I thought you'd like a glimpse into how things usually go for me. For the past year, I've been dealing with our propane company of almost 20yrs. We use propane for our stove, clothes dryer and hot water tank. Our hot water tank is old and very inefficient therefore we have to keep it turned up high for us to have a supply of hot water. This means that we go through propane very quickly. 100 gallons isn't enough to last us a whole month. Unfortunately our tank only holds 100 gals. This leads us to have to monitor our supply and then ration usage near the end, hoping it'll last until we get a delivery. Most months it doesn't and we go at least a day or two without a stove, dryer and hot water.
I've asked for almost a year to be given a bigger tank. I've asked for almost a year to be put back on automatic delivery. I don't blame them for dropping us from auto delivery originally but that was YEARS ago...money was very tight and we weren't always caught up on our bill. (although I don't think I've ever gone 60 days overdue) Nowadays though things are different. All I ever hear when I call is...I'll see what we can do. It's frustrated me to the point of tears almost every month.
We've discussed leaving this company every month. Unfortunately it's not so easy to do. You have to wait to have them pick up their tanks until it's almost empty. Then you have to pay delivery and tank charges to the new company on top of paying for the tank of propane. Some companies won't come to deliver a new tank until the old one is removed from the property. It's a huge hassle.
Tom talked to the company's owner in the beginning of Dec and he assured Tom that we did need a bigger tank and they would deliver a 2nd tank in a week or two. He assured us we'd get a delivery the next day, on 12/5 and agreed we could be put on auto delivery. Well no 2nd tank appeared as of last Monday (the 29th) and we were on the verge of running out. So Tom called them that morning, inquiring about the tank and auto delivery. Receptionist says...I can't make that decision, the owner has to and she took Tom's cell number. Owner never called Tom back.
I held back the payment waiting to see how things worked out. Afterall, I don't want anymore of their gas if this is going to continue. Knowing that we're on the verge of running out though I couldn't let the delivery be too far in the future. This weekend I decided I'd finally write the letter I'd been threatening to do and enclose it with their check. Tom drove up there yesterday and personally dropped it off in their drop box. When he arrived home he brought in the mail that no one had gotten on Saturday. There was a bill from the propane company...they had delivered propane on the 30th!!!! How did I miss that? Tom asked if I wanted him to go retrieve the letter. I said no, you can't (you insert it into a mail slot) and it's still true...except for being on the verge of running out. We still have a problem that I want resolved.
Still I feel like an idiot. Here I was carrying on and on about how we have to watch the tank, ration (and we had been doing that all week!), etc and yet I didn't know that we had a full tank. *heavy sigh* I guess we'll see how this month goes because income tax return check should be here in a month or so. Switching companies will be at the top of my list of how to spend it if this continues. (along with replacing our hot water tank...dropping our propane usage and saving us money). No one has called so far today. I know someone has to have seen my letter. There was no way to get to the check without opening the letter. So now we wait...tick, tock, tick, tock.
No comments:
Post a Comment