Republic Services levies ‘fines’ after glitch

The company's operation in Carlsbad charged all residents with autopay a fine for a computer glitch and residents say they battled for a refund

Republic Services told customers in Carlsbad a computer glitch is responsible for levying a late fee even though payments were made on time. Courtesy photo

CARLSBAD — A billing snafu has led to concern against the city’s trash collector as it was discovered by several residents of surprising late fee in October despite having autopay engaged.

Roger Cole and Susan Melendez first noticed the issue in December, according to social media posts, and reached out to Republic Services. Cole said he was told by Republic there was a “glitch” and customers had to call to get the refund, which was 88 cents.

Jeremy Walters, Republic’s external communications manager said the company acknowledged the autopay error and said it’s working to refund all customers impacted by the error.

He said the system recognized payments two days after the payments were made. In addition, the company has been working with the city and anticipate all accounts impacted by the error to receive a credit for January's invoices.

“Customers who were enrolled in autopay were assessed a late fee during October’s billing cycle due to a system error,” Walters said. “All customers who were assessed the late fee in error have been identified and do not need to contact Republic Services to be issued a credit. We have also made a revision to our system to allow for a 45-day grace period. We appreciate our customers' patience during this time.”

Steve Linke, a former Traffic and Mobility commissioner, posted in a Facebook group last week alerting residents to the issue as well. However, Republic will apply a credit this month to those customers impacted.

Linke said he was surprised and skeptical Republic would require each customer to call if they wanted a refund. So, he waited to see if they would debit his account for the amount, which included the late fee without automatically giving a refund and they did overcharge Linke.

When he called to complain, they gave me the same story as Mr. Cole — Linke had to call to get the refund because it was a “computer glitch that had to be handled manually.”