Sunday, November 09, 2008
The cost of not buying
It's expensive to not buy propane from Ferrellgas.
We didn't get to Sidetrack as often as we wanted to this past summer. We missed a lot of the spring and closed the place up a couple weeks earlier than usual. With the price of gas and propane, we were, in part, being frugal.
I received a bill for $210.00 from Ferrellgas last week. That's strange, since we didn't use much propane this year and didn't call for a tank refill at all.
The bill was for a "No usage fee." Huh!? We get charged over $200 for not buying Ferrellgas' product? (After a $57.00 tank rental fee.) That's right. I looked it up in the "User Agreement" that customers have to sign. Like most User Agreements, it's a one-sided "contract" that forces consumers to accept all kinds of limitations in order to do business with the company. Of course, the company faces no limitations, and can, indeed, change the terms of the User Agreement at any time for any reason.
I love the free market at work. Don't you? Adam Smith must be on a perpetual spin in his Scottish grave in view of all the perversions of his market theory practiced by free marketeers.
Turns out it does some good to complain. I called the company. The first sentence out of the mouth of the person I talked to was, "I'm authorized to reduce that fee to $75.00."
Now, the $75.00 plus the $57.00 results (in my mind) in a not-unreasonable tank rental fee. The company could even offer discounts to the rental fee based on the amount of propane a customer buys. (They already do. If you buy enough, you don't get charged for the tank rental at all and you don't get charged a "No usage fee.")
But, when Ferrellgas has the effrontery to bill its customers with a "No usage fee," you know there are a bunch of Neanderthals running the company who have absolutely no clue about public relations and customer retention. (It is so difficult to maintain a bit of old-fashioned propriety when I'm so offended.)
I'm beginning to call around because there are a couple competitors, one being the local power co-op, Polk-Burnett Electric Cooperative. They might not offer better prices or terms, but it'll be worth a few bucks to me to get that Ferrellgas tank out of the yard and out of my sight.
We didn't get to Sidetrack as often as we wanted to this past summer. We missed a lot of the spring and closed the place up a couple weeks earlier than usual. With the price of gas and propane, we were, in part, being frugal.
I received a bill for $210.00 from Ferrellgas last week. That's strange, since we didn't use much propane this year and didn't call for a tank refill at all.The bill was for a "No usage fee." Huh!? We get charged over $200 for not buying Ferrellgas' product? (After a $57.00 tank rental fee.) That's right. I looked it up in the "User Agreement" that customers have to sign. Like most User Agreements, it's a one-sided "contract" that forces consumers to accept all kinds of limitations in order to do business with the company. Of course, the company faces no limitations, and can, indeed, change the terms of the User Agreement at any time for any reason.
I love the free market at work. Don't you? Adam Smith must be on a perpetual spin in his Scottish grave in view of all the perversions of his market theory practiced by free marketeers.
Turns out it does some good to complain. I called the company. The first sentence out of the mouth of the person I talked to was, "I'm authorized to reduce that fee to $75.00."
Now, the $75.00 plus the $57.00 results (in my mind) in a not-unreasonable tank rental fee. The company could even offer discounts to the rental fee based on the amount of propane a customer buys. (They already do. If you buy enough, you don't get charged for the tank rental at all and you don't get charged a "No usage fee.")
But, when Ferrellgas has the effrontery to bill its customers with a "No usage fee," you know there are a bunch of Neanderthals running the company who have absolutely no clue about public relations and customer retention. (It is so difficult to maintain a bit of old-fashioned propriety when I'm so offended.)
I'm beginning to call around because there are a couple competitors, one being the local power co-op, Polk-Burnett Electric Cooperative. They might not offer better prices or terms, but it'll be worth a few bucks to me to get that Ferrellgas tank out of the yard and out of my sight.
