A little more than two months ago (On October 10th, 2012 to be legally, specifically correct). I was approached by a representative of GarbageMan, a trash collection and recycling service.
The representative made a pitch for GarbageMan's services that was, eh, adequate. Lower rates than what I was paying Waste Management were offered at the get-go, which is generally how one company usually goes about wresting customers away from another, but there were also a few other services that were offered that compelled me to make a switch from Waste Management to GarbageMan.
The biggie was the collection time. Waste Management always picked up the trash after 5:00 pm, sometimes as late as 7, 7:30 pm. I hated that due to high winds, inclement weather, etc., knocking down trash cans and scattering the trash left out in the morning on pick up days (Scheduled pick up times were supposed to be before 2 in the afternoon, and that never, ever happened).
To cut to the chase, I agreed to start using GarbageMan's services. The representative told me that GarbageMan would send a letter to Waste Management cancelling my service, and that GarbageMan would begin collecting my trash effective October 31st.
I signed the agreement and wrote the man a check for the first three months of service.
As the man promised, trash collection by his company started on October 31st and was done in the am. Smiles all around. Also as promised, I received a letter from GarbageMan that stated a cancellation notice had been sent on my behalf to Waste Management, and that letter even included the UPS tracking number. Bigger smiles all around.
Until this past Friday, the 14th of December, when I received a notice in the mail from Waste Management (A "Friendly Reminder") stating that my account was overdue and requesting immediate payment of $85.33.
Today, December 19th, I was finally able to call Waste Management to inquire about the bill. My call was taken by a customer service representative who I will refer to as "Bob" (primarily because that is how he introduced himself to me).
I explained that I had received a bill from his company for a service I had cancelled, and he responded (after verifying all of my information) that their records did not show a record of a request for cancellation of their service.
I told him a letter was sent and that I had the UPS tracking number to prove it.
Bob then stated that Waste Management did not accept cancellations by mail, and that GarbageMan was well aware of that.
Note: I did not tell Bob that I had contracted with GarbageMan to replace Waste Management - he just seemed to know that. I must assume Waste Management is employing telepathic customer service reps, as Bob had just seconds ago told me that their records did not show any request for a cancellation of service.
Bob then proceeded to tell me that Waste Management's policies do not allow for acceptance of written requests for cancellation of service due to them not having a means of verifying that the written request was actually coming from me, and that they only accepted requests for cancellation by telephone.
I resisted the urge to ask about the impressive voice-recognition software Waste Management must have that archives the legally-verified voice print of every single customer they have as a means to ensure that the phone caller cancelling the service was actually the person who contracted the service. It was hard, but I did.
Bob and I exchanged dialogue regarding the legality of that policy (I'm not a Lawyer, but I have played one on numerous occasions in actual Courts of Law, and won - legally representing yourself is a rush I recommend to everyone, but do your research first, esp. learn courtroom protocols - that's vital).
Anywhatzit, It came down to Bob telling me that the best he would be able to do was backdate my request for cancellation to the 1st of December. I replied that if I continued to receive billing from Waste Management for services I had cancelled on October 31st, I would take whatever legal actions were available to me (puffed out my chest when I said that, too).
Now I have to study up on the legal limitations of Qualified Written Requests and Contract of Adhesion inequities. Yay.
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