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Waste Management Reviews, Complaints & Contacts

Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE: WM) is a Houston-based holding company whose local subsidiaries provide residential and commercial trash, recycling and disposal service in the United States and Canada; it acquired the medical-waste company Stericycle on November 4, 2024. Customer complaints about WM most often concern bills and fees, automatic renewal of commercial and dumpster contracts, early-termination charges, cancellation and missed pickups. WM's published commercial terms renew automatically unless written notice is given 90 to 180 days before the term ends, while its residential subscription terms, for households that buy service directly rather than through a city or county contract, let a customer stop service after any billing period without penalty. 174 published complaint reports are linked to this profile.

REVIEWS & COMPLAINTS174on USAComplaints · none in last 3 yrs · latest 2016
WEBSITEwm.com
HEADQUARTERSHouston, TX
PROFILE CHECKED2026-11-06
Submit a Complaint Read reviews & complaints ↓ Official website ↗

Contacts

PhoneAddress

Customer service & general contact

Cancel, billing & returns

Corporate & press

Reference numbers (not support lines)

Other contacts

VERIFIED

Locations

  • Headquarters800 Capitol Street, Suite 3000 Houston TX 77002
EDITORIAL

Company Information

BBB, Trustpilot

Legal name
Waste Management, Inc.
Business type
Houston-based trash collection, recycling and disposal company (NYSE: WM) that serves customers under the WM name through local subsidiaries; it also owns the medical-waste company Stericycle, acquired on November 4, 2024
Website
wm.comSource: wm.com, checked 2026-11-02
Headquarters
Houston, TXSource: WM Form 10-K for 2025, cover page, checked 2026-11-02

Waste Management, Inc. is a publicly traded company: it is listed on the New York Stock Exchange as WM and files annual and quarterly reports with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Form 10-K for 2025. Its customer website is wm.com, and its corporate office is in Houston, Texas. BBB lists the company as not accredited and Not Rated, citing the volume of complaints and reviews, and Trustpilot shows a profile the company has claimed. Service is delivered by local subsidiaries, sometimes under a contract with a city, county or homeowners' association, so a complaint about one route or invoice concerns that operating company and that local arrangement.

Because WM is a well-known brand, check that a bill, text or email really comes from WM before you pay it: sign in through wm.com or the My WM app rather than through a link in an unexpected message.

EXTERNAL SOURCE

Independent Sources

Shown for context — not merged with USAComplaints' own numbers.

BBBcomplaints in the last 3 years, Houston headquarters profile
1,452 reviews · 2,317 complaints · BBB business grade NR · average customer rating 1.08 / 5
Trustpilotall reviews on the wm.com page
2,633 reviews · TrustScore 3.4 / 5
EDITORIAL

Complaint Themes

fees, charges, billing or price disputescustomer-service or phone handlingcancellation or terminationcontract or auto-renewal termsmissed or refused pickupslate fees, collections or liens

Themes summarize what people write about most often. One complaint can touch several themes, and some complaints (a positive report, or one later retracted by its author) fit none, so themes are not a count of complaints.

CONSUMER ALLEGATION

Reviews & Complaints on USAComplaints

USAComplaints currently maintains 174 historical complaints about Waste Management, published between 2003 and 2016. No approved complaints have been published on this site during the last three years. For a current reputation snapshot, see the independent sources on this page.

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EDITORIAL

Complaints, reviews and our archive

BBB's profile for Waste Management at its Houston headquarters shows the company as Not Rated and not BBB accredited; BBB gives the large number of complaints and customer reviews as its reason for not rating it. It lists 2,317 complaints filed in the last three years, 556 of them in the last 12 months, and a customer review average of 1.08 out of 5 from 1,452 reviews. The profile covers the headquarters and corporate-owned locations; BBB lists other WM branches separately under Find Local Branches. Trustpilot's page for wm.com, which the company has claimed, shows a TrustScore of 3.4 from 2,633 reviews. The two sites use different rules, so their figures are not added together.

174 published complaint reports are linked to this profile. They are consumers' own accounts, not findings; they date from 2003 to 2016, most of them from 2011 to 2013. The most frequent topics are fees, charges and bill amounts; customer service and long phone holds; cancellation and termination; contracts and automatic renewal; missed or refused pickups; and late fees, collections or liens. A complaint about service under a city or homeowners' association contract may reflect the terms of that local contract rather than a company-wide WM policy.

Had an experience with Waste Management? Tell other people what happened.

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EDITORIAL

Waste Management (WM) billing, contract and pickup problems: what to do

1. Start with WM's own channel. WM's Customer Support page (wm.com/us/en/support) is the starting point for Billing, Charges and Payment; Change, Add, Pause or Cancel Services; and Check Pickup/Delivery Status.

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Its Request Help option asks for your service address and service type and then offers live chat with an agent during regular business hours (Central time), a call with an agent, or an email to an agent. Because service is run locally, the contact details on your own invoice or in your My WM account are the most direct route; BBB lists (800) 796-9696 as the company's phone number. Ask for a reference number for every call or chat, and ask for a supervisor if the first agent cannot fix the problem.

2. Cancelling. WM's help on cancelling asks you to contact WM to stop a service and to have your Customer ID and service address ready. It warns that cancelling before the end of a contract may bring early termination charges, which vary by area and type of service.

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How you can cancel depends on how you get service: if it comes through a city, county or homeowners' association contract, the rules of that contract apply, and the city or association is the place to ask about them.

3. Commercial and dumpster contracts: renewal and early termination. WM's posted Commercial and Roll-Off Terms and Conditions say, in Section 2, that the contract term renews automatically for another renewal term unless either side gives written notice of termination at least 90 days, but not more than 180 days, before the current term ends when the renewal term is twelve months or longer, or at least 30 days before the end when it is shorter, and that a notice received at any other time is ineffective. Section 7 sets liquidated damages, on top of any WM legal fees, if the contract is ended early: with six or more months left, the customer pays the average of its last six monthly charges multiplied by six; with fewer than six months left, that average multiplied by the number of months remaining. Section 3(a) lets the customer end the contract without those liquidated damages in two cases: if WM fails its Service Guarantee in Section 1(a), meaning it does not perform the service in your Service Summary and does not fix the failure within five business days of your written demand; or if WM seeks a price increase that the terms do not otherwise allow (a Consensual Price Increase under Section 4(c)) and you reject it by written notice within 30 days of being told about it.

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The posted terms state that your written service agreement may differ, so check the term, renewal date and notice window on your own Service Summary, put your notice in writing inside the window and keep proof of when WM received it.

4. Residential subscription service: prices, fees and stopping service. WM's Residential Subscription Terms and Conditions say, in Section 5, that WM may raise the price from one billing period to the next and that customers may end service or choose not to renew after any billing period without penalty. Under Section 3(c), money prepaid for monthly or quarterly service is not refunded when you cancel unless the law requires it, while unused days of annual prepaid service are refunded. Section 3(c) also sets a late fee at the maximum monthly late charge allowed by law, with a minimum of $5.00 a month.

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Section 4 says the per-invoice Administrative Charge can be removed by enrolling in paperless statements and automatic payments, unless the charge is prohibited by law. If that charge appears on your bill, ask WM to remove it once you have switched to paperless billing and autopay.

5. The Energy Surcharge. WM's Energy Surcharge page says the surcharge lets its collection and disposal companies recover the cost of diesel, compressed natural gas and other fuels on this page set baseline costs.

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It is a percentage applied to all monthly or periodic invoice charges before taxes, and it replaced the former Fuel Surcharge for collection and disposal services starting with invoices generated in April 2023. Some customers pay a different surcharge or are exempt, and customers of WM Recycling Services pay a separate Fuel Surcharge and Environmental Charge instead.

6. Arbitration and the 30-day opt-out. WM's Disputes page says that written service agreements between WM's operating companies and commercial customers send all claims to mandatory binding arbitration and bar class actions, except listed claims such as WM's own claims to collect unpaid charges. The residential terms also require binding arbitration and waive class actions (Section 10). Under Section 10(B) you must first send WM a written Claim Notice at [email protected], giving your name, address and account number and explaining the claim and the relief you want, and allow at least 30 days to resolve it. Under Section 10(I) a new residential customer can opt out of arbitration by emailing [email protected] within 30 days of enrolling, giving name, address, phone number and account number.

7. Keep a record. Write down dates, the names of agents and reference numbers, and keep photos of a set-out container on the day of a missed pickup. Send billing disputes in writing through your account and keep copies of the invoices in question.

8. If WM does not fix it. If you paid a disputed charge by credit card, you can dispute it with your card issuer; under the Fair Credit Billing Act a billing-error dispute must reach the issuer in writing within 60 days after the first statement showing the charge was sent.

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You can also file a complaint with your state attorney general's consumer protection office, with the Federal Trade Commission at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and with BBB. Trash service is often governed by a local franchise or contract, so the city or county solid waste office can act on missed pickups and contract terms. In Washington State, the Utilities and Transportation Commission regulates many garbage collection companies: it asks customers to try the company and a supervisor first, then accepts complaints and investigates them.

EDITORIAL

Stericycle: 2026 Department of Justice settlement

On May 29, 2026 the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of California announced that Stericycle, the medical-waste company WM has owned since November 4, 2024, had agreed to pay more than $56 million to resolve parallel criminal and civil investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Drug Enforcement Administration. The total is a $19.08 million criminal penalty under a one-year deferred prosecution agreement and $37.81 million to resolve civil liability under the Controlled Substances Act.

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The criminal charge alleges that Stericycle conspired to defraud the United States by failing to report thefts and significant losses of controlled substances, including discarded prescription drugs collected for disposal, to the DEA. The government also described insecure storage and transport of these drugs, including the use of temporary storage facilities that were not registered with the DEA. The conduct ran from 2015 through 2020, before WM bought Stericycle, and the U.S. Attorney said Stericycle had accepted responsibility. Stericycle sold the business involved to an unrelated company in April 2020, and in a statement it called the case a legacy matter. Under a deferred prosecution agreement the charge is dismissed if the company meets its obligations during the agreement's term.

This matter concerns Stericycle's handling of pharmaceutical waste, not WM's residential or commercial trash, recycling or dumpster service.

EDITORIAL

Lawsuits disclosed by the company

Court records

In its annual report for 2025, WM says it is regularly involved in lawsuits and claims arising in the ordinary course of business, including proposed state and national class actions over matters such as alleged environmental contamination, sales and marketing practices, customer service agreements, prices and fees, and wage-and-hour laws. WM's commercial agreements and residential subscription terms also send most customer claims to individual arbitration rather than court, as described in the steps on this page.

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Customer fee case in New York, settled: in Heigl v. Waste Management of New York, LLC et al, filed September 27, 2019 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York (1:19-cv-05487), a Hamburg, New York customer alleged that a $6.50 Administrative Charge for a paper bill or for paying by mail violated New York General Business Law section 399-zzz. Waste Management denied the claims but settled without admitting liability: a $2.7 million fund was shared among residential subscription customers with a New York mailing address who paid the charge between September 27, 2016 and August 27, 2020, and the company agreed not to bring the charge back for those customers unless the law changes. The court granted final approval and dismissed the case on July 26, 2021.

Investor case: a federal securities class action in the Southern District of New York (1:22-cv-04838) on behalf of buyers of WM senior notes between February 13, 2020 and June 23, 2020, connected to WM's 2020 purchase of Advanced Disposal Services, ended in a $30 million settlement that the court finally approved on December 18, 2025. WM and the executives named in the suit continue to deny wrongdoing. This case concerned investors, not trash customers.

PUBLIC RECORD

Court & Public Records

Heigl v. Waste Management of New York, LLC et al

Settled

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New YorkDocket 1:19-cv-05487Source ↗

Settled

Julianne Heigl, a customer in Hamburg, New York, filed a proposed class action against Waste Management of New York, LLC and Waste Management, Inc. The complaint alleged that a $6.50 Administrative Charge for receiving a paper bill or paying by mail violated New York General Business Law section 399-zzz, which bars an extra fee for those billing and payment options.

The case was settled. Without admitting liability, and while denying the claims, Waste Management of New York agreed to a $2.7 million settlement fund for residential subscription customers with a New York mailing address who were charged and paid the Administrative Charge between September 27, 2016 and August 27, 2020; customers served under a competitively bid municipal contract were not included. Active accounts received their share as a credit, while former customers had to file a claim for a check. Waste Management also agreed not to reinstate the charge for New York residential subscription customers unless the law changes. On July 26, 2021 the court granted final approval of the settlement and of the attorneys' fee motion and dismissed the case.

EDITORIAL

Who Waste Management is

Waste Management, Inc. is a Delaware corporation headquartered at 800 Capitol Street, Suite 3000, Houston, Texas 77002, telephone (713) 512-6200, and its shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol WM. Its annual report for 2025 describes it as a holding company whose operations are all carried out by subsidiaries, and as North America's leading provider of comprehensive environmental solutions, with trash collection, transfer, recycling and landfill disposal across the United States and Canada.

The parent company was incorporated in Oklahoma in 1987 as USA Waste Services, Inc. and reincorporated in Delaware in 1995. In a 1998 merger the older, Illinois-based Waste Management, Inc. became its wholly-owned subsidiary and was renamed Waste Management Holdings, Inc., while the parent took the Waste Management, Inc. name. On November 4, 2024 WM acquired Stericycle, a medical and regulated-waste company.

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Because local subsidiaries run the routes and sign the contracts, the company named on an invoice or service agreement is often a regional entity rather than the Houston parent. BBB's Houston profile lists alternate names such as Waste Management of Ohio, Inc., Waste Management of Colorado, Inc., Waste Management of Minnesota, Inc., Deffenbaugh of KC Hauling and Bagster, WM's bag-dumpster brand. When you write to WM or file a complaint elsewhere, use the exact company name and account number printed on your bill.

On August 26, 2026 WM announced that Chief Executive Officer James C. Fish, Jr. will retire effective January 4, 2027 and that the Board has appointed President John J. Morris, Jr. to succeed him.

VERIFIED

Company Relationships

  • Affiliated withStericycle, Inc.
  • Affiliated withWaste Management Holdings, Inc.
EDITORIAL

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I cancel Waste Management service?

Contact WM through its Customer Support page or My WM account and have your Customer ID and service address ready; WM's cancellation help warns that ending service before a contract is over may bring early termination charges that vary by area and type of service. Residential subscription customers may stop service after any billing period without penalty under Section 5 of WM's residential terms. If your service comes through a city, county or homeowners' association contract, that contract's rules apply.

What notice window do WM commercial agreements use for non-renewal?

Section 2 of WM's posted Commercial and Roll-Off Terms and Conditions says that when the renewal term is twelve months or longer, written notice of termination must be given at least 90 days but not more than 180 days before the current term ends; for shorter renewal terms the notice must come at least 30 days before the end. A notice received at any other time is ineffective and the contract renews. Your written service agreement can differ, so check the dates on your own Service Summary. Outside that window, Section 3(a) still lets you end the contract without liquidated damages if WM fails its Service Guarantee and does not fix the failure within five business days of your written demand, or if you reject a Consensual Price Increase in writing within 30 days of being notified.

Does WM require arbitration of billing disputes?

For most customers, WM's terms require it. WM's Disputes page says commercial service agreements send claims to mandatory binding arbitration and bar class actions, with listed exceptions such as WM's own claims to collect unpaid charges. The residential subscription terms also require binding arbitration, but Section 10(I) lets a new customer opt out by emailing [email protected] within 30 days of enrolling, and Section 10(B) requires a written Claim Notice, sent to [email protected] with your name, address, account number, the nature of the claim and the relief you want, and at least 30 days to resolve it before arbitration. The terms in your own agreement control.

How do I check whether a holiday affects my Waste Management pickup?

WM's Holiday Schedule page lets you check for holidays that may affect your WM trash or recycling service within the next 7 days, and it says holidays may vary by location. The commonly observed holidays it lists are New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, President's Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. For help with a specific address, WM's Customer Support page has a Check Pickup/Delivery Status and Holiday Schedule option.

Where does WM list jobs and careers?

WM's Careers at WM page describes working at WM, which it says has nearly 50,000 team members, and features driver, mechanic, operations, sales, technology/IT and sustainability roles, with a View All WM Job Openings option.

What is the WM Energy Surcharge?

It is a percentage charge that lets WM's collection and disposal companies recover the cost of diesel, compressed natural gas and other fuels on this page set baseline costs. WM's Energy Surcharge page says it is applied to all monthly or periodic invoice charges before taxes and replaced the former Fuel Surcharge starting with invoices generated in April 2023. Some customers pay a different surcharge or none.

Is Waste Management the same company as WM?

WM is the brand and stock symbol of Waste Management, Inc., the Houston holding company. Service is provided by its local subsidiaries, so your invoice or contract may name a regional company such as Waste Management of Ohio, Inc. rather than the parent.

What does BBB show for Waste Management?

BBB's profile for the Houston headquarters lists Waste Management as Not Rated and not BBB accredited, citing the volume of complaints and customer reviews. It shows 2,317 complaints in the last three years, 556 of them in the last 12 months, and a customer review average of 1.08 out of 5 from 1,452 reviews. Local WM branches have their own BBB listings.

What does Trustpilot show for WM?

Trustpilot's page for wm.com shows a TrustScore of 3.4 out of 5 from 2,633 reviews, and WM has claimed the page. Trustpilot's figures are kept separate from BBB's because the two sites collect and count reviews under different rules.

Why do many complaints mention contract renewal?

Several older complaints in this archive, mostly from 2009 to 2013, describe customers who tried to cancel a dumpster or commercial contract and learned it had already renewed. WM's current posted commercial terms still renew the contract automatically unless written notice arrives in a set window before the term ends, 90 to 180 days for renewal terms of a year or longer, and Section 7 charges liquidated damages of up to six months' average charges, plus any WM legal fees, if the contract is ended early. Mark the notice window on your calendar and send notice in writing within it. The terms waive those damages if WM fails its Service Guarantee and does not fix the failure after written notice, or if you reject a Consensual Price Increase within 30 days.

Does WM own Stericycle?

WM acquired Stericycle, a medical and regulated-waste company, on November 4, 2024, and Stericycle now operates as part of WM. In a settlement announced on May 29, 2026, Stericycle agreed to pay more than $56 million to resolve federal criminal and civil investigations into its handling of controlled-substance waste from 2015 through 2020, before the acquisition. The conduct involved a pharmaceutical-waste business Stericycle sold in April 2020, not WM's trash, recycling or dumpster service.

Where is Waste Management headquartered?

WM's corporate headquarters is at 800 Capitol Street, Suite 3000, Houston, Texas 77002, telephone (713) 512-6200, as listed in its annual report for 2025. For account and billing problems, use WM's Customer Support page or the number on your bill rather than the corporate line.