Republic Services — Local services in Urbana

Find another trash service in your area. Until just recently I was a Republic customer for about five years. I cancelled service at the end of June 2018 as another trash company in my area offers the same services at less than 50% of what Republic is currently charging. When I called to cancel the representative asked why, I told him the price difference. His response was, 'Would you remain a customer if we reduced your rates to match?" He verified that Republic price gouges. Republic needs to understand that while slimy that price tactic really only works if your company has no real competition in the area (e.g., Comcast). With there being at least three or more trash services in my area they are only surviving on current customer ignorance.

They forgot I had recycling services for over five weeks. When I called to find out why I was told I had never signed up - even though they had collected my recycling without issue for well over four years. I asked how much recycling service costs. The representative told me it was free as it is mandated and funded by the city where I live. Republic cancelled a free service I never had to sign up for and had been receiving for over four years. Then they tried to blame me for their mistake by claiming I had never signed up for service. Even after that call it took two more phone calls and about three weeks before my recycling was being collected again.

When I cancelled in June of 2018, I asked the representative to send me a pro-rated bill. He informed me that since it was the end of the billing cycle and Republic is pay-in-advance I owed nothing and that they would be around to pick up the cans in a few days. Three weeks later I received an email saying my bill was now late and that I owed Republic Services almost $100.00. I called and spoke to a representative. She told me repeatedly that the previous representative was wrong and that I owed the money. When asked if Republic Services is pay-ahead she agreed and could not reconcile that with why I still owed the bill - just that I owed the money. I asked to have my call escalated to a supervisor. I was told that all supervisors were busy and I would receive a call back from one within 48 business hours. 4 business days passed with no returned call. I called again on the fifth day to find out why I had not been called by a supervisor and to again ask about this late bill that I was told I didn't owe. To her credit the representative I was speaking to agreed that I did not owe any bill for services. She informed me the $100 charge was for picking up 2 plastic trash cans. She said that charging that by adjusting my last bill and re-presenting it to me as a late bill was wrong. She removed the $5.00 late charge. I was thankful for that and asked to have the entire bill removed due to Republic's mix-up and the time I'd had to invest to clear up their mistakes. She took 50% off of the bill. $50 for the pickup of two plastic trash cans is still ridiculous.

Seriously, find another trash service company. Stay away...

Very disappointed as I have used Republic for a couple of years now without issue until last year. With the increase in price, they have also missed picking up my trash a couple time with the most recent missed pick up being the last straw. I requested for a missed pickup 5 separates phone calls with each person stating it will be picked up by the end of the day. After the 3rd phone call, my recycling was picked up, but not my trash. A supervisor called me back to explain that my trash was never picked up "due to inclement weather". My recycling was picked up and the weather was 30-40 degrees that week and it had only rained once or twice, no snow or ice. There was zero accountability and a very poor excuse. I cancelled my service and they said they would pick up my bins on 1/9/23. They never did and when I contacted them, I was told they have me on the schedule for 1/11/23. I've switched to a competitor that is slightly cheaper (Illini Recycling which majority of people in my neighborhood using them now) and I hope the service will be much better. Due to poor service and lack of accountability and communication, I will never return to Republic Services or recommend them to anyone for future use. There is absolutely no reason to be pay more for services that have been declining over the last year.

Update: I was told I would be refunded the 3 months I paid in advance and my bins would be picked up Monday. Never picked up. I called and was told it will be Wednesday (today). Never picked up. Called again and was told it would be the end of the day. I ended up calling back again because I forgot to ask about my refund status. 1) I was told I am now on the schedule for tomorrow and 2) they do not see a refund and is likely because it will be used to cover the exact cost of picking up the bins. These bins continue to sit in our driveway...

Baffling inept. After realizing that we were charged a needlessly high rate for a service we hardly used, my girlfriend and I decided to cancel the service. I then called to see about the possibility of keeping the trash can since the service agreement online heavily implied we paid for it, and we didn't want to pay to have it picked up (and there's no option to drop it off yourself). We were told if we wanted to do that, we'd have to pay to keep the can. I called back after talking about it with my girlfriend. The next representative seemed totally unaware of that option and consulted their 'knowledge base' about it; they told me the can would be $100. It's a lot, but it's a decent-sized trash can and an end to the discussion with Republic, so it sounded alright. Again, I hung up to discuss it, and again I called back. The third representative also hadn't heard of purchasing the can and had no idea where the $100 number came from, so they told me they cancelled the order to have the can taken the day of our final trash pickup and that someone from their purchasing department would contact us about buying the can. They didn't, but the can was taken. Weeks later we're having to pay a late fee for refusing to pay the pickup fee we didn't want. I can understand greed in business, but lying and poor customer service training is just sad. I will never use Republic again as...