Suburban Propane, L.P.

Review: I purchased this house in August of 2013. I was informed by the existing owner that the gas logs were propane, was shown how to work the system, that the tank was near full . I was under the impression that the existing owner owned this tank and just had it filled when necessary. In September, an invoice was left in my doorway, with the prior owners name on it. I expected a bill would follow however after approximately 10 days to two weeks and I had not heard anything., I called. spoke with a [redacted]. informed her that I was the new owner. told her that this information was left in my doorway and what did it mean. she stated that I would get a bill if they installed any propane. I figured the previous owner was on a contract with these people. left my name and expected to receive a bill in the mail if there was anything that they did. no other information was given to me. on sunday oct 27th I used the gas logs. on Thursday the 31st I had family coming in from out of town for a wedding and they were staying in that room. went to start the logs and they would not start. went outside to make sure the tank was still on and it was gone. no note in the door, no attempt to try to contact me by mail. I placed a call to the company that had left me the invoice in the doorway to be answered by a very inconsiderate human being. Customer service 101 teaches you that the customer is always treated with respect and everything that is necessary to make that customer happy is needed starting with not calling the customer a liar. I did call the company and I did write down the persons name and when I told her is was she, she replied that I would have to pull another name out of my hat that she did not work there is sept. I told her I may not have called in sept, that is when they left the note in my doorway. told them I had no heat for that room, a house full of people, she said that I have no contract with them and they took the tank. I asked why they did not get in touch with me and tell me that this was going to happen, she responded "we don't know how to get in contact with you, we have no phone number". well you have my address, you trespassed onto my property . Good business ethics would have been to send a letter out addressed "resident" proceeded by the address. with a note attached. dear resident, it has come to our attention that our mr. ---- who has a contract with us is no longer living at this address. to keep you with uninterrupted service of your propane needs, if you would like for us to keep servicing your tank, please fill out the following information and return to us. we hope to service your propane needs in the future. thank you. DID I receive such a letter , NO. DID someone inform me that they were going to remove the tank. NO. DID my house guests have to go without heat YES. WAS I called a liar on the phone. YES. Did they try to solve the problem. NO. I was told 10 seconds after she spoke to the manager that the manager wasn't there. how appropriate. [redacted]Desired Settlement: DesiredSettlementID: Other (requires explanation)

I expect them to train their staff in customer service or get rid of them .I expect them to return and reinstall the full tank of propane immediately and put the contract in my name at no charge .In the future when you perform anything on the tank, please leave a note and please close the gate upon leaving.I realize that if the tank is a rental that I am responsible for the rental after the first year.

Business

Response:

This account has been historically charged under market. The $ 3.09 price was at the time negotiated by management. The rate for this customers annual usage of 250 gallons is $4.22/gallon.

Consumer

Response:

Review: [redacted]

I am rejecting this response because:

Giving the fact that the company knew since July that I was going to be the new owner of this house by several phone calls from the prior owner over the several months that they kept billing him and my phone call to them as well, the inconvenience that they placed upon me by not having any heat in the area since October28th and they did not care because I was told they had no way to let me know that they were going to disconnect and that I needed to pull another name out of the hat when I stated I had talked to them previously and they are really not doing anything to make up for their mistake. It costs $30.00 to bring another tank out and place it. No long term contract, year by year. just need to pay for propane. So as you see for their inconsiderate customer service and leaving a 89 year old without heat in her sitting room, they are willing to save me $30.00 for becoming a customer with them.

Business

Response:

We apologize for this significant inconvenience this mis- communication has caused to the customer. We are confident she will not have any additional issues once the account id set up correctly.

Business

Response:

We have sent the customer the paperwork to set up the account correctly and as stated previously, once the account is set up correctly this should eliminate any future issues. We apologize for the situation an hope to ensure future satisfaction for the customer.

Review: Suburban propane billed me $60.74 for not delivering any propane. They sent a driver out, not at my request, then because I did not need any propane, they told me I had to pay a delivery fee. I would like y money back.

Product_Or_Service: propane

Account_Number: [redacted]Desired Settlement: DesiredSettlementID: Refund

refund of 60.74

Business

Response:

The customer incurred a minimum bill as per his agreement with Suburban. The customer did not use any propane during the calendar year and received an anuual delivery. After review of the account history the manager decided to reverse the minimum bill and refund the customer his payment amount. The customer should receive his check within the next 10 business days.

Review: In 2013 [redacted] LP Gas of Addison, NY was purchased by Suburban Propane. As a result of previous cost issues with Suburban Propane I chose to change suppliers. I froze deliveries and depleted the propane gas supply in my 500 gallon tank. I negotiated with Loucks Propane and switched suppliers in October 2013 and contacted Suburban Propane ([redacted]) that their tank had been disconnected and was available for pickup. The Suburban representative stated that there were a number of former [redacted] customer tanks to be picked up and I would be placed on the list. I had a considerable balance of between $300.00 and $400.00 with Suburban. This account cannot be closed until the tank is picked up. The 500 tank is close to the edge of my driveway and could have been picked up at any time throughout the winter. The cement blocks used to level the tank and their regulators are with the unit. It is currently in my way for lawn maintenance. I start calling the Horseheads office in late March early April 2014 in an attempt to have tank picked up in a timely manner. I typically call after receiving a statement. In May 2014, I offered to send a storage contract if they needed to store their tank (I could at least move it into the hedge row). In June I offered to transport it to the Addison location. I'm always told politely that they will contact the appropriate department and it will be picked up. I believe that I have been patient and that 9 months is sufficient time to schedule a pickup. I feel that part of the issue is that they do not want to return my credit. Please help me in this matter. Thank you.Desired Settlement: I would like the 500 Gallon Tank picked up, the account closed and receive the appropriate refund in a timely manner.

Business

Response:

The tank has been picked up and refund processed.

Review: We cancelled service with Suburban Propane (Windsor, CT location) due to their prices being much higher than their local competitors. We received our last delivery from Suburban on November 22, 2013 and notified them December 12, 2013 that we were cancelling our service and requested they pick their tanks up so we could receive our refund for the unused propane.

It is now June 2014 and the propane tanks are still sitting in our yard. We called them mid-March 2014 asking why the tanks had not been picked up and were told it was due to winter weather and that our account had not been flagged for tank pick-up. We were told they would flag our account for pickup and would come when they could. In April 2014, we called asking why the tanks had not been picked up and we were told our account had never been flagged for pick-up, but they would flag our account and someone would come the following week. We repeated this process in both May 2014 and June 2014. Both times we were told our account had been flagged for pickup, and they were not sure why the tanks had not been picked up yet, and that they should be picked up the following week. Again, the tanks were never picked up.

Additionally, while waiting for the tanks to be picked up, we received a bill dated June 14, 2014 for a tank rental fee. This fee is charged when you go a certain amount of time without a propane delivery. We should not have been charged this fee as the only reason we still have the tanks is because Suburban has not picked them up.Desired Settlement: I would like the tanks picked immediately. They have been sitting in my yard 6+ months after cancelling our service and I want them gone. I expect our refund to be processed and sent to us promptly once the tanks have been picked up. Due to the frustration and effort we have had to put in to this process, I do not expect to be charged any tank close-out/pick-up fee.

Additionally, I will not be paying the $10.64 tank rental fee as we never would have been billed for this fee if the tanks had been picked up in a reasonable amount of time.

Business

Response:

The tank was picked up this past weekend, all monies owed have been credited to account and she will recieve a refund of that balance within the past two weeks.

Review: Four months ago our home was converted from propane to natural gas and I have been trying to get Suburban Propane to evacuate the remaining gas from our in-ground gas tank and come remove the tank. I have called the main call center telephone number numerous times to get this done to no avail. There is an outstanding balance on my account which will be satisfied once the credit is issued from Suburban for the remaining gas in the tank but now Suburban is threating to send the matter to a collection agency and they also sent two big men to my front door demanding payment of the outstanding balance, which scared my wife to death. On Wednesday, 7/30/14, I called our local Suburban office in Rolesville, NC and spoke to [redacted] in an attempt to get this resolved once and for all and she told me there is now a $600.00 tank removal fee, which when I contacted the main call center number of Suburban 4 months ago I was told there was no fee to remove the tank and none of my neighbors have had to pay any fees for the removal of their tanks. After speaking with [redacted] and not willing to schedule the removal of the tank for a $600.00 fee, I called the main contact number for Suburban and spoke to Jill who told me she couldn't help me and the department I needed to speak to was busy so they would call me back. It is now three days later with no call back from anyone at Suburban. Suburban's continued lack of action in this matter after I have made numerous attempts to resolve this situation should not allow them to send my account to collections and harm my credit.Desired Settlement: I want Suburban to live up to the information I was told when I placed the disconnect order with them 4 months ago, which is: 1. Evacuate the remaining gas in the tank and provide me with the credit I was told I would receive which will eliminate the balance on my account, 2. Remove the in-ground tank at no cost, and 3. Not send the matter to collections.

Business

Response:

The customers tank will be removed in 2-3 weeks and the manager [redacted] is willing to negotiate the pick up and pump out fees. Please contact [redacted]

Review: On or about July 19, 2014 we had a service call from Suburban Propane due to lack of hot water. This problem could not be rectified, because parts needed to be ordered twice, and sent by mail to our home. .Suburban sent a service man from [redacted] to fix the problem. It took 18 days and 5 visits for the hot water to be available to us. [redacted] issued a bill for $490.00 which my husband payed. This amount was reached by charging us $110 service call plus $10.00 fuel charge, and tax. We feel that after numerous phone calls to Suburban, we were wrongly charged by [redacted]. The tankless hot water heater was under warrenty by [redacted]

Business

Response:

The customer called reporting they had not had hot water, a technician was in the area and stopped by the residence. The customer told the technician they had the unit re-wired by an electrician because they were selling the house, and had not had hot water since. The technician determined something had been shorted out and let them know we do not do warranty work for [redacted] He gave them the name of a warranty contractor and also called the contractor to let them know what what the issue seemed to be. The contractor found the transformer and module board had been shorted. they ordered parts and [redacted] sent the first part ( a transformer) and it did not arrive and had to send another. Then they sent the module board, they would only send one part at a time. [redacted] covered the parts under warranty, but does not cover the labor. The charges in question are for the travel and labor of the warranty service contractor. Suburban is not a warranty service contractor for [redacted]. The dispute should be with [redacted] , not the contractor or Suburban.

Consumer

Response:

Review: [redacted]

I am rejecting this response because:

We called the electrician because we had no hot water. His correcting of an improperly installed electrical hook-up did not cause the problem

Regards,

Business

Response:

As stated previously, Suburban does not do warranty work for [redacted] and the delay in repair was due to parts not received from their company.

Review: At the time of our contract renewal, I priced another company and got a cheaper quote. To give Suburban Propane a chance to compete, I asked them if they could match the competitor's price. They said they would match the competitor's price, so I allowed them to refill the tank. When I asked for a match, I meant an exact match. However, when I received the bill, it was not as promised. The rate per gallon was wrong and there were additional fees added. Also, the rental fee was more than the competitor's fee. At first, they corrected the price per gallon but refused to remove the extra fees. After much arguing and complaining, they adjusted some of the fees, but the total cost I owe them is still not an exact match to the competitor. I have already filed a complaint with the Attorney General, but they still refuse to adjust the bill to my satisfaction.Desired Settlement: I want to receive a final fill with the correct amount totaling $326.00 including gas, tank rental, and tax. There should be no additional fees added.

Business

Response:

It has been confirmed that Suburban did in fact, agree to lock the customer into a price per gallon of $2.59 for a period of one year. The customer was initially invoiced an incorrect Price per gallon, but that has since been corrected. Suburban also agreed to a one time reduction of tank rental and one time removal of the Safety Practices and Training Fee in the interest of customer retention. The customer signed an Equipment Rental and Propane Purchase Agreement on July 21, 2011. The agreement sets forth the annual tank rental fee of $60.00, plus tax. Furthermore, our records confirm that Suburban's Terms and Conditions mailing was sent to the customer Oct. 22 2013. Suburban will remove the late fee of $ 0.75 which brings the account balance to $336.40 due and owing. We have concluded there is no basis for further relief to be granted.

Consumer

Response:

I am rejecting this response because: a match is a match, and a promise is a promise. I was not told up front that the quote from [redacted] Propane would not be exactly matched. If I had known that the bill would be more than what [redacted] quoted, I obviously would have switched to [redacted] since they had the cheapest price. I gave you a chance to match their price to keep my business, and you promised you would. Now that you have deceptively retained my business, you want to go back on your word. I do not accept this. The quote we received from [redacted] Propane is $326.00, and that is what I agreed to pay and not a penny more.

Business

Response:

Suburban has adjusted the customers price per gallon to $2.59 for the period of one year as well as a reduced Tank rental fee and removal of the Saftey Practices and Training fee. We have determined there is no basis for additional relief to be granted.

I thought I would post a story about my worst customer service experience ever and it involved Suburban Propane. I contacted them a month ago about possibly getting propane from them as I own my own tank. After getting the necessary paperwork taken care of they scheduled a technician to come out and and make sure everything was OK to deliver. After taking a day off for work the technician never came that day. I had to call periodically to get different excuses why he wasn't there yet. Every time up to this point if I could get through to a person there they would put me on hold for 15 minutes while they went and checked on something but 90 percent of the time if I called it just went to an answering service to take a message without call back. He finally showed 2 weeks later without notice as I was leaving my house. I explained to him how horrendous their service was and that I didn't want propane at this time due to the bad experience plus other dealers were now 15% cheaper. I had a panic attack after speaking to him that they might come out and deliver so I called and got their answering service and told them not to come. I then contacted my account rep at Suburban Propane on Monday and told her not to deliver under any circumstances. 4 days later I get a slip that they delivered 600 gallons. I know based on my tank reading they were off on their number of gallons. I then called over 30 times before finally getting to speak to a live person instead of their answering service. She apologized for the error and would give it to me at a reduced rate. I explained all the problems I had with them and she offered to come pump out the propane. I asked before they come pump out the propane what was their reduced rate. She quoted me 40 cents a gallon HIGHER than their slip which was already higher than their quoted price. Needless to say I told them to come take their propane when we are there so we can monitor how much they take as they seem to have issues reading meters. So everyone beware of Suburban Propane.

Review: Suburban delivered fuel/propane to me the last part of winter and then came back after summer, which means hardly any fuel was used with warm weather and outside grilling is done, not much fuel is used in summer weather. Suburban delivered fuel on 10/23/13 and at that time, I only needed 4.7 gallons of fuel and I was charged $50.95 as a minimum bill.($10/gal). I then called the office in Indiana, PA to complain and was only offered the explanation of "that was the minimum charge". I then advised the women that I was talking to that I wanted to return my tank, she said they would be picking up my tank ASAP, but couldn't give a specific day. On 11/01/13, I received a bill from Suburban, after they picked up my full tank, saying $459.90 was owed and they subtracted $50.95 I owed, making my bill $-408.95. I then received a phone call from a survey company, asking if I would recommend Suburban Propane, after the survey, on 11/04/13 I received another bill giving me only $-313.60, they decided to charge me now for a restocking fee of $95.35. Now on 11/12/13, I received a phone call to tell me I should receive only the $313.60. My response was if they thought of anything else to charge me for, I would be getting nothing, I had been a long time customer of Suburban, without issues, but this is uncalled for and I feel I am being taken advantage of and was never told I would have to pay a restocking fee? $10/gal for propane and then the $95. restocking fee? I was never advised a restocking fee would be charged,found that out after I did the survey phone call.Desired Settlement: Return of the restocking fee. I had been advised in a previous letter from Suburban that my tank needed to be replaced anyway because of the age of my tank. Any my first billing stated I was being charged the $50.95 and would be returned $408.95.

Business

Response:

The re-stocking fee is part of a contractual agreement but will be refunded as requested.

Consumer

Response:

[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.]

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,

Review: Suburban Propane bought out United Propane. I recently received a bill for a propane fill at a rate of 5.06 per gallon. This is an increase of more than 2.00 per gallon. When I called the local facility they said they usually have "wiggle room" to adjust the price and they understand that price is very high but it came from "corporate" that they are now unable to make any adjustments. The young lady was very professional and I understand she did not create this rate increase. Perhaps there is gouging because of the so call "shortage"? I called the 800 corporate # as suggested by the local facility. I have called them at least 20 times in the last 2 days and they don't answer the phone. The message I get is "....are unavailable at this time". When I do get an answering machine I get " please hold". No one ever answers the call.

1. the price increase is unacceptable

2. the company does not respond to their customer.

When the house was built, the builder contracted United Propane to install the tank underground. I am stuck with using this company because they own the tank (this is what they told me). So as you can see I can not shop for a better price either.Desired Settlement: I would like to be contacted by Suburban Propane and would like to have them investigated for their price increase.

Business

Response:

The customer received a delivery on 1/28/14 for $321. 80 gallons at a rate of 5.065 per gallon. Her delivery prior was 132.7 gallons at a rate of $ 3.84 per gallon. Her rate for her annual usage is correct. We will offer a .25 cent per gallon credit .

Consumer

Response:

[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.]

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,

Review: My mother died in March and in May I had Suburban Propane come out to her house and empty the full tank of fuel and take the 1000 gal tank out. I submitted all the death certificates they asked me for and I am still having a issue getting a refund. She had no written will and I am the only heir. All they do is give me the run around. I have been working with [redacted] in Black River Falls Wi. and she has been working with someone named [redacted] in the cooperate office. I have just about had enough and my next step after you would be to contact an attorney. Also if I owed on the account they would charge me a Late Payment Fee, how about them paying me a Late Payment Fee!!! Also everytime I call I get a answering machine and no one ever calls me back and [redacted] even admitted to me that she is in the office but doesn't always answer the phone because she is too busy.Desired Settlement: Check by mail within this week or attorney will be contacted.

Business

Response:

We would like to resolve this matter as quickly as possible and are waiting to receive the certified letter to do so.

Consumer

Response:

I am rejecting this response because:

I have sent many letters, death certificates and notorized letters and still have not hear any reasonable resolution to this matter.

Business

Response:

Please send the certified letter to the Attention of [redacted]

Review: My husband contacted Suburban Propane by letter in February of 2013 requesting that the propane tank on our property by picked up as we were switching propane suppliers.

The tank sat in our yard until August and in the meantime we were billed approximately 102.57 for the yearly rental.

I called and asked why the tank wasn't picked up and was told it took two guys (and obviously 6 months) to retrieve the tank and that it would be picked up

in August.

The tank was removed and was approximately 35% full. During my phone call about the delay in retrieving the tank I was told a check would be sent in 10 days refunding

the propane balance. I was not told there would be a re-stocking fee.

Three days ago I receive a statement in the mail showing a 351.46 credit on my account. I called and complained that there was no detail showing how the balance was arrived at

and was told that I would be called the next day, Thursday, August 29. I still have not received a call.

Today I received in the mail a statement showing detail. I was credited 614.53 for the propane return and then Suburban deducted 160.50 for a re-stocking charge and 102.57 for a previous balance for the

tank rental.

I informed them via phone on Wednesday that I would file a complaint with the Revdex.com and I guess this is their idea of resolving my complaint.

I

I wDesired Settlement: I would like a check sent to me as promised for the amount of propane in my tank when it was picked up. The amount is 614.53

Business

Response:

We spoke with the customer about her issues. She was upset that she was not credited back for the rental that billed several months after her initial request to have the tank removed. She said she understood the restocking fee and was willing to pay it, but I agreed to refund her for that as well based on the customer service she had previously received. She was very appreciative. I explained the process and that would be two business days for us to credit her back and issue the refund, and then 7-10 business days after she should receive her refund. She was satisfied with that. I gave her name and contact information and told her to call me directly if she had any further questions or complaints. She thanked me and said she would.

Consumer

Response:

[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.]

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,

Review: Our propane supplier was bought out by Suburban Propane this past year. We recently had our first fill since the changeover. Our propane costs skyrocketed from 2.50+ a gallon to 4.63 a gallon! Average propane prices in our area are still in the 2.50 range, according to NYSERDA and other residential propane market watches. In addition, I have called several different propane suppliers in our area and they are charging in the $2.50/gallon range for established customers (not new customer pricing) with our size tank and our yearly usage. When I inquired with Suburban about the additional $2/gallon they are charging for their product, they gave me some song and dance about increase costs due to pipeline issues and increased costs due to security, blah blah blah. They are price gouging...bottom line. I didn't sign up with Suburban Propane and I could care less about some supply security. Certainly it is not worth paying nearly double what I was paying before.Desired Settlement: I expect to have my bill reflect current market prices and for Suburban to provide their product at a competitive price. As opposed to gouging customers that weren't even theirs to begin with.

Business

Response:

The customer does only use 571.7 gallons a year so the NYSERDA that is quoted is price based on 1100 gallons a year usage. The customer stated she called around for other prices, we do monthly surveys on pricing and we are competitive with the current market. Suburban also offers 24X 7 Emergency Service, follows the stricktest of safety standards and has the supply to ensure we always have product available for the customer.

Consumer

Response:

Review: [redacted]

I am rejecting this response because:

It is a flat out lie that Suburban is competitive with their pricing. Not a single propane supplier that I contacted had a price over $2.70 a gallon for established customers using the amount of propane that we use. Yes, I specifically requested pricing for a "will call" consumer using between 500 and 700 gallons a year.

Our new supplier is providing propane at a cost of $1.699 for our first fill, and $1.849 for the next year, locked rate. Their established customers are currently paying at most $2.70 a gallon, depending on usage and depending on will call status. We could have gone with a smaller supplier, who's current "will call" consumers are paying $2.19/gallon but have chosen not to, for fear that they may be the next to be bought out by Suburban.

In addition, Suburban claims that there is currently a supply issue which is the cause for their excessive propane costs. My husband works for [redacted], an industrial gas supply company that deals with a variety of industrial gasses, including bulk propane. He's not heard of any supply issues. None of the [redacted] guys have heard of supply issues. Neither have any of the other propane suppliers that I spoke with. Surprisingly, I found no mention of propane supply issues when I searched for news articles. You would think that a propane supply issue causing a $2/gallon jump in price would be in the news. I found nothing.

Bottom line...Suburban is gouging consumers. And I'm going to ensure that everybody with whom I come into contact, knows how much you charge for your propane. And by the way, it is pretty dishonest to come out to a consumer's home and fill their tank at a cost that is $2/gallon higher than they paid last year, without first warning the consumer of the hike. And to add insult to injury...on top of our $1400 propane fill just before Christmas, you've decided you're going to charge .65/gallon to remove your excessively overpriced liquid gold from my property. Nice. Hey, Merry Christmas to my four kids (ages 7, 6, 5 and 4), right? Guess you've got to squeeze every single penny out of us that you can. By the way, HEAP says you cannot deduct the restock fee out of my HEAP benefits.

So no, I do not accept your continued lies about your pricing being "competitive". And I would appreciate if you promptly remove your tank off of my property. How about I charge you rent for keeping your tank on my property after I've terminated your service? I think $100/day sounds good. No...let's make it excessive, like your pricing and restock fees. $200/day.

Regards,

Business

Response:

The Restocking Fee will be waived

Consumer

Response:

[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.]

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,

Review: DROPPED SUBURBAN FOR NEW PROPANE DEALER DUE TO EXCESSIVE PRICING. SUBURBAN PRICE OVER $5 GAL. VS NEW DEALER AT $2.70 GAL. CALLED DEC. 3 2013 TO HAVE THEIR TANK REMOVED AND GET A REFUND FOR UNUSED GAS. AS OF JAN 25, 2014, SUBURBAN HAS NOT PICKED UP TANK AND I STILL HAVE NO REFUND FOR UNUSED GAS. WAS TOLD I COULD BE CHARGED $1 A GALLON FOR ALL UNUSED GAS WHEN THEY PICK UP.

[redacted]Desired Settlement: PICK UP THEIR TANK AND ISSUE A CHECK FOR UNUSED GAS AND NO $1 A GALLON CHARGE FOR UNUSED GAS SINCE THEY HAVE MY MONEY SINCE DEC 3. I PAID $506 FOR A FULL TANK BEGINNING OF DECEMBER WHICH THEY HAD USE OF. I WANT MY REFUND WITH NO HIDDEN CHARGES AS MENTIONED ABOVE.

Business

Response:

The tank is scheduled for removal Wed 1/29 and the fee will be waived.

Consumer

Response:

[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.]

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,

Review: Suburban Propane filled our tank today with 390 gallons of propane. Then handed me the bill that read 390.4 gallons @7.7539/gallon. I am accustomed to paying half that rate. I feel that if they are going to double the rate they need to inform you before they put it in. When I called they said that I was under contract. They did offer me a one time reduced rate of 5.58$. My local guy [redacted] buys his propane from suburban and sells it for 3.79$ currently. I feel like this is price gouging because people have to stay warm and eat and if you don't pay they turn you over to a collection agency. Some people may not even complain. Maybe they are old or don't know or don't want any trouble and to be warm. The ones that do are offered a price that is still well beyond the fair market price. This type of behavior does not instill me with confidence that Suburban Propane is on the up and up. How does a company stay in business with these kind of practices? Or are they going out of business. Maybe they have a corner on certain demographics that are unable or unwilling to protest. At any rate it leaves me with a bad, bad flavor and I am willing to take this all the way. I will not pay them. I have the tank shut off and they can come and pick it up at any time.Desired Settlement: If Suburban Propane is willing to take 3.79$ per gallon for the 390.4 gallons they filled today, I would accept that, but I after this tank I can no longer do business with them.

Business

Response:

The customers issued has been discussed and a mutually agreed upon resolution hs been made.

Consumer

Response:

[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.]

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,

Review: We have not been a customer of Surburban propane for many years. We own our tank and buy from different vendors depending on their current prices and we are on "will call"with all of our vendors. Recently Surburban just came and filled up our tank without our permission. I called and they claimed it was a mistake in their system that said we were on automatic delivery (which was never the case) and it would never happen again. I just paid the bill and continued to order from other companies. Well they came and tried tried to fill up our tank again but fortunately I was home and I caught the driver before he was able to completely fill the tank. I told him to remove the propane and he told us not to worry about it it was our offices mistake again and he wouldn't charge us. Much to our surprise we received a bill a month later with the charge for the propane we did not order from them and to add insult to injury they put a late charge on the bill.Desired Settlement: I want all of our information removed from their system and they can come and remove the propane we did not order from our tank. We do not ever want to see a Surburban truck trespassing on our property again. We want all promotional material to stop being sent to our address.

Business

Response:

The CSC manager has contacted the customer and resolved the issue to his satisfaction.

Review: I have been a customer of this propane company since 2005. At that time it was [redacted] Gas. It has later switched ownership on multiple occasions last known to me as [redacted] Gas. From what I can tell Suburban Propane LLP now owns it. I recently decided to switch my propane supplier to another local business. When I contacted [redacted] Gas to notify them of my decision to cancel their service I was informed of a $100 propane tank pick up fee. I inquired as to the original contract I signed with [redacted] and whether or not it included this fee and was told those records were no longer effective. I was told that I would have been notified of this fee in a mailing of some sort. I imagine this would have been several years ago. My issue is that even if I did receive this mailing that the $100 fee would still apply had I cancelled back then. The only way around it would be if they would provide a 30 or 60 day period to cancel my service then to not be subject to the new fee. I do not recall any such communication or offer. So I feel that the $100 fee has been added as a way to punish customers that leave. To give another example, if I took out a 30 year mortgage loan at a really good rate and then years later was mailed a notice that if I paid off that mortgage loan early that i'd have a $100 fee, that would not seem fair or ethical. If they would like to charge the $100 fee then it should be in the original contract. They also charged me a 50¢ per gallon fee to pump the propane out of my tank. I have no issue with that fee as I recall that being discussed when I started with [redacted] Gas in 2005 and that fee seems reasonable. A $100 fee to pick up a tank is not reasonable, if they do not want the tank back that is their decision. I have cancelled my account with them and received a refund check of the amount of the propane in my tank minus the pump out fee and the $100 pick up fee.Desired Settlement: I would like to have the $100 tank pick up fee refunded to me as it was charged in bad faith. My original contract did not include this term and any later correspondence did not provide me with the option to opt out or cancel the service at that time without incurring the fee.

Business

Response:

All customers were mailed the Fee schedule, but in fairness to the customer who states he was not aware of the fee, a refund will be processed in the amount of $107.25 which includes the tax. Please allow up to 10-14 business days for process and mailing.

Consumer

Response:

[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.]

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,

Review: On my statements for Jan this year I had a -credit on my account of 774.00 which was called payment transfers.I assumed meant I had money to be used on my account . Feb.statement showed -709. March showed -644. May showed 0000. mY final balance due is now $1269. the payment transfers were never posted to my account. There seems to be some discrepiences in their bookkeeping. I just want to get what is due me. I had $700 fuel assistance and had been paying 158. per month previous to that and $65.a month in 2014.I have called them to get an answer to what happened to the money which looked like a credit which suddenly disappeared with no change in my final balance. They got upset when I called a second time saying when I figure this out I will call you.Desired Settlement: I want the money that has been paid into my account to go to my balance on my account. There is still $644. unaccounted for.

Business

Response:

The customer was contacted and her statement explained to her. All late fees will be removed.

Consumer

Response:

[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.]

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.

,

Review: Suburban Propane bought out [redacted] Propane and neither company made me aware of the acquisiton.Started getting bills from Suburban. Service went down hill. Prices went up. Called and cancelled my service and started with new company. Suburban informed me that my new company could not reclaim the propane and that they would issue me a credit after they pick up their tanks.Tanks were left on my property for over 2 months with numerous calls and a letter asking them to pick up the tanks. Tanks were finally picked up and a bill for a credit of 4040.66 was sent to me.Didn't receive a check but got another bill with adjustments reducing my credit down to around 570.00. Called them back and they said there was a pump out fee involved. They never mentioned any kind of restocking, pump out fees-only that my new company couldn't reclaim their gas. Called the utility commission and they informed me that they didn't have a right to tell me that. Suuburan never sent me any information on their company after the acquisition making me aware of their service agreements or fees.I never had a contract with Suburban only with [redacted]. This company is hard to get up with and definitely not about service. Not one positive thing to say about them. When you call, hold times are long and its almost impossible to get somebody from the local level to call you back.Desired Settlement: DesiredSettlementID: Refund

I would like the pump out fee removed and my original credit of 4040.66 refunded. They told me that my new gas company could not reclaim the gas and that they would give me a credit after they picked the tanks up-never mentioning any fees. They never gave me any information or sent out a new contract after they bought out [redacted] Propane. Was never made aware of any fees associated with them picking up their tanks and or reclaiming the gas.

Business

Response:

Suburban Propane mailed out 6 different letters explaining the acquisition between 8/1/12 and 8/1/13 for customers in our office. Additionally, a duty to warn with various fee descriptions was sent in late Oct 2013. [redacted] sent all customers a schedule of fees as a contract adjustment in in Oct 2010 noting the tank removal and pump out chargesthat could be assessed. We have attempted to contact the customer to discuss on three diffrent occassions the past 3 days and have been unsuccessful

Review: I have been using suburban propane for 2.5 yrs. Last fall, we placed our account on will call. Called in January for a fill. The price was going to be very high and the representative offered to put me on payment plan. I clarified that this would keep me on the will call for fill, she said yes. In Feb, they auto filled the tank, at a price of 4.84/gallon and again in March, at 3.99/gallon, both of these prices are well above the state average for propane sales. I have called numerous times to try to resolve the problem. Suburban propane representative acknowledges that their records reflect our account is to be on will call status and she cannot explain why it was refilled without my request or consent. On three occasions I have tried to resolve this by telephone and each time have been told the manager must approve any action she will have to call me back. I was not able to speak directly with the "manager." I am still waiting. This home is for sale and our consumption of gas low as it is unoccupied. My home has a buyer now and is set to close 3 days from now. I need this resolved as soon as possible.Desired Settlement: I feel a satisfactory resolution to this problem would be to take out the last fill at their expense and not bill me for Februarys delivery. The house is being sold and set to close this Friday, so I must resolve this billing issue with them quickly in order to turn the account over to the new owner.

Business

Response:

The customers issue was resolved on 3/13/14. The customer bought the propane and will sell to the new homeowner.

Consumer

Response:

Review: [redacted]

I am rejecting this response because:

The company forced me into paying for the propane, by threatening to go out to the property, lock up the tank and cut off the fuel to the house. When they finally returned my phone calls it was one day prior to the sale of the home and I could not close on the property and turn it over to new owners with a locked out propane tank in March. The company claimed they could not pump off the extra unauthorized propane they put into the tank and I would have to pay for it or have the tank locked. In order to finalize the sale of the property I had to pay for the fill, which cost appox $ 1500.00.

I feel like the company has overcharged me for their product, 4.85/gallon for one fill, and used strongarm tactics on me, putting off dealing with this issue until 24 hrs before the sale was to happen (I began trying to resolve this issue approx. 10-12 days prior) I was willing to pay for the authorized purchases and tried to settle the account during three separate phone calls. I had used this company for 2.5 yrs, always paid my bills and purchased over 1500 gallons of propane from them, this was not an acceptable way to treat any customer. The account is now paid in full and closed out of my name. I will not use Suburban Propane again.

Regards,