Commissioners say they are running out of patience with FCC over service complaints

With missed pickups, overflowing bins and mounting frustration, some Buncombe County residents say that newly hired FCC Environmental’s waste service is not meeting expectations — and the discontent is making its way to local leaders.

During their briefing meeting Feb. 18, members of the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners heard an update from FCC representative Charles Merkley on progress that the company has made in the county, as well as lingering complaints about service and accountability.

Last year, the county awarded FCC a seven-year contract to replace WastePro for its trash and recycling services starting Jan. 1. But the transition proved rocky, according to residents who complained about missed pickups, trash carts that had yet to be delivered and long wait times for calls to FCC’s customer service line. 

Now after six weeks in service, data shows that while performance has improved, issues remain. According to a presentation from Merkley, roughly 39,000 households subscribed to the service, and nearly 78,000 carts were delivered to residents through Feb. 7. FCC claims  a 97% route completion rate for January and 98% so far for February. However, the company is still receiving roughly 300 calls per day from residents who say that their trash or recycling wasn’t picked up or that they still had issues receiving new carts. At the start of the contract, FCC was getting more than 2,000 calls per day. 

Merkley told commissioners that regional call staff and a regional manager are in Buncombe County every week to assist with ongoing issues and that the company plans to increase staffing through February, including an additional 10 drivers. Merkley also said that FCC representatives planned to attend four Tropical Storm Helene recovery resource events to provide community outreach. 

“Are we ever going to be perfect? We always strive to be perfect, but I don’t think we ever achieve perfect,” Merkley said. 

Despite Merkley’s report that service is improving, several commissioners voiced concerns that they have heard from residents and questioned whether FCC was adequately addressing ongoing issues.

“Part of the frustration I hear from the community repeatedly is that they’re calling this call center and that they’re being told by whoever is answering the phone, by your staff, that they can’t pull up their account, they can’t see anything, that they can’t give them any information because they’re just at this call center,” said District 2 Commissioner Terri Wells.

“On a personal note, I think we went four weeks without a bin. We would open a ticket and then wouldn’t hear back,” said District 3 Commissioner Drew Ball. 

“I have serious concerns because we’re looking at 60 days now. … I’ve gotten more calls and people stopping me at the supermarket, in church, everywhere, about their garbage collection,” added District 1 Commissioner Al Whitesides. “I hope you understand, we’re patient, but it’s running out. We’ve got to see results. And as long as I get calls and I see the emails, I’m assuming that you all are not doing your job. So let’s turn things around and do it quick.”

Buncombe County Solid Waste Director Dane Pedersen noted that the county’s contract with FCC has a clause that allows the county to impose a $200 penalty per missed pickup if they miss 10 pickups within a month.

“That means, if staff gets a notification that there’s a missed service, [and] we report that to FCC between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. that day, that has to be corrected that day and verified by the contractor that it is addressed or that becomes a valid miss,” Pedersen explained.

The more instances of missed service that are not corrected the more the penalty. “When you’ve got 200 or more valid misses during any one calendar month, that’s $5,000 plus the unit rate per valid miss. So those things, if the service is not there, those things add up very quickly,” Pedersen said. 

Merkley encouraged residents to contact the call center if they are still having issues with trash collection and said that those still waiting for carts could pick them up at the company’s Buncombe County office at 3109 Sweeten Creek Road.

“Should folks expect to receive any discounts on their bill for weeks of missed service, or [if] folks need to take in their own trash to the transfer station? Is that reimbursable expense?” asked Commissioner Ball.

“Yes, we are doing a deep dive on those people,” said Merkley.

Residents who are still experiencing issues with FFC trash or recycling collection should call 828-820-7022.

This story was supported by the Fund for Investigative Reporting and Editing.