Suburban Propane

miss this place. After living in Lakeport for many years I grew to know everyone in their office as well the drivers. Living down in so cal now makes it hard, and realize how much I loved being called by name when walking into Lakeports office. Now, no one knows me and could care less. The drivers at lakeports establishment and the inside office are wonderful. I dont understand how these other reviews can be valid. Ridiculous.

Do not answer phones. Horrible customer service
Cheaper and better alternatives around here
BEWARE CONTRACTS!

This is not a consumer friendly company. Please don’t invest your money in this company. This company doesn’t do business with its customers it commits extortion. They know that they are the only propane providers in this market so they can do whatever they want, especially if a person is locked into using their propane for heat and hot water during the icy cold winter months. That was the position they put my 70 year old father who is on a fixed income and semi invalid.
This company has no sense of community or moral and ethical values when working with or helping senior citizens living on a fixed income.
My 70 year old father who has a bad knee and can barley walk, and a short fuse when dealing with incompetency, has become victimized by this company.
When my fathers bill became 1 month past due, after the account had been in good standing and in repayment, he asked for help, and applied for the Home Energy Assistance Program, or HEAP, to help him pay his bill, so he could remain in good standing with Suburban Propane and his account.
After 2 months of back in forth with HEAP, and paper work, and statement letters, and proof of past due bills, and so on and, so forth. The HEAP program approved my father for the Emergency Home Energy Assistance Program (This takes a month before payment goes through).
Meanwhile during this time my father was in communication with the local Suburban Propane office about the past due bill and assured them HEAP would be rolling into effect, wiping out the past due balance, and even providing a credit to the account helping him through the next few months of propane bills.
I myself payed my father’s bill on the 18^th of June, keeping the account in good standing. My father was in communication with the local branch on the 27^th of August, at which time they gave him no indication that his account was in jeopardy and about to be closed. On the 29^th of August my fathers account was closed.
Less than one month later, on the 11^th of September, I received an email from the internal collections department regarding my fathers account.
I called the telephone number provided, and had a pleasant conversion with a collections representative, Pat, who gave me an overview of the account and told me the account was past due $ 500. I gave the collections representative an overview of the circumstances and efforts being made to get the bill paid by HEAP in order to keep the account in repayment and in good standing. During this conversation I asked the gentleman if the account was still open, (unaware that the account had been closed), and how much money would be sufficient in order to keep the account open until the Emergency Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP) kicks in.
I was told a payment of $ 120 would need to be made. Keep in mind I was never told the account had been closed. So I made the payment with help from my siblings, thinking I was keeping the account in repayment until the HEAP payment was made.
One month later I find out my 70 year old father has not had hot water or propane since August. As soon as I find this out I try to connect the local office to come to a resolution so we can get the propane turned on and the account paid.
At this point I can’t get anyone from the local office to even talk to me because my name is not on the account, even though I had been previously paying the account, I have the account number and can answer all the security questions, and speaking on behalf of my father because he does not have the energy to take on such a task. I inform the local office that a gentleman from their collections department in New Jersey, Pat, had been in communication with me and had no problem speaking with me regarding the account. So they told me to call him.
Then I called Pat in collections back to try to get this resolved and explain the situation. Pat is understanding and explains that because the account had been closed, the balance due of $ 380 would need to be paid, plus an additional $ 400 deposit to open a new account. Once the $ 780 was paid on the account then Suburban Propane would be able to use the money provided by HEAP as a credit to pay future bills.
I explained to Pat that that didn’t make sense. That I had paid $ 120 the previous month with the understanding that this would keep the account in repayment until the HEAP payment went through paying off the rest of the outstanding bill, and that there was no indication to me at that time that the account had been closed.
I explained to him we did not have $ 780 lying around to pay off the old account and open a new account, and that’s why my father applied for the assistance program in the first place, to get help with his bill! Further more my father had been in communication with the local office regarding his bill and payment, had not received cut off notices or phone calls regarding the account closure. I explained that it wasn’t right to close the account an