Springfield trash company accused of unfair business practices
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (KY3) — We’re hearing from you about the billing issues and pressure tactics you are facing from a local trash hauler. Salespeople for Green For Life Environmental, known as GFL, have been making the rounds, selling their services only to be accused of unfair business practices.
“Any time we have a chance to save money, we have to look into it,” said Thor Nielsen.
He says he wasn’t shopping for a new trash company when a GFL door-to-door salesman approached him. And he says he wasn’t provided with all the details and fine print.
“I was given a tablet to sign, saying it was just to sign up for the account for billing services. I didn’t get to read anything. There wasn’t anything that was told to me that it was a contract system because I wouldn’t have signed up for it if I knew,” he said.
Nielsen says he tried to cancel, but the fee was too high for his budget.
“I don’t have the funds to fight it, so I’m going to have to just eat it,” he said.
Kristen Northcutt asked, “What in the holy moly has happened?”
The Colony Cove property manager says she, too, has had issues with GFL. She says the company held them to their contract and didn’t deliver on the service they promised. She says their bills increased dramatically.
“It went up over 40 percent. We had a bill that was approximately $1300 that went up to $3200 a month,” she explained.
Northcutt says she didn’t have any luck when trying to inquire about the rate increases.
“You try to get answers about what the increase in the fees is, why is this happening? You get no return phone calls, no return emails. The account representative doesn’t work there anymore,” she said. “Nobody knows what’s going on. This used to be WCA’s problem; it’s not GFL’s problem. It’s just the whole runaround.”
She says her employers, Sequiota Investments, had no choice but to go to court and pay, eventually getting out of their contract.
“We feel like these are unfair business practices. We see them taking advantage of other people and us. We’ve spoken to other businesses that have been in legal action with WCA or GFL. We aren’t the only story out there,” said Northcutt.
Both say they’ve learned a hard lesson and want to give others a heads-up.
Northcutt said, “We’d like other people to know, even reading your contract and being sure, having all the documentation to support your case. It still didn’t make a difference in ours.”
“Always double-check before you sign on that tablet if you’re signing up for a contract. Make sure you ask that. From now on, that’s what I’m going to have to do,” said Nielsen.
We sent emails, social media messages and made phone calls to GFL but haven’t heard back.
A representative for the Missouri Attorney General’s office says they’ve handled two cases against GFL where they had to refund the customer due to billing issues.
If you have a concern, you may file a complaint with the AG’s office. You will find information HERE.
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