Residents fuming over Priority Waste delays
Residents are fuming in Oakland County and beyond over late or missed pick-ups that have continued since Priority Waste took over GFL on July 1. The problems are happening in five counties after Priority's service area ballooned by 700,000 customers in 73 communities. Municipalities are stuck between the two, urging residents to be patient and pushing the company to get the work done.
"That's 1/15th of the entire state that is going from a foreign-owned company to a Michigan-owned company – the problems won't be fixed overnight," said Matt Allen, Priority's director of public relations and government affairs. Company told municipalities a complete transition would take at least 21 days, he said.
Allen said Priority has three main goals during the 21-day transition period: Clearing an existing backlog which included GFL customers whose trash hadn't been collected for 30 to 50 days in some cases; fixing a fleet of trucks that he described as "not road ready" and preparing to retrofit vehicles with cameras and other technology. The tech upgrades will be completed over a 90-day period, he said.
When the work is done "people will see a really different service," he said.
One of the affected communities is Macomb County's Clinton Township , where Priority is headquartered. Clinton Township officials say their residents are experiencing "substantial problems."
Allen said some communities are between two weeks and a month behind scheduled pickups for garbage, yard waste, recycling and bulk items.
"We came into a backlog and the fleet of GFL vehicles were not all road ready," he said. "We are fixing and triaging."
Municipalities, in turn, used social media and official websites to update residents.
Pontiac announced Priority would eliminate missed pickups by Saturday, July 13, but on Wednesday morning bulk items and yard waste bags still sat at some curbs. Residents complained on the city's Facebook notice.
Waterford Township created a dedicated webpage for frequent updates, as did many communities and on Tuesday appealed to residents to continue putting items at the curb by 7 a.m. on regular collection days.
"Priority Waste customers in Waterford and nearby communities continue to experience delays in curbside waste collection," said the latest bulletin, in part. "The Township has been and will keep working with the hauler for our residents toward a resolution to these delayed services."
White Lake Township Supervisor Rik Kowall's message to residents said while "we expect their service to improve this week and next we know that there could still be some issues, hopefully not as many."
Kowall said he's confident the company will "get to a steady state over the next two or three weeks.
In Rochester Hills , yard waste and some bulk items were left standing for more than a week. The city urged patience as residents shared their experience on the city's Facebook update Monday.
Madison Heights officials encouraged residents to skip calling the city and call Priority instead.
West Bloomfield Township officials simply apologized via Facebook and shared resources for residents: "Our sincere apologies for the frustration this is causing. The services should be performed on your usual day, without delay, and we are in close contact with the management and customer service departments at Priority Waste. Thank you for your continued patience and understanding during this transition period."
The company has enough people to do the work, as Priority hired most of GFL's crews, Allen said, adding, "we're not shying away from it and we're not making excuses. We're dealing with things in real time – getting things fixed in real time ... We understand people are upset."
One big problem: the 5-minutes-or-less phone time initially promised ballooned to 30-minute waits and customers being cut off or transferred to ghost lines. Allen said that issue resulted in calls to the company's serviced line mushrooming from 1,000 a day to more than 10,000.
"People calling GFL were supposed to be transferred to Priority. That was an integration issue. We have no idea how many people got hung up or or were put into the abyss during Week One," he said. Compounding that issue: Priority's first week of service included a Fourth of July holiday, which delayed service by another day.
"Since July 8, we've been working diligently and are now down to 5,000 calls a day. The backlog and clearing of streets is happening through the weekends, but we do give drivers Sunday off," he said. The company told municipalities a new phone system would be installed to better manage the higher call volume.
Most municipal leaders understand the transitional issues, Allen said. Residents unhappy with garbage, composting, yard waste and bulk items not being picked up in sweltering weather simply want what Allen called "an essential service."
