Ferry's Refuse

CastorTroy

I'm plannng on phning them tomorrow, but was looking at Ferry's facebook page to see when the next collection day for general rubbish was and saw a load of comments. They were about some sort of change to collections with regard weight and a card.

I've heard nothing about this until I saw it on their facebook. Anyone know how this works? Are bin tags no good anymore? Their communication with their customers is crap.

muffler

You can find most of the relevant info regarding the new waste collection systems here.

As for Ferrys I dont think I could ever deal with them. Thats just me but Im sure others would have a better opinion of them

Cee-Jay-Cee

They have a charge card which has to have €40 in credit at all times. Bins are weighed and charged at €10 for 40kg.

I've moved to DM Waste who still use labels and so a bin costs €10 for regular waste and €7.50 for recycling. I compact my regular bin and only put it down every few weeks. I'd say it easily weighs 120kg each time.

I'm guessing this will be the end of ferry's and considering the whole illegal dumping allegations currently being investigated, it's not before time.

CastorTroy

Signed up with Ferrys when I moved in and no problems with them apart from not collecting when they changed to bieekly without notification. But once I get the bin emptied next week, I'll see about moving

muffler

To the best of my knowledge the new waste collection system does not commence until mid-summer and between now and then the operators are supposed to chip the bins, empty them as normal and advise customers of the weights and costs involved. That allows people to make an informed decision on which operator they wish to choose.

But as stated above Ferrys already want people to pay money into a charge card in advance which I believe to be illegal. Maybe it’s not either as Im not sure of the finer points of the new regs.

I have a relation who contacted them about the new scheme and was using their service for the last couple of years. But when she refused to pay the money into this card Ferrys went into her private back yard on Friday morning last and removed 2 bins. In doing so they trespassed on private property and Im not sure what the position is in relation to the actual bins as she was given them by someone who had left a different house about 2 years ago.

CastorTroy

Yeah when trying to find out about this, I'm finding a lot about their more scummy practices.

Will DM take a Ferrys bin? Because if Ferrys don't empty it without the card, I don't fancy paying €40 to get it emptied for a final time. I'm guessing what's on the card is non refundable

muffler

CastorTroy wrote: »

Yeah when trying to find out about this, I'm finding a lot about their more scummy practices.

Will DM take a Ferrys bin? Because if Ferrys don't empty it without the card, I don't fancy paying €40 to get it emptied for a final time. I'm guessing what's on the card is non refundable

Both firms would say they dont empty each others bins but I have seen them do so lots of times. if you put a DM waste label on a Ferrys bin then DM waste should empty it.

Pique

I've also been told that Ferrys dump the blue bins into the normal black bin lorry if it happens to be left out. Witnessed by someone I know.

CastorTroy

Well was able to buy a tag on Monday and they emptied it on Tuesday.
That would've been the perfect time to put something through the door about any changes when they know a cutomer lives there.

DrPhilG

I'm with Logan waste, I'm not seeing anything on their site about switching to weight payments.

Cee-Jay-Cee

DrPhilG wrote: »

I'm with Logan waste, I'm not seeing anything on their site about switching to weight payments.

Its coming at some stage but no one knows when. It was to be introduced last year but got a last minute reprieve as there was so much confusion and anger over the costs but apparently its only been delayed.

Ferry's have gone ahead with their charges which means it costs considerably more to use them than the others (at present)

People should shop around and move to the other companies and hit Ferry's a with a little of their own medicine.

annascott

I have used Ferry's Bin collection for a number of years. Last year they took contact details in preparation for weight charges but nothing was enforced. Apart from the annoying change to collecting every two weeks, nothing has changed. A bin tag costs €11 and I have never been asked to pay in advance for anything.

dinorebel

We use Ferry's and signed up for direct debit and pay 25 a month a god bit down on the 34 a month DM Waste charged.

firemansam4

We have been using Ferry's for years, then a few months back they called to our door and told us that they are moving us over to the pay by weight system. They said that our bins our too heavy and its costing them too much to take them.
They set up the card and everything for us, but I basically told them that I would just switch over to D@M seems as the bins are actually there's anyway.

Seems they are calling round too people who put out heavy bins and telling them that they have to use the new pay by weight system, but are leaving other people alone for now.

BurnleyBen

Sorry to "barge in" into this thread.. just moved to a house with Ferry's Refuse in it, not entirely sure what the changes are about or even what the pick up day is because they don't pick up the phone.... tried three times today, got hung up on.

muffler

BurnleyBen wrote: »

Sorry to "barge in" into this thread.. just moved to a house with Ferry's Refuse in it, not entirely sure what the changes are about or even what the pick up day is because they don't pick up the phone.... tried three times today, got hung up on.

Sorry, I have no idea what days Ferrys collect in Letterkenny as I use DM Waste myself but this link should explain about refuse collection in general.

Its interesting to note that the Council say its optional at the moment whether you want to pay by weight or by fixed charge labels yet Ferrys are making the pay by weight compulsory for their customers despite the fact that it doesnt become law until at Least 1st July

firemansam4

BurnleyBen wrote:

Sorry to "barge in" into this thread.. just moved to a house with Ferry's Refuse in it, not entirely sure what the changes are about or even what the pick up day is because they don't pick up the phone.... tried three times today, got hung up on.

They collect every Monday, but they switch from normal to recycling every second week.

CastorTroy

BurnleyBen wrote: »

Sorry to "barge in" into this thread.. just moved to a house with Ferry's Refuse in it, not entirely sure what the changes are about or even what the pick up day is because they don't pick up the phone.... tried three times today, got hung up on.

I assume you're in Letterkenny? What part? It's Tuesday up around Killyclug.

And I switched to DM. Just phoned them up and they sent out the barcode sticker to put on the bins. So no new bin required.

BurnleyBen

Off Glencar road, close to the hospital.

See, I messaged Ferrys on Facebook and gave them my address, they said Friday is my pick up day but I've been seeing bins with Ferry stickers on them when I went out earlier today.. even my next door neighbour had a black bin out..

So I really have no idea what it is now.

Maldesu

BurnleyBen wrote: »

Off Glencar road, close to the hospital.

See, I messaged Ferrys on Facebook and gave them my address, they said Friday is my pick up day but I've been seeing bins with Ferry stickers on them when I went out earlier today.. even my next door neighbour had a black bin out..

So I really have no idea what it is now.

My parents get theirs lifted on Fridays in the Gortlee area. Ask your neighbours if they are with Ferrys. Could be they never got a new bin. If they are, just ring back and double check. I rang them just before paddy's day to check if they were lifting and got them on the phone no problem

byte

BurnleyBen wrote: »

Off Glencar road, close to the hospital.

See, I messaged Ferrys on Facebook and gave them my address, they said Friday is my pick up day but I've been seeing bins with Ferry stickers on them when I went out earlier today.. even my next door neighbour had a black bin out..

So I really have no idea what it is now.

It's Friday for Glencar, going by their website too.
http://www.ferrysrefuse.com/routes/

cros13

Has everyone seen what Ferrys have been up to?

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/donegal-refuse-collector-serial-environmental-offender-1.3081208

Illegal dumping and laying a pipe for the runoff of the illegal dumps into the river.
What a scumbag. It's a pity he wasn't given a long prison sentence years ago after his previous convictions.

At a minimum the criminal assets bureau needs to look at what can be recovered of his ill-gotten gains.

Hes taking the piss and getting away with it for years by the sounds of that article.

Donegal county council / government not doing much and its been happening right under their nose.

Wait til the bill for cleaning up that bloody mess right beside the river lands back on the taxpayer too.

NIMAN

cros13 wrote: »

Has everyone seen what Ferrys have been up to?

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/donegal-refuse-collector-serial-environmental-offender-1.3081208

Illegal dumping and laying a pipe for the runoff of the illegal dumps into the river.
What a scumbag. It's a pity he wasn't given a long prison sentence years ago after his previous convictions.

At a minimum the criminal assets bureau needs to look at what can be recovered of his ill-gotten gains.

I had heard that before when this thread was younger, but didn't want to mention it online, just in case.

Apparently locals know its been happening.....

Technique

dinorebel wrote: »

We use Ferry's and signed up for direct debit and pay 25 a month a god bit down on the 34 a month DM Waste charged.

I think we can now see why that is.

Firblog

Have had Ferry's collecting my rubbish for 6/7 years, will never use them again.

cros13

Topgear on Dave wrote: »

Wait til the bill for cleaning up that bloody mess right beside the river lands back on the taxpayer too.

Estimates of €5-6 million. They should start by freezing his and his family's bank accounts to ensure money doesn't disappear.

Another important question is how did he manage to rack up 22 months of jail sentences over 5 convictions but they all got suspended? Was his criminal history not given to the court?

Now is probably a good time to point out that there's no legal reason Donegal CoCo can't remunicipalise bin collection.

CastorTroy

Like I said earlier, I've switched already. Phoned DM, they sent out barcode stickers for both general and recycle bins. They will take Ferry's bins as long as the tags are on them. You need 2 tags for a bin. Seems to be 1 tag for a bag on its own but 2 for a bin. At least for general waste. Haven't emptied the recycle bin yet

Firblog

came across this today, are they all at it?

Pique

Ah ffs. That's who I use.

muffler

Firblog wrote: »

came across this today, are they all at it?

For clarity I would point out that the article does not confirm any conviction and also dates back to May 2014 so not recent news as such.

annascott

Has anyone used Sharkey's Refuse? They are based in Annagry of somewhere in the West but cover Letterkenny too. After using Ferry's for over ten years without incident, I have had a lot of problems with them for the past couple of months and would like to change. Two of my neighbours have switched to Sharkeys within the past month. They do not charge to provide the new bins and monthly charges is €25. Just wondering if they are reliable.

muffler

dinorebel wrote: »

We use Ferry's and signed up for direct debit and pay 25 a month a god bit down on the 34 a month DM Waste charged.

So, are you still paying €25 a month with them?

Find it hard to believe seeing as they are charging by weight and not by lift which means that the charge would most likely vary unless you are putting a limited amount of refuse in.

muffler

annascott wrote: »

Has anyone used Sharkey's Refuse? They are based in Annagry of somewhere in the West but cover Letterkenny too. After using Ferry's for over ten years without incident, I have had a lot of problems with them for the past couple of months and would like to change. Two of my neighbours have switched to Sharkeys within the past month. They do not charge to provide the new bins and monthly charges is €25. Just wondering if they are reliable.

Sorry, no idea about them as they dont collect around my area.

dinorebel

muffler wrote: »

So, are you still paying €25 a month with them?

Find it hard to believe seeing as they are charging by weight and not by lift which means that the charge would most likely vary unless you are putting a limited amount of refuse in.

Still paying the same they were 2 days late collecting this week which is the only issue I've had with them. As far as charging by weight that must only affect those that pay weekly.

muffler

dinorebel wrote: »

Still paying the same they were 2 days late collecting this week which is the only issue I've had with them. As far as charging by weight that must only affect those that pay weekly.

How many times per month are the bins lifted?

howdoyouknow

muffler wrote:

How many times per month are the bins lifted?

Refuse/recycling bins are lifted alternately every week. For €25 it's good value for a family where they would need to put the bin out each week and it would mean that it's hard to go over the 40kg weight.

For someone like myself who only puts a bin out every 4-6 weeks doesn't make sense.

Cheap for a reason though with ferry's as they're just emptying their trucks on their illegal dump site down along the swilly unless they've changed their ways in the past few weeks. We'll all end up as taxpayers paying to get it all cleaned up again at some stage in the future.

Romantic Rose

Ferry's service has been so inconsistent for us. I'd say since September, our recycling was collected maybe 7 times. They'd just leave the bin there uncollected and then when you'd ring about it, they'd fob you off. Like saying I didn't have the right tag on. I doubted myself the first few times but then I realised they just didn't bother coming around to collect it.

Donegal Waste came around our estate this week and I'd say that every house that had a Ferrys bin, changed over.

Their service was completely unpredictable and that's then taking all the awful stuff that's coming out in the media about them, you'd wonder how they're still operating.

irishjp

We cancelled our DD with them last month after all the carry-on in the papers. Couldn't in good conscience continue to use their service.
They have been ignoring 3 weeks of requests to come and collect their bins which we left, at their request, sitting outside the house.
There was a foreign girl on the phones for a while who was ok to deal with, but the dragon is back on the phones again, ignorant fecker to deal with - when I threatened to hire a skip and bin them she just laughed and gave a "thanks for calling".
Lovely crowd.

Maldesu

irishjp wrote: »

Lovely crowd.

My parents just changed from them to DM waste. When speaking to them on the phone after cancelling a DD, and well, they have changed their tune. Offered a top up on a card to have them stay on and quite a bit of pleading saying it was an utter anomaly that the bins hadn't been lifted recently.

Your dragon must have realised she'll have no job at the rate they're going at

CastorTroy

Caught part of an ad/PSA on Highland this evening. Seems Ferrys has been taken over by some crowd called Weirs (I think). Just heard they were taking on all the Derrys staff and will be in touch with Fery's customers over the coming days. Apparently this crowd have been in the business for 25 years.

Can't find anything online about it though

Maldesu

Heard that yesterday too. It's a company called Wers Waste from Galway. Wonder if there will be many customers for them at this point.

CastorTroy

Seems to still be a good few bins out when I'm driving to work.

Sure may as well just set fire to them themselves and cut out the middleman.
Just saw that story about the fire when trying to find more info about the takeover.

retalivity

Nothing dodgy about that at all!!!

josey_whale

Seems like the law might be catching up with Jim Ferry. Shameful that he has been able to get away with it for so long. I sincerely hope that he appropriately dealt with.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/a-most-revolting-case-of-illegal-waste-in-co-donegal-1.3175935

muffler

josey_whale wrote: »

Seems like the law might be catching with Jim Ferry. Shameful that he has been able to get away with it for so long. I sincerely hope that he appropriately dealt with.

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/a-most-revolting-case-of-illegal-waste-in-co-donegal-1.3175935

Shocking stuff but comes with no surprises though.

retalivity

The bit about getting the water turned off due to a leak, then the place going up in flames hours later with the front entrance blocked is particularly galling. He should be made to handpick the whole lot out of there himself

josey_whale

muffler wrote: »

Shocking stuff but comes with no surprises though.

Agreed. However, the fact that it comes as no surprise should not trivialize the seriousness of this.

As a Donegal native, I am outraged by Jim Ferry's behavior. Who do you think will pay for the clean up? It is estimated that it will cost €5M to clean this place up. Who paid for the clean up of his Derryreel (Falcarragh) illegal dump? With the cost of his free legal aid, and the cost of his jailing (if he is jailed and he should be, along with his daughter), we are easily talking €10M. Can you imagine if this €10M was diverted to Letterkenny general hospital - how many doctors/consultants could be hired.... schools, roads....

I have been watching this guy's antics for a long time. His arrogant contempt that he has displayed for MY (and your) county is sickening.

Just to rub salt into the wound, According to today's Derry People, I understand he has now sold his business!

cumulonimbus

We had been using Ferrys for years, we inherited the bins from the previous house owners. When I read that they were in court for fly tipping, we switched to DM Waste. It costs exactly the same and we can buy the bin tags in the local supermarket. The only difference is the pickup day is Wednesday. And when you contact DM they are way more civilised than Ferrys.

water-man

Just after reading that Irish Times article. I'm disgusted. And then applyng for free laegal aid, thet cheek. Hope revenue are involed in this too. As another poster said imagine if that EUR10 million that it will cost to clean up his mess went into Letterkenny hospital.

smashey

The plot thickens https://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/company-that-took-over-illegal-dump-firms-is-operating-unlawfully-1.3179552