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This company has developed quite a reputation for dishonest work practices pertaining specifically to Gas/Propane delivery. A group of us have decided to form together and expose the company for it's shady practices. We were shocked to learn that though there were many complaints by word of mouth no one has yet posted anything on the web to fore warn others. If I can save some frustration and money then I will attempt to do so. The first and most common complaint you will hear is billing. Eastern Propane does not bother to give you a normal receipt for a delivery. It is usually chicken scratches that mean very little. Considering the price of propane (around $300-$600 a delivery) you would think a little more effort would be taken when producing a customer a receipt. The reason the receipt needs to be more professional is because of the mystery billing... Suddenly a bill comes in the mail from Eastern Propane. You open it and find a $500 charge for a "automatic delivery". You realize you have just had your tanks filled 2 weeks ago and have paid $600. They have no tracking system, no proof of delivery, or anything else. You will receive a bill however. You call Eastern and ask what happened. They simply state the did an automatic delivery (curiously some of us are never home) and the delivery equaled X amount of fuel. You can dispute it with them however, the bottom line is if you don't pay the bill your heat will be shut off. This happened to me once, and not only did they shut my propane off but my neighbor saw them draining my hot water as well using the valve... I called and paid immediately and was shocked at how ruthless they could be. I had 2 children both under the age of two... I asked if they could check for leaks because 16o gallons of propane should have lasted more then 3 weeks in a 1100 square foot home. Mysteriously, there were no leaks. My heat was set at 72. In my experience this was a little excessive and after talking to other customers I realized they too had asked to have their tanks or lines checked for leaks. I chuckle now more in disbelief then anything at how devious they were putting on a show to "check my tank" Stay away, stay away, stay away, from these guys. There are plenty of Vendors in Southern Maine and NH to do business with regarding fuel. I hope this fore warns anyone thinking of using them and saves you money this upcoming winter.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
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Billing is a disaster - get multiple bills from delivery man. Hawley office and corporate office in Boston - Seperate bills for tank rental - complete confusion.
I agree with all the sentiments regarding this company. I've been a propane and oil customer for years and I've had to regularly call to tell them they've allocated the wrong funds. I've got 2 accounts clearly marked but their just sloppy.
Secondly I've recently noticed that they've charged me twice for $63 of oil which I prepaid by a contract so I'll be calling Monday.
I'm considering cancelling my business.
We have had an extremely negative experience with Eastern Propane, as well. We have been good customers for nearly 20 years. We had a very high end propane monitor installed by Eastern, at great expense, for a large bedroom above our garage that was being used for years by our kids. When the unit was first installed, Eastern placed a very large tank on-site and set up automatic delivery. Although we did notice that those deliveries did seem to correlate with rising propane prices, we never complained, as we had a growing family and many expenses at the time. Throughout the years, most of our children have left for college, and the large bedroom above the garage is used more sporadically as a rec room, therefore, we don't use the monitor as much. After noticing a delivery last winter that was literally when the propane prices were at their very highest, I called and took the tank off of automatic delivery, and paid for the delivery in full. At the beginning of the summer, I received a bill for a $100 service charge. My husband called and was told rather rudely that "we don't use enough propane to support such a large tank, therefore, we need to pay a $100." He told the customer service person to come pick up the tank. She said that she would schedule it. The next day, we received a disconnect notice in the mail, which stated that it did not matter that we did not owe any money, that if we did not pay the $100 fee, our service would be disconnected. Several weeks later, a very nice Eastern man came to pick up the tank. My husband happened to be home, and the employee asked my husband why we were having our service disconnected. When my husband told him our story, all the Eastern employee could do was to shake his head and say that he is seeing the mistreatment of the "little guy" more and more every day. He was a very nice and understanding gentleman, very professional. Unfortunately, he neglected to mention, as did the customer service representative, that there is an $85 charge for them to actually come remove their tank. Basically, Eastern is running a scam, and once you are a customer, they have you over a barrel. If you're not on automatic delivery so that they can deliver your fuel when it is at its highest, they will charge you a $100 service fee to make up the difference, and if you decide you don't want to play their shady games, they'll hit you with an $85 fee just to get out of being a customer. They should change their name to Eastern Propane Mafia-Extortion Specialists. It is a much more accurate depiction.
They also do not deliver propane to customer owned tanks - how strange. Propane is definitely NOT the way to go, the BTU's are much lower than other heating fuels 91, 600 (propane) vs. 138, 600 (#2 heating oil). Oil prices may be high but do not do what the propane industry did to consumers this past winter and others with jacked up prices and supposed shortages and rationing. If considering switching from oil to propane - think long and hard, not a good choice, even with the higher efficiency of propane burning appliances. Plus you have to have a big ugly white tank outside. Did your propane supplier tell you to increase efficiency clear all snow and ice off your tanks in winter - of course not. I have been an Energy Auditor since 2004 and see people make this mistake time and time again. Fill in the summer and hope that you do not have to fill in the winter when they jack up the prices unreasonably. I too use propane but only for appliances and wish I hadn't even done that - works out OK as long as I fill in the summer.
Another thing at least with oil the price does not vary with how many appliances you use - ridiculous.
I agree. The credit clerk is very unreasonable. they don't bother to look at the payment log and compared with the usage. The billing system is inadequate. The payment and the usage did not add up. It is a horrible mistake to do business with unreasonable people.
The credit / billing department is unaccountable and very rude. They sent technician to shut off my service even we made an arrangement for payment.
The billing is horrible and so much error mistake between meters.
This guy is clearly an idiot