My Grandpa was a customer here, my dad, as was I. We may not be the biggest customer they have, but we regularly made purchases here.
About 5 months ago I went to exchange torch tanks. The clerk had to peel back the sticker covering the certification date and told me I was going to have to pay $20 to re-certify the oxygen tank as it was out of date. I asked how often they needed to be re-certified and he said 10 years. I explained to him that I had only had their tank for about 6 months. He told me that I must have had them longer than that as the sticker on the tank was faded. I asked to speak to a manager, and was told that he was on lunch. I attempted to resolve the problem with the clerk to no avail. Toward the end he became belligerent and yelled at me. I loaded the tanks back up and took them next door to my new welding supply store, Praxair., who was more than happy to help me.
I completely understand that the tanks need to be re-certified. It would seem the only fair way to do this (If you are not just going to build it into the cost of the gas) is to keep better records of how long a customer had a tank and pro rate it. Other options would be to give the customer a tank that had just been certified each time they exchange (would not be feasible).
I would be fine with paying this fee if they were my tanks since new, and they refilled my tanks every time I brought them, but that is not how a tank exchange works.
In the end I called and left a message for the manager. And, fitting for there apparent lack of customer service skills, he never bothered to call back.
If yelp would let me have no stars I would have done it. BANNED! read more
