Amerigas Took My MONEY then gave me the RUN AROUND giving it back. Gaylord, Michigan

I am a single mother of a 12yr old and a 5yr old. I do not make a lot of money. I had decided I wanted to switch Propane companies, to save money, so on Wednesday March 9th, 2011 I called all the local propane companies to get quotes and Amerigas had the best offer, however before placing the order with Amerigas.  I told the man on the phone that I lived in northern Michigan and we had snow, would they be able to do this with the snow.  He suggested that I go up to the local office (since he was in a call center) and ask them if they would be able too.

So I went up to the local office with my boyfriend to see what they would say. When we walked in there were two ladies in the office. I explained that I was there to see if they would be able to set a new tank behind my garage.  I explained also that I knew that my boyfriend would have to shovel out were the snowplow truck had plowed but that there was not a lot of snow on my side yard. They both said "Oh that won't be a problem we have 4X4 trucks for that reason."

I went home, called amerigas back (because you can only order over the phone) and placed my order. They schedule an appointment for the next Wednesday March 16th, 2011 between 8am and 12 Noon. They also took my $463.95 for the first fill at that time. By the time I was off the phone, the money was already out of my account. 

I had about 15% of propane left from my old propane company. I called my old propane (which is still my current propane company) and canceled my next fill which was the next Monday March 14th, 2011.  Well we ran out of propane on Tuesday March 15th, 2011, which was no big deal since we were getting our new tank the next day. I have a couple electric heaters and could go over to my parents house to take showers in the morning before the kids went to school.

I had requested the day off of work to be home for Amerigas to deliver my new tank. Well needless to say they did not show up between 8am and 12 noon, so at 12:45pm I called the 800 number and explained that I was calling to see if they were going to be delivering my new tank. The man on the phone put me on hold to call the local office, when he returned he stated that they were running behind and that he (who ever he was) would call my contact number when he was on his way. 

Well I was folding laundry in the living room and I seen an Amerigas truck drive by, now its 2:20pm, he never called me to say he was on his way. So I go outside and he is on the side road next to my house, he sees me and backs up and comes and pulls in my drive and say "I cant get back there I will ruin your yard or my truck." I said that is bs, I told him I went up to the Local office before I placed the order and they said that they could do it. He said Well I dont know what to tell you, I am not setting the tank." and back out of my driveway. 

I am not going to lye...Now I am pissed off. I had .42 cents left in my bank account and no propane. I called the 800 number to tell them what had just taken place, and they put me on hold to call the local office,  they came back on the line and said "well according to the office manager you have 5 feet of snow in your yard and the truck will not make it back there." At that moment I had my son go out and take a picture of the yard where my boyfriend had shovel out the snow bank and yard.  I said fine just give me money back so I can get propane. She said it will take 4 to 6 weeks to get the refund. I said that is ridiculous, it took you two minutes to take my money, I can understand waiting 3 to 5 business for the bank to run the money, but I could not wait that long I need propane.

I demanded to talk to a supervisor, they transferred me to a Tammy, who said that she was sorry and she would see if there was anything she could do to expedite the refund in about 3 weeks and call me back. No call back. I called back a couple days later, because in the mean time I had to call my local DHS office to see if they could help me get propane because now that I had ran out of propane and missed my fill day it would cost me $718.xx to get propane.

Remember I only had .42 cents in my bank account. They said they could help with about $300.00, only after I pay $15.00, so I had to borrow the money from my parents and then I would need to go to the local united way to fill out an application to see if they could pay the remaining $418.xx, which was not a guarantee because they have a application meeting and approve only a few. 

Well, I got approved and got my propane almost two weeks later. In the mean time I had to waste gas, electricity and time running between my parents house to take showers and cook meals. I have called a couple of time in the next couple of weeks, each time getting the run around about my money. I talk to another supervisor Heather who assured me she would call me back. 

One excuse was that they were having system issues and my information fell through the cracks, another was that I had to wait my whole bill cycle before I could get my refund, which totally did not make sense to me since I was not a customer of theirs, why would I have a bill cycle.  

Then today Tuesday April 26th, 2011 I called to see what the status of my refund check is and Callie the rep that answered said it usual takes 8 to 10 weeks, and I went off, I said that is not what I was told and now you are trying to tell me that I may have to wait 4 more weeks. No Way!!! This is not the way you do business. I demanded to talk to Callies supervisor, she transferred me to a woman that stated she was the team lead and I told her I wanted to talk to her supervisor, she was reluctant to transfer me, but she did to a Jerry, which I ask again to speak to his supervisor and he said that that was Tammy and she was out of the office and I said well I want to speak to Tammys boss and he said her boss as well was out of the office.

I told him that I wanted my money and he said just like another rep there had I dont know what to tell you." I cannot believe this company is still in business and if they have 1.3 million customers then they can afford to update their billing system to expedite the process!!