Dublin City Council - Bin Collection Privatised/Greyhound Megathread

johanna57

I live in Rialto we received letter today saying Greyhound are taking over bin collections on Monday some of my neighbours have not received the letter so much for consultation !! The 6 Euro a lift charge is only for a 6 month period a friend of mine in Rathfarnham pays 10.50 a lift to Greyhound and is also charged by weight so thats what we are facing

Dodge

The price in SDCC (Rathfarnham are in there) with greyhound is 31c per kilo.

Before privatisation it was €10.50 a bin with SDCC, so his price hasn't gone up at all if he's still paying that (bar the €60 annual charge, obviously)

Tenshot

My "info pack" arrived today, and like other posters, I was pretty unimpressed to find I'm suddenly being charged an extra €100 in advance this month (not to mention the bill for October-December which hasn't yet arrived).

Even though there are 30 days to pay, it also says green bins won't be lifted unless they are tagged - and you don't get a tag until you pay your service charge. There are two green bin collections scheduled between now and the 30 days grace.

This seemed a bit mad, so I rang Greyhound to clarify. In fact, the green bins will be collected as usual during the first 30 days as long as you open an account with Greyhound. You can do this by making any payment against your account (e.g. the €12 minimum); it doesn't need to be the full €100 initially. This will trigger the sending out of the bin tags.

The €100 is still due within 30 days, but at least it gives a little additional grace.

I'm still deeply unimpressed by the whole thing though.

I'm also a bit puzzled: both black and brown bins are now being collected on the same day, apparently (i.e. you can leave either or both out every fortnight, instead of having to alternate them). Anyone know if this means they will be doubling the number of trucks on the road? I presume a standard waste lorry will only pick up one specific type of bin.

phasers

Greyhound are rubbish, they regularly just don't turn up to collect the green bins in my (SDCC) estate. I'm with Thorntons who are cheaper and have a better customer service. Stay vocal about the service and keep ringing other providers, if enough DCC residents request it then I'm sure another company would operate in the area!

oaklands

Hi

got a letter from Greyhound which I presume is the info pack. So I decided to go and register with the website for automatic payments and encountered a number of problems:

1. When you try to log on you are asked for an 'Customer ID Number' which is actually called an account number in the letter & card. You are also asked for a verification code which corresponds to the number labelled 'VC' on the reverse of the card. Needless to say I struggled with this and rang the help line where this was clarified for me. Later I noticed that it was somewhat explained if you hover the mouse oner the help icons (unfortunately I clicked them and didn't get the help information initially).

2. So I then logged on and tried to sign up to automatic top ups to avoid the hassle in future. I couldn't find anything for automatic topups so I called the help line again and the operator went away to check into it. It appears that the online topups won't be available until next week despite being mentioned several times in the info pack. I asked that they should put a notice on the home page informing customers of that.

3. They are also committing to no price increases for 6 months which clearly translates to a price increase in 6 months. Sounds like there there should be some independent price regulation here as its clearly a monopoly.

Needles to say I am not impressed - so far - with this company which seems to miss the basic and easy to do stuff. I hope its not an omen for the actual service!

Finally, I read this thread and decided to check out alternatives mentioned for South Dublin (D6) but it appears there are no real alternatives, available.

John Mason

Dodge wrote: »

What are you basing that on?

i am basing it on the fact, that the regularly dont turn up and when you phone up to complain the customer service is ****:rolleyes:

HeidiHeidi

irishbird wrote: »

i am basing it on the fact, that the regularly dont turn up and when you phone up to complain the customer service is ****:rolleyes:

Have to say, suspicious as I am about the whole thing, Greyhound have been collecting our green bags for the last few years, and they've never missed a collection.

Dodge

Never missed one here either. Can't speak for customer service as I have contacted them

alentejo

Am still amazed that this is not a bigger issue out there.
Not anti Greyhound per say, more thinking that DCC completely messed up the tendering process and the terms and conditions.

CBYR1983

Got the letter when I arrived home this evening. First I heard of it. Full black bin outside which I expected to put out on Tuesday. So basically they've given me one working day to pay them a full year in advance or not have the bin collected at all.

Banana Republic. The middle get squeezed again.

Can somebody confirm if they will collect the bin during the first 30 days? What's the point in giving us 30 days to pay if they won't collect the bin during that time.

Expecting to move out of this dump in the next month. No way will I pay for a full year upfront.

By the way, my letter says:

"Please note that your annual charge will be debited as part of the Automatic Top Up Service".

So unless you're doing it at the post office, it sounds like they will charge your laser/credit card the full 100 euro before they'll accept any other top ups.

johanna57

I have contacted Thortons they already collect bins in Rialto/Crumlin charge a service fee of 50 Euros up front and lift fee of 7.50. Greyhound will definetly put price up after 6 months a lot of people in our area have not received any notification letters that service has been transfered to Greyhound.

Lawrence1895

johanna57 wrote: »

I have contacted Thortons they already collect bins in Rialto/Crumlin charge a service fee of 50 Euros up front and lift fee of 7.50. Greyhound will definetly put price up after 6 months a lot of people in our area have not received any notification letters that service has been transfered to Greyhound.

Thornton's only do the Southside? do they?

Elmer Blooker

How times change. We used to be urged to "reduce, re use, recycle" to do our bit for the environment. now we have to pay in advance to save the planet!! Is there no end to extortion in this country?

DecTenToo

Well the website is certainly an example of how not to do things ...

- An FAQ can be hound here.

Can't wait to see the letter.

johanna57

Lars1916 wrote: »

Thornton's only do the Southside? do they?

According to their website they do Dublin Meath and Kildare num to call is 1850 946 200

Lawrence1895

johanna57 wrote: »

According to their website they do Dublin Meath and Kildare num to call is 1850 946 200

I know, but if you check the Collection Areas on their website, only areas on the Southside come up :rolleyes:

Dirk Gently

Lars1916 wrote: »

johanna57 wrote: »

According to their website they do Dublin Meath and Kildare num to call is 1850 946 200

I know, but if you check the Collection Areas on their website, only areas on the Southside come up :rolleyes:

It's like that with them all. Ozo, panda,access,city bins, thorntons, none of them service the northside. We're stuck with greyhound.

olaola

I'm RAGING! We never recieved ANY notification about this. Our bins are full, and if we had ANY notice - we could have had them emptied to keep us going until we sorted out the new provider. Now God knows when they'll be collected.

I'm in D8 - does anyone know if Greyhound is the only option?

DecTenToo

Well, well. I see that the website has changed. Now you can enter your street name and find out your delivery day and then then go and download a PDF for that day to say which bins to put out.

http://www.cmbsandbox.com/greyhound_search/timetable.php so I'm on the brown and black tomorrow, assuming they'll pick them up without the account being open and the correct bar code.

I spend my day job getting people to organize themselves, strive to work well as teams and work towards a shared goal. One of the key problems we always find is the lack of communication. I have never seen such a poorly communicated and planned switch over as that of the move to Greyhound for refuse collection.

While I have no problem in paying for collection of waste and will also be able to plan accordingly when the service charges go up, lift charges increase, and pay by weight is applied post June, the lack of information available from the new provider is worrying.

If I developed a website like that for any of our clients or for internal use, I’d be sacked. It’s about as much use as a chocolate fireguard. From a professional perspective, a 10 year old could do a better job as regards design, layout and access.

John Mason

we still havent received any notification :rolleyes:

nudger

irishbird wrote: »

we still havent received any notification :rolleyes:

Neither have I.


Would you believe it, just arrived.

Dirk Gently

olaola wrote: »

I'm in D8 - does anyone know if Greyhound is the only option?

I think you have a few options in dub 8.

google the following ... access / city bins / thorntons / ozo

I remember at least some of them servicing dublin 8. The problem seems to be mainly north of the liffey.

nudger

Dublin 7, collection day is Tuesday for all bins, Black and Brown on the same day then Green by itself.
Starting tomorrow Black and Brown.

rod flanders

olaola wrote: »

I'm RAGING! We never recieved ANY notification about this. Our bins are full, and if we had ANY notice - we could have had them emptied to keep us going until we sorted out the new provider. Now God knows when they'll be collected.

I'm in D8 - does anyone know if Greyhound is the only option?

Try Thorntons. I know they collect in Inchicore.

rod flanders

Thorntons collection area's

Dublin: Ballyfermot, Chapelizod, Citywest, Clondalkin, Crumlin, Drimnagh, Inchicore, Lucan, Palmerstown, Rathcoole, Rathfarnham,Saggart,Tallaght,Templogue.

Kildare: Maynooth, Kilcock, Clane, Celbridge, Leixlip, Straffan, Prosperous, Sallins, Robertstown, Kill.

Meath: Ashbourne, Dunshaughlin, Dunboyne, Enfield, Trim, Summerhill, Kilmessan, Longwood, Ratoath.

Dodge

I'm almost certain Ozo and Panda also collect in Inchicore. No harm in calling all the companies

Sacksian

nudger wrote: »

Dublin 7, collection day is Tuesday for all bins, Black and Brown on the same day then Green by itself.
Starting tomorrow Black and Brown.

This is a day earlier than DCC, right? I'm in D7 and our bins are always collected Wednesday but, after checking the website, it looks like Greyhound is on Tuesday. The leaflet that came through the door from them says: "no change to collection dates for 2012".

Lawrence1895

Sacksian wrote: »

This is a day earlier than DCC, right? I'm in D7 and our bins are always collected Wednesday but, after checking the website, it looks like Greyhound is on Tuesday. The leaflet that came through the door from them says: "no change to collection dates for 2012".

DCC used to be around in my area (D9) on Thursdays for the black and brown bin. No change here, but the green bin is collected a day earlier now.

Anyway, got the famous letter today :rolleyes:

Meauldsegosha

Lars1916 wrote: »

DCC used to be around in my area (D9) on Thursdays for the black and brown bin. No change here, but the green bin is collected a day earlier now.

Anyway, got the famous letter today :rolleyes:

I'm in D9 and our black/brown bins are usually collected on a Tuesday (green on a Monday). Still haven't recieived any notification yet. So do I put my bin out tomorrow.

I hope this is not a indication of the service we can expect for Greyhound in the future.

Inbox

Is anybody going to ring Joe about this?