San Pablo double dump dumpster mystery becomes clearer
Trash dumped at home over alleged payment dispute
A dumpster company says a customer never paid for a rented dumpster, despite repeated promises. When the company retrieved the full dumpster, the driver dumped its contents onto the driveway.
San Pablo, California - A dumpster company says it got dumped by a customer who agreed to pay but never did. However, the dumpster company returned the favor by re-dumping the dumpster contents on the driveway in San Pablo.
This could have been a he-said, she-said story. Instead, a couple of Ring cameras recorded the event, providing a lot of proof.
Express Rental Dumpster's owner says people moving out of a house on 19th Street rented a dumpster for debris removal. The company placed the dumpster as ordered but says the credit card number given was a problem.
"It's declined. They declined the card," said Martin Perez, owner of the dumpster firm, who says when he asked about payment, all he got was delays and broken promises. "They keep saying, like, 'Oh, I'm gonna pay later. I'm gonna pay later. I'm gonna pay later,' and never did. Or say, 'I'm gonna put money on the card so you can charge.' On Monday – happened like Monday – we tried again. Called. 'Oh, I forgot,'" said Perez.
When the company came for its dumpster, it was full, so the driver dumped the dumpster contents in the driveway. A neighbor told us this. "It didn't block the street, it kind of went on the sidewalk and a little bit on, literally on the edge of the sidewalk," said neighbor Mary.
Dumpster owner Perez says he had already lost money on the dumpster delivery and pickup. Had he taken the debris to the dump, he would have to have paid hundreds more in dumping fees, increasing his loss.
At some point, a neighbor apparently called the police, and the police came out, and they required that the driver remove the debris from the edge of the sidewalk onto the property itself. Later, scavengers came and spread the stuff all over the place.
"She says she paid $700 for it, and then, all of a sudden, I see him back up and dump it all on the ground. I don't really know what that was about," said Mary.
The mess the scavengers left was cleaned up and covered by a neighbor. San Pablo Code Enforcement has opened a case, which could come back on the tenant, who, we are told, still lives in town.