Novato Disposal Service

So typical of the crappy service from Novato Disposal. My sister & her husband were house sitting. My brother-​in-​law put out the cans last night. They are from SF so placed the cans in the wrong direction. The entitled sob took out the time to complain about the placement yet refused to empty the cans. And he got out of the truck to place the notice on the cans. Supposedly according to customer service they are not allowed to leave the truck. Obviously he did to place the notice.
This is a violation of sanitary regulations which require them to remove the garbage.
When I called customer service I encountered an amazing b$&*h who defended the driver and ignored Sanitary regulations.

I waited 30 min then the call dropped. Waited another 39 min can’t take waiting anymore. I need to file a formal complaint. They need more help or something. Don’t charge more if you cannot answer your phone.
Oh my I have to add more. They finally answered after another hour. Total wait was 1 ½ hours. I told Anika about one and ½ wait time — I asked her if she needed me to write a letter asking that the get more help. She said «no we don’t need more help we have plenty of staff. We have to take up time dealing with customers complaining about the wait time». Of course I immediately asked for her supervisor — no — but they will take my name and number. I immediate wrote the city of Novato administration. It is my calling now to make sure these people understand common courtesy to their customers is a must. Not a «sorry» nothing. Based on her attitude they let their employees be rude. She had no problem with it.

The absolute worst. We manage over 36 properties while using numerous trash/​recycling companies and this is the only one that gives us grief.
At 2 of our facilities, we keep both the trash and recycling bins RIGHT NEXT TO EACH OTHER, however, the recycling is almost always skipped. The driver has the audacity to say it’s because ‘he couldn’t access the bins.’ Oh, is that so? Yet the driver who picks up the garbage has proven that he can access the bins without trouble. Absolutely ridiculous. For the entire month of September, our recycling was picked up twice. Twice! There are supposed to be 2 pick-​ups per week. Customers are advised to call within 24 hours of a missed pick-​up and though we call same-​day and are told that the driver will come back before 6pm, this never happens — leaving us to continuously call. Sometimes we have to ask our janitorial staff to drive the recycling out themselves! I’ve had to call to request pick-​up so many times the reps and I are now like FAMILY. I seriously might invite them over for Christmas this year we’ve gotten so close.
After September’s non-​service, I wrote a letter addressed to the route supervisor asking that our fees be waived and that he speak with the driver. We never heard a word. I wrote the letter on 9÷25÷15 and it is now 10÷12÷15. Finally, someone from their AP department sent an email stating «credit will not be issued for the month of September as we do not charge to pick recycling up.»
LOL. Okay. So that’s it. No apology, no explanation. All they have to tell me is that because recycling is ‘free’ (which let’s face it, they charge double for trash in order to say that recycling is free) then the driver has the option to pick-​up recycling if he/​she feels like it’s a good day to do so. Otherwise, there is absolutely nothing we can do.

The most unprofessional and biggest thief of the consumers hard earned money in the state of Ca. If there’s ANY!!! Pieces of sod in the yard bins they leave them! No matter how little… If your bins are not perfect with the contents the way they want them… They’ll leave you hanging! No help, no explanations, just a waste of our hard earned dollars with no alternative unless you take your waste to the dump directly! That’s where I’m forced to go to now because of the poor service and miserable customer service. Call on the phone and you get even more of it!

Company is stuck in the 90s. NDS online bill pay system is incredibly archaic and cumbersome.

Worst customer service ever! If I could switch companies I would. (Monopoly). I was just told they have 48hrs to pick up garbage. This has been like this every week for the last month. Was told it was route changes if that’s the case I’ll put the garbage out on Wednesday’s. I playing a guessing game with garbage pick-​up

Terrible customer service when calling. If you don’t get an endless busy signal after multiple calls, you end up holding forever. The one star is because I’ve never had a nasty person on the other end. When I can get someone on the other end, which is rare.

My first review ever. Terrible customer service. On hold for over an hour this morning due to my dumpster only getting half emptied last night. Finally decided to try an online message, requesting that they come back to finish the job. After sending, it said «message unable to be sent». Stayed on hold only to get someone who told me it would be an extra $ 52 to come back out. I already pay $ 192 per month for a standard dumpster and have paid them over $ 11,000.00 in service cost over the last 5 years. You’d think they would have said «sorry for the inconvenience». Nope. When your on hold, all you hear about is how they are saving the world and the environment and how fantastic they are about recycling. Hogwash! Try taking care of the customer first and doing your job properly. I’d be out of business If I treated people like they did with me. It’s too bad they don’t answer to anyone. Kinda like the IRS, only they’re «great recyclers». Unbelievable.
Russ
Novato

I was on hold for 20 minutes last week when i called to start garbage pick up service. Then this morning I called and was on hold for 55 minutes! This is crazy. I can’t understand with all the complaints below, how Novato Disposal Service can’t get their act together and fix this. What a shame.

Terrible customer service,. Call them and you are in voicemail he’ll! 30 minutes on the phone and never talked to a human being. My garbage can not picked up today. Finally talked to someone online who said They could not call the drivers only leave them a note. Ridiculous company. I will be filing a complaint with the Ciy of Novato.

I have dealt with them for 20 years (since they have a monopoly and I have no choice). Worst customer service ever. They are usually both impatient and unhelpful. They don’t take responsibility, and tend to blame everyone else for problems. Just got off yet another such call with them. They have no commitment to customer service or helping.

This is the worst «no choice» service ever! I am so mad! For starters the regular trash guy usually strews my cans all over the place onto their sides after emptying each week. Yesterday I requested a pick up of a few bulkier items and they were very nice on the phone, but when I came home at 4:45PM, the garbage was still there! Now my poor neighbors have to look at it until who knows when??? So of course I call at 4:46 and was stuck on a loop, BS voice message that promotes and makes them sound so great until I gave up at 5:09. I am so disappointed. I have dinner guests coming and a small portion of my driveway looks like hillbillies live here.

Bad service!
We just moved into our place in Novato on a Thursday to find no trash cans. My husband called friday to set up service and was told our cans will be dropped off Monday with the usual trash pick up. Monday we left bags of trash at the curb and they were not picked up and we didn’t get our cans. I called and was on hold for 20 min (!) and finally hung up. Tuesday I called and waited 9 min to talk to someone who wouldn’t give me information because my name is not on the account. I also wanted to know what different sized cans we could get which she didn’t seem to understand. I explained my husband has a different last name, that it is indeed my house but still she cannot give me any more info. Is trash a security threat these days? She was going to check with someone else and call me back. Needless to say no call back and when my husband called he waited 10+min only to be hung up on!

I called to start service for my Mom who lives in Novato at what used to be the Crossroads (can’t think of the name now) and was told that the homeowners association pays for the garbage service. My Mom’s landlord insisted that she was to pay for service and was quite rude about her putting the service in her name.
When I called back and told the woman at Novato Disposal what the landlord told us, she once again insisted that the homeowners association pays for the service there, and refused to allow it to be put in to my Mother’s name. For the record my Mom gave permission for me to handle getting all the services needed in her name, and she told them as much before handing me the telephone.
It’s now been one month, and my Mom’s landlord is LIVID that the bill came to him, and my Mom has been calling them repeatedly, no one answers the phone, but a message comes on asking for her to leave a message, she’s done so numerous times, and no one has called back — this has been going on since last week.
What’s up Novato Disposal, why doesn’t anyone answer the phone, or return calls, or know who pays for garbage service at certain addresses? Sadly, I give them a one star with regard to this situation.
As for picking up the trash, they get a three.

I’m attempting to start service today, and I’ve been on hold for over 10 minutes. Someone picked up finally, and the service was fine.

All my prior issues have been fixed. The customer service is still very good. Please refer to my prior review to explain why three stars is a good rating. This is a «sanitation» company after all…