When I called and spoke with an employee before having my propane tank filled for the first time, I was given a dollar amount quote based on the current levels & capacity of my tank. Upon having it filled, my bill was more than DOUBLE the quoted amount. I immediately called, and was abruptly told I'd misunderstood that number entirely. Ok... I got off the phone in shock, because now several of my utility bills could not be paid due to the surprise amount charged by American River Gas. After gathering myself and my receipt, I realized the information the employee had given me as to my charge still didn't make sense, and I called back. After some confusion and reviewing the initial notes from our first conversation, the employee agreed that she had quoted me a certain amount, and that she would be refunding me for the difference later in the day/the next day to the card information I had provided initially. A week and a half went by, and no refund came. I called in and spoke to a different employee, who verified she knew I was to be refunded because of a new customer discount/quote/me being overcharged. She said she would pass it along.
A few days later, still no refund. This time I sent an email so my request would be in written form. I got a call back from the owner, who wasn't up to speed on the previous conversations and was not under the impression I should be receiving any refund, and was really just setting out to prove me wrong from the get-go. We ended up on a 3-way conversation with the employee, to which she denied giving me a quote, and denied telling me that I'd be receiving a refund even though this is something we explicitly clarified before getting off the phone on January 20th. She even said (in front of her boss) she'd called me and left me a voicemail that I hadn't responded to, which caught me off guard at the moment because I was unaware of a voicemail... but upon checking my phone after that 3-way call, saw that she had in fact NOT reached out by phone or left a voicemail, and was being dishonest in that statement as well.
The biggest customer service move they could manage was refunding me the difference in cost per unit of propane from the time I made my appointment, to the cost at the time that they were able to deliver the propane. It was $9 and TWO WEEKS after I was told I'd be refunded in the first place, and obviously doesn't put a dent in the HUNDREDS I was charged by complete surprise. Pretty horrifying to be misled like that by an employee and have the owner of the company take zero accountability for it while charging me twice the quoted amount. The owner DID offer to have propane sucked out of the tank so the cost would be what I wanted. Kind, right? If I wasn't a tenant on a property with an American River Gas propane tank, I'd definitely do business with someone else. Even if I was charged the regular price for the propane - the fact that I was QUOTED an amount, and told that I'd be refunded based on that quote - to have the employee ignore it entirely for over 2 weeks and then completely deny it on a three way call with the business owner was a horrible experience. Absolutely don't recommend. read more
