Trash pick up????

[Stand Alone Defense]

Anyone else not get their trash picked up yesterday?  Had a lovely morning of picking up soiled diapers that were spread all over my road by a dog!! Just what I wanted to do this morning at 6 o'clock with -5 degrees!!

Been trying to give Duffy's the benefit of the doubt but we are 6 weeks in with a different road missed every week.  I am starting to feel that Mr. Shea and Duffy's sold the Fairfax tax payers a crap deal.  Does anyone know what we would have to do to get the old trash removal team back?  is that even posible or are we gonna be stuck with this for 2 or 3 years?

[Razzle Dazzle]

No problems for me.  Duffy's even put my recycle bin out of the way for plow trucks!
Great job!

[Stand Alone Defense]

I would hope so Raz, you live in the middle of town lol.  I understand that there will be issues switching over but 6 weeks have gone by and it is time to start holding people accountable.  I have had no issues until this week which is my point in all of this.  Ok you miss this road or that road in the first couple weeks, you are told and fix the issue and that's no big deal.  The issue I have is it is different roads every week!! there is obviously no rhyme or reason in the way they collect the trash in Fairfax.  It is an unorganized mess that seems like it will not get better.  I have done some reaching out and found that people in Georgia have had the same issues in the past when they hired Duffy's.  If you say you are gonna provide a service and you are being paid to do it, you better do it right in my book.  I wouldn't pay someone to cut my grass if they missed different chunks of my lawn every week would you?

[mkr]

No issues for me either.

I also have to say it is nice not to have to dig crawl in a ditch for my recycle bin anymore or leave my trash can open to fill up with snow/rain or knocked over in the middle of my driveway so I have to park my truck in the road and move it before I can drive in. Casella's would chuck mine after they emptied. How do I know, I was home many times that they did it...

[ohhman]

Though my trash has been picked up, it has NOT always been on the day it was scheduled.  If we look back on the different places this topic has come up, we can see that many have had issues & always a reason: very cold, new routes, breakdowns, weather, yes, all legite but has me wondering if what some have said, "cheaper not better", "you get what you pay for",  makes me wonder.  Last time it was picked up the day after schedule, ( refer under topic on "trash Savings" for Jan. 23), many said it wasn't so bad now to have this happen, BUT what will happen once the varmits start coming at night ripping it open.  I do not want to have to put it by the road, bring it back & put it out again; once is enough.  Hope the kinks gets straightened out soon, especially since I was at the meeting & we were assured all would be fine & transition fairly easy.

[khort]

Our trash has been picked up on time so no complaints there. But I must say their customer service is horrible. I emailed them approx. three weeks ago with no response & have tried to call numerous times with no one answering their phone. I just had general questions about getting trash cans from them; as I have seen some "Duffy" trash cans at the end of driveways.

[ohhman]

Seems they picked up on Hunt street but somehow missed Cain street......really?!   Maybe they need road maps.

[Stand Alone Defense]

No issues for me either.

I also have to say it is nice not to have to dig crawl in a ditch for my recycle bin anymore or leave my trash can open to fill up with snow/rain or knocked over in the middle of my driveway so I have to park my truck in the road and move it before I can drive in. Casella's would chuck mine after they emptied. How do I know, I was home many times that they did it...

I would have loved for Duffy's to chuck mine!!! That would mean that they actually came and picked up!! Unfortunately not every Fairfax resident lives on a main road in town though.  Maybe I need to dump my trash at the town office to have it picked up, or maybe I can gather all the trash from my road and bring to the dump myself.  Can I send Dave Shea and the selectboard the bill if I do this?

Say what you want about Casella but they always picked up my trash on the day they were supposed too and it wasn't 830pm either.  Also when I call Casella I actually get to talk to someone, unlike Duffy's that never answers and is going on 18 hours now with no call back.

[mirjo]

The people represneted here are only a nano-portion of the population served by our garbage detail. One has to wonder what's going on with the majority. It's clear from this sample that Duffy's has some issues with routes/timing and may need some maps for their trucks. It's possible they're having a run of unanticipated bad luck--it can & does happen to people and businesses.

It's easy to get angry when having to pick up dirty diapers & other torn apart stinky trash that you shouldn't have to be handling again--I SO AGREE! However, before we send out a lynch mob to Duffy's, I suggest a rep from our selectboard contacts them and finds out exactly what's going on to cause these issues 2 months into the contract.  Listen to whatever issues there might be, and offer up some suggestions if possible and some road maps for the trucks--Steve Bessette made awesome ones for fire/rescue some years ago, and see how that goes. There could be things happening that  we don't even know about. Has the selectboard been in contact with Duffy's since this has been going on or just town members calling randomly?  While I agree with all the customer service stuff, I hesitiate to run in, guns blazing, before knowing if things have been going wrong or if they're just inept! Their ineptitude must be determined first.  :/

[Les Nessman]

I feel the pain here!!  The customer service is definitely lacking and I'm still trying to wrap my head around why we went to Duffy's.  Oh that's right, it's cheaper, and we get what we pay for.  Hopefully all of this money we're saving will prevent the town from raising our taxes.  On a different note, does anyone have an idea as to when the sidewalks and streetlighting is going up?

[rogers9993]

Duffy's will not respond to phone calls or messages left at their listed number from my experience. I've called 2 Selectboard members at home to try and get help in resolving the issues I've had with trash not being picked up. One said he did not vote for the change and did not agree with it. The 2nd Selectboard member had kind of a different take on the matter. He told me "it's not your God given right to have your trash picked up", "if it was my choice the town wouldn't be involved with trash pick up" and "I don't give a **** if there are 20 different trash haulers coming thru town". I will give him credit thou that after lecturing me about the trash he did give me the owner of Duffy's cell phone number. I will also give the owner credit for answering and then calling me back when we got cut off. Not that it resolved anything.

And my trash was picked up before I got home from work this week for the first time. 1 out of 6 weeks isn't too bad is it?

[ohhman]

WOW is all I can say!  I do not think anyone here is going to have a "lynch mob", but I do see where there are definitely some issues & people are not happy! I have met some of the employees as they brought my garbage can/recycle bin up to my house @ 8:30ish pm the 1st week; I did think it was nice & thanked them, offered them something hot to drink,  then I did notice they were being escorted by a selectboard person who maybe let them know I had been one not so in favor of the change.  Yes, we all expected transition time, but when they pick up Hunt St but miss Cain St, & we are into the 2nd month, well, maybe just a lack of not paying attention or they need clearer road maps.  As for a selectboard person speaking to you rogers9993, sorry but I think that was very inappropriate!  Let's be painfully honest here, yes it was cheaper BUT the Casellas people came to the meeting, they offered to match Duffy's & they did state they were under the impression they had a meeting with the board coming up & that is when they were supposed to give the information asked for; the selectboard assistant did verify it was true, they were on the agenda for a following meeting.  So ask the question, why is the real reason we went to Duffy's? Maybe someone had ruffled feathers for not getting information soon enough that was asked for from Casellas as to actual costs ? Maybe there was miscommunication?   1 board member did say they did not realize Casellas was on an upcoming agenda.   Maybe someone on the board was a past employee of them?  Who knows the real reasons, BUT the fact is, we now have Duffys & we were assured they could handle the job equivalent to what Casellas did.  We haven't seen that yet nor do we know the ACTUAL cost savings as we will pay for what we dump.  And for all the calls Duffys have NOT returned, that is not only rude, but NOT the way to keep customers happy.  Town meeting is coming up; voice your opinions there also.

[kevin]

Josh - They came today around 4:30 and didn't go past the end of my driveway.  I'm guessing it was because they didn't want to have to come back up the hill with the road being icy.  Probably the same issue but worse yesterday since the plow didn't come down the road at all until 3:15 (that's a whole other complaint).  While it's not an excuse for not picking up the garbage it's the only reason I could see for them not getting our entire street.  And I hope it wasn't my dog in your trash.

rogers9993 - I would love to know the name of the second Selectboard member so that I don't vote for that person again.

[rogers9993]

ohhman,

I think you're possibly on to something. If a Selectboard member was a past employee of Casella's would they have a motive to "get back" at Casella by not awarding them the contract and pushing Duffy's?

Kevin,

I don't think this Selectboard member is running again.

[mkr]

rogers9993 - FYI None of the Select Board have worked at Casella.

"it's not your God given right to have your trash picked up" - That was not an appropriate response. You Pay taxes and call for assistance; that is what you should get.

Also, because a select board member did not vote for it, does not mean they can just ignore it and not help the town's people when 3 out of the 5 voted yes.  I know which two voted no and not impressed at all with that answer.