Suburban Propane

Pretty interesting that new owners would rather use any other heat than propane now. I'll never use suburban propane again. I hate suburban propane.

BAD, BAD, BAD! This company is all about getting new customers then overcharging them for propane refills. They are THE ONLY COMPANY who makes you sign a contract with a $200 early termination fee. They will tell you this is normal and everyone makes you sign a contract, lie #1. Lie #2- if you are price shopping and you call them to find out their current cost per gallon that their existing customers are paying they will NOT tell you the actual price. When I found that they were $1.87 more per gallon than any other competitor they told me that all the competitors were lying to me and giving me their fake shopper price to gain my business. They told me that they never tell a price shopper the price is over $2.00 gallon. I found this to be a huge lie as some of the companies I called thought I was an existing customer and just gave me a cost without asking me a bunch of questions first. After Suburban told me this lie #2 I called another company that had given me a quote earlier, I asked them if this is what they did to me. They said "Let me guess, you are a Suburban customer." Yep! Lie #3- they care about their existing customers. Nope, they jack up the price per gallon and if you don't like it you can pay the $200 early cancellation fee and $100 to have them remove their tank from your property. (Unless you are one of the poor souls who has an underground tank---you will pay A LOT more.) I spent a lot of time on the phone finding out about propane companies and their practices. Suburban treats you like you are an idiot and you don't know how the pricing goes. Well I learned a lot that day and I DID pay the cancellation and removal fees. I did this on principal only, but when I did the math for my cost over the next two years I came out ahead by switching to a good company. I switched to V1 because they offer 3 years of no tank rental fee. They have been amazing. They called me during their propane sale in August to see if I wanted to fill up for winter at a great rate. Twice that I have had fill ups the cost per gallon they actually charged me was LESS than I was quoted over the phone. Recently they were bought by AmeriGas, I am very skeptical that they will still provide the better than expected service I was receiving. The other really good company I spoke with multiple times was Ed Staub and Sons. I will switch to them if AmeriGas turns out to be a greedy company like Suburban.

The drivers and workers of Suburban Propane are great. They were responsive. I didn't have any problems with them for the 15 years I had used them, except for the price. I found out they were charging me approximately $1.00 a gallon more than other companies and I started price shopping. It's very upsetting, when you're buying 600 or 700 gallons at a time. So, I don't use them anymore.

Find another supllier

While the workers from Suburban Propane were lowering the tank into the hole, my husband was reading through the paperwork they brought for us to sign. Previously, we were told that we would have to rent the tank for $90/year. The tank could not be purchased. There was an installation fee of $35.00. We were responsible for purchasing the propane at $1.959 per gallon. Then, we found out for the first time that there was a "minimum monthly purchase requirement" of $10.00. We were not previously told of this "requirement." There was also an early termination fee of $399.00. This was also not disclosed prior to putting the tank in. My husband told the gentleman that we were working with on this entire project (Ben) that he couldn't see paying $210.00/year just to let this tank sit in our backyard. Over 5 years, that's over $1000 for nothing!! He asked the workmen about this, but all they wanted to know was if my husband wanted the tank left in the hole. Since we had not signed any paperwork yet, my husband decided to speak with Ben first, so he told the workers to leave the tank here. Ben was just as surprised as we were about the $10 monthly fee. He said he would try to negotiate with the man who owned Suburban Propane. We heard nothing more that day. The next morning, at 8:30 am, the owner of Suburban Propane called and said to my husband, "So you only want to pay $5 a month." (A statement, not a question.) My husband said that actually, after thinking more about this, he couldn't agree with paying ANY monthly fee, especially if nothing was being done. The owner said, "Fine, we'll take the tank out." He then hung up on my husband. He felt the owner had an extremely bad attitude and wasn't willing to negotiate at all. When we looked out the window to check on the tank (about 2 hours later), IT WAS GONE!! Not only had he hung up on my husband, he had trespassed onto our property (into the back yard) and taken the tank without making a single sound. Overall, an extremely bad experience that I wouldn't wish on anyone! They really need some training in serving the customers!