Underground Propane Tank Owned By Gas Company - No Contract Signed

[carl324]

Dear Sirs,

I purchased a home in 2017 which was heated with an underground propane tank owned by the gas company. The house was built in 1986. We did accept 1 delivery of propane when moving in, but we made clear that in many telephone conversations, we planned to run a gas line immediately since all our neighbors had natural gas. We never signed a contract, and are looking for a reasonable agreement/cost for them to remove the tank.

My wife got nowhere last year on this issue. I have spoken with them recently and the position of the local supervisor so far, is that the original owner had a contract with them, and it required that we dig up the tank, and they would remove the tank once it was dug up. He just repeated that mantra over and over.

Well, I simply asked for them to pull up the 1986 contract to confirm that the current legal disclaimers were the same as in 1986. The supervisor said he would get back to me with this 1986 signed contract, but it seems they aren't returning my calls anymore.

But there is another risk - what is in their written contracts? There were 2 statements my wife received amongst all their brochures. One from 2013, one from 2016. The 2016 one states that paying an invoice from the gas company is considered acceptance of a three year contract on their terms. Their terms has us responsible for the costs of tank removal, but there is no evidence that we received that statement before they made the first delivery. And in fact, we refused to sign those specific terms.

My position is that it is their property, on my property, and I am happy to share with them the costs of removal. But I don't want to be bound by this 1986 contract signed by someone I don't know.

So I guess I can boil the key points down to two issues:
a. Is it a contract by just paying an invoice for gas delivered? It is not like we were foolish and didn't read the fine print, but there was nothing signed in the first place. b. Is it worth it to pursue this with the gas company regardless.

Thanks so much for your thoughts.

Carl

 

[FarmerJ]

Carl does this company charge you rent for the tank ? This whole acceptance of what they want because you filled and paid a bill is nonsense to me. If It was me I would likely refuse to buy any more gas from them and go ahead and get natural gas line run and my propane appliances converted and let the propane company make a issue of it and tell them they should be able to prove to a court that im bound by a 1986 contract I did not sign or any other written contract I didn't sign. ( in the time being perhaps you could dig around the top of the tank so that way all they have to do is use that hoist truck they have to drop tanks to pull it out with chains and hooks on the two places they hooked onto when they lowered the tank) you could cover it with a few hay bales or straw bales to keep it from being a trip and fall hazard. Sooner or later they will be done with not making any money from it not being filled and may well just come and pull it out. My local phone co tried the same crap when I wanted to quit having DSL and I reminded them I never did sign the contract they sent out at the start of the service being available and it was still in a desk drawer unsigned after over four years of having the service.

 

[adjusterjack]

a. Is it a contract by just paying an invoice for gas delivered? It is not like we were foolish and didn't read the fine print, but there was nothing signed in the first place. b. Is it worth it to pursue this with the gas company regardless.

The contract you have to read is your purchase contract to see if there is anything in there about inheriting the obligation to pay for the propane service.

 

[LdiJ]

Dear Sirs,

I purchased a home in 2017 which was heated with an underground propane tank owned by the gas company. The house was built in 1986. We did accept 1 delivery of propane when moving in, but we made clear that in many telephone conversations, we planned to run a gas line immediately since all our neighbors had natural gas. We never signed a contract, and are looking for a reasonable agreement/cost for them to remove the tank.

My wife got nowhere last year on this issue. I have spoken with them recently and the position of the local supervisor so far, is that the original owner had a contract with them, and it required that we dig up the tank, and they would remove the tank once it was dug up. He just repeated that mantra over and over.

Well, I simply asked for them to pull up the 1986 contract to confirm that the current legal disclaimers were the same as in 1986. The supervisor said he would get back to me with this 1986 signed contract, but it seems they aren't returning my calls anymore.

But there is another risk - what is in their written contracts? There were 2 statements my wife received amongst all their brochures. One from 2013, one from 2016. The 2016 one states that paying an invoice from the gas company is considered acceptance of a three year contract on their terms. Their terms has us responsible for the costs of tank removal, but there is no evidence that we received that statement before they made the first delivery. And in fact, we refused to sign those specific terms.

My position is that it is their property, on my property, and I am happy to share with them the costs of removal. But I don't want to be bound by this 1986 contract signed by someone I don't know.

So I guess I can boil the key points down to two issues:
a. Is it a contract by just paying an invoice for gas delivered? It is not like we were foolish and didn't read the fine print, but there was nothing signed in the first place. b. Is it worth it to pursue this with the gas company regardless.

Thanks so much for your thoughts.

Carl

Is your issue that you have already run the natural gas line and simply want the tank removed from your grounds or is it something else? You were not entirely clear.

I suspect that the propane company will never cooperate with removing the tank at their expense and I also suspect that a court would not order them to do so either. Someone who owned the home at some point agreed to the installation of the tank. It was up to you to deal with the seller about the removal of the tank.

 

[FarmerJ]

The issue I see is more about the tank being buried ( I have never seen one buried in my area ) where I live anyone who has a propane tank has it out in the open where it can be easily filled and if someone wants to change service providers the service provider eats the cost of removing the tank and of course the new provider likely will charge a set up and pressure test fee when they bring in a new rental tank or set up a replacement tank that is customer owned. Make it easy for them to just lift it out and take steps to prevent injury from it being a trip hazard once enough of the tank is exposed so it can be lifted out.