Review Time
It would have been good to know a delivery was on its way and a delivery note left for my hard copy records.
I understand the tank contents level gauge is faulty, therefore providing inaccurate readings so why a delivery was arranged baffles me.
Hopefully this fault will be quickly rectified and I can monitor my account IN HARD COPY DOCUMENTS please.
We have had a bulk Calor tank for 30 years without any problems. Calor then insisted fitting auto telemitry so that they could manage deliveries. The auto telemitry went wrong and we had a run out. The tank supplies a holiday cottage, and with guests present a run out is not popular. The fiasco that then ensued trying to obtain a run-out refill was completely ridiculous. After 4 days of chasing we were told our tank had been filled, but it turned out they had filled up someone elses. We were then told it was out for an evening fill up, but that never happened, and no communication from Calor. A Saturday morning call to the team gave assurance that we would get a call back and a fill up over the weekend - nothing happened. Monday chase came back with a promise of an afternoon delivery. And finally a delivery at 9pm on the Monday night with the driver advising us that we should have received a call letting us know it would be a late delivery. Absolutely unforgivable client communication and failure of their systems.
I am a returning customer to Calor. My LPG tank reading was 23% which I submitted to Calor along with further readings decreasing to 9%. I reduced using gas so that my boiler would not be affected. The property was cold and I used a portable electric heater.
I contacted Customer Services and Trisha promised a delivery in 5 days. Thank you, the tank has been filled from 6% to 85%.
Could I suggest that if there is excess demand that you put this on the website and details of the depots affected, or send a text message. If the problems arise in winter could you have a priority service register, completed voluntarily for vulnerable people ranked with age, ill health, lack of mobility and if having alternative heating methods. Customers do not want a compensation payment of £100, they just would like a delivery. Would it be possible in late summer/autumn months to top up tanks in preparation for winter?
I have read some negative reviews and it must be difficult for Customer Services and delivery drivers if customers are irate. If measures are put in place, Calor will be the efficient company as of 6-8 years ago.
I’m just happy to be in a warm home again and I hope the feedback is of use.
I requested that I would like my delivery when my tank reached 30 percent, this was addressed promptly.The driver also respected my home and ensured the gates were closed behind him. I really appreciated this as I have a small dog and I'm not in the best of health.
Many thanks
Calor
Calor since they fitted our system in its infancy some eight years ago have failed on numerous occasiions to rectify a major fault with the system. When the auto changeover from two empty 47k bottles to two full 47k bottles, coincides with outside sub-zero temperatures, the system freezes up and we get no supply. Hence no hot water and no heating. This has occurred on average twice every year since installation. Despite numerous promises from Calor they have not honoured such promises.
The latest event of this happening was overnight on the 9/10th January. Our inside temperature was down to 10c! Despite numerous phone calls and emails (auto response received) one lady did inform us that she would speak with someone and we would have a return call - we are still waiting for this call.
Nothing from Calor until on the 12th February I had an email from my local MP stating he had been in touch with Calor and they had left a message on our answer service. Total fabrication as we do not have any such answer service on our home land line or our mobile phones.
On Tuesday 17th February at 0815 we had a very genuine engineer turn up from Calor, totally unannounced. He informed us that he was informed Calor had contacted us and informed us of this visit - wrong, we've had no contact by email regarding this visit.
This engineer Michael Crane almost, but not fully, restored my faith in this company. After almost 5hours he discovered that he was 99% sure that the original installatiion, some eight years ago, was the cause of our problems. He gave us a Red Notice regarding our system and stated he would report the matter to head office and they would be in touch.
Michael was a credit to Calor as I've already stated.
It is impossible to telephone Calor at Leamington Spa and speak with anyone, you have to send emails to whoever, as I've done this on numerous occasions, but needless to say nobody responds.
Certainly not good business practice.
Terrible customer service!
I get charged the wrong price on numerous occasions, it takes 2 weeks to respond to emails on more than one occasion, I am told that action will be taken to amend my account but no action is taken, I get sent reminders saying I owe money even though I don't. I wish it was just a one off but unfortunately the customer service has been abysmal from day one and I have been a customer for over 5 years. My heart sinks every time I have to deal with an issue. Zero star rating, the one star is for the cheap gas I get when the price is correct. If you can buy your gas at the same price elsewhere I suggest you do.
In response to Calor’s reply:-
I don’t accept your apologies as they are insincere.
I don’t ‘feel’ as though I received poor customer service, I have had poor customer service FACT!
You don’t understand my frustration as you appear to infer that it is ok to take 12 days to respond to an email because you are ‘busy’. This is the standard response time I have received over the years.
Apparently the credit was stuck in the system, I think this is code for someone failed to do their job. I’m not looking to get anyone in trouble but train your staff and give them the tools.
I reiterate that this is not my only experience of bad service from Calor so I do not accept you passing it off as acceptable.
Calor have let me run out of gas several times despite having a telemetry system. Having to live in a freezing cold house because you are tied into a contract with a gas company whose systems are not fit for purpose is not fun.
Calor placed a stop on our account because they reduced our direct debit to a level that didn't cover the cost of the gas we used and placed us into considerable debt (they only produce an annual account so it's not easy to keep track of consumption). We have been paying the debit balance on our account by increasing our DD but the stop has remained in place and they are seemingly unable to override it.
This has meant that their systems stopped the automatic scheduling of deliveries, so not only did I have to keep a constant eye on tank readings but I also had to ring several times each time I was getting low - and then go through the whole long story each time I rang.
This situation has now been ongoing for well over a year. It is so stressful having to worry about running out of gas (and it's invariably freezing outside when it does). The last time it happened we were out for 3 days because it resulted in an airlock.
We are trying to move from Calor but it now transpires that an inspection that they are meant to do every 2 years on the tank has not been done since 2021. We are now 4 weeks into a process that should have taken a few days.
I have no beef with the staff - they are usually very helpful - but my experience of the systems and processes that Calor use (including the automated systems) is nothing but negative.
Great quality service from Calor Gas advisors very helpful drivers excellent and friendly always reliable in my opinion the best in the country thank you. Regards Richard
Calor over charge, refuse to fill the tank full, never respond to any issue regardless of how many emails/phone calls are made. Yes customer services do answer the phone but to be told multiple times a depot manager is meant to be calling me and he never does is excruciating!
They quite literally do not care about the customer, only the cash!
The management quality is literally at a nursery school level. If I was running this company I would be embarrassed! An absolute con & a farce of an operation!
Thank you Gary for your reply. My message above is a bit misleading and I’ve amended it.
In terms of response, yes I spoke to a helpful woman who could not understand either why management still would not reply having said they would.
This is my case details
Re: Customer Number: 39656584 - Case Number: 06479677
I don’t want compensation, just for the depot manager to call me as promised.
I have already been in touch with 2 different companies to move to.
Regards
UPDATE : spoken with Gary, very decent guy and confident he will pass on my comments.
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