Calor Gas leaves me cold for a month

k3y

This is my first post on boards.ie.

I am waiting for Calor Gas delivery since 29 November and I would like to share my story, maybe someone has some useful suggestion. It's a bit long, feel free to skip to the end

I am renting a house near Wicklow town which has no mains gas but a 450-liter gas tank. The size of the tank is interesting in itself, because the smallest amount to order is 500 liters. So whenever I order I pay for that amount, then I have my account credited with the difference in the actual amount delivered. The tank is owned by Calor, so they must know about its size. Why make the minimum order larger than their smaller tank size? Who knows? But at least they should make an effort to fill it.

Just at the beginning of this winter's cold snap, my gas tank was running empty so I ordered a delivery on 29 November. The customer service agent asked me if my tank is low, I told her it's empty, to which she answered that she'll mark my order as urgent. Last time when I ordered on a Monday I received the delivery on the next day, so I expected the same, especially with the agent marking it as urgent.

Next day I received no gas, so I called Calor on Wednesday (1 December) to ask when can I
expect the gas. I was told that their standard time is 5 business days, so I should wait
patiently.

The week-end came and went without gas, so I called Calor Gas again on Tuesday (7 Dec). It was late in the afternoon, the agent told me she has no way to know of the scheduling but she'll send an e-mail to the supplier asking them to call me back the next day.


The call back did not happen, so I called again on 9 December, this time in mid-morning. The agent told me basically the same: no access to scheduling, sends an e-mail to the supplier to call me back, urgent.

I also wrote an e-mail to the contact address on Calor Gas' homepage, about my problem, but received no reply yet.

On the 10th, Friday, I called them again without any hope. However this time I got a new offer, they could send out gas cylinders and a contractor could fill my tank from those. This would be enough gas for a few days. I happily agreed, even though I had to fork over another 140 euro for the cylinders. The agent I spoke with told me that it's likely that they are able to send them even that evening.

Just like every other vague promise I received from Calor Gas before, this one didn't come true either. On Saturday, two people arrived and brought some cylinders, but they had no idea what they are for. They told us that it's not possible to fill our tank from those, we called a wrong company, ordered incorrect gas and then they drove away together with the gas.

During that weekend it was thawing and all the ice melted away. By Sunday afternoon all roads were clear and dry. I called Calor on Monday, with renewed hopes. The agent was surprised when I told her about the clueless cylinder delivery people. She told me that they should have left them at my place and later that day another contractor should have came and filled my tank from them.

While I was on hold, she called this contractor and then told me that they didn't come during the weekend because of the snow and ice. A blatant lie, clearly, but it would have meaningless for them to come, because I had no cylinders anyway.

I asked again for a delivery estimate. I was told that there's a backlog, they're constantly working and they may come to me soon.

I got no delivery until now, I spoke with Calor every day last week, and I get the same meaningless answers about having my delivery soon. Also, I no longer have to tell my problem to the agent, after quoting my account number they know who am I.

I find it unacceptable to leave a customer without gas for almost a month now - naturally my payment was taken on the day of the order. Also I wouldn't get back my other payment for the extra cylinders, just as a credit on my future orders I was told.

At this point it looks like me and my family will have a cold Christmas, especially since a new cold snap arrived this week with pletny of snow.

I am heating one room in the house with an electric radiator, and I can not save on this because we have a 6 months old infant with my wife. In the kitchen it's 5 degrees in the morning, not very cosy you can imagine. Also no gas means no hot water, to wash ourselves we heat water on the stove, it's getting old after the first week.

I would be more understanding if there was a massive amount of snow for the whole month, but there was more than a week of completely clear and dry roads. Even after the initial heacy snows I saw several tanker trucks filled with heating oil make deliveries to the neighbours and around town. If those trucks can drive around, if I can drive around, the gas truck must be able to do the same.

Basically the whole operation of Calor Gas seems unorganised and fails to provide service to its customers. Why do customer service agents send e-mails to the suppliers instead of a direct line? They can see the orders in their system but not the scheduling, and have no way to find it?

Since, I have no way to change suppliers, I don't have any leverage on them, I have no way to make my delivery any faster, short of calling them every day and asking about it.

I sent my story to several newspapers last week, in case one of them wants to print it, but I don't have high hopes for that.

I also called CER just to confirm that they don't regulate LPG suppliers and no one else does.

Any ideas or suggestions? Maybe a direct line to the CEO?

Sponge Bob

It would not surprise me a bit if Calor and certainly some of their 'agents' or 'distributors' were in trouble, far too much of their business is restaurants and hotels who are not the best at paying their bills.

Did you pay by credit card, if so you can charge it back for non delivery of the goods, especially if you can get Flogas to deliver instead.

wmpdd3

Get on to the TV stations esp with a 6 month old.

k3y

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Did you pay by credit card, if so you can charge it back for non delivery of the goods, especially if you can get Flogas to deliver instead.

Unfortunately, I paid with my VISA debit, so no chargeback is possible. I imagine, if I cancelled the whole order I could get back the money on a cheque, but I would still be without gas then.

I did not call Flogas, but as far as I know they won't fill up a Calor tank, because the tank itself is owned by Calor.

castie

Ring joe and i'm not trying to be funny.
I bet he'd get to the bottom of it fairly quickly for you.

whiterebel

castie wrote: »

Ring joe and i'm not trying to be funny.
I bet he'd get to the bottom of it fairly quickly for you.

Or Ray Darcy. Thats bloody scandalous behaviour.

k3y

castie wrote: »

Ring joe and i'm not trying to be funny.
I bet he'd get to the bottom of it fairly quickly for you.

Good idea, thanks. I don't listen to the radio during the day, it never occurred to me, to contact him.

I wrote a condensed version to Joe, in case he's interested.

Also, with fresh snow covering half the country again, I think I can give up on delivery for at least another week.

mksmhs

I thought I was reading about myself.


We ordered gas from Calor Gas on 2nd December as our tank was getting low, then again on 13th December, then we rang and e-mailed several times after as our supply was lower. In the days leading up to Christmas each time I rang I was put on hold for up to 40 minutes only to be told that gas would be delivered. It wasn't. Replies from e-mails told me gas would be delivered, it wasn't. I even met the Gas delivery man who told me I wasn't on his system but he said he would deliver, he didn't. I called the regional manager, Dermot Higgins several times, again empty promises. We have no heating or hot water since 23rd December. We were sure ordering more than 3 weeks before Christmas would have ensured a delivery. Because of the long waiting time for the telephone to be answered by Calor I am sure there are probably more families throughout the country that are in a similar situation. They may use the excuse of weather, but our road was gritted twice daily as the gritter lives past our house and we also gritted our drive in great anticipation of a delivery from Calor!

watty

I had one of the giant tanks.

It was a total pain getting Calor to come when needed. We got rid of it, though they have never refunded deposit.

Now we use a pair of orange 34kg tanks and fetch one ourselves in car when it's empty.

Basically Flogas and Calor seem to operate a Duopoly.

We looked at Bord Gais, who before digging all the streets here claimed there would be free connection. In fact that only applied if you bought an new heating system from their approved "agent". They wanted over €1,000 for connection to pipeline beside front wall. Also while you can change the brass jets on boilers or cookers (to swap from bottle to pipeline) Bord Gais will claim you need new pipes and appliances.

Bord Gais would be better to be sorting out the connectivity honesty of their marketing of Gas than selling Electricity.

Competition? That's what's on Kellogg's packets.

inforfun

watty wrote: »

I had one of the giant tanks.

It was a total pain getting Calor to come when needed. We got rid of it, though they have never refunded deposit.

Now we use a pair of orange 34kg tanks and fetch one ourselves in car when it's empty.

Basically Flogas and Calor seem to operate a Duopoly.

We looked at Bord Gais, who before digging all the streets here claimed there would be free connection. In fact that only applied if you bought an new heating system from their approved "agent". They wanted over €1,000 for connection to pipeline beside front wall. Also while you can change the brass jets on boilers or cookers (to swap from bottle to pipeline) Bord Gais will claim you need new pipes and appliances.

Bord Gais would be better to be sorting out the connectivity honesty of their marketing of Gas than selling Electricity.

Competition? That's what's on Kellogg's packets.

I am certainly no expert but their claim about new appliances might well be true.
Not all types of gas have the same temperature when it burns.

k3y

mksmhs wrote: »

I thought I was reading about myself.

I cheered up a bit, misery loves company (just kidding)

So we had a cold Christmas, and I will soon celebrate the first month anniversary of my order. I stopped calling them every day, at the moment I'm looking into suing them for my expenses (heaters, extra electricity consumed) and distress.

watty

inforfun wrote: »

I am certainly no expert but their claim about new appliances might well be true.
Not all types of gas have the same temperature when it burns.

It's not true *IF* there are mains gas and bottle gas interchangeable jets. Which there are for most boilers and hobs.

k3y

I finally got my gas on 4 January. Took them a while.

Thankfully my lease here will be over in June, I'll make sure that the next place I'm moving to has mains gas.