Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  06/28/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On June 27, 2024 Panhandle Coop Systems put a young family at risk of not having the appropriate utilities for the basic necessities of life by randomly and viciously terminating services due to being inconvenienced by the payment that was made via the assistance program that we, the young family, qualified for. Rather than simply applying the credits to our account, which was in good standings prior to the assistance payment, they have decided to force us to for-go the remaining portion of our assistance balance by terminating services and retrieving their equipment. Now, a young family that struggles to put enough food on the table, has to worry about securing services to be able to cook what food we can put on the table. Simply because they don't want to, as Stacey from the Credit Department at the Panhandle Coop System stated. They will be making a credit to us for the amount of our last statement only, they do not intend to repay us for the remaining balance that they will be taking when they collect the equipment. We paid $521+ for the last service call, and there will be 75 gallons remaining in the tank when they come to collect it, and according to the last price per gallon that we paid that leaves $156.75 of our money left unaccounted for. When the tank was last filled we still had 30% remaining from our previous fill up, so either way that remaining $156.75 belongs to the family that is business is doing wrong to, plus the remaining portion of the assistance program that thcimpany made us for-go by their actions. That is $364, which would be a total of $520 that should be refunded. We are (were) well established customers with this company and a deposit was never collected, yet they have provided services to us for this long despite that fact. Now we are being mistreated because they failed to perform their jobs properly in the beginning? This type of treatment of the consumer does not bode well for the companies core values, or at least it shouldn't.

  Business response

  07/19/2024

  from: Sonia Smith <ssmith@legacycoop.com>
  to: "disputes@wynco.bbb.org" <disputes@wynco.bbb.org>
  date: Jul 18, 2024, 5:53 PM
  subject: Case # 21912922 - Bevard

  Dear Mr. Anderson,
  
  I mailed our response to this claim on 07/15/24 after I received it from the Energy Sales & Operation Manager, Roger Brelsford, on 07/10/24  from the “unmanned” Burns, WY office.
  
  He gave me the second notice 07/16/24 so I am emailing you the final documents on this account today.
  
  So we’re clear, the tank was not picked up and there was no interruption of service. The Tank Pick Up Letter (attached) that was mailed 06/27/24 informed them that we would pick up the tank on 07/15/24 to allow them time to find a new provider.
  
  When the tank was picked up on 07/15/24 there was still 175.1 gallons in this tank that we in turn credited them back for once I received the Service Tech & Drivers information on 07/17/24.
  
  If you have not yet received the documents I mailed please let me know so I can send again.
  
  What is attached is the a summary of all transactions on this account since May 2023.
  
  ·         May 2023 Tank Rent (Past Due)
  ·         November 2023 Delivery  - We took the money that day and made the one & only delivery to them in error because the tank had not been put on HOLD per procedure on the account. The HOLD was because we are waiting on the $400 Deposit to be paid to schedule the New Customer Safety Check on the tank & the house. Kristina led the CSR that she was working with to believe that they would pay the deposit on 05/30/23 after her bank in WA opened (10 PST)  and she never did. The tank was still full because the previous owner filled before the sale so we just needed to get the $400 deposit & schedule the NCC. (This information and more is in the documents I mailed.)
  ·         May 2024 Tank Rent (Past Due)
  o   After the tank was picked up, the yearly tank rent was prorated & a credit issued for 322 days of the 365 days.
  ·         This account was never in good standing or “well established”.
  
  Kristina Bevard was told how all of this works when she spoke to a CSR on 06/27/24 after Kristina began to argue with her. The CSR also tried to explain how the delivery was made in error in November 2023 and until we have the $400 deposit & we can do the New Customer Safety Check that we cannot deliver again.  
  
  When we pick  up a tank: if it has propane in the tank we pump it out, credit back the gallons in the tank to the customer and bill a restocking fee of $.20/gal. Once all billing is completed we balance the account should there be a credit to refund and that’s exactly what we did.
  
  On the same day, June 27, 2024, I received a call from WY LIEAP from Cherie about how Kristina had called them and changed the heating source for the house from Pellets for a Pellet Stove to Propane and that Kristina had emailed her invoice from November 2023 to WY LIEAP to get it paid.
  
  So from November 2023 to June 26 2024 we hear nothing from this customer until June 27, 2024. Demanding that we come out and do the NCC & fill the tank, but was adamant that she was not paying the deposit. 
  
  While I was talking to Cherie with WY LIEAP she said she had made it clear to Kristina that the rest of any funds they approved her for would be null and void at end of business June 28, 2024.
  
  WY LIEAP Benefits start in November each year and end June of the following year.   
  
  Since Kristina still refused to pay the $400 deposit required by the credit department because they didn’t pass our Company Credit Criteria when they applied for an account, it was decided that it was time to pick up our tank and that they find a new provider.
  
  Not once from June 27, 2024 to the day we picked up the tank, July 15, 2024,  did we “put their family at risk of not have the appropriate utilities for the basic necessities of life by randomly & viciously terminate services.”
  
  The money she’s says we made them “forego” was not enough to cover a 200 gallon minimum delivery and WY LIEAP was not going to pay for the $400 deposit.
  
  200 gallon minimum delivery (w/tax) $421.88 (- $364.00 she says we cost her)  + $400 deposit (had over a year to come up with) = approximately $457.88 was due on June 27, 2024 for her to get a delivery. She made it clear that she had no money.
  
  If you have any further questions, feel free to contact me.
  
  Thank you,
  
  Soni
  
  ** Refund of what was left after charges & credits were applied was $661.96 that was mailed out on 07/17/24; within 2 days after the tank was picked up.
  
  Soni Smith
  Propane Service Manager
  ssmith@legacycoop.com
  Legacy Coop
  Corporate Office
  401 S Beltline Hwy W, Ste 8
  PO Box 2188
  Scottsbluff, NE 69363
  LEGACY COOP formally Panhandle Coop
  Propane     1-800-658-4457
  LEGACY_COOP-LOGO-Signature
  

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