Suburban Propane
reviews and complaints

We just received our propane bill from Suburban Propan in the Albany NY suburbs on 1/20/2009. At $4.40 a gallon for 310 gallons the $1, 370 bill seemed a steep to me. I went back over my old bills and compared them with the historic prices from the New York Home Propane Monitoring System, at http://www.nyserda.org/Energy_Information/nyepf.asp In the winter of 2008 they charged 11% over the average NY State Prices, in 2009 they charged 25% over and this winter they are charging 51% over!

The previous owners of our house say they purchased the tank from Agway, but have no proof and Agway is no longer in the Gas buisness. Suburban claims the tank belongs to them because I cannot find the paperwork. Does any of this make sense or is it simply that Suburban Propane is a greedy liar?

I've had a Suburban Propane Tank in my backyard for about 2 year. If their service was as great as the guy that sold me this tank and gas there would be no problem. These Parasites have tried to charge me $10 per gallon for propane when other companies like Ferrelgas was charging $1.89/gallon. I had this tank installed on a new construction shop so I had no idea how much the shop would use per year. I found that I did a real good gob insulating my shop so now because I don’t use huge amounts of Propane, Suburban wants to charge me from $4 and up for the gas I do use. I have thought about contacting one of those Consumer Advocacy Groups that like to use the Media to beat Companies like this up for their less than Ethical Business Practices. On the last visit from the Suburban Propane Delivery person, he was told to charge me $500 for 125 gallons of Propane. That is $4 per gallon. The driver told me he wouldn't even pay that much for Propane because he knows how much they pay for it. Looks like even their drivers are tired of getting beat up by the Customers. I guess when you run a less than Ethical Business even your employee's get tired of the abuse that their Company is causing. I would bet that if the CEO of the company had to hear the complaints like the Drivers do, he might change his Business Practices. As long as we allow Companies like Suburban Propane to victimize people they will thrive in this Country. What will finish a company like this one would be a campaign of Bad Publicity that lets people know what they are in for if they sign a contract with Suburban Propane. I would ask that people start calling their Political Representatives in Washington and letting them know about this Company and how they are doing you. You might be surprized at how much a phone call from a Senator can get people moving in the right direction.

I moved into my new place about 9 months ago and was on a meter with suburban propane at the recommendation of my landlord.

After getting a bill for over $400 my first month, I found out they were charging about double what other companies were charging.

After some negotiation, we reduced the bill and agreed that the meter will be removed and I would call if I needed more gas in the future. This was agreed upon with their general manager. It was clear that I would pay for what was in the tank already and that no more deliveries would be made unless I called to ask for it.

Their billing system was screwed up and created a duplicate account and they kept sending threatening letters about not paying, when I pay for everything in full. They kept sending automatic threatening letters to shut down my tank, when they do not own the tank and the payment was made in full. I finally had them fix this and there was no apology or sorry or anything.

A few months went by and everything seemed ok.

Well, today, their truck shows up and they fill the tank without my permission and just gave me a bill for it.

I never called to ask for the gas and the driver lied and make up excuses and basically bullied me and told me how it was in my best interest as the gas prices are going up and used his route log as an excuse for what he did. From their other behavior, I would have to question everything the driver said and I believe it was all a lie and cheat people.

This seems to be another one of their misleading tactics and they are filling my tank without my permission, then expecting me to pay for it and if I don't, they will threaten to shut off a tank they do not own.

From what I read about them from other people, this type of dishonest tactics seem to be "normal business" for them.

I am not sure what I can do. Can I call the police if they shut of a tank they do not own?

I am sorry I ever did any business with them and I would warn others about even opening an account with them.

Suburban Propane charged a tank rental fee for propane tanks, which was not in the contract. When I complained they reduced the fee by half. I paid it for fear they would take the tanks out, leaving me with no heat.

When I sold the property, I notified them to take a reading on the volume of propane in the tanks and make arrangements to retrieve them. They failed to do this and the new owner used 40-50 gals of my propane before Suburban removed the tanks. This was after repeated phone calls to Suburban to take care of the matter.

When they finally removed the tanks, not only was 40-50 gals used up, Suburban Propane had the audacity to charge me a $60.00 closing fee, in addition to what I had lost to the new owner.

I would not use this company for any reason in the future and urge anyone else to avoid them.

One day out of the blue I see a man is dragging his big propane hose across my yard. I stopped him and told him I did not ask for more propane. I had over 3/4 of a tank and I have only a gas stove that I don't use much. He said he had to add propane or take my tank.
So I had to pay for propane I did not need or want.
When I called the manager to complain said it was a misundestanding.
The next year I was sent a bill for Tank Rental. I guess saying you're going to take someone's tank wasn't the right thing to do.
A couple of months ago here is a man yet again dragging his hose across my yard. Another forced tank fill up.
And to add insult to injury I got a bill last month a bill for tank rental.
I've written them and told them this is some racket they have going.
I told them I am about to turn them in to AARP since I live in an Over 55 Mobile Home Park and I am not the only one they've done this to. AARP loves ripping into companies who take advantage of us older folks.
I am also one step from turning them over to a local news station who also loves to get a hold of companies like Suburban.
I told them I will wait a reasonable amount of time for an explanation or I'm throwing them to the dogs.
If you have this type of problem and belong to AARP let them know.
If you have a local news station who will investigate, turn them in.
They need to be stopped and made to pay for ripping people off!

Just had my Propane tank removed without prior notice, the tank was full!
I received a letter this year, first time in 9 years that there is now a rental fee on my tank. I spoke with a representative about the new rental fee and was told that they would waive the fee this year and begin billing me in January. I was told by the rep all was OK. Still not understanding the new fee, I thought at least I had some time to figure out what this fee was about.
While I was out - my child at home called me at work to inform me that the Suburban Truck was in my driveway and that she heard noises outside near the tank.
I called Suburban wondering what they were doing in my driveway. My first call- " we do not have any serivce scheduled at your address" Second call to inform them that they took the tank- " oh yes, you didn't pay the rental fee so we removed your tank! and by the way our policy is that you didn't have a gas delivery this year so you owe us a rental fee and you didn't pay this fee so we had no choice but to remove your tank!"
All was denied about my first conversation about the rental fee! WOW! Has anyone else experienced this?

Suburban overcharges for propane and I found out why - their customer rep told me they "(we) have higher overhead then other companies, so we have to charge more." What?!. They charged us $3.299 per gallon for propane on 1-12-09, $1.15 higher per gallon then other propane companies in our area. Suburban is non-negotiable on their price probably because of their “overhead”. I phoned them in October to set up a "call ahead before deliveries" and to put a gauge on the fuel tank, so we could be prepared to pay the BIG bill. Promises, promises. Needless to say, we are still waiting. Another customer service rep suggested we have the tank removed so we could use another propane company. She was surprised to learn Suburban has a $1500 tank removal fee. Today I paid the $1152.68 and since I was 16 days late they added a 1.5% late fee. So, Suburban actually charged me $3.365 per gallon for this last tank. They tell me the tank will be empty by March 15th, so here we go again. SMZ

Thanks for these posts, which I read with strong self-interest.

I have been having a terrible time with Suburban Propane in upstate New York (Columbia County). We have been getting deliveries even after we have stopped automatic delivery -- with no ticket or invoice left behind. We only recently discovered another 225 gallon delivery (while we were at the house even!) when we called to confirm a credit when they readjusted our price per gallon from the previous two deliveries. They had been charging us a dollar a gallon more before we called them on the prices.

We have been extremely suspicious of their records and their deliveries, as the usage is exorbitant and inconsistent with similar properties (over 1000 gallons in 10 weeks for a weekend house). Our gauge was showing full capacity when they decided to schedule the latest delivery of 225 gallons (out of 500) and it remained the same after they had purportedly fueled up.

When we called to complain about these erratic and inconsistent deliveries/records, we were met with lies, and eventually, attitude, and threats that our house would "freeze up in 3 days" if we stopped delivery. Their true intentions were revealed when they called up our real estate agent to "alarm" them about our cancelling service (which we had not done), and subsequently told me they had a long account with the owner they were interested in protecting. The previous renter had a similarly bad experience with them and actually used another provider.

This whole affair has left a bad taste in our mouths and we are now shopping around for a new propane provider. Even as we do so, we're nervous that we would simply switch from bad to worse, given their reputations.

If anyone has some positive experiences with particular propane companies in my area, I'd gladly take any recommendations.

Nelson

I recently changed Propane suppliers from Suburban Propane to another company due to huge price differences. Suburban last charged me $4.09 per Gallon versus new company charging $2.45 per gallon. I was told by Suburban that I would be paid for the unused propane in tanks. The cost of propane I had been buying was between $3.79 - $4.09 a gallon. First I had to continually call then for over 2 months to get them to get their tanks picked up. Then today I contact then to see what they are reimbursing me for the 2 tanks, which were both full. I was informed I was receiving $571.00 for 200 gallons. Even if I had only paid $3.50 a gallon I should still be receiving $700.00! So it appears they are buying it back at around $2.08 a Gallon. Isn't there any place to report these people? This is absolutely ridiculous!

Suburban purchased Agway and the prices have been rising ever since. I called December 14 for a current price and was told it was $4.45 a gallon for propane. I called all the other companies in the area and got prices from $3.25-$3.79. That is $1 a gallon more than the lowest company in my area. I went to the government web site Energy Information Administration and found out that the current resident price for propane is $2.36 a gallon. That is more than $2.00 more than the national average. I also looked at the wholesale price for that $4.45 propane and it is $0.73. That is 73 cents for the propane that they wanted to charge me $4.45 for. That is over 600% profit. Is that gouging or not. I have no problem with them making a reasonable profit but that is nothing more than robbery without the gun. I called my local state senator and was told that there prices were not regulated. If we get enough people calling our elected representatives, they will regulate them. If you want to change companies, you have to pay your old company to take out your tanks and pay the new company to put in new tanks. The only alternative is to convert to electric.

Purchased home in July '08. Was told 76 gallons of propane in the tank was included in this sale. Suburban filled this tank in August, 2008, 33 gallons. I was billed for the 76 gallons in the tank in August. I was then billed for the 33 gallons in September. The August bill was for 76 gallons. The September bill was for 33 gallons delivered in August. They included a late fee with this bill in September, even though I never saw a bill for the 33 gallons. I rec'd a 55 gallon delivery on September 20th as well. I spoke with costumer service several times to inquire why my bill was so high, after several phone calls; I was told the seller was refunded the money for the 76 gallons. I was encouraged to go on a budget by this rep. It was October 15th. I agreed, paid my 55 gallon bill of $199 and was told the budget would be $95/month. I rec'd another bill for $95, for September - October. I called customer service again, they told me this $95 bill was from 10/15 until 10/20 for the budget plan. They're billing cycle begins on the 20th every month, they refuse to prorate it and they refuse to credit my payment for the September 20th delivery toward the budget. This company is double dipping, charging me twice for the exact same propane. Use any other company for your propane needs. This company does not explain their billing policies, their customer service reps lie, and they refuse to correct their mistakes. It is unacceptable with the premium people are paying for petroleum products, the oil companies record profits thatthese companies would have to rip their customers off the way they ripped me off. I'm switching to electric, they lost my business and I hope they go bankrupt.