‘Every customer’ encouraged to file a complaint online

In response to customer complaints and a media report regarding Odd Job Disposal, Michigan’s attorney general is preparing to take legal action against the Oxford-based trash hauler, which closed its doors suddenly last week.

“We made it clear to the owner that he can expect that we will be filing a lawsuit against the company to protect customers,” said Kelly Rossman-McKinney, communications director for the attorney general’s office.

News of Odd Job’s demise was announced online by another trash hauler, Community Disposal Service, on Monday, May 6. The next day, Odd Job’s voicemail greeting informed callers that “due to circumstances beyond our control, we had to close our doors.”

On May 9, Assistant Attorney General Darrin F. Fowler, of the Corporate Oversight Division, engaged in a phone conversation with Odd Job co-owner Thomas Christensen. According to Rossman-McKinney, Christensen confirmed the company’s closure and told Fowler “they are working to reimburse customers to the extent (that’s) possible.”

“There are some customers whose checks they have that they have not cashed and we have encouraged them to return those checks rather than (simply) not (cashing them),” she said.

To ensure Odd Job’s customers get what they’re legally entitled to, Rossman-McKinney said “we are investigating the company now in anticipation of a lawsuit and expect (to take) action within the next few weeks.”

“Just because a business owner says, ‘I’m working on liquidating the business and I’ll pay my customers back’ doesn’t mean they will,” she said.

Although Odd Job customers would be “covered in any settlement,” Rossman-McKinney noted the attorney general’s “ability to identify them is based on the record-keeping of Odd Job Disposal.”

Because of this, she said, “We encourage every customer of the company to file an online complaint with us at www.mi.gov/agcomplaints.”

The phone conversation between Fowler and Christensen was the result of a May 7 letter the former sent to the latter.

In Fowler’s letter, it was explained to Christensen that the Michigan Consumer Protection Act “is violated when a person or company fails to provide a customer with promised benefits.”

“When a company cannot fulfill obligations for which it has collected money, it must make refunds to consumers,” Fowler wrote. “The Attorney General has authority to both conduct formal investigations and to bring lawsuits under this Act.”

Fowler indicated the attorney general’s office was “reaching out” to Odd Job “in light of recent consumer complaints and a media report raising concern about (the trash hauler’s) services.” Between March 24 and May 6, the attorney general’s office received three consumer complaints.

Two of the complaints alleged that the trash hauler had failed to render services, while the other alleged Odd Job had failed to refund a customer’s money after the company no longer served her area.

Copies of these complaints were provided to Christensen with Fowler’s letter.

“I observe, with disappointment, that Odd Job Disposal did not provide a timely response to the first of these three,” Fowler wrote.

In the March 24 complaint, a customer living in Leonard told the attorney general’s office that she “went three months . . . without trash removal service.” When she called Odd Job “numerous” times “no one would pick up the phone” and when she left voicemails, they were “never returned,” according to the complaint.

“I am a 64-year-old single woman working full-time trying to make ends meet. I just want my $57 back,” the customer said in her complaint.

In a May 6 complaint from a woman in Orion, it was alleged that on March 19, Odd Job “received and deposited” her $60 check for three months of trash collection.

“Odd Job was notified before they deposited my check that their (license to operate in Orion Township) would not be renewed,” the woman said in her complaint. “Yet they still deposited my check.”

The Orion woman told the attorney general’s office she sent four emails to Odd Job and had “not received a refund as of the date of filing this complaint.”

At its March 18 meeting, the Orion Township Board voted 6-0 not to renew the waste hauler’s license to operate in the community. As a result, Odd Job has been unable to do business there since March 31.

In a Facebook post, Orion Supervisor Chris Barnett wrote that Orion had received “over 1,000 complaints” from residents regarding Odd Job’s lack of service.

Many Orion residents said it had been weeks, or even months in some cases, since Odd Job had picked up their recycling and yard waste. Customers also complained about Odd Job not answering or returning phone calls and emails.

“The reason that we did not renew their permit is because they would not provide us (with) any answers to any of our questions,” said Barnett in an interview with the Lake Orion Review last week.

Orion had asked Odd Job to provide reliable contact information for someone who would answer or address complaints and concerns; a plan for turning things around in terms of service; and a guarantee that customers who canceled their service would get, at least, partial refunds.

“We tried to work with them but they wouldn’t give us any answers,” Barnett said. “We chased them for 12 weeks for answers. We literally had to use process servers to make sure they were getting our letters.”

“We never ever, ever got a plan from them (or a reliable contact),” he noted.

In an April 17 complaint, an Orion man told the attorney general’s office that the ouster of Odd Job created a “hardship” for him because he’s “on a fixed income” and now, he has to “pay a new trash hauler” even though the old trash hauler still owes him $105 for seven months of prepaid service that it can no longer legally provide in his community.

“There are many other residents in the same situation (who are) owed refunds by Odd Job Disposal,” the Orion man said. “Attempts to contact Odd Job Disposal by phone, email and in person have been unsuccessful. They decline to respond (when it comes to letting customers know) if and when we will receive our refunds. I fear we will be ignored and not receive the money owed.”

Barnett said he feels “bad” about Odd Job going out of business and their employees losing their jobs, but “it confirms (the Orion Township Board) made the right decision.”

“At the end of the day, in my opinion, (Odd Job has) stolen from our residents – and now, Oxford residents,” he said.

“We would absolutely encourage residents to reach out to the attorney general (to file a complaint),” Barnett continued. “Odd Job told us they would issue refunds to customers who quit their service. Some did receive them; most did not.”

The supervisor added, “It’s one thing when a business fails; it’s another thing to see that on their way out, they harm the people who supported them through thick and thin.”

On Facebook, Odd Job briefly blamed Orion officials for its closure. On May 7, the company posted, “Because of the loss of Orion, which was a huge part of our income, (we) have to now file (for) bankruptcy.” The post was quickly removed.

“It’s frustrating for me to see that they’re blaming us,” Barnett said.

To Barnett, “Blaming Orion Township for the demise of Odd Job is like blaming the cook on the Titanic for the (ship’s) sinking.”

In his Facebook post, Barnett noted that Orion’s board told Odd Job it “could come back anytime and reapply (for a license to operate) once they had a plan to service our residents. They didn’t (do that).”

Barnett wrote that Odd Job also did not conduct any pickups in Orion “the last two weeks of March even though their permit was valid until April 1 and our residents paid them for that service.”

“Bottom line, we never rooted against (Odd Job). We tried to help them. They responded by blaming us and stealing from our residents and in the end, their most loyal supporters,” Barnett wrote.

According to Rossman-McKinney, during the phone conversation with Fowler, “Christensen did not say the company had, or was planning, to file for bankruptcy.”

“We have looked for a bankruptcy filing for Odd Job Disposal in the Eastern District (of Michigan, U.S. Bankruptcy Court) and do not see one,” she said.

Rossman-McKinney noted Fowler asked Christensen if he was “working with an attorney on the winding up of his business and he said no, but that ‘someone’ had given him some guidance (regarding) the priority he should give different creditors.”

When asked if Orion is going to pursue or consider legal action against Odd Job over its Facebook post, the supervisor told the Review, “No, I don’t think so.”

The Oxford Leader and Lake Orion Review reached out to Odd Job for comment, but no one from the company responded.

Lake Orion Review Editor Jim Newell contributed to this story.