Monopolistic Service Providers
It flat out amazes me that companies who have a local monopoly supplying a necessary service can be and often behave like total bastards.
Case in point, Waste Management Melbourne Hauling is the company that collects trash and refuse for the three different municipalities in which we own property, rental and otherwise. All but one city government includes a charge for the services provided by Waste Management on the water bill, because it stands to reason that if you’re using water, you’re probably generating garbage too.
But no, the City of Palm Bay, in their infantile wisdom has decided to put an extra burden on the property owners in their city and legislate the services as mandatory into the city ordinances. Ready for this one? As a property owner in Palm Bay, Florida, you are required by law, to pay for Waste Managements services even though you don’t use them. This means that when your rental or vacation home is vacant and therefore not generating any garbage, you still have to pay for their services. WTF?!
Now I’m sure that there have been complaints in the past about this and Waste Management says that some recent changes have been made, but wait until you hear about the changes.
Waste Management bills on a quarterly cycle for their services at the beginning of the cycle. When the bill comes, under ‘Due date’ it reads ‘Due upon receipt.’ According to Waste Management, ‘Due upon receipt’ means that if they don’t receive your payment by the 10th of the billing month, they put an attorney on your tail until they collect.
This is what they call ‘customer service.’
I intend to complain to the City of Palm Bay about this but until the situation really changes Waste Management will continue to suck!
