Tuesday, December 30th, 2008...5:10 pm
Coleman Propane of Washingtonville, NY are crooks
I happened to be home today when they came and filled my propane tanks (which are only used for the water heater) so I walked out and met the delivery man in the driveway to get the receipt. As I walked back to the house I eagerly checked the price per gallon hoping that it had dropped as much as fuel oil has recently.
I was SHOCKED to see that I had been charged $4.59 / gallon! I did the quick math, this was in fact more per gallon than buying it for your gas grill. It turns out that it’s a full dollar more so I cold called them. “How much is the going rate on propane?” I asked. “What is it for?” they responded…. Rather than get into why that matters I said “hot water” and the girl said that the current price was $3.299/gallon!
I said that my tanks had been filled not 5 minutes earlier and that the receipt showed $4.60/gallon. She quickly took my name and said it would be corrected in the system tomorrow. I asked how this happened, she said they have been having problems with their system or it could be driver error. I said “then how can I ever trust you?” Her response, “I don’t know, I’m new here.”
Coleman Propane of Washingtonville, New York are crooks.
I suspect that the drivers are entering prices based on quality of the residences they deliver to thinking they are making more for the company and will retain their jobs longer. The next time they come to this house, it will be to pick up their tanks.
13 Comments
February 19th, 2009 at 9:35 am
I have experienced the same thing with coleman. Only I use it for heat. My bills are sometimes over $400 a month. Who knows how much extra I have been charged in the last few years. I plan on contacting Colemans regional supervisor, the Better Business Bureau and emailing the Times Herald Record. If you would like to back up my experience please let me know.
Adam
February 21st, 2009 at 1:58 am
I have experienced the same thing with them and already wrote a letter to THR. They way over charged me at 3.19/gallon and I use it for heat/hot water/stove/dryer. I got them to lower it to 2.99 which is still 10-20 cents over than yankee and bottini, so they came and delivered today and the receipt says again 3.19. Their customer service is horrible beyond compare as well, no one ever calls you back, the managers are never there, and I mad a payment over the phone in nov and they never took it out of my acct then put me in collections.
February 21st, 2009 at 7:53 am
I have been dealing with Coleman Propane for 3 years now and have had nothing but trouble with them as far as customer service goes and overcharging more than other propane companies. I had a brochure from them stating if a customer was on budget billing there would be automatic delivery and if there was a balance at the end of the year you could roll it over to the next year’s budget. Well, I was on budget billing and they never automatic filled and I almost ran out. Also I was told I had to pay the balance at the end of the year before they would start me on a new budget. On 11/21/08 I called for a fill-up and was told I needed to make a payment which I did over the phone with my credit card and they came a few days later to fill up but never took the money out of my acct. Around the same time they put me into collections after I paid them over the phone. Also little did I know I was being overcharged per gallon from day 1 compared to other propane companies. This month, I called to speak to a manager about this and their managers are never in the office, so I left a voicemail. He never called me back. I called the next day to have a fill up and find out about the price per gallon. I was told the manager was not in and they would call me back. At that time I told them I was less than 5% on my tank. They never called back. I had to call them back again. They quoted me a price of 2.999/gal which is still 10-20cents more than Yankee and Bottini. I then left a message with the office manager to call me back and she never did. Also they never came to fill my tank after telling them yesterday morning I was less than 5%. So, I checked my meter at 5:30p to my surprise, no fill-up yet. I had to call the after-hours guy and he said I will charged $150 for an after hours fill-up. After the driver filled up my tank he left me with a receipt and again they charged me 3.19/gallon. This was the last straw with this company. I wrote a letter to the Times Herald Record. I am thinking of writing to the BBB as well. There has been complaints about this company on the internet as well.
February 23rd, 2009 at 5:31 pm
I live in Washingtonville and Coleman has been in bus. over 75 yrs and has thousands of satisfied customers.
No co.s have budgets that rollover from yr. to yr. that doesn’t even make sence!
Really Jessica, how much $ do you owe them?? and Chad, the appearence of your hse??? that’s a good one. are u kiddng??
February 23rd, 2009 at 7:21 pm
Jessica F. You aren’t understanding me. I am as confused as to why they charge customers differently for identical uses as anyone. The only basis for price I could think of was house appearance and whim. I am not kidding as Coleman’s own representative told me it could have been ‘driver error.’ BTW: it happened again.
After posting initially I talked to a person named Jim at Coleman who told me that they give customers using propane in exactly the same way, totally different prices. He said that it’s not really based on anything, it’s just business. He said he’d charged as much as $7.99/gallon to some people in the last year. However, it’s easy to find the area’s propane rates and the highest it reached was around $3.50 in the last 19 years. http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/hist/wprre144w.htm
While looking into other dealers I found that the out of pocket expense to start a new contract is not low. In some cases it runs $300 plus the cost of 70 gallons of propane. Like a cell phone contract, it’s not cheap to switch providers and given that it is very easy to find other customers in the area upset with other companies (read: Suburban), it is hard to know what to do or where to go. Three to Five hundred dollars per attempt is not a viable way to find a good provider.
June 3rd, 2009 at 6:59 am
HI everyone…just to add fuel to this fire (no pun intended) was that Weaver Gas is no better.
I called to get a price to fill my 100 gal propane tank for my pool heater – $4.95/gallon!!!!
I talked with someone at Coleman, and they’re charging 2.09/gal. However, come to find out the law in NY is that one company cannot by law fill the tank of another company…so essentially there is a built in price fix on the costs of propane. The only way around it is to actually buy the propane tank yourself – an option I am currently exploring.
I’ll post again once I find out some particulars.
June 3rd, 2009 at 8:50 am
Karl. I spoke with Weaver and they at least claimed to charge based on usage. Less usage, higher price.
They also explained that the insurance on their trucks is ridiculously high because they transfer liquid propane from tank to tank. Tanks for your LP gas grill are sealed from point of sale to point of sale, so the insurance is much lower. Regardless, I’m still stuck with Coleman until I switch to electric.
June 3rd, 2009 at 8:56 am
BTW: This guide is very helpful, though confirms that companies set their prices based on what they paid, not the current national averages.
http://www.eia.doe.gov/bookshelf/brochures/propane/
June 3rd, 2009 at 4:10 pm
Thanks…they did mention the “usage equation”, but because of that law I mentioned, I am bound to use Weaver, and only Weaver. I was not told about the insurance issue.
I am now exploring the possibility of buying my own propane tank, then i can pit the gas companies against each other. that’s the only way around it. Thanks for the link to the DOE!
October 22nd, 2009 at 10:01 am
I too almost made the Coleman propane mistake….however due to Colemans arrogant customer service and business practices I will be using another company. I was just moving into the area and called Coleman to have service setup…they quoted me a price and gave me a delivery date (which was seven days away). I asked what time the delivery man would be there so I could meet him at the new house…I was told between 8am-5pm…great, so I took that day off of work and waited…and waited…4pm I called them to make sure they were in fact still coming….I was told no! They said the driver called and got no answer- so they blew me off! In checking my caller ID- no-one called! So Thank You Coleman for saving me from becoming one of your customers…or more accuratly victim’s.
June 22nd, 2010 at 8:15 am
I was put on the budget by coleman and after the season my balance was 885.09. Every time I send them a payment of 235.00 the balance is still the same. when I explain to them my circustances that I was on wc and had just returned to work and that whne I had the money I send them a payment they told me they could not give me a full delivery but only half. I use it for heat and hot water and this time of year only hot water. For some reason they thought I only had a dryer and I told them NO dryer but hot water she said nothing. They don’t work with you and I told them I was getting someone else. I am fed up with their bull shit. I have been charged over $4.00 a gallon since I have been with them.
June 22nd, 2010 at 8:25 am
$4 a gallon is good. I got a delivery yesterday at over $5 a gallon.
July 20th, 2010 at 2:39 pm
i switched from Coleman to Star Gas – went from well over 3.30 a gal to 2.19 a gallon…now I’m trying to get a reimbursement for the 70% full tanks they took…i’ve been told for the past 3 months that i “should be getting the check really really soon.” first i was told that gas isnt free and that they hadn’t been paid by the prior homeowners and didn’t have contact info for them — which we got for them and STILL no check…and now they don’t even answer when we call.
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