Thrifty Propane, Inc.

This customer has ordered 3 times from us as follows 10/4/16 and delivered 10/10/16, next order placed 1/10/17 and delivered 1/13/17 and the final order was placed on 6/2/17 and delivered on 6/8/17.  I have 2 notes in the account that our CSR called them back on 12/31/17 and 1/4/18 and had to...

leave a message.  There are no issues with this account, we have delivered propane in a few days of the customer placing an order.  As always, the customer owns their own tank and can call another local provider to deliver propane that fits their needs.

I have sent this to get delivery today.  We apologize for the delay.  Please remember for the future you own your tank and can call another local supplier if they can deliver sooner and you are in this situation.

Final Consumer Response /* (2000, 6, 2016/01/19) */
Well, after more than 20 phone calls to Thrifty Propane over this entire week, a supervisor in the Customer Care department put a note in my file in the company computer that my tank would be filled today (Friday, Jan 15th). Then a customer care...

representative called me about 11:30AM to tell me I would get my tank filled today. Hooray! At 12:00 (noon) a driver from Thrifty showed up and put 400 gallons of gas in my 500 gallon tank (it was at 5%). I had called the company three times this morning, including to Phyllis (whom I never really got to talk with as her phone ALWAYS goes to voice mail, even when she is there and not on the phone) before I got a call back from a non-supervisory customer representative.
This company is VERY difficult to do business with. They do have the lowest priced gas, but there is a reason for that: they have no delivery people, and they have no real customer care (yes, they answer the phone sometimes, but they do not know what is going on, and they have no authority to do anything). BEWARE if you deal with them. Only YOU the consumer knows if you want to take a chance with heating your home with them.
Oh, and for those of you smart enough to be reading this, this is how their DELIVERY POLICY works. They quote 1 to 12 BUSINESS DAYS AFTER you place your order to make a delivery. My experience is that in winter, it is always at least 10 days and closer to 12 business days (or more). Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays do NOT count as business days. So, you place your order on Friday (anytime during the day), Jan 8. Their delivery calendar does not start ticking until Monday, Jan 11 (day 1). So, if they take the max number of business days to deliver, they will deliver on Tues, Jan 26th. This is 19 calendar days after you placed your order. If holidays are in the interval, it is even longer. Estimate it will take you 3 CALENDAR WEEKS to get your gas. You should call when you have 40% remaining in your tank to be safe (and in really cold weather that may not be enough depending on your usage). Good luck.
Thank you Thrifty for at least getting me my tank filled. I consider this ticket closed, but I'm really not satisfied due to their complete lack of communication with the customer.

I called the customer and apologized for the delay, driver is on his way to his house as we speak.  Thank you for your patience.

Gas was delivered on 2/6/18

I am rejecting this response because:They never showed up on the day they said they would and it took them 29 days to deliver propane

Yes, customer placed order on 1/5/18 and received delivery on 1/16/18 - 7 business days later.

We apologize  for the delay, a driver will be at the house tomorrow.

First, Thrifty Propane would like to thank Mr [redacted] for being a customer.  I have attached the last two prebuy receipts along with email communication from Mr [redacted] assuring us he did get the receipts.  At the end of paragraph 1, it clearly states our policy "Refunds for propane...

will be set at the wholesale rate as the date of purchase or the cancellation date, whichever rate is lowest."    Please see the attachment for full details.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/09/29) */
We apologize for any inconvenience. A receipt is being processed and will be delivered to Mr. [redacted] shortly.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/10/08) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the...

business.)
did not receive a receipt
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2015/10/21) */
We regret the customer's unsatisfactory experience.
Thrifty mailed and emailed a receipt to the customer on 10-8-15.

This has been submitted to the refund department.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2016/01/04) */
We regret the customer's unsatisfactory experience.
A refund request has been submitted to management.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (2000, 7, 2016/01/06) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)
I...

received the full refund on 1/6/2016. Thank you.

Better...

Business Bureau:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that although this resolution is actually no resolution at all; apparently there is nothing we can do.  We were never informed of the change from 10 business days to 15 business days for delivery.  And previously they have refused to place an order for us when I called if tank was above 20%.  Since we are not able to get a refund for the pre-buy we still have we will call when tank is at 50% and get deliveries until our prebuy of 400+ gallons has been received.P.S.  A delivery of 38.5 gallons was made today 2/1/2018 - 5 days after we would have run out of propane!

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2016/01/19) */
We regret the customer's unsatisfactory experience.
Thrifty delivered 350 gallons of propane to the customer on 1-5-16.

Customer placed order on 12/18/17 and we are on a 10-15 business day delivery.  As our website and prebuy agreements state, customers should call when take is at 35-40% to ensure they will have propane to get them to delivery.  This customer was at 25% when called and today 1/2/17 is only...

the 9th business day.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2016/01/19) */
We regret the customer's unsatisfactory experience.
The customer had two conversations with Thrifty regarding this matter.
12/29/2015 Customer Service Manager called and spoke with customer. It was explained the ppg is based on the percent...

customer provides at the time of order filling to 80%. Not the time of delivery filling to 90%.

[redacted] requested refunds on 2.28.17 for his account and his parents ** and [redacted]. On the same day 2.28.17 he filed a credit card dispute for both accounts ---When a dispute is file we cannot refund any account. There is a 90-120 day turn around time for a dispute. Until I get a...

letter from the credit card company stating the dispute is dropped or they are satisfied no refund can be done. We have to refer the customer to call their credit card company.  I called Merchant service on 6.5.17 and they stated that Discover took the hold off the funds. The customer [redacted] acct # 1 -Total gallons delivered (838.60) balance we owe full price $1036.71 (Refund).** & [redacted] #2 - Total gallons delivered (873.30)balance we owe full price $930.92 (Refund)Discover card has a strict policy which states they do not allow  reversals.  So that being said no letter was received from his credit card company stating the dispute(s) were dropped.  The dispute went into its full turn around time.  A check is being cut to Mr [redacted] to close this case.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 6, 2015/12/18) */
We regret the customer's unsatisfactory experience.
The customer filed a credit card dispute charge for $4087.33, Case [redacted], Code [redacted], No goods received.

I am rejecting this response because: It will be impossible for me to get another tank and propane at the price that they had sold to me in April this late in the year. they called and said they cannot and will not be able to service me because they don't have a tank to sell me even though they had a tank and the propane to fill it with way back in in April. all I want is for them to fulfill their promise to me to set my my tank and fill it before this winter since I foolishly maintained my faith in their empty promises, if they cannot fulfill their obligation to me then I feel it is their responsibility to find someone who can and at no more additional cost to me.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2016/02/22) */
We regret the customer's unsatisfactory experience.
Thrifty delivered 174.10 gallons to the customer on 2-17-16.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (2000, 7, 2016/02/25) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the...

business.)