Panda compost/brown bin

NUTLEY BOY

What to do ?

An elder of our tribe lives with the jurisdiction of DLRCoCo. He is with Panda. Exactly as with AnnaStezia at post #59 above he never uses the green bin or the brown bin. He composts and recycles locally. The black bin is put out about 2 or 3 times a year.

Panda seems to suggest that they have a number of plans but I cannot quite discern what they are !

What is his best option ? He is late 60s if that is of any help .i.e. any discounts ?

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120550063#Comment_120550063

If you go into the website and put in his address then you'll be able to see what plans there are. For my area they had two plans, the pay by lift plan and the pay monthly plan, with a weight allowance on black bin

As far as I could tell the pay by lift plan is better for occasional users, but it's worth doing the sums to make sure

Look at other providers as well to see what's available

You'll need to ring Panda (or whoever your switching to) to change plans once you've figured out what to go with

Mav11

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120529251#Comment_120529251

How do you cancel your account with Panda (does it have to be over the phone?) and how do you get the remaining "services charge" refunded.

I cancelled over the phone (after waiting for ever) and followed up with an email detailing my reasons for cancellation to:

customercare@panda.ie.

I haven't got the refund yet, or a response to the emails, but I am quite prepared to go to the small claims court to get it back.

Dr_Colossus

Thanks for the update, how soon are they collecting their bins and is it just a case of agreeing a day to leave them out to be brought away.

I've haven't heard a peep from them since regarding my initial complaint and subsequent chaser. The new charges come into effect next week and yet they're ignoring customers. My "services" charge is paid every 6 months with the last bill paid 01-Dec-2022 so it would make more sense to have a change in billing effective from 01-Jun-2023. Will be cancelling before then anyway and will not be leaving out any compost bin for collection.

Mav11

I haven't heard a peep out of them either and I won't be giving them their bins back until I get the refund.

babelfish1990

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120550063#Comment_120550063

I have similar usage, and no brown bin, also with DlrCoCo. They tried to move me from my €64 annual service fee to €210, with a minimum weight allowance of 512kg which I don't need. (Last years total annual waste was 30Kg). I emailed them, and eventually they came back and offered to keep me on €64 service plan with a slightly higher pay-by-weight plan. This plan is well suited to low volume customers - but they don't advertise it anywhere on their website. You need to persevere to get them to admit to having this plan.

Panda have some very dodgy practices - such as quoting a monthly service charge in the email about the new price plan - when all other correspondence refers to an annual service charge. This is a sneaky way of trying to hide the massive price increase resulting from the switch of plan. I would imagine that most customers are slammed onto the new plan without even noticing it, until the bills arrive. Other utilities are not allowed to do this. It is outrageous that the bin companies on State licences are allowed these dodgy practices.

Panda also quoted a €90 annual service charge if you need a Brown Bin (I don't, as I compost). They hide the fact that it is not required to have a Brown Bin.

The pay-by-weight charges are as follows

Black Bin Waste Per Lift € 4.35 Waste Per Kg € 0.31

Recycling Per Lift € 1.30 Recycling Per Kg € 0.065

Compost Per Lift € 3.08 Compost Per Kg € 0.188

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120552870#Comment_120552870

I've got my new Greyhound bins but still no word about getting the Panda ones collected

Anyone know if the bins have to be emptied before collection? I'd be quite happy to send them back a full black bin 😁

On a side note, my new bins say South Dublin County Council on them. I feel like I just robbed some southsiders bins 😂

Mav11

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120557579#Comment_120557579

They actually rocked up to my house yesterday looking for the bins. I sent them off with a flea in their ears, no refund, no bins!!!

So now I have been promised the agreed refund within 5 - 7 working days. They can have their bins back then.

We'll see!!!!

And they are not getting the black bin as they didn't supply it in the first place😁

Dr_Colossus

Still haven't got any response to my multiple complaints/queries so rang them today and speaking to two separate divisions. The office is so disorganised and it doesn't sound like they know what they're doing. After being put through to the "promotions" department the representative mentioned additional plans which weren't published for my D15 area. One was 18.50 per month and the other 55.50 per quarter but when I highlighted these were the same cost wise they had no response. Cost is still crippling for a low waste household so a fixed monthly or otherwise charge makes no sense but neither does a high "service fee" with additional high lift charges and especially for that on the small 120 litre compost bin. They had no explanation as to how the €3.80 lift charge was derived.

In the end I asked to cancel my account (again no means of doing that via your online account) but they couldn't even do that. Account had to be alerted and their "loyalty" division would call me within 48hrs to negotiate and potentially cancel. Farcically set up and reflects very poorly on the overall service which has been very reliable over the years.

tvjunki

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120557579#Comment_120557579

Bins have to be emptied prior or they will not take them.

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120580138#Comment_120580138

Darn, well they won't be getting them back for a while yet in that case, need to wait at least two weeks for collections

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120580089#Comment_120580089

I missed the call from their loyalty department, tried calling back but no answer

I've gotten no response to multiple email queries, and the chatbot doesn't actually do anything

What a shambles of a company, I honestly reckon they don't know how computers work

Of course the cynical side of me says it's a tactic, if you can't contact customer support then you can't file any complaints and will probably just give up rather than change your contract or cancel

Mav11

Update: Got my refund yesterday and the bins are now outside the house waiting for collection. I might threaten them with storage charges if they are not collected soon.😁

topal

Has anyone drilled a hole in their brown bin to let the leachate drain out?

I reckon in full bin there are a few liters worth in there..

Dr_Colossus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120586923#Comment_120586923

You did well, I'm just off the phone with the loyalty department who did actually call as promised. Furious with the nonsense being spouted by the representative and trying to justify rampant price increases because competition are doing similar. The best "offer" he could grant was having no lift charges for one month which I refused as for my light usage would have been one compost and one recycling bin so roughly €5. He wouldn't cancel my account until the bins are emptied so will have to wait until the new provider bins arrive before I can transfer them across.

Additionally he then advised that when I do cancel my account I would be charged €30 for having the bins collected and rebranded? Never heard of this before and it's not in any terms and conditions that I'm aware off. Granted there can be cancellation fees for breaking a contract but I'm a long standing customer for years and pay the service charge on a 6 month rolling basis (next due 1st Jun so will have account cancelled before then)

CrookedJack

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120587248#Comment_120587248

I just went through a similar rigamarole of cancelling, getting a final lift, then cancelling again, then having the bins taken away. No suggestion at all of €30 charge for rebranding. Refuse to pay it.

Mav11

They're hard going, complete gangsters. I'm glad to see the back of them.

cobham

I emailed asking what 'options' I had. We are a small household and compost all kitchen waste bar meat. Now with their proposed scheme there is no incentive to segregate waste from food to recycling from general waste. And no disincentive to putting a quarter full bin out every week. I used to bring garden waste to dump but now use the brown bin and wish it could be bigger.

CrookedJack

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120587262#Comment_120587262

To follow on from this they've twice tried to take the 6-month charge despite the fact I've cancelled with them and had my bins removed.

Thankfully it's on my Revolut card so I've just blocked them.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120586984#Comment_120586984

Interesting idea.

cbreeze

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120586984#Comment_120586984

I'm planning to drill a few small holes in the bottom of mine - I don't want them to be too big or the rats might move in

Dr_Colossus

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120625713#Comment_120625713

The office is torture to try and deal with. I never got a response to my initial compliant email and numerous follow up requests for options/information.

I have about 5 calls logged now to cancel account and each time the rep on the phone says that can only be managed by their retention team who will call me back. Last promise was they were to call me by today at the latest and of course they haven't done so. Each time I ring they advise my account is already flagged for closure but I still haven't got confirmation from them on that and bins haven't been collected.

My payments are via an AIB credit card so rang them last week to put a block on all future Panda payments as a precaution (no means of cancelling direct debits from a credit card online). The next "service charge" would be due 1st Jun if I was still a customer.

gipi

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120586984#Comment_120586984

Yes, I did this years ago, reckon it's saved me a fortune :) I'm not in the Dublin area, and pay by lift with an excess weight charge, so the lighter the bin is, the better.

If you do drill, make sure your bin is on soft ground so it can soak away - it makes a bit of a mess on concrete

topal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120626721#Comment_120626721

So I went ahead and did this. Bin has been there a few weeks about 3/4 full and I could hear sloshing when I moved it.

I drilled a small hole and left it over a sink drain. A steady stream of putrid liquid drained out for a good 5 minutes. Could have been 5 liters in it..

maurice1

I have Panda in DLRcoco area.

Sent 2 emails so far asking not to be moved from PAYG as I am a low user.

Their charter states

https://www.panda.ie/panda-home/customer-charter/

5F National policy has moved towards a position where all customers will be billed according to the weight of the waste that they produce. We will operate an incentivised charging system to ensure our fees charged, incentivise the reduction of waste and also incentivise the segregation of recyclables and food waste

Paid €90 in Feb 2023 and I see now they have moved my account from PAYG and credited my account with €70

I believed when I paid them in Feb that I was paying a years standing charge in advance, but I don't have any contract with them as I would be a legacy DLRcoco account.

Checked Greyhound but they are €24.50 pcm vs 52.50/quarter

Does anyone know who the bin ombudsman is?

Any ideas what I should do now.

cobham

I have tried to contact them to see what options there are. The deal they want us on means we can put bins out as frequently as we wish and pile up weight. There is no incentive to segregate waste to avail of lower weight charge for recycled material or compost. Seems ludicrous?

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120655648#Comment_120655648

Check the small print for weight allowance on different bins, especially the general waste bin.

Mav11

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120639825#Comment_120639825

Very similar position to myself except that I have now cancelled my account with panda and got a refund.

Initially I contacted the CCPC and DLRCC. The CCPC were worse than useless and DLRCC were slightly better and palmed the issue off by suggesting that I contact the National Waste Collection Permit Office who is responsible for licensing waste collection. https://www.nwcpo.ie/ You might try them.

Boscod

Word of caution to account holders not paying by DD, Panda appear to have now stopped sending e-mail notifications when a new invoice is generated to your account, which could result in service suspension if payment is missed.

Phaedrus1

Panda Waste wrote to me telling me that I was being moved to a new payment plan from 1st May, but saying that there are alternative plans available.

I searched their ---- very poor --- website but could find absolutely no reference to payment plans.

I emailed Panda's customercare@panda.ie THREE times but got no reply.

I eventually rang them, waited and waited , to be told that Customer Care don't send out payment plan details ! Why ? The girl had no idea .....

These guys are a joke and Minister Eamon Ryan needs to take a look ----URGENTLY !

It's madness giving an almost monoply like Panda this kind of clout and the issue of incompetence and awful Customer Care must be addressed.