leave this year after being with them from day one and so they dropped me down to the new customer price to keep me.


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## Delboy (6 Feb 2022)

Announcement from Greyhound of a monthly €2.99 increase in their plans. Jump of 16% for me.
Kicks in in less than a month too, on 1st March


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## Ger1966 (8 Feb 2022)

Thanks @Delboy I didn't notice that.

I had a look at my account, and I noticed a charge of €5.50 for "Extra Charge: Compost Charge".  I went to the on-line chat and was told that it was part of my plan.  I wasn't aware of that, so I asked for the full list of charges.  The following was provided:


20 EUR per quarter service charge
5.50 EUR compost charge per quarter
3.50 EUR Black bin lift charge, 31 cents per KG
3 EUR for the Brown bin lift charge, 23 cents per KG
15 cents per KG for the Green bin

I asked if there were any other plans that might suit me, and I was told:

"Looking at your usage, we have 26.50 EUR per month plan available. You get 95 KG weight limit on the Black bin per month. No weight limit on the Green and Brown bin.". I asked what the charge was if I used more than 95KG on the black bin and was told it was 30 cent per KG.  

Last year (2021), I paid just over €420 for the full year.  With this "new" plan, my yearly bill should come in at around €318, so a saving of just over €100.  Does anybody have Sean Fleming's email so I can let him know I've shopped around and made this saving?


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## RetirementPlan (8 Feb 2022)

Delboy said:


> Announcement from Greyhound of a monthly €2.99 increase in their plans. Jump of 16% for me.
> Kicks in in less than a month too, on 1st March


Nothing here from Greyhound, though they missed me on a previous increase notice too. Their marketing blurb gets through fine though. 

Are you in Dublin?

Does anyone have details of Panda's charges? They seem to be remarkably opaque.


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## Delboy (8 Feb 2022)

RetirementPlan said:


> Nothing here from Greyhound, though they missed me on a previous increase notice too. Their marketing blurb gets through fine though.
> 
> Are you in Dublin?
> 
> Does anyone have details of Panda's charges? They seem to be remarkably opaque.


Yes, Dublin. 
The price rise announcement, as usual, was buried deep down in a 'newsletter' email they sent the other day


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## Delboy (8 Feb 2022)

Ger1966 said:


> Thanks @Delboy I didn't notice that.
> 
> I had a look at my account, and I noticed a charge of €5.50 for "Extra Charge: Compost Charge".  I went to the on-line chat and was told that it was part of my plan.  I wasn't aware of that, so I asked for the full list of charges.  The following was provided:
> 
> ...


It'd take some amount of waste to get over 95kg in a month. You'd need to have an awful lot of nappies going in every day!


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## Ger1966 (9 Feb 2022)

That's pretty high all right, but that's what he put in the chat.  Maybe he meant 95kg per quarter?


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