Some St. Paul residents are calling the late fees they’ve received from their trash hauler absolute rubbish.
The city of St. Paul rolled out organized trash collection on Oct. 1, and residents who had been assigned Advanced Disposal as a hauler were surprised to discover they had days — not weeks — to pay their initial bill. Residents who didn’t pony up say Advanced Disposal quickly dinged them with late fees.
St. Paul Public Works on Thursday posted a notice to the city’s trash collection website: “The city is aware that Advanced Disposal has sent out notices of non-payment and attached late fees to city residents who paid their bills in October. We believe that this is not allowed under our agreement with the St. Paul Haulers and we apologize for the inconvenience that this has caused.”
The notice goes on to say that Public Works is making a record of all the complaints, as well as related customer service issues such as long hold times and “impolite service.”
Impacted residents are asked to email publicworksinfo@ci.stpaul.mn.us with their name, property address, phone number, the name of their garbage hauler, the date they received their bill and the date their payment went through.
“We continue to work with Advanced Disposal and the rest of the St. Paul haulers group to address this issue as quickly as possible,” said Lisa Hiebert, a spokeswoman for St. Paul Public Works on Friday.
