Ongar Bin collection - am I missing something? Is there a strike I don't know about?

Mary28

I put out my black bin with tag last week - not overloaded etc. Not collected - I didn't notice anyone else on the street putting out there bin so I thought ok maybe I got the week wrong even though I'm pretty positive I'd put it out 2 weeks earlier and if I'm not mistaken they collect the black bin 3 out of every 4 weeks.
So this week no collection either. That's 2 weeks in a row. Bin is overflowing and this happens to us a lot as we never received a calendar for bin collection this year - normally we get one. So we've just been watching our neighbours and trying to remember which week it is.

I decided to call Fingal CoCo today and request a collection calendar and ask why they haven't been collected for 2 weeks. Maybe there's been a change etc.
I called and the call was eventually answered and immediately hung up on. I called back and it rang out. Called back and it rang out. Called back rang out. I'm 15 mins now trying to get through.

A friend works with some civil servants and she told me they're not answering phones at the moment and won't pass on messages where she works.
That's a bloody great service. What am I paying for exactly?
Is there a collection calendar online somewhere?

I'm looking at Panda now, they collect weekly, no more of this skipping weeks crap. Anyone have any experience with them? I thought about moving before but was too lazy. I've heard I can get my money back from Fingal CoCo, not if they're not answering their stupid phones though I suppose.

Nevyn

Do you have your in date stickers on the bin for the household charges?
If you don't then they won't collect them, we had the same happen stickers didn't arrive for ages and so have a back log of fecking rubbish.

Mary28

Finally got through, the woman didn't know why it wasn't collected 2 weeks ago & is sending me out a calendar. I'll probably never move really. Typical. Only took 30 mins to get through in the end!

Mary28

Yeah we do. I pay for them. Usually we get them sent to us and we stick them on ourselves but this time someone came around and stuck it on for us. That seems to happen every once in a while. Someone from the council will walk around and look at our bins -move them out of their places and not move them back. They've been left in front of our door. Thought it was weird. Checking for stickers obviously. But yeah the sticker is there. And we put it out the night before, and it wasn't overfull. But will be next week.

January

I changed to Panda recently, much more efficient, if you miss the bin collection on a Monday they will come back and collect it on the Wednesday for you if you ring them.

782378

Are you using the yellow bin tags?

I bought in bulk, 15 yellow bin tags in November, For the first couple of weeks of 2010 my bin was continuously ignored. When I finally got through to Fingal Co Co. after about 8 e-mails and continious calls I was informed that there was a huge fraud problem with the yellow bin tags and that they had replaced them with purple ones.

All yellow bin tags even if bought legimately were no longer valid. Rather than leave a note on my bin telling this important information or posting a leaflet though the door to advise of this they just continually ignored my bin.

Their Customer Service leaves a lot to be desired

kwyjibot

Similar story to the OP's for us this week in Ravenswood - tag on bin, not over-flowing and just not collected.
It's happened a couple of times now - I checked our collection calendar and the date was right. So I emailed Fingal council with the route number asking them if the collection had been cancelled/changed. In fairness to them, they got back to me pretty quickly saying that according to their records it had gone ahead and there were no "non-collections", but they'd organise a recollection in the next day or two if I left my bin back out.

Fingers crossed now that the tag survives on the bin until they pick it up! I usually leave the bin out last thing at night before the collection, as we get a fair bit of passing foot traffic in front of our house, so tags left out in the early evening tend to get ripped off/magically disappear.

gabsdot40

I would also recommend Panda. It's great having the bins collected every week. In saying that though our bins were always collected whether they had a tag or not. I usually put one on but the odd day I wouldn't have one and would chance it and they always collected them.

Mary28

Maybe when it's up again we might move to Panda.
I was chatting to a friend who lives in the same estate as me but in a ground floor apartment a few mins away from my street. His bin collection day is different to mine. I thought that was weird, I thought we'd all have the same bin day, we're both in Ongar Park.
Yeah I'd prefer the option for it to be collected every week. Even every second week would be easier to remember than not every 3 weeks. We only seem to need to get it collected every 4-5 weeks usually and often get caught out with the week they don't collect it.
That day they didn't collect it I think they just looked down our street and saw no bins out so didn't bother driving down and checking. Or else they just forgot to drive down our street altogether. I didn't see any other bins out that morning. It's minor I know but it's a total pain in the backside when your bin is full and you've no where to put stuff. And it's a service we pay for so you expect it to be done.