FYI: Beirne's Bins Non-Collection 04-01-2011

Ms. Chanandler Bong

Came home this evening to find my recycling bag had been picked up but my bin was still sitting there. Had a minor-heart attack as neighbours across the way had theirs emptied & I checked to make sure the bag I had tied on this morning was still attached to the handle. Sure enough it was.
Rang Mr. Beirne only to be told that their truck was full today & they couldn't empty it but they'll be back first thing tomorrow morning to empty any they've missed today.

Basq

Am on Greenstar Prepay System..

.. and couldn't go back to Beirnes!

Ms. Chanandler Bong

basquille wrote: »

Am on Greenstar Prepay System..

.. and couldn't go back to Beirnes!

Is it that good? Am living in rented accommodation, find buying the bags awful hassle (lived in galway & never had to, we had 3 bins that were put out on different days, you paid your fee every month/year, end of story). Have seen flyers for Greenstar & was seriously considering it, what with one thing & another.
Also, Mr. Beirne didn't tell quite the whole truth. They did miss places but they didn't re-collect from them today. Had to ring after work again & have been told it will definitely be collected tomorrow:rolleyes:

Basq

It's great.. am in rented accommodation too and we've been using them since late last Summer.

One or two minor quibbles with it (can't top up or check credit online, only over phone. And if you don't top up by the end of the business day before your bins are collected, it won't be registered on the scanners they have and your bins won't be lifted).

Other than that - they're great. No bags, no silly paper labels (too easily stolen! :mad:) and cheap too (the two bins for refuse and recycling are free too obviously).

starbelgrade

The Barna Waste pre-pay system is pretty good - you can check your account & top up online.

It took some competition in the area to get them off their arses & do something like that, but I've been happy enough with it so far - it definitely works out cheaper than the yearly flat rate & you don't have to worry about which bin goes out on which week (they used to alternate between landfill & recycling).

Basq

Yeah, saw the Barna Waste one recently. The top-up / check balance online would be my main reason to move to them.

Had a bad experience with the GreenStar phone system once.. rang them one evening after 5.30 to top-up / check balance and they'd closed for the day and simply had an out-of-office message instead of redirecting to their automated check balance / top-up system.

Rang the next morning first thing to top-up (the morning of collection) and topped up. But the woman over the phone who told me my bins wouldn't be collected today as I hadn't topped up before midnight the day before collection. I told her that I'd no choice as the phone wasn't going to an automated system after-hours.

She told me I "must be mistaken".. and gave me the direct number to the automated system for future (which wasn't on any of their business cards / website)! :rolleyes:

Was a tad pissed off that day!

TequilaMockingBird

I had the same problem with Greenstar. My first week using them I went to top-up the card but they said the driver wouldn't take the bin because of the midnight thing. So I went to the shop to get a bag or tag - they don't do them, so I tracked down the lorry and offered to pay cash - no way would they take it.

I rang Beirnes and they came and emptied the bin within an hour for cash. Much more customer friendly service.

Lucyfur

When I moved, I switched to the greenstar top-up card system. They came out with new bins within 48 hours, so far so good. I topped up my card and popped my bin out a few days later. Got home from work and bin hadn't been picked up. Long story short, this happened 4 times. Got a mixture of excuses and apologies and was even told that the bin men didn't know where my house was (cos the bins were delivered by aliens/osmosis:rolleyes:) Anyway....put on my big girl pants and got tough with them, threatened them with local papers and radio etc....Not a problem since and they topped up my card with a fairly decent amount for my trouble. Still, it's a bit off that you have to threaten to move to a different company to get service that you have pre-paid for.