I bought a house, and it came with an approximately 500 gal propane tank about 55% full with…read more"FERRELLGAS" written on the side. Long story short, litterally blowing it up would have been a lot less hassel. I had to report them to law enforcement!
This house was being converted to electric, because electricity is cheaper than propane. I collected the numbers myself. Ferrell's propane is 1.89. Other companies' propane is around 1.40, and the equivalent amount of electricity is roughly 0.80. I called Ferrell and told them to take their gas back. However, every time I called them, they either gave a BS reason why it could not be moved or gave a variation of, "We don't know what you're talking about." This lasted about two weeks.
One day out of the blue, a guy in a Ferrell pickup arived with a special trailer. There was absolutly no notice given to me about his arrival. I asked him "Are you here for the tank?" He replied, "Yes." I was blown away! Unfortunately, he claimed he couldn't take the tank, because it was full. He claimed it had to be pumped first! He didn't say when it would be pumped.
Next day I called Farrell again. I asked when I could get rid of this tank. To my surprise, they said they already had a guy on the way to pump it! I was away from home, so I told them, "Tell the driver to wait till I get there. I'll be there in an hour." Less than an hour later I arrived at my house. There were tracks leading to the tank. There was also a note on the door that simply read, "Call us," followed by a number. Due to Ferrell's lack of customer service, I had put a lock on the tank earlier just in case. It just paid off.
I called the number. They said, "You need to remove the lock on your tank." I replied, "I told you to tell the driver to wait till I got home." A long arguement followed as usual. They denied sending a truck out there! I demaned to talk to the manager. During the argument with her, she said, "We can not credit you for the gas." I asked her, "Then why did you send a guy to get it?" She explaind that the propane did not come with the house. She also claimed the purchase agreement for the house did not prove ownership of the propane. After arguing a while longer, I said, "I want this on the record! You can take your gas and tank, but you must first pay me for the gas! You are also not allowed to send anyone to my house while I'm not there!" Then I hung up on her. After that, I blocked the entrance to the tank.
A few days later that first truck driver arrived at my house without any advanced warning. He just had a trailer, not a pump. I said, "I thought the tank had to be pumped first before it could be moved?." He replied, "We are tired of pissing around it, so I'm going to just pick up the whole thing." Naturally, another argument ensued, and, thankfully, he left.
Imediately after that incident, I called the local sherif. At first he basicly said there was nothing he could do, and I was better off with the courts. He also said he would call Ferrell. Imediately after that, I called Ferrell HQ and told them the whole story except my recent call with the sherif. They only defended their actions! They said "A purchase agreement only proves you bought a house, not propane."
After I hung up with Ferrell HQ, I saw I had a missed call from the sherif. He said, "They are willing to pay for the propane. They are just waiting for a copy of your purchase agreement." I told him that was a lie. I also told him about my conversation with Ferrell HQ. He asked, "When was that?" I answered, "Right after I called you. Thats why I missed your call." He said, "Here's what we are going to do. I'm going to send them a copy of your purchase agreement and order them to credit you for your gas. I'll send one of my people as a witness when they pump it." Naturally, I agreed. About an hour later, He called me again. He said Ferrell agreed to the terms and gave me a time for the pumping. He also confirmed that I will be payed by them
When Ferrell arrived, the driver did not come in a pump truck. Instead he came with a trailer. I asked him what was going on, and he replied, "I was sent to haul the tank." The sherif wasn't here yet, so I replied, "You'll have to wait for the sherif." He just said, "Oh, I can just do it now." I told him to wait for the sherif's deputy, so he tried to argue with me. I just went into the house and locked the door. Fortunately, when the sherif's deputy arrived, things went smoothly. Suddenly, this rude driver started acting pleasent. However, we had to wait almost an hour for Ferrell's guy to print out a recipt! He claimed he had the wrong one. During the wait, the guy asked, "Can I hitch up the tank while we wait?" Naturally, I refused. Finally, the recipt was printed. It looked a little too generic to me, so I asked the deputy to look at it. He said it was normal, so I gave the driver the OK.
Now, the tank is out of my hands. Obviously, I don't recommend these crooks.