Smith Brothers Gas

Paid for 75 galls on gas that was not delivered. [redacted], owner (per telephone call) said my children would have to sit in the cold. Stated twice.I paid for 75 galls of gas on 2/20/15 (Friday) and the company does not deliver on weekends customers have to wait until Monday if they don't pay for gas by Friday. The gas was not delivered. When I returned home, my gas heat was out and the house was cold. I have a 3 year old, 5 year old, and 9 year old. This was stated to [redacted] (who stated he was the owner). He said he could not have gas delivered at night (even though this has been done before) and I asked so my children will have to be in the cold? he stated "yes". I said so "you are telling me I paid for gas and now me and my family have to sit in the cold" and he replied again "yes that is what I am telling you," "I can have someone bring it tomorrow and it will be a $75.00 fee". I don't think this is fair, as to I have already paid for my heat. He also asked me "do you have a back up?" I replied "no, that's why I pay for gas during the winter". I said "I'm sure your family is not sitting I the cold right now (it is currently 19 degrees outside in Warsaw, NC where me and my children live). He replied, well the same thing happened last year during the winter (meaning I had to have emergency heat....and the reason for that is my gauge was messed up and I had to pay them to fix it), so he is aware that I have had to have emergency heat. I told him I don't mind paying, but I need some heat for my children. He still said it will be in the morning and I had to pay an extra fee.. again, I don't think this is fair, when I paid for heat before my heat went out. I do not appreciate the way he spoke to me and the complete disrespect he had for me as a paying customer and my children being in the below freezing cold. I paid for my heat before 1200 and now it is 0142 the next day and my heat is out. I told him I will pay the money for the extra fee, I am just worried about my children..again... what bothered me is that he blatantly did not care about this and was very inconsiderate and rude to me. I would not recommend ANYONE use this company if they have to be talked to in that manner. The staff is hardly ever nice when you call to order gas and speaks to you like you are stupid. I am highly educated and by no means stupid. I am very upset and hurt. Please handle this matter. Desired SettlementRefund and please speak to this business about the customer service skills because they are terrible. what kind of example is the Boss, [redacted], setting?, if he speaks to customers that way? he can't expect much more from he staff. You lead by example and he is setting a bad one.Business Response Smith Brothers Gas is sorry about the conditions in which Ms. [redacted] had to deal with. Our company is more equipped to run on an "automatic fill" basis than a "COD" basis. 95 % of our customer base is automatically filled on a route schedule, the other 5 % is "COD", or cash on delivery. Our policy for the "COD" customer is to let us know when the tank gauge is on "20%" to allow up to 5 working days to get to. Ms. [redacted] paid and requested gas on a Friday afternoon and didn't receive her delivery that day because we couldn't get to it. The next morning around 1:00 am on Saturday, a day the company is closed, [redacted] - Manager, received a phone call stating she was out of gas. [redacted] told Ms. [redacted] that there could be a delivery the next morning, "first thing", to get her the gas with a special trip fee of $75 in which the driver gets for working overtime. Her delivery was made that same morning around 6:45 am. The circumstances are unfortunate, we understand, but this is not the first time Ms. [redacted] has run out of gas. She's run out multiple times before and its the same situation. I would recommend Ms. [redacted] to prepare better for cold weather and purchase enough gas to take care of her and her family for a decent amount of time. Paying for 75 gallons at a time only gets her tank to approximately 23%. Again, our policy is for the customer to get prepared to pay for additional gas when the tank is on 20% and allow us 5 working days. Smith Brothers Gas is not equipped to handle deliveries in short time periods with the customer base it represents and as cold as it has been. I would recommend Ms. [redacted] to investigate other propane companies in our area to find out what there policy's are, maybe there's another company that can suite her situation better.