Chris Yeckel, a Glenmont resident, uses gas to heat his home and began receiving propane from Ferrellgas in November.
Yeckel’s troubles with the company started in January when he requested a refill.
“I was quoted a delivery time and then there was a delay to it and it passed the second delivery day that they gave to me and I managed to call them and guilt them into making a delivery before I ran out of gas in January,” Yeckel said.
Ferrellgas provides two options for customers looking to engage with the company’s propane delivery services. One option, will call, requires customers to monitor their gas levels and call Ferrellgas to request a refill.
The other option has the company estimate propane customers’ usage and automatically schedule a delivery when the company’s system indicates a refill is needed.
Ferrellgas recommends customers like Yeckel, who use will call, request a refill when their tanks reach 30% reserves.
Yeckel says he was vigilant about his propane levels, going so far as to create spreadsheets that kept track of his usage each day and predicted when he would run out of gas.
But Yeckel says these efforts didn’t matter.
“In January and February, I got an automated call from them saying that my delivery date had been pushed out. I think it was both cases 3 business days and they never made those dates. Even the pushed-out dates, and then I had to call customer service basically every day until something happened,” Yeckel said.
Yeckel says he actually ran out of propane on Feb. 23 and called Ferellgas each day for the following three days to find out if he was on the delivery schedule. He wasn’t.
“I’ve got my partner at home, she has two Sphinx hairless cats who need to have it warm, I have a dog, we had four space heaters going and we would move them around the house to make sure the areas were using during the day or at night were covered,” Yeckel said.
Yeckel isn’t the only Ferrellgas customer who has complaints. The New York State Attorney General’s Office has confirmed that others have reported issues, saying in a statement, “We received 49 complaints and we are reviewing those complaints.”
Ferrellgas customer complaints are coming the same winter that WAMC has reported extensively on propane delivery issues in Western Massachusetts. Customers in Massachusetts have had similar experiences with Superior Plus Propane.
When asked about the delays in deliveries, the Missouri-based Ferrellgas responded with a statement that said, in part, “Sustained cold this winter has increased propane usage across the Capital Region, resulting in a higher volume of customer delivery requests over a short period of time. In addition, Winter Storm Fern and the recent Northeast blizzard have made travel difficult – even dangerous at times – for propane companies throughout the area.”
The company is also asking residents to closely monitor their tank levels and request deliveries earlier than normal.
As for Yeckel, he said he has cut ties with Ferrellgas.
“I had to make other arrangements because I could not get on their delivery schedule,” Yeckel said.
