My wife and I decided to buy our own propane tank, and not use the one that we were renting from Ferrellgas. Because we switched propane companies, Ferrellgas padlocked the tank to prevent other companies from filling it. Ferrellgas charged us $150 to remove the old tank. We are in the process of filing complaints with various government agencies. We believe that this charge is fraudulent under California Civic Code section 2080 et seq, covering property left behind on an owner's real estate.

Some time ago, I converted from an electric heat system to a forced air propane. I contracted with a then-locally-managed company, Suburban Propane. They had a nearby office/distribution center, and their prices were reasonable/competitive. lso, they offered a no-tank-fee arrangement as long as I got propane through them.

Things went along fine, until the 2006-2007 heating season, when Suburban was purchased by Ferrellgas. I was on a keep-full arrangement, and the first tank fill I got from Ferrellgas, was $2.40/gal +. Fuel prices were high at the time, so I assumed propane had gone up as well, so I did some checking. Turns out, Ferrell's price was 80 cents a gallon more than virtually all the other places in the area. I quickly called to get off of keep-full, until I could find another gas company.

Fast forward 2 months... I get another fill bill. This time, for a price right around $1.00/gallon more than the other guys. I called and asked why my keep-full order didn't get removed. I got "I'm sorry sir, we don't have a record of that change in our system". I asked that it be taken off, again, and paid the bill. It apparently "took" this time. It should be also noted, that the call center was now 800 miles away in Kansas, and that they had completely dissolved 2 local offices... the only people left were the guys driving the truck. No local support, if I needed it.

The following fall, I started calling for a new gas company. I started with a somewhat local place, 20 miles away. They sounded like a good place to work with, so I wanted to start the process of getting a new tank put in. The lady asked my name. I gave it, and she said... "hold on a moment". When she came back to the phone, she told me that they were unable to do business with me due to a lawsuit that Ferrell had filed locally that prevented their company from "going after" a long list of local accounts. My name was on the list. It amazes me still that any company can prevent me from doing business with a competitor, when *I* initiated the contact.

But, the story didn't end there. I managed to find a company Ferrell hadn't sued yet. They had a minimal tank rent, which I wasn't fond of, but their prices were low enough to make that pay for itself in a 1/4 tank. So I had them put a tank in, after letting my Ferrell tank go almost dry. Apparently, Ferrell had warned local companies to not try to pump propane out of "their" tanks. Ferrell would have to do that, at a cost of $90. Fortunately, the timing worked out that as my tank was nearly dry, the new company was able to schedule the new install.

About a month or so after the install (might have been a couple), I called Ferrell to tell them to come and get their old tank. They told me they would, and told me that it would be $90 to pump it out if there was anything left in it. I assured them it was essentially dry, and to get it off the lawn. Yesterday, I get a bill in the mail from Ferrell for "misc fees". I call to inquire what the fee is, and she informs me that it was a non-use fee. I reminded her that I had called and told them to get the tank. I got the standard "I'm sorry sir, we don't have a record of that request".

I informed her that there was no way I was gonna pay $75 for a non-use fee on a tank I told them to come and get. She said they'd have to send someone to get the tank. Also, there would be a $90 fee if they had to pump the tank out... I hung up.

It's pretty clear they have a strategy of gouging the customer, and then making it difficult/expensive to leave their company.

We had called this company and told them we were changing gas companies and not to bring us anymore gas. We would contact them when we got down to 10% so they could pick up their tank. We told them we would not be participating in their lock-in price contract, a full 2 weeks before the end date. They went ahead and filled up our tank anyway and are now trying to make us pay for the gas and the $36 lock in fee, that we told them we did not want. Now, this has totally messed up our plans for the new gas company we planned to go with. So far, 3 phone calls to the company haven't been returned. I called immediately upon finding the bill hanging on my doorknob (they filled the tank when weren't home), and have called several times since then and have been told each time that someone from our local office would contact us to resolve this problem, but have not heard one word from them. They delivered the gas 2 weeks ago. I called them on June 13, 2007 and told them not to bring more gas as we were changing companies.