Heller's Gas & Custom Made Fireplaces

September 11, 2014
Dear [redacted]:We are in receipt of the above-referenced complaint. We would like to first apologize for the inconvenience and any misunderstanding there may have been between the salespeople in our branch location and [redacted].The original tank was set at the property and charged accordingly. We do not charge installation on simple installations, but apparently additional work needed to be done at this location & there were some additional charges incurred. After a year, they did not use the minimum required gallons of propane and when we went back for the annual inspection (which includes topping off the tank) they were billed a minimum delivery charge. This policy is clearly printed on the back side of our service work orders. We offered them the opportunity to downsize the tank, which is what we do when people don't want to pay the minimum usage fee.  If they don’t need such a large tank, there is no sense having one there. They declined the smaller tank & it was then that asked to have the tank picked up. According to our records this just one week ago. The work order to pick up the equipment was printed and we have it scheduled to be picked up as soon as possible. However, it will get done along with all of our other work and we can’t just stop everything to pick up a full tank, it requires the proper equipment and manpower.Again, it is scheduled and will be done ASAP. If you have any other questions, please feel free to contact me.Sincerely,Brent H

We are sorry that [redacted] has such bad feelings towards Heller's.  It's certainly not our intention to have our customers upset with us.   One thing we would like you to be aware of is [redacted] applied for a job with Heller's, we interviewed him, however, he was not hired, so we...

believe that some of this complaint comes from the fact that he may be upset that we chose someone other than him to work for our company.    We also believe that might be why he chose to terminate service with us.  He is not a bad person, we just found someone who fit our needs better than he did.  We put our equipment at our customers' homes and don't charge rental on our tanks.  We are sorry that he is upset that we went to his residence and picked it up when he was not home, however, we have every right to go and pick up the tank when the customer has chosen to terminate our service and when we have technicians in the area.  We waited until the tank was almost empty before we went back to pick it up.   5% is the equivalent of about 6 gallons.  Even if he still had 12%, that is about 14 gallons.  On his last delivery he paid $1.99 per gallon which would equal a refund in the amount of $11.94 for 6 gallons or $27.86 if there was still 12% in the tank.  When a customer terminates service for any reason, we charge a termination fee to cover our costs.  This termination fee is printed on the backs of our service work orders and is in the amount of  "Up To $150."  When a valued customer has gas left in the tanks, many times we use that gas towards the termination fee and write off the rest of the fee.  In this case, our loss is in the amount of $138.06.  We do not ask for payment, however, we also do not send a refund.  In rare instances, when a customer has more gas than $150 worth, we will issue a check in good faith to that customer.  Again, we are sorry he is upset, but we are not going to refund him for the gas.If you have any further questions, please contact us.  Thank you!

First let me apologize for the delay in the response of this complaint.  We have attempted to contact [redacted], however, he has not returned our call.  We are issuing credit on his account for the gallons of gas returned.  I'm not sure why he thinks 300 gallons of gas were...

returned, the tank he originally had was only a 100 gallon tank (420# cylinder), it was replaced with a 100# cylinder.  There were 90 gallons of gas in the tank when it was picked up, minus the gas in the smaller tank it was replaced with (27 gallons), leaving a balance of 63 gallons.  The refund is based on the 63 gallons at the price he paid ($2.19 per gallon), for a total credit of $137.97.  If he has questions, please feel free to contact Brent H[redacted], VP Operations at Heller's Corporate Office.  We are sorry for any confusion or misunderstanding.  We appreciate your business and hope that we can continue to serve your propane needs.  Have a joyous holiday season!

I ran out of gas, contacted Heller to fill up my tank at 8:00am. They were at my house by 8:45am. The Service Man was courteous, polite and expeditiously. filled my tank and checked for any propane leaks. He demonstrated positive client service. five star.

We are sorry for any confusion this situation has caused.  We do not like to have unhappy customers, nor do we like it when our employees do not follow through with what they say they are going to do.  Please be advised, we will credit all of the fees off the account and we will issue a...

refund check for the gas returned.  There will be a termination fee which will be deducted from the refund.  This is a standard amount which is imposed whenever customers terminate our service.  It is simply to cover the costs to pick up the tank.  If you have any questions, please feel free to contact our corporate office.Thank you!

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved] Complaint: [redacted]   I was never told at any time that there was a minimum delivery, annual inspection, termination fees or one tank per year  . I n fact when I called Heller Gas I explained to them that I do not use a lot of gas.. And then when I called to be put on an oncall basis nothing again was explained to me .I did that out of respect for their cost of sending a truck here for no reason. Furthermore the last 2 yrs. I have  not purchased a full tank of gas where were these policies the n ?The last time I talked to Jennifer from Heller she told me that the charge was for not using any gas in a year. Nothing even then was said about termination fees inspections etc. just that Heller needs a return on their investment..  .And she said if they pick up the tank I would not have to pay the bill for 68.50 I said pic kit up and then she explained that they don't give credit for the gas in the tank. I said pick it up. The tank is still here. Policiees need to be explained up front so that a customer can make a sound decision employees need to be trained properly so they can explain policies up front . I will not pay this last bill as Jennifer said and they can pick up the tank as she said. That's it.I am rejecting this response because:Regards,[redacted]

We are sincerely sorry that [redacted] feels that we are practicing unfair policies, and perhaps whoever he spoke with at the branch level did not explain the minimum delivery/annual inspection policy that we have, and has been in place, for many, many years.  Our insurance company as well...

and many other government agencies (since 9/11) require us to make an annual visit to all of our customers.  This visit is to insure our equipment is operating properly.  If the tank needs gas, we top it off.  At that time we also do a visual inspection of the equipment and make sure it is in good shape and most of all safe for our customers.  These inspections take place annually and specifically to accounts who are either on will-call or a once a year delivery.  Customers are charge based on the size of the tank(s) they have.  The requirement for customers to be excluded from this minimum delivery is that they use at least one full tank of gas per year.  If they do not use that, the inspection takes place (usually in the spring or fall) and they are billed the minimum annual amount at that time.  This policy is clearly printed the backs of our work orders and has been for many years.  Our refund policy & termination fees are also clearly printed on the backs of our delivery tickets and work orders.Please feel free to contact Heller's if there are any further questions.

First of all the reply from the business is inaccurate. We completely agree that if the issue with the leak in the gas tank was because of a part that was under warantee that 4 years later it would be our responsibility to pay for the repair. However, the leak was because a part from the factory was not properly attached and was leaking from the time it was put in the ground. It took 4 years because every time we called Heller's they refused to do anything or said the tank had to be empty.  Another HUGE part of the 4 years is that nobody calls you back from that company. We finally got it fixed because we found a local tank expert who told us how to get somewhere. It wasn't until we threatened Heller's with submitting a claim to the attorney general that they even agreed to come and look at the tank.  Yes Heller's came in 2013, but they did not fix the leak we called them about. We have a video to show where the leak is and an expert in this area will tell you it is not a warantee related repair, it is something that was not adjusted properly during install. To display even further that this is correct, Heller's didn't have the tool needed to do the repair, they had to order it from the manufacture of the tank. This fact alone shows that when they installed it, the valve was not on properly, extra tape was added to try and compensate for that fact because they didn't have the tool to make it right so they tried to fix it the easiest way instead of the right way.  Heller's has been an absolutely horrible company to work with and the response not even being accurate just adds to the frustration.  We don't have a bill from 2013, our bill was from this past April when they finally fixed the tank properly.   
 
 
[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]
 Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:
Regards,
[redacted]

We have made numerous attempts to contact [redacted].  She has not returned our calls.  We are sorry that her tanks were filled after she requested to be taken off of automatic delivery.   However, we have no record in our system (please know that every call or message is documented...

in our computer system within the customer's account) that she ever requested us to pick up the tanks.  We have put in an order to pick up the tanks and we will do so as soon as possible.  However, currently she has not paid for the gas from her last delivery.  I know that she says she is not paying for it, but she has been using it and as such, she is required to pay for it.  When we pick up the tanks we will see how much gas is left and we will credit her for what she returns, but she will be billed for the gas she used.  If she had asked us to pick up our equipment we would have done so, however, she never made that request.  If she does not pay for the gas she has been using, the account will be turned over to collections and more fees and expenses will be charged.  Thank you!

We have met with the owner of our company and although we do not agree with what [redacted] says, in an act of good faith we have decided that we will be willing to split the cost with him to repair the damage.  Hopefully this will be satisfactory to him.  We will be issuing a check in the amount of $300 to [redacted] and mailing to the address on the complaint.  We are hopeful that this will resolve the matter completely and hope that [redacted] is happy with this outcome.  He can expect the check within two weeks.  Thank you.

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response.  If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. 
Regards,
[redacted]