Belton Rv Park - Thief, BEWARE OF ALICE OLTMER AND HER PARK Options

[Vern and Ranae]

I don't normally go on such a rant, but this woman just ripped us off and I thought everyone should know of it.

I took in two 30# propane tanks... each hold 7.5 gallons and have been filled many times by other establishments. At this establishment, I personally saw the attendant reset the dial to an incorrect setting before filling our tanks.

When I called him on his behavior, he said, "Ok, I will tell the main office that you only got 12.5 gallons instead of 15 in these two tanks."

I go inside to pay for the gas only to hear him on the radio tell them it was 13.5 and the lady at the front desk tells me I have to pay for a "fill charge" as they don't fill them by the gallon.

I asked her to call the park owner. Which she politely did.

That is where the polite behavior ended. I spoke to the owner Alive Oltmer and was told that the Rail Road Commission (Texas' regulatory agency for propane, gas, etc) would not let her fill the tanks differently.

This is hog wash to say the least. I am VERY familiar with the Railroad Commission as I have done work for the commission for years. Their rules and regulations are my bread and butter as a consultant actually. So this lady was lying to the wrong person.

The bottom line, I felt so uncomfortable for the sweet lady at the front desk that I paid her in full after Alice hung up the phone on me.

But it will be a cold day in ____ before I ever go back to this place.

I will be filing a BBB complaint tomorrow morning as well as a formal complaint with the Railroad Commission.

BEWARE IF YOU DEAL WITH THIS PLACE. THEY ARE THIEVES!!

I hope she enjoys the $18.00 she ripped me off for. I hope it was worth what it will cost her in the end.

By the way... their price per gallon is $3.85 which is about $1.10 per gallon more than I have paid just last week down the road in Georgetown (about 20 miles south).

[Parkview]

Hi everyone,

I will not comment on the price charged per gallon, but I will let everyone know that in Texas and many other states it is common practice to charge by the bottle for filling removable propane bottles. This is not a practice of the RV park or the campground industry, but a practice of the Propane industry. It is not required by the Texas Railroad Commission to charge by the bottle, but we are required to fill vertically oriented removable bottles by weight on a certified set of scales. We charge a flat amount (a set price ) for 10 lb., 20 lb., 30 lb. or 40 lb. bottles, regardless of how many gallons they take. We do not even reset the gallon meter when filling these bottles as it is an irrelevant number. This is the practice of the propane wholesaler that I buy from and all other wholesalers that I know of. For bottles larger than 40 lbs. net and on non-removable horizontal tanks, we do charge by the gallon.

Personally, when I fill a bottle that is obviously not empty or almost empty, I ask the customer if he is sure he wants to fill it because it will cost the same as an empty bottle to fill. It would not be worth our time to call one of our personnel certified to dispense propane on the radio to drop what he is doing to come fill a 20 lb. propane bottle and only charge for a gallon if that is what the bottle took to fill.

We sell propane primarily as a service for our customers, another draw if you will. The expenses of purchasing the dispensing equipment, of sending personnel to Austin to train and license people to legally pump propane, of dramatically increased cost of liability insurance, and of installing specialized electrical equipment and emergency cutoff switches required by the State hardly justifies our being in the propane business if our goal was to make it a profit center for our business. I hope this sheds some light on the issue.

Thanks for listening. Doug!

[rbrumfield]

Hi everyone,

I will not comment on the price charged per gallon, but I will let everyone know that in Texas and many other states it is common practice to charge by the bottle for filling removable propane bottles. This is not a practice of the RV park or the campground industry, but a practice of the Propane industry. It is not required by the Texas Railroad Commission to charge by the bottle, but we are required to fill vertically oriented removable bottles by weight on a certified set of scales. We charge a flat amount (a set price ) for 10 lb., 20 lb., 30 lb. or 40 lb. bottles, regardless of how many gallons they take. We do not even reset the gallon meter when filling these bottles as it is an irrelevant number. This is the practice of the propane wholesaler that I buy from and all other wholesalers that I know of. For bottles larger than 40 lbs. net and on non-removable horizontal tanks, we do charge by the gallon.

Personally, when I fill a bottle that is obviously not empty or almost empty, I ask the customer if he is sure he wants to fill it because it will cost the same as an empty bottle to fill. It would not be worth our time to call one of our personnel certified to dispense propane on the radio to drop what he is doing to come fill a 20 lb. propane bottle and only charge for a gallon if that is what the bottle took to fill.

We sell propane primarily as a service for our customers, another draw if you will. The expenses of purchasing the dispensing equipment, of sending personnel to Austin to train and license people to legally pump propane, of dramatically increased cost of liability insurance, and of installing specialized electrical equipment and emergency cutoff switches required by the State hardly justifies our being in the propane business if our goal was to make it a profit center for our business. I hope this sheds some light on the issue.

Thanks for listening. Doug!

In WV, I have run into both situations. There is a local Exxon station that has propane that charges to fill my 30# bottles at a flat fee if they are completely empty or have propane remaining. The local feed and seed store charges by the amount of gallons that they pump into the tank totally ignoring the weight factor even though they both put the bottles on a set of scales when they fill them. When I asked why the flat fee at the Exxon station, the explanation that I received was in line with your comments about labor costs, etc. They provided it as a service to the local bar-b-que people more than anything and people rarely brought a bottle that wasn't empty. So I solved the issue by simply buying an additional tank. It sits full in the out building until needed and when one gets empty, it is replaced with the spare and the now empty tank becomes the filled spare when I get it filled. The only time I use the Exxon station is if the seed and feed is closed. It is a few more miles from my home than the seed and feed store. The feed and seed store really doesn't like to fill my 5# tank whether empty or has propane in it. It is minimal cost either way.