My Propane Supplier Rant

ultrarunner · May 15, 2014

We own our 1000 gallon tank and bought it in 1964.

In 2010 the propane supplier said they were required to make "Snow" changes to the plumbing under a new ordinance which also included replacing the valve with a new one made in China.

November 2013 neighbor smelled gas and called the gas company which found the "New" valve leaking... tank was pulled and taken to the shop for repair and reset.

I drove to the cabin on a Sunday to light the pilots and winterize the place. Found the valve padlocked which didn't keep me from opening it.

About a week later Propane company said they need access because no current safety check on file... told them I will see them in May.

Called them today and said I can get away to open the cabin for summer and learned they couldn't find a key for the lock and in trying to open it, broke the valve and pulled the tank...

Mind you... this is my tank and has been so for 50 years!

45 years of excellent local service all change when the local company was bought out.

I have Natural Gas everywhere else and have Never had to do a safety check inside my home ever except with new construction...

When did Propane companies become so incompetent... and expensive!

I'm starting my 4.5 hour drive up to the mountains to get to the bottom of this...

k0ua · May 15, 2014

The propane company here did a leak check on my customer owned tank after I installed all the piping in the house and when they set the tank. That was about 8 years ago or so. Havent seen them since except to refill the tank periodically. There is no locks on anything.

MacLawn · May 15, 2014

I feel ye pain. Where's old Hank Hill when ye need him?

k0ua · May 15, 2014

Oh, and furthermore, after they gouged us on price this winter, (like most suppliers did).. They sent me a a check this spring for $115.00 . Now it could be the recent investigation by the state attorney general may have had something to do with it.:laughing:

Gary Fowler · May 15, 2014

A good reason to go with all electric house which is what I did. If no natural gas is available, I think the cost of propane now is ridiculous and much more costly to use as a heating source. Back when it was much less than the 30 cents a gallon it cost for gasoline, it made sense to use it for everything including powering your vehicles, which we did when I was on the farm as a youngster. We powered tractors and all the farm trucks, has 100 gallon tanks in the back bed. Louisiana allow us to pay $8 per month per vehicle as road tax (1968-1974 anyway at which time we changed back to gasoline when we got new trucks.

roadhunter · May 15, 2014

Gary Fowler said:
A good reason to go with all electric house which is what I did. If no natural gas is available, I think the cost of propane now is ridiculous and much more costly to use as a heating source. Back when it was much less than the 30 cents a gallon it cost for gasoline, it made sense to use it for everything including powering your vehicles, which we did when I was on the farm as a youngster. We powered tractors and all the farm trucks, has 100 gallon tanks in the back bed. Louisiana allow us to pay $8 per month per vehicle as road tax (1968-1974 anyway at which time we changed back to gasoline when we got new trucks.

All electric? Not so fast my friend. At that point you have no choice but to pay what they charge you as most people only have 1 choice for electricity. Propane gives you the option of using different suppliers and if you have a big enough tank you can purchase when prices are lower during the summer. Last summer I filled my 1,000 gallon tank at $1.35 a gallon . I use it for backup heat when I'm not burring wood and to heat my water. Checked it this week and still have about 300 gallons left. It also has the advantage when the power goes out the propane still runs. Also great if you have a standby generator as gas does not store as well as propane. Plus I can use my tank to fill small bottles for my grill or camping gear instead of getting arse raped exchanging small bottles at lowes/grocery store/wal mart/etc. I guess I like it because it gives me more options and I am in control, not to mention it's still cheap if you buy during the summer.

nc redneck · May 15, 2014

Been there and experienced your pain. I used Amerigas for over 20 years. The local manger he solved my problems at both commercial, rental, and home location. I in turn paid on time and in full, worked for a long time.
New manager comes in and new computer system, phones not answered, prices through the roof. I dumped them for local family owned propane company ( if you can find one ).
I still have a 500 gallon Amerigas tank sitting in the woods after 3 years of phone calls trying to get them to pick it up.
Good Luck
Scott

Pixguy · May 15, 2014

I also had the company redneck had in my commercial building. They would constantly bill me with the due date in 2 days because they back dated the bill. My wife would pay bills every two weeks so they wanted to charge a late fee. So after two years of this BS, i installed my own 1000 gal tank and told them to beat it.
They were horrible and I avoid their swap out tanks as well, which is another joke with the painted over rust tanks.

ultrarunner · May 16, 2014

After 8 hours on the road today I returned home with nothing accomplished...

The pre arranged meeting at 4 pm for the safety check and to reset my damage tank didn't go as planned.

The installer arrived without my tank... saying they were short handed he would try to get it out tomorrow when I will be hundreds of miles away back at work.

Says they can't do anything without someone being there.... in 4 years I have been to the cabin about 10 hours... just to take care of things for my 80 year old Mom who used to spend lots of time there when she was driving...

To be continued...

Coyote machine · May 16, 2014

Awh! *****'s the word when idiots ruin your day from their complete incompetence. Been there, dealt with the morons 4 hours drive one way when I owned the family property in CT. Would drive there to meet someone and they would not show; when I got hold of them they always had some lame excuse about their life- nothing to do with nor a concern in the world about mine, the customer and my inconvenience!?
Sold the place, never looking back.