Why is council’s bin ordering system a load of rubbish?

AS a regular user of the local tip for getting rid of my garden waste, I decided to have a brown bin to save time.

I duly logged onto the Kirklees website, where I was asked to set up an account in order to purchase the use of a brown bin.

Unlike most websites, which ask for an up to an eight digit password, Kirklees asks for a nine digit password, therefore I have to have yet another password. Presumably this extra level of security is to prevent hackers breaking into my account to see how much council tax I owe.

BIN REQUEST No1 – On Friday morning I duly logged in and filled in the form to order a brown bin. At the end I pressed “next” expecting to be directed to a page where I paid for the bin with my credit card (Kirklees condition No 4). Instead I got a nice picture of my local councillors and a list of local planning applications.

BIN REQUEST No2 – Thinking I must have filled the form in wrong, I re-entered the details, again with the same result.

BIN REQUEST No3 – Giving up on the website, I rang Kirklees and eventually got put through to the department dealing with brown bins. I explained to the assistant what had happened and they kindly tried to order one for me, eventually putting me through to an automated line for me to pay by credit card.

I duly entered my number and the system rejected my card. Being of an elderly disposition I assumed I had entered the wrong numbers. I tried again, with the same result.

I rang Kirklees again and eventually got through to someone who advised me that the automatic payment system was out of order. It was being fixed and I should try again later in the morning.

At this stage I decided to go and have a lie down and try after lunch.

BIN REQUEST No4 – After lunch and feeling refreshed, I decided to give it another go, with the same result as in No1 and No2 above.

Deciding that a brown bin was not for me, and regular trips to the tip were the best option, I gave up on the idea of a brown bin.

Later in the afternoon, I got a telephone call from a Kirklees official to say that I was not allowed to have THREE brown bins (presumably request No4 was still in the system somewhere).

I explained all the problems I had been having. The official said that maybe the order was on my Kirklees account and could be settled that way.

Panic set in and I duly logged into my account to find four requests for a brown bin, but no payment requests.

Knowing that Clause 3 of the 30 clauses you have to accept to get a brown bin says: ‘Bins will not be delivered until full payment is received’, I relaxed for the weekend, determined to sort the problem out on Monday.

BIN REQUEST No5 – Refreshed from the weekend, I decided to adopt the British attitude of ‘do or die’ and have another try.

Not trusting the website, I rang Kirklees and was eventually put through to the department dealing with brown bins. I explained the problems I had on Friday.

The assistant tried several times to input my order, without success, and decided their system was down, and for me to try to order one online.

I duly logged onto my account with Kirklees, completed the form until I was asked for the ‘number of bins.’ At this stage the system froze and I could not complete the order.

Ah well! Back to the trips to the tip!

M Hirst,