Propane customer held hostage

The propane industries dirty little secret.

Imagine this… You’re a good customer for 14+ years. Now the company’s instituted a minimum usage fee if you use less then 200 gallons of propane.

This year,  you use 187 gallons.  They INSIST you pay a $91 minimum use fee as your usage is below their 200 gallons limit. (by a measly 13 gallons)

You think it’s gouging.  And you refuse to pay.

They’re refusing to deliver any more propane unless you pay their minimum use fee.

You think about leaving them for another company BUT here’s the propane industries dirty little secret…

They own the tank so you’re feeling stuck!

I just received an e-mail from Pat who’s actually living this right now. The company is www.combinedenergyservices.com in Monticello NY you can contact them and drop them a note here.

The big question was what I thought of it and if all propane companies are socking it to people like this.

Pat before I tell you exactly what I think let me give you a peak at this from the propane companies perspective.

Their feeling the pinch on fuel prices too, gasoline/diesel prices to be exact. Their cost of transporting the material to you has gone through the roof. So in order to make their numbers work they start this minimum “law”.

OK so I get it from their perspective.

BUT here’s my personal take.

According to their web site “CES started delivering fuel oil in 1968 when Walt Taylor began as Taylor Oil with his one truck working from the family home. Since that time, we’ve evolved to being one of the most progressive and largest independent fuel suppliers in the region.”

My guess is Walt didn’t grow the business by treating his customers like Pat was treated. Come on now … Pat’s a 14 year customer and you hit um’ with a minimum on being short 13 gallons?

I know the guys (the original entrepreneurs who started these businesses) would bend over back wards for their customers. OR at the very least they would personally call and discuss the situation with their customer before they threatened to refuse to deliver.

I know there’s 2 sides to every story so I’m not ready to say SHAME ON YOU quite yet. I’d like to think based on Pats 14 years they would make an exception or at the very least handle this better then it appears to me right now.

Especially since they could plan their deliveries to make it more economical for them. Gheesh all they need to do is visit SurroundMail.com and they could easily build a tight cluster of customers and make everyone happy. I mean come on CES do a little creative marketing for pete’s sakes.

But I’m going to drop them a note and see what they have to say. Depending on what happens you’ll see their feedback on HomeHeatingReview.com shortly.

In the mean time…

Yes Pat I’m sorry to say that other companies are starting to institute this kind of gun to your head mentality. BUT not everyone is so it’s wise to shop around.

Bad news is… Yes your tank is being held hostage and unfortunately to some degree so are you.

In my view the propane industry has much higher margins than the heating oil business. The big reason it’s easier to get into the heating oil business (price of entry is much higher on the propane side) so every Tom Dick and Harry jump into oil and these non-marketing guys drive the price down.

That’s good news and bad.

Good for the consumer in the short term since they buy under priced oil. Bad because long term they end up doing a poor job and in many cases scamming the homeowners and tarnishing the images of the good oil guys in the industry. What I’m trying to say is the heating oil industry is much more price competitive.

Warren Buffet said it best when he referred to one of the biggest challenges companies have (in my opinion people in general have this same problem) “Many companies just don’t get it… They do it right (according to company policy) but they should be doing the right thing.”

Pat I’m sending CES a link to this page. I’m hoping there’s a misunderstanding with your account and they do the right thing for you.

Remember regardless of how this works out you can leave a GOOD review or a BAD review at

HomeHeatingReview.com

And by the way CES is not currently listed as a reviewed company by Home Heating Review so if you’re a prospect looking for an oil/propane/bio-deisel company on the Monticello NY area you may want to tread lightly.

I’ll keep you posted.

Stay safe and save money.

John

Tagged as: customer complaints, extra fees, Gouged, propane tanks