Wind Newspaper witnesses workers from other stores disposing of cardboard outside a herb shop which is charged $327.80 a day by Recology

(SAN FRANCISCO) San Francisco Chinatown merchants have been charged as high as $327.80 a day for disposing of the cardboard boxes. Recology responded that they secured the evidence to prove the sources who were responsible for the cardboard disposal before imposing extra charges.

However, Wind Newspaper witnessed other merchants bringing in large quantities of cardboard to the location in front of the herb shop which has been repeatedly charged with unreasonable excessive fines.

One week ago, Wind Newspaper published an article to question if Recology and the Department of Public Works had properly charged Chinatown merchants with excessive fees on cardboard.

Three stores complained that they were charged unfairly with fines as high as $327.80 a day and their monthly Recology bills were as high as over $1,200. The Chinatown merchants alo requested City Attorney David Chiu to look into the issues.

Chiu has not responded with comment yet. The Department of Public Works (DPW) admitted that DPW would cite individuals and stores for violations of handling cardboard and trash. The fine for the first violation is $250, second violation $500.

Recology responded that only they would be able to “affirmatively identify” the sources of the cardboard before they imposed extra fees on the store owners. Recology declined to disclose how they charged customers with fines for cardboard that were as high as $327.80 a day.

"We cannot disclose private information about individual customers and their accounts. However, we can explain to you how and why extra charges may be applied, appropriately, when necessary," said Robert Reed, spokesman of Recology. “The types of charges you appear to be referencing are extra service fees for excessive or oversized materials, which are permissible in our rates.”

Three merchants who complained to Wind Newspaper about the excessive cardboard charges were Sandy’s Lucky Bamboo & Florist at 803 Jackson Street, Dah Chung Wah herb shop at 1201 Stockton Street, and Natural Lingerie Shop at 780 Jackson Street.

Three merchants insisted the cardboard charged by Recology did not belong to them.

As of press time, only the owners of Sandy’s Lucky Bamboo & Florist were contacted by Recology. They were told by Recology that the extra charges related to cardboard would be refunded. Both owners of Dah Chung Wah and Natural Lingerie Shop did not hear from Recology yet.

In the response, Recology said they had obtained evidence to prove that there was extra cardboard from both Dai Chung Wah and Natural Lingerie Shop. They also clarified that Chinese language services were provided to all customers who were in need.

“It is patently untrue to suggest Recology provides no Chinese-language service. We offer Chinese language services as an option for all customers,” said Reed. “We have Chinese-speaking customer service representatives on staff in addition to a third-party language line that provides customer service support in dozens of languages. Nevertheless, to clear up any confusion, we will have a Chinese-speaking representative reach out to these customers to address their concerns.”

Both stores, Dai Chung Wah and Natural Lingerie Store, open daily and close for business before 5pm. The owners, Chu Wang Pang of Dai Chung Wah and Diana Tan of Natural Lingerie Shop, said they had installed surveillance cameras and were able to provide footage to prove someone else disposed of the cardboard in front of their shops.

Wind Newspaper had done an investigation to monitor the situation outside Dai Chung Wah herb shop in two evenings on October 27 and October 28 from 5:30pm to 6:30pm. A number of workers from other stores were seen pushing their trolleys to bring cardboard to the corner of Pacific and Stockton streets where the Dai Chung Wah is located.

By reading the signs and labels on the cardboard boxes, it could be easily seen that the materials in the empty cardboard boxes should be fresh vegetables and dried food like instant cup noodles and cookies that Dai Chung Wah did not sell.

"We have cameras installed at our store. We can provide video footage to show that the cardboard boxes did not belong to us. No one from Recology has come to our store to discuss the issue with us," Pang said in Chinese.

"I don't understand English. It doesn't mean that I need to pay extra to the Recology. It is very unfair to us. Because of this matter, I have been very stressed," Pang said with frustration. "Recology received a contract from the city to provide exclusive garbage services for all customers in the City. It is wrong for them to treat us like this. I am disappointed that David Chiu has not responded to our request via Wind Newspaper for looking into the matter."

Tan said she has not been contacted by Recology yet by press time. "I also can show them the video footage that someone had brought the cardboard and dumped it in front of our store. Should Recology provide their evidence to us before they charge us for extra cardboard with fines?" Tan said.

William Weng, co-owner of the flower shop, recalled that the customer service of Recology was so bad that one of the English-speaking employees hung up their phone when they complained against the unreasonable excessive fines on cardboard.

When Recology called Weng back at a later time, an English speaking employee spoke to Weng and his wife with a Chinese speaking interpreter. "I don't understand why Recology would not have any Chinese-speaking employees to answer questions directly from us. It is wasting everyone's time to hear back and forth of the translations. I demand them to send us an official apology and improve their service for everyone including members of the Chinese community," Weng said.