Help Me Hank: Propane Pain

Going out for dinner or picking up take out is great, but you wouldn't want to do it every night. But it would have been restaurant city for Jennifer Crosscup if she'd lost the battle of the propane bill.

Jennifer Crosscup
"I was angry."

This tank of propane in their backyard powers the stove that heats the water that makes the tea--and dinners--for Jen and her husband.

And when the couple bought their new home, the previous owners gave them a housewarming gift, all the propane that was left in the tank.

Jennifer Crosscup
"Something that was already bought. It was paid for, It belonged to us."

But when the next two bills arrived--that propane present became a propane pain.

Jennifer Crosscup
"What the invoice reflected was a lot more than we had anticipated the bill being."

Why was price so high? They did some calculations--and turned out the price of propane had gone up since the gift and the company had tacked on a retroactive price increase--wanting Jen to pay more for gas that was already paid for.

Jennifer Crosscup
"I assumed it was a mistake, I didn’t think the charges could be correct."

So Jen called the propane company, but got a chilly response.

Jennifer Crosscup
"She said, ‘Well I’m not sure how other companies do it but this is how we do it.’"

Ok, so here’s this full tank and they wanted Jen to pay twice for what was inside! Forget the propane - Jen was steaming.

Jennifer Crosscup
"I felt like I was just another number."

But did she ditch the stove and go out for pizza? Nope.

Jennifer Crosscup
"I contacted Help Me Hank at Channel 7."

We know where to go on this one...Charlie Carroll - the state’s weights and measures mogul. He's in charge of fuel prices. He says that once fuel is paid for, the price can't be retroactively raised.

So we called the company.

Hank Phillippi Ryan
"How can you charge for propane that’s already been paid for?"

And passed along that info.

Hank Phillippi Ryan
If you can look into that it would be terrific

So you know what happened to Jen next? Her phone rang and her propane pain simply disappeared.

Jennifer Crosscup
"They contacted me and apologized."

And now--bill back to zero-- she's cooking with gas.

Jennifer Crosscup
"I was happy because that is what should have been done right from the beginning."

We found a couple of good links for more information on how to make sure you're paying the correct price for fuel this winter--or any time:

http://www.mass.gov/doer/pub_info/press/winter.htm

http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/cic_text/money/whatupay/whatupay.htm