Flood Brothers Disposal

ATTN DEVELOPERS AND RESIDENTIAL CUSTOMERS. Absolute worst company to work with. They do not come when they say they will and make up stupid excuses as to why that is. Both our building’s dumpster and recycling bin have been overflowing. Even when you call and are told someone will come that day, nobody comes. In addition, I was given a contract with a BLANK DISCLOSURES, TERMS & CONDITIONS page! And then when we tried to get out of the contract that are trying to charge us $ 1,000 to get out of it. I signed a form with no terms and conditions thank you very much because your sales guy failed to provide me with it. Probably because it’s full of ridiculous conditions to keep customers paying when they realize what awful service it is.
I’d like to also point out that on top of them charging a termination fee for a contract I do not consider to be binding considering I was not given a full contract, they bully you when you try to get out. If you do not pay the termination fee, they will try sue you for $ 10,000.
Our building was new construction, and the developer was the one who hired Flood Brothers. He specifically told them this could be short term because once the owners moved in, we could want to hire a different company. Nothing was disclosed to him that this wasn’t ok and that he was entering into a 5 year contract and there would be a termination fee. IF YOU ARE A DEVELOPER, DO NOT BE TRICKED BY THIS COMPANY. IT WILL BE A MESS FOR YOUR OWNERS.

Stay as far away as possible! We have had them as our garbage pick up for six years and we were tired of price increases. Tried to get our rate lowered and they would not work with us. Got others quotes for garbage pick up (which were way cheaper). Called to cancel Flood Brothers garbage and they said we could not. They said we are in a life long contract. Can’t believe the way they run their business. This company is horrible. Never signed a life long contract.

I have used Flood Brothers for over a year now and have had nothing but excellent service. From day one the service has been nothing short of amazing. I anticipated some overflow since our dumpster is located in a lot that is accessible to the general public. However, once we communicated this to our rep it was managed immediately.
I have another office in the Lombard area and would love to have them service here as well so hopefully the management company here makes that decision soon.
I will continue to not only use them but refer them to other businesses. Did I mention they have pink dumpsters?

These guys are the WORST, most RIDICULOUS company EVER. We were overcharged, etc etc for 10 years. We read the contract carefully and gave them the 6 months notice to cancel service. We then sent additional notices to cancel. We called numerous times. They still REFUSE to acknowledge the cancellation. The contract was up in October and they won’t pick up their dumpster and continue to charge us. They are now threatening to take us to collections. DO NOT START DOING BUSINESS WITH THEM! If you do, you will NEVER be able to get rid of them!

Spoke to the owner today, Brian Flood, and he can not give a straight answer of why his bills do not show a service period. There should be a start date and end date on every bill!!!
He said he would change my bills to monthly billing so that I would get 12 bills in 12 months. Thats one step in the right direction, but what about all your other customers and my overpaying for the last 3 years?
His response of not giving proper 30 day notice of price increases was very comedic. He told me he gives 90 notice. That was very funny Brian, you made me laugh.
Brian Flood avoids the problems I addressed and trys to cut a deal with me by lowering and locking the rate. This is not acceptable, how about you address these problems because you are taking advantage of me and all your other customers. I do not trust Brian Flood and Flood Brothers with my garbage. They are holding me hostage as a customer. Get your dumpster off my property.

We asked Flood Brothers to pick up their dumpster and to stop service back in October because our property is vacant and for sale; but they continue to charge us and they refused to pick up their dumpster.

As a former business owner myself, I always remembered the number one rule. Always be polite and courteous to the customer. Especially one that refers your services to other business owners.
Biggest thing after all this hot mess, don’t threaten a customer with a outrageous cancellation fee. It’s better to allow someone to walk away paying the bill then to have someone mad and held hostage.
As per Tom’s request, I have updated this Unilocal review. Rather then battle for a $ 2300.00 cancellation fee and have my trash bins full for my Tenants. I have agreed to stay with the service for a reduction in the surcharge fee. Still my bins are full and I’m unhappy.

I would give this company negative starts if I could. Don’t let them lure you in with low basic rates. The extras will absolutely overwhelm you and they will not let you out of the five year contract. Also, you need to notify them six months in advance to get rid of them.
DO NOT SIGN THEIR CONTRACT

1) 10 years — 5 last years horrible experience — Excessive fees ! Raising fees without any prior notification, this company shouldn’t exist !
2) Fees — Hidden fees to actual percentage requirements from EPA, etc. Other companies charging 4 times less for those fees
3) Customer Service — Horrible.

I do not ever like to give anyone 1 star, everyone I have ever dealt with in business has tried in some way to give good customer service even if their product is not worthy. This company on the other hand, could care less about their customers & so I am only giving 1 star, if I could give Zero Star I would.
Every company I deal with always gets a fair chance to prove they are the best. This company has ZERO CUSTOMER SERVICE and could care less about you once you agree to have them as your garbage disposal service company. Here are just a few key points of my dislike for this company:
*Missed garbage pick up on several occasions so we had to call in more than once to have them come out & pick up what was supposed to be their regular scheduled pick up.
*Misc. fees on every bill after they quote you a minimal charge that they do not tell you about.
*Horrible customer service on the phone, when you call in, it’s like you bothered the person on the other end.
*Almost impossible to cancel your service as they have a «policy» in place that once you request cancellation they tell you that only the sales department can handle that & someone will call you back. After 3 weeks of no returned phone calls or emails, I called again & only AGAIN to be told the same old song & dance.
I am putting their can out in the street for the village to contact them and tell them to come pick it up!!!
Terrible company to deal with, please do yourself a favor & go with another company, you will have, in my opinion, better service, better rates & better piece of mind that you are not getting screwed by a company that is supposed to be a leader, terrible, just terrible.

Not a ethical company to do business with. Most of the negative reviews are accurate, and I would suggest you stay away from this business if possible.
Couple of key points —
1) Sales tactics — what you hear, is not what you get either on paper or in service
2) Fees — Hidden fees, which come up later such as Dumpster beautification fee, and environmental fees that are not tied to actual percentage requirements from EPA, etc
3) Customer Service — Horrible, might as well outsource yourself to off shore customer service, lines rarely get picked up

BEWARE BEWARE BEWARE!!!
I like to give negative stars but 1 star is minimum
Never sign with this company without getting everything in writing that you discuss with the sales rep.
I was told what the price would be if I switch but small print on the contract under the price contains FEE very tricky. also I was told if I have a current contract they would void the current contract with Flood Bros but not so they hold you to their contract hounding you and waiting for the old contract to end.
They are quick to tell you it’s in the contract. But when the sales rep sells you their service it is not so valid verbally it all in the contract they say.
They charge for delivery of container and monthly container fee iit supposedly for wear and tear B. S! So you end up paying more for your service with Flood Bros with standard charge, container fee, environmental fee. And a huge one time fee of delivery charge of container.
I never had so much aggravation for disposal service in my life. garbage, disposal is suppose to be a simple service but with Flood Bros you need an attorney.

Flood Brothers is a great family owned group. The are timely, efficient and cost effective. Very approachable. Most of the time you are dealing directly with a family member. Don’t expect the level of personalized service from the others.

Be careful with this company they make you sign a contract for 5 years and start charging all kind of fees, they present themselves like the best option (less expensive) but they are actually the most expensive ones.
Also they switch your pick up days to what ever they please. I have my own needs and I am paying for; and then you go 3 extra days with your garbage pilling up then they charge you a fee for extra garbage :0(
Can’t wait for my 5 years to be over to run as far as I can from this company
I HAD TO WARN EVERYBODY

Worst garbage company by far. Come in with the high pressure sales tactics and then throw on bogus charges to your bill. Tried to work out the overcharges they had on the bill and it took over 15 phone calls and still no luck. They keep saying to talk to another one of the brothers, but they are all crooked and dumb as rocks. Sucks for them, they lost an easy paying long term customer.

I wish I could put zero stars. I have been with flood brothers for 26 years. 6÷11÷14 I called to resolve an issue of $ 31.50 added on our bill after we had payed (never had to do this before so really expected to be treated better). The person answering the phone, Michelle, was rude. Answering the phone with «hold on», telling me the charge is staying on our bill after I explained. She told me Bill Flood would be the only one who could remove the charge. Moving forward with my experience with Flood Brothers Michelle argued with me when I told her I could not get a return call from the ONLY person, Bill Flood, who could remove the charge. Michelle told me «he’s been busy this week» I said «it’s been almost 2 weeks, I said it was 12 days since he had the message to call me. Michelle said «no that’s just a week». She also told me «I gave her the wrong address» after I gave her the address we’ve used for over 10 years because they had the unincorporated one in their system. NEVER got a return call from Bill Flood and now it HAS been a full 2 weeks 6÷11−6÷25. Had left a voice mail on his line about every 3 to 5 days trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. Bottom line they did not find it worth the $ 31.50 to keep prompt paying, long term customers. It was worth the hassle to me to research other disposal companies and drop them like a rotten potato and start new with another!

The drivers are a disgrace to the company. Our drivers seems to avoid coming to us for9 months now — we are to be twice a week — he comes when HE feels like it then tells the office he has been here — LIAR!
3 weeks ago yesterday he was to be here — never showed — yet tells the office he was here. Called the office. Someone came at 6:50P to empty our dumpster.
Low and behold same thing yesterday. Never showed. Called after 6:00P last night — naturally office closed — someone showed up at 8:13P to pick up our garbage.
Funny thing is at Chicago Sanitary picks up each and every week EVEN WHEN IT HAS BEEN BLASATED COLD OUT YET FLOOD brothers seems to have a problem — they say, «well it’s the ice and snow…» — We say, «blokes how does Chicago do it then???»
Between ALL the taxes, fees, permit fee, etc., THEN being billed for 2 times a week service and receiving 1 week service HOW IS THIS RIGHT???

First, let me say that I don’t have their garbage service. We have the city’s service. This is for a one-​off request that I made, and the manager came through for me so I felt obligated to post it.
My 3 year old son had requested a «garbage truck» themed birthday party since he is obsessed with garbage trucks. I called around to various places and most people just laughed at me when I asked if we could have a garbage truck «visit» on the day of his party. I left various voicemails as well to no avail. Manager Steve (didn’t get his full name) called me back a week before my son’s birthday and told me that he had scheduled one of his guys to drive a truck out to our house for his party. I was overwhelmed and it was a great surprise for my son. He was ecstatic when we heard the (clean) garbage truck backing down our street. The driver was really nice and the party was a huge success with the arrival of the truck. All I had to do was tip the driver and Steve covered the rest.
Thanks again to Steve for coming through in the clutch! Very much appreciated. You made my son’s day!

I generally ONLY write good reviews about people, but my desire to give Flood Brothers zero stars is overwhelming. They are shady and lock you into seemingly impenetrable contracts. I’ve been speaking with my attorneys and am pretty sure I should be able to work something out, but nothing is for certain just yet. I was yelled at on the phone by Patrick Flood and could not BELIEVE how they treat their customers.
I show a lot of invoices being paid that they somehow show as unpaid, and therefore until I get confirmation of where the checks were credited to, I did not plan on double paying for their low quality service. I then find out, earlier this month, that they stopped service at one of my buildings (I’m a property manager) without so much as calling to let me know they were going to, so I got 2 $ 500.00 tickets from the city for overflowing garbage. This is money that could’ve went to them if they’d just do their job.
In my last phone conversation with Brian Flood, one of the owners of Flood Brothers, he said to me:
««Do you talk in your sleep too? Because you can’t seem to shut up when I’m trying to talk.»
And:
«Did you grow up with a lot of brothers? Because you’re the feistiest woman I’ve ever met.»
Does that sound like customer service? I would NEVER speak to anyone that way, let alone in what is supposed to be a professional relationship. He then emailed me to tell me that he liked talking to me even though I yelled at him. Who says that? He refused to give me his attorney’s phone number so that I could have my attorney contact them. They are the most unprofessional company I have ever worked with.
I received a $ 500 ticket from the city the following Friday, when I was told our trash would be picked up 2 days prior. Thanks a lot, Flood Brothers! To make matters more interesting, Brian agreed to credit my account for half the amount of the citation ($ 250) and then today emailed me and said he was reversing the credit out of the goodness of his heart because I wrote a Unilocal review and has been threatening to sue me for «legal damages».
I will say that there should be a second Flood Brothers page for Dawn in billing, who I would give 5 stars to if I could. She has worked diligently on trying to get my account back in order, but unfortunately the problem started long before she was the one helping me, or before I was running my company, so its been a nightmare for both of us. Regardless, she has always been courteous, responsive, and helpful. Its a shame that the rest of the Flood Brothers staff lacks her work ethic and professionalism.
Wish me luck, and new comers, STAY AWAY!

Flood Brothers is absolutely the worst disposal service around. Don’t be fooled and taken by that wonderful Irish motif garbage truck, No reputable Irish owned company would so poorly handle a customer’s inquiry on the phone as Flood Brothers did to me!
Blizzard of Feb. 1^st 2011…
I just spoke with the manager as to why our commercial garbage bin has not been picked up one week after the blizzard. Flood Bros. manager cited lack of access to the alley and the garbage bin area was full of snow, which is a totally false accusation. They lie!
One entrance to the alley is blocked by a huge pile of snow, there are three (3) remaining passageways that are totally cleared. The City of Chicago cleared the alleys in our area of snow with a tractor, the snow was removed!
The tone and manor that this manager, how he addressed a paying client is beyond words… rude, gruff and totally insensitive to the inquiries of his client. HORRIBLE!
Flood Bros. is charging me, a small commercial business for an entire week of disposal service I did not receive. I am paying for NO SERVICE! …How would you like that? Many Chicago businesses were not even open during the blizzard, so we barely put any trash out. Yet FLOOD BROTHERS is quite comfortable charging a client for services that were not provided! What a racket!!! … FLOOD BROTHERS, makes easy money on the backs of small businesses! Nice!
Flood Brothers is the biggest rip off I have ever seen! They charge for every 4 weeks not monthly, so be aware. It’s not the first time I have had run ins with FLOOD BROTHERS… They are totally the worst!
After this fiasco and extremely poor service and above all the manner in which I was addressed on the phone by a manager of this company, I will cancel my contract with Flood Bros.
People… LOOK around for an independent disposal service company as obviously FLOOD BROTHERS has bitten off way more than they can handle, they have way too many customers. Flood Bros. obviously can afford to badger existing clients with such lack of compassion, empathy and concern. Go elsewhere is basically what they are saying!
This place clearly sucks pus in the moonlight!
Flood Brothers GO TO HELL!
Signed,
Totally disgusted by your poor service and loud mouth managers!
A former Chicago Customer