Dassels Petroleum Sucks

Renting a home and the prior tenant canceled their service before we moved in.

This meant that Dassel’s came out and removed the valve, etc, rendering the house without gas.  That’s all well and good.  Except for when you want to get it turned back on.

SIX days to get someone out to turn it on and that’s with “rearranging” the schedule.

Never mind that the house is in the Santa Cruz mountains and it’s in the 40’s at night and the house is on propane for heat and hot water.  Ridiculous.

JB – Felton, CA

http://www.yelp.com/filtered_reviews/aAuOCL2TcchKSNzuPaiFew?fsid=rlCgy6nSPPWDlVRbOw3ykQ

http://www.yellowpages.com/hollister-ca/mip/dassels-petroleum-inc-21954605

These people were borderline RUDE to me…

Provided by YP.com

http://www.yelp.com/biz/mission-valley-propane-inc-gilroy-2#query:Dassel%27s

We have had Mission Valley for about 18 years. We changed when Dassel tried to milk us out of all sorts of fees. His prices are better and we asked him to come when we call him, so we can control the price in a fluctuating market. I keep an eye on
the tank and call when it is about 15%. he always shows up within a couple of days. He is a nice guy and I know I get a better deal than with suburban or Dassel.

Found this one at:  http://www.yelp.com/biz/dassels-petroleum-inc-fremont. Posted 12/13/2011.

When we first moved to the Los Gatos area, we notice a bumper sticker prominently placed on a road side sign which read: http://Dasselssucks.com
Little did we know, until we moved and parted ways . . .
Five months later, &  not returning  calls did I finally reach Jennifer, where I was told I would NOT be receiving our promised refund on Gas that we PAID FOR but DIDN’T use.  “Service Charge?”  “We didn’t live there long enough?” “Charge to drain the Tank?”  Wow!
The upside to this whole experience?  None.
Try Pacific Propane Instead!
Just say NO to Dassel’s!
http://Dasselssucks.com

I actually found this comment in a review of another propane company:

I cant stand this whole industry and these guys just add to the crap pile.

I have gone through just about every service – Suburban, Pacific, and recently Dassels – which is BY FAR THE WORST EVER!!!

So I call these guys and the lady tells me “we do not take customers from each other”  WTF??  So you are all in it together to cheat and conspire against the customer??

OK, so you dont want my business?  I dont get to choose who delivers to my property?  Ya right, I choose NOT YOU!

This whole industry is like used car dealers… everyone of them are shady.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/mountain-propane-service-felton

It lead me to this one by the same person:

If there were negative stars I would have used them.

STAY AWAY!!  Horrible customer service.  My tank arrives a year ago – it’s too small/not what I ordered.  The gauge does not work and never did. and although the driver is nice – Jan in billing and the other goon mgr. in Dispatch are completely incompetent.

I pay them thousands of dollars throughout the year and only once was overdue but most of the time they owed ME a balance.  Still they call non stop every month to “collect” money – if it is more than 30 days out – and I am talking 4-5 times a day!

They will not fill your tank if you are not home standing by the tank with a check from the previous month’s fill.  Seriously!

I watched the guy show up at my property yesterday with a truck full of gas.  I owe $400 for the last fill on 1-6-12 (30 days ago) – so I go to get my checkbook – as he walks to my EMPTY, broken tank… I open the door to go up the driveway to pay him, and then he just drives away – didn’t even come to the door.  Didn’t deliver any gas.

“Oh, our drivers do not go to the door” says Jan in billing, when I call.  I tell her this is the last mistake of a long line of them throughout the year – bad install, bad deliveries, aggressive billing reminder calls, no gas if you have a balance, broken equipment,  they charge too much for annual tank rental fee, they couldn’t care less.

I tell her I want to cancel – and she threatens to sue me!   This lady just does not get it and is completely annoying.

DASSELLS IS BY FAR THE WORST SERVICE COMPANY IN SANTA CRUZ (btw – they are not in Santa Cruz, they have one truck in SV – they are in Hollister – where apparently they have been huffing a few too many fumes off the reserves

STAY AWAY – STAY OUTTA MY TOWN DASSELS  – YOU SUCK!

http://www.yelp.com/biz/dassels-petroleum-inc-scotts-valley

This sounds a lot like my experiences with Dassel’s and, since this is a very recent posting, it appears Dassel’s is doing NOTHING to try to improve their service.

So it’s been a while since I last posted and I’ve gotten a better idea what my usage is now.

Turns out the tank I bought is 120 Gallons. The tank I had from Dassel’s was 250 Gallons.

A fill has been lasting me about twice as long with a tank half the size

So, I acquired a 250 gallon tank and recently set up an account with Amerigas.

Amerigas requires a leak test on the whole system before they will fill the tank the first time. Previously I would have thought of this as just a pain in the ass but after my experience with Dassel’s Petroleum I’m glad to pay the small fee and put up with the delay just for the piece of mind.

Amerigas even made some recommendations to improve my propane system. They pointed out a couple old grease valves which, though they weren’t leaking now, were prone to leakage. It was easy, and cheap, enough for me to replace them with new gas ball valves. They also recommended a newer regulator set saying the old two-stage regulator I had would be hard pressed providing enough flow to my stand-by generator. So, I had them upgrade the regulator and also completely re-valve my tank.

All Dassel’s Petroleum ever did was fill the tank. They showed none of the concern Amerigas, and I imagine most other propane suppliers, shows when it comes to leaks.

It’s true that as an industry propane suppliers don’t rate very high in customer satisfaction.

However, I have found one local supplier that appears to really take care of it’s customers…

Pacific Propane

Not only is Pacific Propane the only local supplier with an A rating with the Better Business Bureau but I was unable to find ANY online complaints about them.

I may just contact the plaintiff attorneys in these cases to see if my testimony might help.

I can verify Dassel’s Petroleum’s complete lack of action or concern regarding propane leaks.

Found this on the Fresno Superior Court web site.

Maybe it’s time to create a “DasselsBlows.com” site 😉

I’ve included relevant sections below:

On May 11, 2007 an explosion occurred at Harris
Farms, Inc. located at 21960 S. Fresno-Coalinga Highway
in Coalinga.  The  explosion caused the death of
Alfonso Quevedo.  It also caused substantial
damage to adjacent property owned by Harris-Woolf
California Almonds.    The  explosion  was
allegedly caused by the leaking of a propane tank
just after re-fueling.

On January 9, 2009 Nationwide Agribusiness Insurance
Company, the insurer for Harris Farms filed a complaint
in  subrogation  against  Dassel’s Petroleum, Inc. as Case
No. 09 CECG 00071.  The insurer is seeking to recover
the sum of $2,165,874.62, representing the amount it
paid to its insured for damages incurred to the real and
personal property caused by the explosion. This case is
set for trial on June 14, 2010.  On April 29, 2009 the heirs
of Alfonso Quevedo filed a complaint against Harris Fresh,
Inc., Harris Farms, Inc. and Dassel’s Petroleum, Inc. as Case
No. 09 CECG 01486.  That complaint alleges causes of
action for negligence against both Harris  Farms  and
Dassel’s, premises liability against Harris Farms alone and
“survivorship” against both Harris Farms and Dassel’s.
A trial date has not been set in that case.