Amerigas Pinehurst Texas Second time metered tank runs dry Pinehurst Tx

I have a metered tank lease agreement with Amerigas (originally Hughes Propane). They are to maintain filling of tank and then I pay for the actual product used via a meter. Last night was the second time in three years my tank ran dry and I had no propane available.

The first time it happened was on Thanksgiving Day and I had a bird in the oven and a house full of guests. Last night, when it happened again it was in the low 40’s outside and happened 36 minutes after the local offices closed. An emergency delivery had to be arranged again which took ~ 3 hours.

The corporate after hours call center person "Ray” and the actual delivery person "Steve” were very responsive and apologetic. However, today when I called the local office to let them know I had run out of propane on my metered account and wanted to know what could be done to remedy this from happening again, I was immediately confronted with most unprofessional, belligerent and rude woman I’ve come across in a long time.

Her name was Janet and she was hostile from the get go, with a condescending tone and never once acknowledged any failure on their part. The problem was on my end. She said I should speak to Stacey so they could move me off a meter to bulk deliveries instead.

I explained that I didn’t want bulk deliveries I wanted to stay on a meter. She said that I would have to as they are phasing out their meter program because the meters are breaking and they didn’t have any parts to fix them or new ones to replace them.

My meter works just fine, the service guys last night checked it so let’s get back to the problem of honoring your meter agreement and keeping my tank filled. I explained further that I wasn’t the typical customer as I overpay each month, during the never-ending summer months here in Houston, so that my account generally has a large credit balance to offset the high usage months of winter.

She asked for my address and when I provided it she said I would be switched to bulk delivery. I said no and indicated as they no longer had metered options I would find another service provider after being a great customer for over 23 years. I welcome them to listen to any recordings of my call as the best example of what not to do in customer service training.