To HOA Board:

I'm a homeowner in a gated community that you people have recently bound to an onerous new trash pickup contract. Just like garbage, plain and simple, it stinks! We're now paying almost double what we had been paying in 2007.

And to add insult to injury, without explanation, this new company just slipped in for the April-June cycle, a "slight," $.97 increase, from $87.58 to $88.55. What's next? Will each new cycle also contain an unexplained "slight" increase? Is this a pattern?

Especially galling about this contract you've shoved down our throats, is that you gave us no advance notice or opportunity to express opinions about it. Many of us, if we had been given a choice, to keep costs down would have opted for pick up just once a week. As it is for two pickups a week, my can is 90% empty. What a waste of money! And it's my money, no less.

Hello, Guys, have you heard about the recession? It's hardly a time to be doubling costs for homeowners and upping chances for foreclosures.

Anyway, just maybe, if you had given us some voice in this matter, this putrid contract could have been avoided, or at least improved. There's no reasonable excuse imaginable as to why you gave us no opportunity to offer feedback.

And what sticks in the bark, is that you regularly keep us informed about so many relatively trivial things. But when it comes to something critical to our budgets, you drop the ball.

If memory serves, we received notice of this deal only a few days before its effect, January 1. And was it you Guys who informed us? Nope! How did we find out? Incredibly, you gave the bad-news-messenger job to the new trash company, Texas Disposal, an Austin company with no office in SA. And according to their bills, it's a toll call to call them about billing or service.

Well, it's obvious you realized many of us would be upset, so you passed the buck to TD and the professional property manager. Let them listen to our grousing. They could more easily give us short shrift.

And oh, by the way, have you forthrightly informed us how long you have bound us to this lousy contract? Nope! Why not? Could it be that it's oppressively lengthy? No doubt, at our expense TD has to recover the costs of those huge cans. And we, of course, have to bite the bullet on the cans we already had. Super deal for us, huh?

And now as I get ready to send TD the current payment due, with its disingenuous "slight," increase (they hope it goes unnoticed), my nose is rubbed again as to your December 2007 misfeasance.

But such an-every-three-months reminder, is not really necessary, because every Tuesday and Friday my aching back reminds me. I have to drag out that monstrous, heavy can, only 10% full. And usually TD doesn't even empty it. They leave remnants. What lousy service for such an outrageous cost!

Thanks for nothing!.

Diane Holden

P. S. If you can't or don't want to renegotiate this contract for a fairer rate, why don't you at least try to arrange for once-a-week-only service for us smaller families, like me and my child. This could cut our cost in half. Stickers could be placed on our cans for a Friday or Tuesday only pickup. Or why not get costs down by stopping pickup of recycling stuff. Sure, it's nice for the environment, but you Guys and TD have made it unaffordable. Bottom Line: There are many of us who just can't handle the outrageous contract you've gotten us into. YOU NEED TO DO SOMETHING to get costs down for us.

I'm with you Diane. 

And so is every neighbor I've talked to.   They're absolutely outraged at what the directors have done to us with this new garbage deal.

Everything you wrote is right on.

And to top it off this new CO leaves trash in the street.

With me, HOA board's approval rating?:   5% 

Anonymous 

You are so right Diane. 

The board has lost all crediblity with us.   I have talked to several homeowners, and we all agree -- this is was a serious breach of fiduciary duty.  It is bad enough that the board negotiated this lousy contract at such an inflated price.  But the worst part, the most disappointing aspect, is that they failed to notify us, and allow us to have feedback on this very important issue.   Like you said, we get notified of relatively minor things, why not something this important, that impacts all of our budgets?   We are extremely suspicious as to why this was kept under wraps until it was a done deal.   

 And now this company raised the price AGAIN with no explanation.  Where's our board?  This is their contract.  Shouldn't they be asking questions?  $1 is not much, but like you said, what's next?      

 You would think that paying this much, this new company would at least offer decent service.  But you are right, it's lousy.  Every week, I have to pick up various pieces of garbage that fell out of that montrous can b/c the workers left it scattered at the curb. 

Diane - you are certainly entitled to your opinion. However, your assertions are somewhat mistaken. First, we had no choice in having to select a new contractor. Our previous contractor, Waste Management, informed us the latter part of 2007 that they would not be renewing their contract with us. It was not the Board's idea or desire to change contractors, and we had very little lead time to react.

Second, all companies we solicited now charge considerably more than did Waste management, who had not changed their rates since originally contracting with us. Texas Disposal Services offered the lowest price of the four companies we solicited, and offered both trash collection and recycling which several companies did not.

 The Board too, is concerned about th TDS price increases and their lack of explanation. We are working with them to have them stick to the agreed contractual price of $26.00 per month and to credit homeowners for any overages during the period they have been serving us.

 As far as complaints about your service, you should contact both TDS to complain and contact our Property Manager, Jeannette Arensberg, to let her know.

Dave Walsworth, President, Promontory Pointe HOA