ComplaintsforFirst Fuel & Propane

• Initial Complaint

  06/28/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Unanswered

  More info

  We smelled a propane gas smell coming from First Fuel propane tanks at our residential property. We called the office and the receptionist said that Kyle would be out within half an hour. After an hour with no arrival of Kyle, we called again. Receptionist said Kyle had to finish up another job, and would be here soon. Eventually Kyle showed up with a gas finding tool. He did detect propane leaking from at least one of their two tanks, He also checked the connection to our stand by generator, and found a small leak there too. (they had made the connection to the generator originally.) Kyle spent time tightening connections and continuing to check that the problem was fixed. By the time he left, we no longer smelled any propane. This morning, the company called to advise that the charge was $196.88 for Kyle's work and service call. We find this charge very unfair, since it was the company-owned tanks and connections that were leaking. We did nothing wrong. Why should we have to pay for the company's equipment having an issue? Plus leaking propane is a safety hazard!! We paid the bill via credit card over the phone, but would like a refund.

• Initial Complaint

  03/22/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  date of incident 03/18/2023 account number Customer #: ******* * called on 3/13 to get fuel delivered. They did not deliver claiming the driveway was not accessible. They charged me $108 anyways. They did not explain how much the hold would be and held $500 over-drafting my account. On Saturday 3/18/23 I called to deliver again. The driver was not looking at his front end when backing in and hit the gas too hard without turning the vehicle correctly and crashed into trees damaging the truck. They still have not delivered my propane. When I called to follow up they told me I have to wait another week for propane claiming that I am at fault for the driver's negligence and began arguing with me over the phone. There were two witnesses at the time of the incident. According to both witnesses there was no sliding that occurred. It was very clear that he did not slide in the driveway rather was not checking his front end and hit the gas too hard. There was no evidence of a slide in the tire tracks. They have left me for two weeks without propane to cook or have hot water one week occurring during the recent Nor'easter snowstorm. Both witnesses are willing to give a testimony. I called again 03/22/23 to inform them of service change. They now want to charge me extra to pick up the tank because of the accident on 3/18 and possibly charge me for the damage to the truck. I would like a refund for all charges that have occurred this week and for this business to be marked as fraudulent. When speaking to the manager on 3/22/23 I was called a moron and was hung up on without any resolution. They are going to try and charge me again. I would like a refund for all charges on my account from this organization from 3/12/23 to 3/18/23. additional complaints of fraudulent and unauthorized charges about this organization can be found on Yelp. Attached is a picture of the tire tracks showing no evidence of a slide and clear indication of tire tracks going right into the tree.

  Business response

  04/03/2023

  There is no fraudulent charges by First Fuel and Propane. Customer called right after winter storm and wanted same day delivery of propane because he let himself run out of propane. We charge a $175 emergency delivery fee for sending a truck out the same day for delivery. When we got to customers house the customer did not plow the driveway so we could not deliver. Even though we could not deliver we still had to send truck 40 minutes out of the way to attempt the delivery. We helped the customer by lowering it to $100 instead of $175 which we did not have to do. Then customer plowed driveway but did not sand driveway and we could not deliver for second attempt. Customer was frustrated that I told him we would not be back until the end of the week when driveway would be clear and able to deliver so he switched propane companies. Then as per contract we charged a $175 tank removal fee. 

  Customer response

  04/03/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below. Yes i agree that for the first arrival of the truck the company was kind to offer $100 rather than the $175

  However, the man I spoke to on 3/22/23 said the tank removal fee would be $100. In his response to this matter is he is saying $175. If there was an offer to remove the tank at $100 I was not made aware of that during our call on 3/22/23. After looking at the charge to my account on 3/29/23 it shows a $189 dollar charge. 

  I do not feel that this response is accurate based on this information. 

  Regards,
  
  **** ******* 

  Business response

  04/04/2023

  I am sorry you feel that way but that is what we charge and can not remove the fee. 

  Customer response

  04/06/2023

  Better Business Bureau:
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

  That is not what was spoken to me and by definition that is a fraudulent charge. My bank will be hearing about this. 
  
  Regards,
  
  **** ******* 

• Initial Complaint

  03/03/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  We moved to this house on 11/22/2020 We called First Fuel And Propane and discussed what size propane tank we would need since we were having a 22kw standby generator installed. My husband is 65 yrs. old. on social security disability and on an oxygen machine. We cannot afford to have a power failure hence the generator. So we were told from First Fuel that we needed a 500 gallon tank. They installed the tank, hose, piping and filled the tank with close to 500 gallons of propane. We paid cash for everything over $1500 cash and now own the propane. My husband received a phone call from Christine at First Fuel and Propane today 3/2/2022. She stated that we are NOT using enough propane. Now they either want to remove the current tank and install two small 125 gallon tanks. We will be charged for this swap out. She said we would be charged for two men all day plus you we pay for the two new tanks and the propane to be fill these two tanks. And, any other materials used. She stated that WE WILL NOT GET A CREDIT FOR THE 70% of propane left in the current 500 gallon tank which is at least 350 gallons OR we pay them $950 for "usage" because we are not using enough. Simply Ludicrous. She stated that they WILL take the 500 gallon tank out. She also stated that it was in writing which I did not see. My Husband signed an online credit app. And, they installed the tank and piping in March 2021. We are on a fixed income Husband gets$2200 a month from Social Security disability. We have a $1600 per month mortgage. We paid all the bill for their work in cash. Now they want to scam an elderly couple out for more money that we don't have. Please make them stop Harassing Senior citizens. I don't want to get the media involved or sue this company. We just want to be left alone. My husband told them that when this tank is empty, First Fuel can take it back. We will then go with a Veteran friendly/ Senior citizen friendly propane supplier.

  Business response

  04/26/2022

  Response taken by phone:  We are sorry for the inconvenience but we cannot have over $1000 in equipment at the residence and not receive any yearly income on it.   I believe we have discussed this with the consumer and worked it out.

*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. ↩