Panda ringing about bin washing

zagmund

Some bloke from Panda rang me a couple of times in the last 10 days trying to sell their bin washing service. It seemed a little odd. For starters he appeared to be ringing from his personal mobile. They must have some deal with their carrier to be doing this. I can't think of any other cold call/sales pitch I've received from a mobile.

The deal is basically €5 per bin clean, but they want you to sign up to a minimum of 2 washes a year. In advance. They were also a bit cagey about confirming whether this was an optional service, whether you were already signed up and were going to be hit for €10 anyway, etc . . . Standard sales practice designed to confuse the customer in other words.

Normally I would be very wary of such cold call deals, but this was from an existing supplier, the hit is only €10, and most importantly the brown bin has acquired a permanent smell at this stage. I'm happy enough for some machine to come along and make the bin smell of flowers at least for a day or two.

Anyway, I just thought I would check in to see if others in the DLR area had heard this pitch from Panda before? The most weird bit for me was this bloke calling from his mobile rather than a landline.

z

coylemj

Did you ask him his name and then call Panda to establish that he's genuine? That type of call should come from a landline if it's genuine, not a mobile phone.

salmocab

Id ring Panda and ask them why they are giving out your phone number to 3rd parties as this guy is clearly at best a contractor.

zagmund

Yeah, I'll give them a bell. I'm always cautious about this sort of stuff and didn't give out any details, credit card, times at home, etc . . . so it did seem 'legit', but now you have me thinking.

z

Seaswimmer

I have signed up for it for black bin. I have had it done once and it came out as new. The problem I have is that it gets done on a Saturday morning and I only got a call on Friday so I didnt have the bin emptied. A bit more notice would be better..

Silverbling

I forgot to put my black bin out and my green bins in, I now have 2 very shiny lovely smelling green bins and a stinky black one

uch

salmocab wrote: »

Id ring Panda and ask them why they are giving out your phone number to 3rd parties as this guy is clearly at best a contractor.

I know the head of domestic waste at Panda, and he told me that they just buy address lists from third party's, so no reason why yer man couldn't

TheVoodoo

Panda have a cleaning truck that looks just like a bin lorry going around. It has a steam cleaner & pressure washer etc. It's covered in Panda livery so i'm guessing its actually their service.

zagmund

Haven't had a chance to get on to them yet - long day.

Ref - cleaning green bins in error, wrong days, etc . . . the guy mentioned this had been a problem before alright. The plan now is that they come around the day after your lift so the bin will be empty. So if your lift is Tuesday then they come around on Wednesday. They also text you the day (or two) before the cleaning is due so you know to leave them out. I think he said the €10 pre-charge was because people had left their bins out before, the machine came along and cleaned them and then the people said they hadn't wanted them cleaned.

uch - there are rules & regulations about selling on lists like that, data can only be used for the purposes it was collected for, etc . . . so it's not as simple as selling on lists. I tend to opt out of the "can we pass on your details to our selected 3rd party suppliers" where possible.

z

uch

zagmund wrote: »

uch - there are rules & regulations about selling on lists like that, data can only be used for the purposes it was collected for, etc . . . so it's not as simple as selling on lists. I tend to opt out of the "can we pass on your details to our selected 3rd party suppliers" where possible.

z

I know it's easy to opt out z, but how many people don't bother. You'd be surprised, most people volunteer their info for free with the like of facebook and twitter and the like and don't realise the consequences.

wowy

Be careful with Panda. I agreed to do it once last year, but forgot to leave my bin out. Got charged, but my own fault there so no problem.

However, a few months later, I got a text from Panda reminding me to leave my bin out for washing. I'd never been contacted, and had only agreed originally to the one-off. I emailed Panda to tell them I didn't want it cleaned, and not to bill me. Lo-and-behold, I was billed for the cleaning charge, which I had to sort out with them. It happened again a few months later, where I was again billed. So be careful whether you're signing up for a repeating service.

Nodster

zagmund wrote: »

The deal is basically €5 per bin clean
z

sounds like a good deal - clean bins twice a year, all good

Ron DMC

Not saying it's a good or bad service but why on earth are all your bins so filthy? Do ye just throw the rubbish straight in?

Surely using decent refuse bags and not throwing out manky wet waste will negate the need for a hose down? I mean, I wouldn't go eating out my bins or anything but they're reasonably clean, and certainly don't need a wash, they're bins after all...

_Kaiser_

Had this service a few weeks ago. I'm renting so the landlord texted me asking to put bins out.

Pain in the ass to be honest. The message from them said to leave the bins out the night before which suggested they'd be over to do this early, but it meant that as the bins were empty they were blowing all round the place - falling over, hitting cars etc - and they didn't actually turn up till about lunchtime (I was working from home so saw them arrive).

So fair enough they were washed (yay! :rolleyes:) but like Ron says hardly an essential service if you - like I and I'd presume most people do? - throw your rubbish into the bins inside black bags.

First time I'd heard of it too so seems like a service for people with more money than sense really.

Silverbling

I only put my black bin out every 2 or 3 weeks when it is full as I have 2 green bins, after 3 weeks it can be pretty stinky especially in the summer plus the flies from a 2 week old chicken carcus even in a bin bag is horrible.

I used to swill it out myself with bleach, a kettle of hot water and a brush but I am only 5', there was always the chance of me falling off the ladder and in head first, for €10 a year I get clean bins without the trauma of sticking my head in a smelly bin standing on a ladder with boiling hot water in 1 hand and a broom in the other, well worth it!

ted1

Ron DMC wrote: »

Not saying it's a good or bad service but why on earth are all your bins so filthy? Do ye just throw the rubbish straight in?

Surely using decent refuse bags and not throwing out manky wet waste will negate the need for a hose down? I mean, I wouldn't go eating out my bins or anything but they're reasonably clean, and certainly don't need a wash, they're bins after all...

Nappies, tea bags etc tend to hold water which seap through black bags. Also people like myself only put bins out when there full as we pay per lift and weight. So we could go 6 weeks without putting out a bin. In 6 weeks a black bag breaks down

Del2005

zagmund wrote: »

Ref - cleaning green bins in error, wrong days, etc . . . the guy mentioned this had been a problem before alright. The plan now is that they come around the day after your lift so the bin will be empty. So if your lift is Tuesday then they come around on Wednesday. They also text you the day (or two) before the cleaning is due so you know to leave them out. I think he said the €10 pre-charge was because people had left their bins out before, the machine came along and cleaned them and then the people said they hadn't wanted them cleaned.

How is this allowed when all the councils have bye laws which means it's illegal to put your bins out on any day other than collection day?

zagmund

Ron DMC wrote: »

Not saying it's a good or bad service but why on earth are all your bins so filthy? Do ye just throw the rubbish straight in?

Surely using decent refuse bags and not throwing out manky wet waste will negate the need for a hose down? I mean, I wouldn't go eating out my bins or anything but they're reasonably clean, and certainly don't need a wash, they're bins after all...

Sorry, was offline for a week or so there, so I'm just catching back up. As others have referenced below, bins are smelly because there's rubbish in them, and by and large, rubbish is smelly. To use your own quote "they're bins after all" - that's what bins are for.

I don't wrap my rubbish bags in rubbish bags to put them in the bin. I think that would be over kill and would simply be adding waste to what is already waste.

The net effect of this is that the bin smells after a while, but in the grand scheme of things this is a pretty normal result and isn't really unexpected.

z

zagmund

ted1 wrote: »

Nappies, tea bags etc tend to hold water which seap through black bags. Also people like myself only put bins out when there full as we pay per lift and weight. So we could go 6 weeks without putting out a bin. In 6 weeks a black bag breaks down

6 weeks? More like 10 or more around here. Less so in summer though. Once the humming starts it's time to empty it.

z

uch

zagmund wrote: »

6 weeks? More like 10 or more around here. Less so in summer though. Once the humming starts it's time to empty it.

z

Jaysus I must be an Eco Warrior or something so, I only put out the Black Bin Twice a Year, but mother of God it stinks by then.

ted1

uch wrote: »

Jaysus I must be an Eco Warrior or something so, I only put out the Black Bin Twice a Year, but mother of God it stinks by then.

any kids? Mine is predominately nappies...

uch

ted1 wrote: »

any kids? Mine is predominately nappies...

2 Teenagers. Forgot about the nappies business though, it's been a while since I had to deal with them, they'd add quite a bit alright

ted1

uch wrote: »

2 Teenagers. Forgot about the nappies business though, it's been a while since I had to deal with them, they'd add quite a bit alright

I've two girl not looking forward to the teenage years. I'm happy to keep with the smelly bins