Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  06/17/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Anderson propane has been our company for over 5 years & the last two bills have a made up minimum usage fee that they have subjected some of their customers to, including us & a neighbor. There has been never been any type of an agreement, a contract, or any type of "minimum" amount of propane usage that has ever been agreed upon or discussed with us. Last year we argued with them because they billed us $150.00, this year it is $250.00 with additional taxes applied. It is my understanding they think they can do whatever they want to their customers. It's called being taken advantage of and customer gouging.

  Business response

  06/17/2024

  I understand there is some grieve over this fee.  It is a fee that is in our lease agreement that is signed when the tank is set.  The tank and regulators that we install at customer locations cost us money to buy and we don't charge for that at the time of the installation.  Therefore we require folks to use gas or buy gas from us to off set the expense of the assets we have at the customers homes.  This location has not used any gas in nearly 2 years of the 5 years of existence.  That doesn't give us the ability to cover the cost of the assets involved. We have waived the fee on many customers because their usage was "close" to the minimum usage gallons simply because we realize the last 2 winters were mild, but those folks did buy gas within the last 12 months.  There are not many gas companies out there that doesn't require some type of usage to cover the cost of the equipment they let the customers use.  Some even charge rent on the tanks no matter how much the customers uses.  We feel our way is fair because if the customers use gas then no fee is charged at all.  We don't have to make a lot of money, but we do have to make enough to cover our expense of the equipment that we let the customers use.     

  Customer response

  06/17/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
  
  There is definitely grief over this enormous fee that continually inflates every summer. New regulators are $85.00/piece, which was more than covered with last summer's "minimal usage fee". I am not in contract with you, nor any type of lease. It would be acceptable and nice to know these "fees" ahead of time, instead of just billing your customers whatever you decide for the moment. What other company does not inform their consumer of the price; it will just be a surprise when you check out. I am appalled that you think that is acceptable.

  I have asked around and other propane companies may charge a minimal fee of less than $100.00 per year for the lease. I have heard an average of $92.00 to be exact. I would say your made-up fee is well beyond that, considering it will be over $400.00 when all said and done. I cannot believe that a company does this to their paying customers. It is truly terrible.
  
  Regards,
  
  ****** ******

• Initial Complaint

  11/22/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  They said I owed them money for rental on my tank. Said I owed them 129.00. I didn’t pay it so they came and took my tank . That was fine but they won’t reimburse my money for the propane that was in the tank. It had over 60% left in it. They said I signed a contract to pay rental on the tank. That was over 20 years ago and a different owner of the company. I asked them to send me a copy of the rental contract I signed and they said they destroyed it. I do not believe I signed a contract and I want reimbursement for the propane left in the tank when they took it. The only thing I done wrong was not use enough propane. So they are punishing me for not using enough. They said I had to prove I didn’t sign a contract. ????.this makes no sense to me at all.

  Business response

  12/05/2022

  Mr ********* owed $268.13 for 2 years of low usage fees at the time his tank was picked up.  Prior to that only 71.9 gallons had been delivered to the tank since 2017.  We require at least 100 gallons of propane be used a year to keep the tank at a customer location.  Credit was given to Mr. ********** account for the gas that was left in the tank, which was 80 gallons for a total credit of $258.60.  The $258.60 was used to pay the low use fees, and I wrote off the remaining $9.53 to bring the account to a zero balance.  

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩