I'm hoping to save others from aggravation. This is long, I'm sorry but it might help you save money. We were stupid and trusted Suburban Propane for the many many years they sold us propane. Their propane was going up over $4.00 per gallon and we didn't know better to question it. We never took the time to find out there are other propane companies in Southern Maryland who are much cheaper. We have a 500 gallon tank because our home is all propane, Suburban owned our tank. One day I saw an ad for another propane company with much lower cost per gallon. I started calling around and figured out Suburban is one of the highest priced propane companies in Southern Maryland. Suburban had my price to over $4.00 per gallon, the other companies were averaging around $2.00 and less per gallon. As a side note, a 500 gallon tank is not usually topped off to the top (I think they fill it to 480 maybe), but for simple math here, 500 gallons at $4.00 per gallon equals $2,000 till fill my tank versus $1,000 with another propane company. And during hard winters, I was sometimes having to request my tank get filled 2 or 3 times over the course of the winter months. Suburban never offered us any kind of help with a budget plan or reduction in price. They never told us what the cost would be when they came to automatically fill, they just handed us the bill. We were stupid, just plain stupid not to check sooner!
I researched and decided to make the switch to Aero Propane. We just got setup yesterday. So far, they have been awesome to work with and they have awesome prices. I did go with their budget plan so I could lock into an automatic delivery price of $1.30 per gallon for my first fill and $1.70 per gallon up after that up until May 2019. They also have a referral program, you get $50 and your referral gets $50 for signing up with Aero. I don't want readers here to think I'm posting this to get the referral bonus so I'm not even going to mention my name. And no, I don't work for this company and none of my family or friends work for this company. The first I heard of them was an ad they happen to run. And in talking to them, they said a lot of people have suddenly found out they are paying more than they should for propane. We need to spread the word so everyone can save money!
When Aero got my new tank in place, they ran a pressure test on my current line and they immediately found a leak. When they dug down 2 feet where the copper line was, they found 3 pinholes in the copper line right near the tank. I find it very interesting that Suburban charged me for pressure tests each and every time they came to fill my tank (several times a year), but yet, never found leaks from their pressure tests. The Aero tech had me stand there while they ran the pressure test the second time and you could hear the air spew out from the ground where the copper was buried all those years. Aero took care of digging down 2 feet into the dirt, finding the leaks in the line and replacing that part of the copper. It took him over an hour for the repair and they didn't even charge me for doing that - kudos for Aero and the tech who installed my tank. I asked Aero for the piece of copper they cut out and I'm going to hold onto this. It burns me up that my $4.00 per gallon propane was spewing out wastefully into the air but yet I paid for pressure tests all these years.
The not so awesome, I excitedly called Suburban Propane to come pick-up their tank, I was so ready to be done with them. Now they are going to charge me a $400 pick-up fee to pick up THEIR tank in addition, (if I understood correctly) they charge me a pump out fee of the propane left in the tank. They say I have a tank contract with United Propane and when they bought out United those contracts are now theirs. Apparently these fees are in the contract. This would of been like 15 years ago. We don't even remember even signing a contract, but yes, I will be getting a copy of it.
Please let our mistakes be a lesson for others to save money. We inherited Suburban through a buyout of companies from Bowen Gas to United Propane to Suburban Propane. I should of done my research when we got picked up by United Propane and then Suburban Propane. There are other propane companies out there that will cost you much less money for propane. If you are currently with Suburban Propane, even if it's going to cost you a tank pick up fee, you will save that money going with another company at a lower propane rate. If you end service with Suburban Propane, here are my tips for trying to make it a smooth transition and less costly one:
- if you use propane for heat, I recommend doing a switch of propane companies in the warmer months versus winter. I was waiting for my tank to use up almost all my propane so I could switch as soon as possible, it just happened to work out in this month of December at 30 degrees. It is a lot less stressful when it is warmer.
- first find out what you are locked into with Suburban and start planning and marking your calendar for when your contracts end. If you are in a current delivery agreement, you may have termination costs if you end the contract early. Due the math, it might be more cost effective to wait til that delivery contract ends but then again, you might save a lot of money just ending it early.
- request Suburban send you a check for any credit amount you have extra in your account. You may have made double payments, overpaid them, have a credit from previous years, etc . It's your money if it is a credit, request a check so they don't have any extra when you go to end your account.
- use up as much of your Suburban propane as possible in the tank before making the switch to the new company. I got mine down to around 8%, that is still probably around 90 gallons of propane. So do the math, you paid $4.00 per gallon but that is not what they reimburse you for the return of the propane. I heard it could be around $1.00 a gallon. Interesting huh if that is true? You pay over $4.00 per gallon, they pump it back into their truck, resell it for over $4.00 per gallon again, but you might get $1.00 a gallon back. That is why I used as much of it as I could before switching.
- I tracked my propane when I was trying to use it up. There is a gauge on the top of your tank and it will show you a percentage of what is left in the tank. When I reached 30% that is when I got initially setup with Aero. I let them know what was going on with Suburban and that I had to time this out. They totally understood and they also knew exactly what I was dealing with. They worked with me while I timed out delivery of my new tank. Each week I checked the gauge against the weather. I got it pretty close, I think I have 8% of the propane left in my tank right now.
- wait to call Suburban until after you are hooked up with the new propane company. I took this precaution because I read some stories from other Suburban customers when searching the internet. I didn't want to chance an unscheduled, unexpected pick-up of my Suburban tank before my new tank was installed. I did not want to get left in a lurch without any tank or propane in the middle of winter.
- prepare yourself because when you call Suburban to cancel, they will probably try to negotiate a new price per gallon to get you to stay with them. Amazingly they were easily able to match $1.80 per gallon for me from the $4.38 per gallon I was paying. That is how they will get you into a new contract and stuck for another year or two. Remember, these other companies start their pricing at around $2.00/$2.30 per gallon and no delivery contract and no lock-in.
- prepare yourself for possible fees/costs for tank pick-up from Suburban. It's going to be a shock when they tell you all of their pick-up costs. They told me it is $400 to pick up the tank. And, like us, you probably didn't even know you signed an agreement or that these were in the agreement. Stay strong in knowing you will be saving money when you are done with this company.
- take photos of your Suburban tank, up, down and all around. Also, take photos of the gauge and the regulator that sit under the cap. Schedule the pick-up of your tank and make sure to be there when they pick-up the tank so you can monitor EVERYTHING. I'm going to make a document with the photos I took of the tank and a statement for the driver to sign that the photos match the condition and parts of the tank he is picking up. Again, search the internet, you will find stories.
You can rent a tank from Aero if you choose them for your new propane company. I chose to buy a refurbished tank from Aero. It was a lot less money than a brand new tank, and I now own my tank. The one they installed looks brand new. This refurbished tank cost me around $1400 (I called around and priced a new tank at about $2000). But now I own my tank and now I can have anyone fill my tank in the future. I have more freedom to choose and I'm wiser in knowing how not to get unfairly locked to a company who screws their customers out of their hard earned money.
I researched and decided to make the switch to Aero Propane. We just got setup yesterday. So far, they have been awesome to work with and they have awesome prices. I did go with their budget plan so I could lock into an automatic delivery price of $1.30 per gallon for my first fill and $1.70 per gallon up after that up until May 2019. They also have a referral program, you get $50 and your referral gets $50 for signing up with Aero. I don't want readers here to think I'm posting this to get the referral bonus so I'm not even going to mention my name. And no, I don't work for this company and none of my family or friends work for this company. The first I heard of them was an ad they happen to run. And in talking to them, they said a lot of people have suddenly found out they are paying more than they should for propane. We need to spread the word so everyone can save money!
When Aero got my new tank in place, they ran a pressure test on my current line and they immediately found a leak. When they dug down 2 feet where the copper line was, they found 3 pinholes in the copper line right near the tank. I find it very interesting that Suburban charged me for pressure tests each and every time they came to fill my tank (several times a year), but yet, never found leaks from their pressure tests. The Aero tech had me stand there while they ran the pressure test the second time and you could hear the air spew out from the ground where the copper was buried all those years. Aero took care of digging down 2 feet into the dirt, finding the leaks in the line and replacing that part of the copper. It took him over an hour for the repair and they didn't even charge me for doing that - kudos for Aero and the tech who installed my tank. I asked Aero for the piece of copper they cut out and I'm going to hold onto this. It burns me up that my $4.00 per gallon propane was spewing out wastefully into the air but yet I paid for pressure tests all these years.
The not so awesome, I excitedly called Suburban Propane to come pick-up their tank, I was so ready to be done with them. Now they are going to charge me a $400 pick-up fee to pick up THEIR tank in addition, (if I understood correctly) they charge me a pump out fee of the propane left in the tank. They say I have a tank contract with United Propane and when they bought out United those contracts are now theirs. Apparently these fees are in the contract. This would of been like 15 years ago. We don't even remember even signing a contract, but yes, I will be getting a copy of it.
Please let our mistakes be a lesson for others to save money. We inherited Suburban through a buyout of companies from Bowen Gas to United Propane to Suburban Propane. I should of done my research when we got picked up by United Propane and then Suburban Propane. There are other propane companies out there that will cost you much less money for propane. If you are currently with Suburban Propane, even if it's going to cost you a tank pick up fee, you will save that money going with another company at a lower propane rate. If you end service with Suburban Propane, here are my tips for trying to make it a smooth transition and less costly one:
- if you use propane for heat, I recommend doing a switch of propane companies in the warmer months versus winter. I was waiting for my tank to use up almost all my propane so I could switch as soon as possible, it just happened to work out in this month of December at 30 degrees. It is a lot less stressful when it is warmer.
- first find out what you are locked into with Suburban and start planning and marking your calendar for when your contracts end. If you are in a current delivery agreement, you may have termination costs if you end the contract early. Due the math, it might be more cost effective to wait til that delivery contract ends but then again, you might save a lot of money just ending it early.
- request Suburban send you a check for any credit amount you have extra in your account. You may have made double payments, overpaid them, have a credit from previous years, etc . It's your money if it is a credit, request a check so they don't have any extra when you go to end your account.
- use up as much of your Suburban propane as possible in the tank before making the switch to the new company. I got mine down to around 8%, that is still probably around 90 gallons of propane. So do the math, you paid $4.00 per gallon but that is not what they reimburse you for the return of the propane. I heard it could be around $1.00 a gallon. Interesting huh if that is true? You pay over $4.00 per gallon, they pump it back into their truck, resell it for over $4.00 per gallon again, but you might get $1.00 a gallon back. That is why I used as much of it as I could before switching.
- I tracked my propane when I was trying to use it up. There is a gauge on the top of your tank and it will show you a percentage of what is left in the tank. When I reached 30% that is when I got initially setup with Aero. I let them know what was going on with Suburban and that I had to time this out. They totally understood and they also knew exactly what I was dealing with. They worked with me while I timed out delivery of my new tank. Each week I checked the gauge against the weather. I got it pretty close, I think I have 8% of the propane left in my tank right now.
- wait to call Suburban until after you are hooked up with the new propane company. I took this precaution because I read some stories from other Suburban customers when searching the internet. I didn't want to chance an unscheduled, unexpected pick-up of my Suburban tank before my new tank was installed. I did not want to get left in a lurch without any tank or propane in the middle of winter.
- prepare yourself because when you call Suburban to cancel, they will probably try to negotiate a new price per gallon to get you to stay with them. Amazingly they were easily able to match $1.80 per gallon for me from the $4.38 per gallon I was paying. That is how they will get you into a new contract and stuck for another year or two. Remember, these other companies start their pricing at around $2.00/$2.30 per gallon and no delivery contract and no lock-in.
- prepare yourself for possible fees/costs for tank pick-up from Suburban. It's going to be a shock when they tell you all of their pick-up costs. They told me it is $400 to pick up the tank. And, like us, you probably didn't even know you signed an agreement or that these were in the agreement. Stay strong in knowing you will be saving money when you are done with this company.
- take photos of your Suburban tank, up, down and all around. Also, take photos of the gauge and the regulator that sit under the cap. Schedule the pick-up of your tank and make sure to be there when they pick-up the tank so you can monitor EVERYTHING. I'm going to make a document with the photos I took of the tank and a statement for the driver to sign that the photos match the condition and parts of the tank he is picking up. Again, search the internet, you will find stories.
You can rent a tank from Aero if you choose them for your new propane company. I chose to buy a refurbished tank from Aero. It was a lot less money than a brand new tank, and I now own my tank. The one they installed looks brand new. This refurbished tank cost me around $1400 (I called around and priced a new tank at about $2000). But now I own my tank and now I can have anyone fill my tank in the future. I have more freedom to choose and I'm wiser in knowing how not to get unfairly locked to a company who screws their customers out of their hard earned money.
