Finally, the propane company that made the mistake of delivering me all that glorious propane and I came to an agreement regarding which path to travel to correct the error.

I had called them shortly after Fowler Fest ’08 and explained that I nearly had enough money saved to pay off the unexpected bill. They had said they were extremely busy, due to an unexpected cold snap, with people running out of propane and they would contact me again soon.

Nearly a week and a half passed before my phone rang on Election Day showing their number on the caller ID. I was about to believe they had forgotten about me with all their chaos, and I had slipped under the radar with some free propane. Of course, I knew it was too good to be true. But, I had to hope!

Anyhow, after offering up the billed amount to be paid in full, the company agreed to allow me to keep the propane. But, since I was technically a new customer, they legally had to do a leak test and check the quality and age of the connections on the tank and into my house. This process should have some fee, but it was explained to me that the company would eat the cost since this was their mistake.

Two propane people show up, one of them happened to be the manager I yelled at and hung up on after the crazy day I had when the propane magically arrived. (I wondered if she came since I proved to be somewhat volatile that day on the phone. Which, by the way, after I hung up on her, I had to immediately call back and apologize for my behavior!!)

They checked the connections, and both were too old to meet standards, so they replaced them for free. No problem.

Then, they start their required-by-law leak check, and… holy moley if I didn’t have three minor leaks in my utility room with my hot water heater and my furnace!!!

Uh… yeah. So, the manager lady was a little perturbed. Not at me, thankfully. But, from the previous company who has filled my propane tank since I’ve moved into this house.

Uh, right. Remember that whole required-by-law leak check thing I mentioned above? The old company I used never mentioned that as being necessary.

Nope. Not once. Ever.

The manager lady said that the leaks were most probably caused by the do-it-yourselfers who installed the furnace and hot water heater. She said the connections were maybe one turn tighter than hand tightened.

Technically I should of been charged for the repairs they made to my connections, also. But, I think they were so frustrated with the lack of concern by the other company, they fixed the problems for us with no added charge.

Can you imagine? How long have we lived here with propane leaks? I mean, they said they weren’t bad… but leaks don’t ever get better. They only get worse. And, here we were, completely clueless that there was a problem.

These two worked at my house for 2 hours to make sure everything was correct. And, I mean, worked. Sweat pouring off of them, both of them huddled into my tiny utility room… I told them they earned their paycheck that day!

So, even though the whole propane delivery was a mistake originally… and even though I thought they were originally being difficult in order to resolve the problem… I am very very thankful that I was able to pull together enough money to pay for their propane.

Otherwise, they would of come and pumped it out, and I would of called the first company I used to fill it back up when I gathered enough change together. The first company would of never checked for leaks, and my house (and most probably the people in it) would of eventually become nonexistent due to leaks that should of been found over three years ago.

Anyone know a free lawyer?

(Oh, and PS, I made it to the polls for the first time in my life that day, also! Remind me to tell you that story tomorrow!!)