Kem Gas false service rates and hidden fees Fort Bragg, California

Unfortunatly i did try to re-solve my problems with KEM gas. The lady on the phone was far from curtious to me or my wife, and the owner himself was extremely rude to both me and my wife. Our local rep in Sacramento was very reasonable and helped any way he could, but all decisions and payments went throught the Fort Bragg office. I did my due dilagence to resolve my differences with KEM gas, but the main office in Fort Bragg was completely unreasonable and continually called me and my wife a scammer and that we were out to get something for free, when really we just wanted to understand where the additional fee's were coming from and why we were getting charged for a tank rental that was advertised as free for the first year.

The tank rental fee is added to your bill, then you get a credit when you turn in your coupon (from what they told me), but they do not tell you that until after they bill you. They billed my credit card for the tank rental the same day they mailed me the coupon (which i didn't recieve until two days later). There are many propane companies out there that do not involve these kind of practices, and since this encouter with KEM gas i have used such a company and have absolutly no compliants. Upfront, honest, and helpful is what we were looking for in a propane company, and KEM gas was not that kind of company. 

I just had an experience very similar to kevinforesthill except that my experience had a happy ending.  I am a new customer.  I received an invoice last week from Kemgas and I set it aside until I could examine it more closely.  I did not think I should be getting an invoice at that time.  Then I got a "courtesy call" at home yesterday from Kemgas with a message regarding an unpaid balance and a threat to be locked off ($125 turn off fee) today.  I was a bit upset about that.

So I examined my records and it appeared they wanted to charge me for the first year tank rental.  I did not pay that when my service was installed because I was told it was free and that I should pay the balance of the invoice but not the tank rental fee.  As it turns out Kemgas did not have a copy of my lease agreement on file and that was the reason for the tank rental fee.  I noticed then that there is in fact a coupon on the lease agreement explaining all this.

So I called the Fort Bragg office today and got everyting squared away.  The lady at the office was very nice.  I signed the lease agreement and got a receipt that states the tank charge fee was removed from my account.

Kemgas should be aware that there are some folks such as kevinforesthill and myself who are having this problem.  Kemgas should have known exactly why kevin was having a problem.   I suspect that the mysterious  $120 fee that kevinforesthill was charged was a turn off fee.  Kemgas was very upfront with me about the variable nature of the rates.

Kevinforesthill should have been able to figure this all out.  I had some serious miscommunication issues but it all worked out fine for me in the end.  The local office lady was very helpful.

The first year tank rental is waived via coupon. We mail the coupon with the Lease Agreement as soon as the customer signs up. This is told to the customer upon signing up. It is up to the customer to sign the lease agreement and return it for the free first year of tank rent. The reason we mail the coupon with the Lease Agreement, instead of waiving it from the start, is to encourage the customer to sign the Lease Agreement as soon as possible. We need this agreement signed for permission to have the tank on the customer's property.

The price per gallon is NEVER fixed. It would be impossible for us to set a fixed rate for a customer, when we are dealing with a market that fluctuates as often as it does. It is made VERY clear to each new customer that the first year rate is a discounted introductory rate that does fluctuate with the market.

As far as customer service, all I have to say is our entire staff has been with the company for a very long time, and are very friendly. It is our aim to keep our customers and to keep our customers happy. Poor customer service is not the way to do that, and therefore we all deal with our customers in the most polite, and friendly manner possible.

There are no hidden fees. All possible fees are made very clear to the would-be customer, in advance to sign-up. Tank rent does not even reach $120 so this is not something we would even tell a customer. There is no guess work in the way we do business. If the customer has a bill in which they are unsure of the origin, our employees will do everything we can to find out where that charge came from. 9/10 times it's a past-due balance for a bill the customer may have misplaced or got mixed up in the mail. We send our bills out promptly, and clearly state all applicable charges on the bill. We would never just send a piece of paper to a customer stating "Hey you owe us 120 bucks and we don't know why".

Payment arrangements are also made very clear to the customer upon signing up. We do accept cash if you come into the office to pay. No, our drivers will not take any form of money from the customer, for security reasons. We do offer an automatic credit card payment plan. You can also mail in a check, or pay by credit card via telephone.

If we were to damage someone's personal property and it is our fault, we would most certainly compensate. There is no question on this matter. It is requested at sign-up that the path to the tank be maintained and kept clear, however, accidents do happen and we will gladly take care of any damage we may cause.

We realize that there can be misunderstandings when it comes to dealing business, and when this happens, we are more than willing to work with the customer to rectify whatever problems there may be.