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Amerigas Delivery Issues

yeldogt

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Jan 2, 2012
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Sounds like the flush handle has been pulled and the company is circling the bowl...


Kinda odd because usually a company entering bankruptcy (no idea if they're going bankrupt or what, but they're clearly only a corpse at this point) is pretty eager to sell and collect what they can before getting scooped up.

It's owned by private equity -- the guys who did my install said they had covid issues with drivers and inside staff
 
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rustyjames

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central nj
It's owned by private equity -- the guys who did my install said they had covid issues with drivers and inside staff

You know what pissed me off the most is that they know I tried to contact them, several times, and they could at least have sent me an email, or phone call. Tomorrow is 5 weeks since I placed the order.
 

yeldogt

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You know what pissed me off the most is that they know I tried to contact them, several times, and they could at least have sent me an email, or phone call. Tomorrow is 5 weeks since I placed the order.

I hear you ..... They double billed me on part of the install. It took them more than one day .. so I got charged another service call for each guy and the truck. The installers told me it may happen and to just call or e-mall. Well -- it did and the charge not coming off stopped me from being able to schedule the next delivery. I ended up texting the salesperson who took in off the same day ...

I was able to talk to someone the other week about not getting an invoice for my last delivery ... I'm still OK .... but if they fall out of the delivery window. I'm going with someone else. My weekend place is not out in the sticks .... but -- I can't be thinking about my tank.

Used to go the the Allen Farm auction years ago ....everything is Allen around there
 
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Copymutt

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Local Amerigas was one if my customers, Printer copier business. They abandoned their route customers for the churn & burn refill swap model you still see at places like Walmart. Glad I never used them.
 

Busted_Knuckles

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Oct 9, 2009
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Northwest Illinois
I run with the local yocal gas company, service is outstanding, as well as the prices. The tanks are " free " of rent as long as I keep putting gas in them. If I call them, the girl that answers the phone knows me when she answers ( guessing caller ID/interface with customer list ? ) Its also always the same girl.

OP, Id start shopping,, Ive been on propane most of my life, and had several providers, the smaller the better. I know Ive had Amerigas, as well, but its been too many years, but I dont remember problems. Ive had Farrellgas as well. Neither names bring me warm fuzzy feelings, seem to remember they had crazy prices.

Ive got a 1000 gal for the shop and 500 for the house, they have some kind of GSM device on them that tells them what the levels are, or if they get low they get some kind of " alarm ". As long as I pay the bill, its a pretty zero participation, on my behalf utility.

Not sure what your doing with a 100gal tank as far north as NJ, I think your about the same latitude as me. I cant make through the winter without both being refilled at least once.,.. or is 100 a typo, you meant 1000 ?

Im on a contract right now, without going and looking I think Im paying $1.25..
 
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rustyjames

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@Busted--No typo, it's a 100 gallon tank, at least that's what it holds. It feeds a unit heater in my shop. I'm only out working in it about 4 hours a day in the winter so that'll pretty much carry me over the winter.
 

vavet

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Mar 6, 2012
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Ashland, VA
Never had a propane tank before we built this house 5 years ago. It’s used for the whole house generator and the heat pump supplemental heat, so not a lot and certainly not much at all except in the coldest of months.

Our supplier, Quarles, recently bought another company. We prepay for fuel in the summer, usually to get a lower rate, but not always. They fill it when their algorithms tell them it needs to be filled based on power outages, temperature trends, historical usage, and other customers usage. We haven’t run out yet, but they told us if we do, we move to the top of the refill list because we have it on auto-fill. They also waive the pressure check fee if we run out.

My MIL hated the auto fill and refused to participate, but would then run out in the middle of winter and have to pay the urgent refill fee, the pressure check fee, after hours fee, etc.

I want to believe in the algorithm to refill our tank when needed but they are really screwing the pooch as we speak. We lost power yesterday about noon with about 20% in our 325 gallon tank. We have lots of ice bringing down power lines. We started rationing propane yesterday afternoon, shut it down overnight, etc. I called the emergency line this morning to say we have 11% left in our tank and need a refill. I was told their trucks are grounded because of road conditions. I get that, but I told the guy it’s not about today and yesterday, it’s about the last 3 weeks when you let us get down this low. We’re supposed to be on auto fill, so now I’m dealing with a problem THEY created. Looks like it’s time for me to shop for a new supplier.
 

Busted_Knuckles

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We lost power yesterday about noon with about 20% in our 325 gallon tank.

Dont mean to Monday morning quarter back you, just some unsolicited feedback from the back of the room, if your looking to switching horses, Id look to source a 500 gal tank minimum, but that's me ( assuming the tank is provided by your vendor ). Too much $ ******* in all that to have the infrastructure and not be able to use it...

When I switched, my new vendor was like " we will bring you a 500 ", I said, " aw hell no, bring me a 1000 or nothing,, and they did. Ive done that twice, did not ask, just told them, when switching,... food for thought !

Good Luck !
 

vavet

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Dont mean to Monday morning quarter back you, just some unsolicited feedback from the back of the room, if your looking to switching horses, Id look to source a 500 gal tank minimum, but that's me ( assuming the tank is provided by your vendor ). Too much $ ******* in all that to have the infrastructure and not be able to use it...

When I switched, my new vendor was like " we will bring you a 500 ", I said, " aw hell no, bring me a 1000 or nothing,, and they did. Ive done that twice, did not ask, just told them, when switching,... food for thought !

Good Luck !

That’s good feedback. I’m inexperienced in the ways of propane, so I’ll take your input. Thanks.
 

FTG-05

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Oct 11, 2012
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Location
TN
Last time I had gas delivered, I talked with the driver. He said a lot of people were leaving or got laid off because they closed all their local offices. Now all phone calls go to a central office (Read: Answering Machine Hell). The only bright spot is that the employees need to use it as well and they all despise it.

I'm on a lease, here it was when I bought the place. What's the going price for a 500 or 750 gallon tank?

How do you find the spot price of propane at any time? Most of the propane sites I go to don't show the price.

Thanks,
 

Ron_J

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Jul 10, 2018
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295
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Central PA
I'm not sure I understand the want of a large tank. My provider has a mandatory annual fill, and will fill anytime without an extra fee. If they want to put a 100gal tank and fill it up monthly, why would I care? Takes up a lot less space than a 500gal tank.

And like others have said....Amerigas here ***** as well.
 

Busted_Knuckles

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Northwest Illinois
I'm not sure I understand the want of a large tank. My provider has a mandatory annual fill, and will fill anytime without an extra fee. If they want to put a 100gal tank and fill it up monthly, why would I care? Takes up a lot less space than a 500gal tank.

Super Simple, when the trucks are not " Rollin " for whatever reason, you likely got fuel.... otherwise, your in the situation mentioned above for Vavet, powers out, 20% or less of a 325 gallon tank, but he has a Genny and a furnace... which will shortly become worthless. How long is the power going to be out ?

Ive seen 3 weeks where Ive had customers with stand by Gennies that ran out of fuel in week 1. That was in July of 2020. Gas suppliers could not begin to service the empty tanks, because so many counties all went down on the same storm, that problem is much larger in the winter.

While getting new certs in Generator school, I learned that whole areas will pull the natural gas supply down to the point gennies wont run, due to everyone running demand past supply !

If you need make heat or A/C ( off your'e own off propane ) as an example, 100 gallons is a joke. Its even a bigger joke if its not full,.. which is never.. a full tank is only 80 gallons max to start with.

I guess its really just a simple choice. Have fuel or dont have fuel ?

It occurs to me that most that are on propane are rural, and " room " to place a tank is never even discussed?
 
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Busted_Knuckles

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How do you find the spot price of propane at any time? Most of the propane sites I go to don't show the price.

Thanks,

Pulled this from memory, I believe this is the base that the supplier or wholesaler is paying, they mark it up from here. I think this is a ball park, I will not pretend to know anything about this, just know where it exits..

I did a search for " propane spot price " $.88 on 2/15/21

https://www.indexmundi.com/commodities/?commodity=propane

Take a look a the graph, and you will see why you want to " buy " a contract in July for the year... !
 

vavet

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Ashland, VA
Pulled this from memory, I believe this is the base that the supplier or wholesaler is paying, they mark it up from here. I think this is a ball park, I will not pretend to know anything about this, just know where it exits..

I did a search for " propane spot price " $.88 on 2/15/21

https://www.indexmundi.com/commodities/?commodity=propane

Take a look a the graph, and you will see why you want to " buy " a contract in July for the year... !

That’s exactly what we’ve done the last few years, but even that link shows what we saw...sometimes the price goes down from July to January. I don’t understand that. It seems demand for propane would be higher in the winter. Idk...

Just to close the loop here...we got a propane delivery today about 1 PM and our utility power was restored about the same time. They filled us to 85%. I was surprised to see that, I thought 80% was the maximum.

As far as room for our tank, our 325gallon tank is buried. I think there are codes about how close a tank can be to a structure. We live on about an acre in a rural subdivision...if that’s a thing. I just mean lots are bigger, more spread out, and wooded. The homeowner gets to decide how much of the vegetation is left when the lot is cleared for construction. It’s not a Cracker Jack lot with 4 floor plans and everyone’s house looks the same kind of subdivision.
 

yeldogt

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Jan 2, 2012
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That’s exactly what we’ve done the last few years, but even that link shows what we saw...sometimes the price goes down from July to January. I don’t understand that. It seems demand for propane would be higher in the winter. Idk...

Just to close the loop here...we got a propane delivery today about 1 PM and our utility power was restored about the same time. They filled us to 85%. I was surprised to see that, I thought 80% was the maximum.

As far as room for our tank, our 325gallon tank is buried. I think there are codes about how close a tank can be to a structure. We live on about an acre in a rural subdivision...if that’s a thing. I just mean lots are bigger, more spread out, and wooded. The homeowner gets to decide how much of the vegetation is left when the lot is cleared for construction. It’s not a Cracker Jack lot with 4 floor plans and everyone’s house looks the same kind of subdivision.

10' .... needs to be 10' from any structure or property line .... point source of spark.
 

yeldogt

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Jan 2, 2012
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Looks like I got my delivery yesterday (Friday) ..... 560g. So I was a bit over 20% when they filled it. It shows up in my online account

Friday was the last day of the two week delivery window. I'm surprised as we had very bad weather yesterday in that part pf PA ...

Feel better knowing it got filled ...going through more than I figured. But with the place under construction --it's to be somewhat expected. They filled the new tank last fall -- forget when I turned the heat on -- just before T day I think. That's about $3500 of propane with this delivery.
 

Busted_Knuckles

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Northwest Illinois
I ran into my " private " locally owned supplier yesterday. He shared with me they are billing a $2.59 a gal as of yesterday ( demand purchases/non-contract ). Im at half that ( with a 2020 contract ).

Which is not a big deal, I remember, maybe it as 2011/2012ish, we had a shortage in the midwest, and folks where paying as high as $8 gal ! I think I was under a dollar at the time. They where literally trucking propane up here from down south.
 

FTG-05

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TN
Pulled this from memory, I believe this is the base that the supplier or wholesaler is paying, they mark it up from here. I think this is a ball park, I will not pretend to know anything about this, just know where it exits..

I did a search for " propane spot price " $.88 on 2/15/21

https://www.indexmundi.com/commodities/?commodity=propane

Take a look a the graph, and you will see why you want to " buy " a contract in July for the year... !

I'm not sure what that's supposed to tell me other than prices go up in the winter - which I already knew.

What I'm asking is: How do you find out what the different prices are for propane, in my area, when their website don't show a price.

Or to put it another way: How are people finding out who has the cheapest gas at any particular time?

I'm not in a rush because we only have hot water and our stove on gas (heat pump is on it, but we use wood heat, so it's never used). I always fill out 500 gallon tank in July or August.
 

yeldogt

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I ran into my " private " locally owned supplier yesterday. He shared with me they are billing a $2.59 a gal as of yesterday ( demand purchases/non-contract ). Im at half that ( with a 2020 contract ).

Which is not a big deal, I remember, maybe it as 2011/2012ish, we had a shortage in the midwest, and folks where paying as high as $8 gal ! I think I was under a dollar at the time. They where literally trucking propane up here from down south.

I was 1.59 .... 2nd 1.69. yesterday was 2.02.
 

yeldogt

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Just got an e-mail with a $50 rebate link as a thank you and we are sorry .. They are giving it to anyone who buys over 250 gallons in the first three months of the year.

With my last delivery ... should be good now until the summer .. I hope
 

Chuckster in NJ

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Jan 26, 2010
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Hunterdon County NJ
Amir Gas *****! I have had NOTHING but problems with them (ran out of gas six times with auto fill over the years and rude office staff) and their prices are outrageous! I purchased my own 1000# tank pulled their tank out in July and it was one of the happiest days in my life.
I locked in my propane price at $1.59 a gallon and have great service with a local LP gas company.

TIP! Make it your goal this summer to install your own tank and start saving $$$$$

BTW! Any of you NJ or PA guys need advice on where to buy a tank along with ALL related equipment just PM me.
 

yeldogt

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Amir Gas *****! I have had NOTHING but problems with them (ran out of gas six times with auto fill over the years and rude office staff) and their prices are outrageous! I purchased my own 1000# tank pulled their tank out in July and it was one of the happiest days in my life.
I locked in my propane price at $1.59 a gallon and have great service with a local LP gas company.

TIP! Make it your goal this summer to install your own tank and start saving $$$$$

BTW! Any of you NJ or PA guys need advice on where to buy a tank along with ALL related equipment just PM me.

That's a good price .....

You can own your own tank with Ameragas .... they bought the local company I had contracted with to install my tank ... this for a place I own in Solebury.

I'm most likely going to look around at other outlets once the house is finished
 

Busted_Knuckles

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Northwest Illinois
Where do you guys find a 1000 gal tank to own ? Do you look for new or used ? How long can they stay in service ? ( years )

The thought has crossed my mind to do this,...
 

yeldogt

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Where do you guys find a 1000 gal tank to own ? Do you look for new or used ? How long can they stay in service ? ( years )

The thought has crossed my mind to do this,...

I got prices from a few fuel companies -- new tank. Buried --

In my area it's easier to have the fuel company supply the tank/lines and regulators. They don't dig the hole ... you have to have the excavator.

They bring the tank and control the placement of same -- place the bags -- connect the lines. Order the fill. It's basically a self inspection if they do it .... they leak test everything. I was all connected when they departed.
 
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