Waste Management is the major trash hauling service in our area. We live just outside of Houston, TX. We pay out of our own pockets for this service, since we are not actually in a city. It is not attached to our water bill etc. When we moved here 15 years ago, they picked up recycled plastic, etc. But stopped because the HOA didn't want to pay for it any more. However, they still pick up appliances, heavy furniture, etc. I had an old upright piano, that I couldn't even donate. No one would take it. I called WM and asked them to pick it up and was told they would on Thursday. On Tuesday, I paid two men to take it to the sidewalk. WM showed up on Thursday for regular trash pick up, but they did not take the piano. I called on Friday and was reassured that it would be picked up that day. It was not! So, I called again on Monday and once again was told they would pick it up! Around noon or so, I opened my e-mail to find a message from WM, telling me they would not pick up the piano. I called again (4 phone calls and 3 yes by now) and after a long conversation, was given the reason. They didn't have the proper truck" in our area" to haul a piano. Prior to that Monday, nearly a week later, I was never called or told they would not pick it up. The piano wasn't in that bad a shape and perhaps could have been recycled, but it sat out on the sidewalk for a week in the soaking rain and hot sun for so long that it started peeling and the keys started falling apart.
In addition to the frustration, I ended up having to call d1-800-Got-Junk and pay for them to haul it away. WM rents dumpsters, sell bags for construction waste which holds up to 3,000lbs, but they can't pick up a piano! Really! While I am on the subject, on regular trash pick up days, they leave my trash cans either sitting in my driveway, where I can't get into it and have to stop my car in the middle of the street.; or, they leave them sitting on the grass with the lids off, so they can fill up with rain! Why, can't they turn them upside down and put them on the sidewalk? That way they won't fill up with rain, kill my grass or block my driveway. While, I have no choice to but to use their service, I am not happy. I have tolerated the cans
being left in my driveway. But, they need to get their act together when it comes to telling customers what they will and will not pick up. I personally, don't think not having the proper truck in a certain area, is no excuse when they pick up everything else under the sun, including heavy furniture. It was even suggested to me that I haul it to a landfill myself!. I am 71 years old, have 2007 Ford Ranger and 3 men couldn't pick up that piano and load it into that truck! It doesn't have left. By-the-way, 1-800-Got Junk did a great job! read more
