Attention

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not represent our advertisers

Thursday, July 24, 2008

United Propane Update

Joe......Update......

I called United Propane, and asked what my fillup charge would be, and they told me that since I had no activity on my account in 12 months or more, they would charge us....."she said don't be alarmed, it's because you have had no activity, and you are at the bottom bracket of customers who "abuse" their use.............."
$7.15 a gallon!!!!!

This letter was not sent to us intentionally, only because they recently had an audit, and the "big guy" picked the people that were to get these letters. (the ones who had no activity on their account in 12 months or more) We did not need them to come out and fill us up. I said abused?!?!?! Are you kidding me..i use it when I need to, and I conserve the rest. She goes on to explain to me she did not mean to say abuse..that's for people who have vacation homes and so on and so forth. So if you have a vacation home you only use a few months of the year, you are a abuser of their policy!!

We used wood over the winter, and what ws used was from our stove. I then asked her....So I don't have to pay $600usage fee? She informed me that it had not been applied to my account yet. I told her if it gets applied to my account, the tank would be sitting by the curb for them to pick up immediately, and she could eat it, propane and all. She said mam, calm down. I actually was calm.....But just wait, If I see that billed to my account, they will see a pissed off country woman!!! I'll keep you updated. A representative is going to call me in the morning......yeah right.

Thanks for letting me vent Joe!

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Im going through the same thing with another gas company.
The only thing this is ,is greed.
Tell them and all the gas companies to kiss my ass the greedy bunch of sob's.
If people cant see that greed is our problem not gas or oil ,there f,in blind.
I dont know how i will keep my family warm this winter. I really hope they all go to hell.
Greedy bastards!

LetterWriter said...

We had a gas tank for our hot water. They told us if we paid cash, we had to pay 25 cents more per gallon. But then they told us if we wanted an account billed monthly we had to pay a $250 deposit.

We bought an electric hot water heater.

Anonymous said...

Sharp Energy is no better. This winter I had (3) 100 lb. propane tanks that I use to provide temporary heat until I can get the Geothermals up and running. I went to Sharp next to Arby's like I always have done to fill up.

The said they couldn't sell it to me anymore at that location. They informed me that I would have to order a 500lb tank and they would retrofit it at the jobsite. I asked how much to deliver and set-up for temporary heat and they said $700.00 and that the gas would be an extra $375.00.

I left and went to Midway RV and paid $3.75/gallon and filled each tank. I went through $300 worth in less than (2) weeks when the owner begged me to work overtime to get the Geothermals online.

Sharp's personnel won't even return my calls anymore because they know I'm a competitor.

If you have gas or oil fired furnaces you are now screwed. Even Reneigh tankless water heaters are disaster now to.
Hell, just to bury the propane tank they want $1100.

How do I know. . . because I'm in the HVAC business.

Better look for alternatives . . the sooner the better.

annoymous said...

the thing that get me if you get chicken house rates it is less then $2.00 a gallon but I use it for back up witch I used 69 gallons last year and they charge me $4.91 a gallon from sharp. Now I have a hardware store and lumber yard and if I have a very good customer that does alot of buisness with me I will give him a 10% discount and I am working on a tight margin but they are charging me 150% more than a good customer and to me that is just criminal and if you want to switch they say they want their tank back which is buried under my driveway so what are you supposed to do? I am going to put a lock on my tank lid because I have enough to last me 6 years

Anonymous said...

look how much oil has come down a barrle, all the little guys arnt budging, even the pumps only droped 3cents.....quess they want their share of the raping and pilladging

Anonymous said...

i deal with Valley Gas and ive never had a problem...yet.....i pay as i go..usually i get filled up once a year......if they do that to me i would be looking for another company to....but so far i havent....call valley and talk to Scott Mckelvey the propane manager. He is a good persona and wil treat you right.

Tax Guy said...

7:22 AM talked about Valley and Scott Mckelvey....

I can attest to their good honest service from my days as a restaurant owner. Fair price no hidden BS.

Anonymous said...

I REALLY FEEL THAT THIS EDITORIAL IN QUESTION IS NOT COMPLETELY ACCURATE. AND IN ADDTION THEY ARE A
BUSSINESS JUST LIKE ANY OTHER BUSSINESS. THEY HAVE TO DO WHAT IS
PROFITABLE WHETHER WE AGREE OR NOT.
IN ADDITION I HAVE PERSONALLY SPOKEN WITH THE WOMAN IN QUESTION AT UNITED PROPANE AND READ HER THE UNITED PROPANE UPDATE ARTICLE IN QUESTION AND I WAS TOLD THAT THE
COMMETTS IN THIS ARTICLE WERE INCORRECT AND MISCONSTRUDED.....
SO FOR WHAT IT IS WORTH I GUESS
DONT BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU READ.

Anonymous said...

I have a real hard time with this united propane editorial, and i will tell you why i have been a custonmer of united propan for many
years and have had great service.
I have never run out of gas. I am on the budget plan. And have my heater service once a year. And i will be honest i have had questions
but the office staff has been very
helpfull and very pleasant. I feel that your issues with united propane are un warrented and bogus
And if all you have to do is complain about a charge for not using gas. Then the solution is simple use gas. And one more thing
you have way too much time on your hands.

Anonymous said...

the company I was refering to was sharp not united and I understand that they are a buisness and have to make money but I can guarantee you that they are making good money delivering it to the chicken farms for less than 2 dollars a gallon($1.91 to be exact from a buddy of mine who has one) or they would not be doing it. And to charge me $3.00 a gallon above that not to mention hazmat fee and fuel surcharge is just plain getting screwed. especialy when i don't even want it like i said i have enough to last me 6 or 7 years. The best part of it is they come and fill me up in may and I wont use any until at least december so in the middle of the summer I will probably loose 15 gallons due to bleed off from the heat. I called the office and asked too be filled up in the fall instead and they told me nope thats when they have me scheduled. The manager in pocomoke is named tracy I think and he is a real pr**k

Anonymous said...

I used to work for nited Propane. I can assure you that they will over charge you in a second. Go online and see what propane is selling for wholesale. You will find that the markup is very high. At least $2.00 a gallon for high users. More for lower users. I sat in on many meeting about pricing. The top managements bonus depends on how much they screw you. He is usually in line for a $50 to $75 thousand dollars a year. If you don't think you are getting screwed, call Southern States or Valley or Cato gas and ask them how much a gallon of propane is. Compare that with what you are paying from United.