Comments on: Coleman Propane of Washingtonville, NY are crooks

By: kristin

kristin — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 19:39:00 +0000

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.

By: admin

admin — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 13:25:15 +0000

$4 a gallon is good. I got a delivery yesterday at over $5 a gallon.

By: Reba

Reba — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 13:15:01 +0000

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.

By: Scotty

Scotty — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:01:42 +0000

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.

By: Karl

Karl — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 21:10:42 +0000

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!

By: admin

admin — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 13:56:09 +0000

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/

By: admin

admin — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 13:50:22 +0000

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.

By: Karl

Karl — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 11:59:46 +0000

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.

By: admin

admin — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 00:21:52 +0000

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.

By: Jessica F.

Jessica F. — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 22:31:41 +0000

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??