A Winnipeg man is accusing a waste collection company of deliberately messing with his bin and charging him for having overflowing garbage.
Brad Wallin’s business switched its garbage collection service to the Waste Management of Canada Corporation last month. The bill for pickup was supposed to be around $60, but when he received the bill for the first load on March 26, it was nearly $350.
“I was shocked off the start, because we saw the invoice and we knew it wasn’t right,” Wallin said in an interview Friday.
The bill included an overage charge for having an overloaded bin. It included a photo, taken from the truck, showing cardboard boxes and other items sticking up over the rim.
But Wallin says he knew the bin was not overflowing.
“We make sure the lids are down and nothing’s hanging out,” he said.
Wallin’s business has security cameras installed on the side of the building, so he went and checked the footage.
“The dumpster there is completely closed,” Wallin said, reviewing the video.
WATCH | Security camera shows driver rearranging garbage:
A Waste Management of Canada Corp. driver was caught on security footage rearranging garbage in a dumpster outside a Winnipeg business to make it appear overloaded. Business owner Brad Wallin was later charged for the ‘overloaded’ dumpster. The company apologized after seeing the footage and reversed the charge.
In the video, the driver gets out of the truck, unlocks the lid on the garbage bin, and looks inside.
The driver then pulls items out and leaves them hanging over the side of the bin, which makes it appear overflowing.
The driver gets back into the truck and dumps the garbage in.
“When we saw the video, that makes your jaw drop a little bit, when you know that they’re scamming you, they’re trying to rip you off,” Wallin said.
Wallin called Waste Management’s Winnipeg office.
“One of the individuals there told me that it’s common practice. All they were doing was just rearranging the load so it dumps better and that just doesn’t even make sense.”
After talking to several people with the company, Waste Management refunded the overage charge.
Driver made mistake: company
A spokesperson for Waste Management said the driver made a mistake.
“Waste Management of Canada Corporation has investigated the situation raised by a customer in Winnipeg, and determined that the driver made an error in process, causing the overage charge,” Jessica Kropf, senior communications manager for Waste Management, wrote in an email.
“This was unintentional, and WM reacted quickly to resolve the matter by apologizing to its customer and reversing the overage charges that were made in error. There is no bonus structure in place and drivers do not receive compensation for overages.”
But Wallin says he doesn’t believe the company’s explanation.
“Basically … they think if they give the money back then everything just goes away,” he said.
Wallin says he might not be the only one hit with false overage charges.
In 2019, video from a condominium building in Denver, Colo. showed Waste Management workers stacking boxes inside a garbage bin before taking a picture. The property manager of the building received an overage charge.
“Since the unfortunate event in 2019, [Waste Management] has reviewed and modified its program,” Kropf wrote.
“It is not indicative of how we do business or what we expect from our employees, and is certainly not part of our standard operating procedure.”
Wallin says he’s lucky he caught the incident on camera. Otherwise, he might have simply had to pay up.