LAKESHORE WASTE SVC LLC

They started out fabulous..... This past winter we had a bad winter... January and February in particular, they didn't even bother to pick up our garbage bins for about 3 weeks total. They claimed the bin was frozen in ice but I cleaned the bin area, moved it myself, took pictures and emailed them to rebuff their false claim. Lakeshore didn't even grab the top layers off if the bin they claim was immovable. Their other excuse was their regular driver (who is great) was on vacation... So, you give bad service and continue to charge? I understand the winter was brutal however if you are going to skip whole weeks, you need to contact your customers and notify them. Email is a very cheap way to communicate to your customer base. Most people like myself would understand, being totally ignored is not acceptable. Communication is horrible... You don't know why you garbage is not being picked up unless you, yourself call and find out why... Are they hoping you don't notice the full bin ? To make matters worse, the female help they have or had there... bark at you as if the problem was your doing and not theirs! ...Bad attitudes!... I talked to Rich, who was in a higher position, he was so empathetic and accommodating he wanted to make amends. He told me to follow up about a monetary credit on my bill but when I call Rich back several times... I get voice mail and have not seen one credit. .............. Great customer service guys!....It's now April 30th and no credit and no returned calls.... I'll tell you... if your bill is late they charge you a fee, but when the customer does not get picked up.... you no credit at this company. These waste companies need to be regulated and supervised by the city..... It is a crime that business people can get taken advantage of by commercial refuge haulers in Chicago.

With customer service like this why would you ever go with another company?

In mid March while doing my taxes I realized that the "deal" I had from my current trash collector had increased significantly over the previous couple of years...city fees, gasoline surcharge, etc....to the point that I was paying $120/month for a 1 yd garbage and 96 gallon recycling bin/weekly pickup. I started in the yellow pages (Angie's doesn't have very many references for these services) and called 8 different companies who serve the Chicago area and requested quotes for the same service. Lakeshore quoted $78/month for the same service without having to sign an annual contract so we agreed upon a start date of 4/7/12. There was some delay in the initial pickup but since then the schedule has been adhered to and I am pleased with their service. In addition to the price I chose Lakeshore due to my dealings with one of their employees, Meredith. She was professional, knowledgeable and provided great follow up and follow through on providing a quote, etc. FYI: when I called my then current vendor to cancel the service they offered to match the price but I told them it was too late...if they had wanted to keep me as a customer (I had been with them for 10 years) they should have made more of an effort to keep my costs from increasing so much.. My advice to anyone who wants to save some money: contact each of your vendors every year and threaten to cancel and they will probably lower your monthly charge or give you a freebie...DISH network just lowered my service by $15/month and gave me Showtime free for 6 months and ATT internet offered to reduce my monthly rate from $33 to $19.95...since customer loyalty means nothing to these vendors you should take your business where you can get the best service/price.

We've been using Lakeshore for over a year now, and we're very happy with them. We pay about $127 a month for both garbage and recycling pick, and we've never had problems with our container, pickup, or adding/changing service. They bill promptly, they show up on time, they leave the dumpster area clean. Highly recommend!