Countrywide Farmers plc. - ceased trading May 2018 Reviews 1,714

Dear Mr Webb,

Thank you for your recent letter, I can only recount on my own personal experience since November in
dealing with the staff of the old company, this was nothing short of appalling:

1/ To contact anybody by telephone I had to wait at least two weeks constantly ringing on a daily
basis, to place my last three orders since December, in desperation I drove to your head office in Evesham
on my last attempt to order in March as I was about to run out of gas, no body on reception spent next ten
minutes phoning before somebody who was passing through the reception area spoke to me, he then went to see transport
manger to try and organise a delivery asap came back said they would ring me next day, as usual did not receive
a call, ran out of gas.
2/ Your order form on the internet has never worked therefore why is it still used as a possible tool for ordering
please delete it until such time as it is working.
3/ I have been a customer since 1985 and my parents from 1970 until 2005 in the belief we where supporting
a local company and valued, this has not been the case over the past six months, you only have to read the
the companies reviews to realise how the company has deteriorated.
4/ Your whole system of how staff deal with your customers needs a complete overall as if they continue in the same
vein there will be no future for the company.
5/ Your letter means nothing until you improve your customer service and restore people's confidence in your staff
being able to supply a service that is both honest and trustworthy, In the meantime I like many hundreds of other
customers will be looking for a new supplier.
If you wish I would be willing to meet with you to discuss my and other's recent experiences.
Your comments please

Roland Cother

I cannot even begin to express my frustration. You state on your website and telephone message the words customer service. You are certainly not offering any service other than the need for your customers to complain, leave bad reviews and finally move to another supplier. In the last 15 days I have phoned you and been put on hold for a total time of 7 hours and 36 minutes. Each time noone answers, I give up due to other commitments OR as of today...in each of todays 4 calls your telephone system says you are connecting me only to cut me off.
I am now down to 10% gas in my tank and as the last delivery took over a month to arrive, I'm not holding out much hope of not running out.
You are appalling in the treatment of your customers. You offer us customer service and yet you are completely useless at answering phones, taking orders and delivering on time.
You only have to look at trust pilot and Google reviews to see what your customers feel about your service. This email will be added to those reviews and if I don't hear back from you in the next 48 hours I will be looking for another supplier. My contact number is *************** or you can reply to this email with an alternative contact number so that I can speak to you in person with regards your incompetence.

Price is extortionate and service abysmal. I have been trying to get them to talk to me about my contract for weeks now.
It is a totally new company; New Name; New Company Registration No. but they refuse to accept my contract being void.

I even offered to let them renew it with a sensible price. I have been offered 30% cheaper gas another company.

I will leave them and when I do will publish my findings for you to leave in droves; serves them right for being so belligerent.

This part of the failed business is listed as being extremely profitable which is why DCC Plc, took this part of Countrywide Farmers over and not the rest.
I even cancelled my last order and they refused to allow that; delivered it whilst I was out.

Again,as said before I can’t vote nil star !
What a dreadful company and anyone working for them should quit!
NO COMMUNICATION that makes any sense when you finally get through and then being told you can’t get out of contract which must be rubbish.
Held to ransom at 52p a litre which can be negotiated AFTER delivery ?
What business works like that ?
Despite phone calls and emails no one gets back to you to help.
Seems like the staff are demoralised with the whole current situation.
Am going to see about getting out of contract asap

Just had delivery after waiting 28 days. I have 2 kids. No gas which works the hot water and heating. What a bunch of idiots been with the 12 years. Not using them again

Finally got through to speak to someone on Tuesday this week after 'only' about 15 minutes. The customer services lady seemed genuinely surprised that we had been waiting almost 2 months for delivery saying no-one had had to wait that long! I said that's why I've been chasing - by phone, except could never get through, plus left 2 answerphone messages when eventually did get through but these were never returned; plus umpteen emails and a letter. She checked and said we had been added to Thursday's route. By 9.30 am on Thursday our tank had been refilled. Even got a call that same day from Countrywide in response to my letter of 2 weeks ago cancelling my direct debit. The lady apologized for the delays and difficulty getting through and said extra staff had been brought in and the company was running as normal. I told her how stressful it has been not being able to speak to anyone or get a response for 6 weeks from a company that was sitting on my money and seemingly unable to deliver LPG or give any sort of ETA. At the end of the day, Countrywide's appalling lack of customer service in recent weeks is down to bad management and not the fault of the customer service personnel at the front end. I will be switching as I can save £700 per annum by doing so. I've had several long chats with the prospective new LPG supplier (including with a director) and feel reassured that they have a far better grasp of potential demand in the winter months, the management and contingency to deal with sudden cold spells, and access to better LPG supply lines than Countrywide.

Don’t bother to useing country wide been waiting three weeks now for a delivery can’t contact them disgusting service emailed them no response I recon Country wide has gone bust have no gas company dose not care about it customers

I keep checking up on here to see if issues are being resolved as we had problems back in Feb with our delivery and soon need some more gas. I waited on the phone for 40 minutes to speak to an advisor. He said deliveries are taking 14 working days from order. He assured me the situation is getting better now they are catching up with the back-log, but keeps blaming the elusive transport department for the delays.He says the delays are nothing to do with the take-over which as far as he is aware has gone through. I asked him what he considered was an acceptable time to be waiting for gas... he didn't answer as I said that I consider that 14 working days is not acceptable to me. He can't understand why people are posting bad reviews as things are getting better. I said try telling that to people with no gas!!!
I told him I am considering finding a new supplier as the wait is unacceptable and I wish to cancel my contract as they are not fulfilling their end of the agreement. He didn't seem bothered and had no answers. I did not order today as I wish to explore options.

No stars would be appropriate for Countrywide LPG! My comments echo all the other customers comments having placed an order at the end of Feb and had to suffer long delays in getting through and chasing with no satisfactory delivery on the horizon. I am surprised that the ombudsman hasn't investigated LPG supply and Countrywide LPG (appreciate that they are no longer part of the Countrywide Farmers PLC and understand that they have been acquired by the owners of Flogas?) . In today's commercial environment how is it that a supplier calls the shots?? I have been ripped off by paying over the odds for LPG for years which i have found out by doing some basic comparisons. I am voting with my feet and moving suppliers which will save me c £1000 in year 1 !
I have been a customer of Countrywide for over 10 years with no real issues until the tail end of 2017 / the acquisition. Just shows that loyalty doesn't always come with a reward!

Ok, Today l have just rang DCC PLC in Ireland to see if they could help sort out any deliveries, l told the woman on the phone that we were all under the impression that they had took over Countrywide LPG and were the new owners who would be taking care of all orders for gas.
The reply was, we have not completed anything yet and it was still in the process of being taking over.

Absolutely shocking, placed an order at the end of February, STILL no delivery, have attempted to chase via telephone to be on hold for almost ah hour and no one answering my call, have also re ordered via the on line system over 2 weeks ago and nothing. I have never had an issue with the service and delivery times before until this year, it is totally unacceptable

I am in the same situation as so many others it seems. Since Countrywide LPG split from Countrywide Farmers I have not been able to contact Countrywide LPG at all. I paid for LPG on 19th March 2018 and am still waiting for delivery. I am a pensioner and my LPG tank is now empty so I have no hot water and no heating but I have been unable to get hold of Countrywide LPG to fix the problem whatever the problem may be. If this was a supplier of mains electricity or mains gas there is a process in place for getting supplies back on quickly but with LPG I haven't found an equivalent process. All I got from Countrywide LPG was a letter saying they were no longer part of Countrywide Farmers but this was good news as they can provide great levels of customer service and will continue doing business as usual. HELP!! I AM COLD!!! How do I get out of my contract with Countrywide????

Country wide LPG are a good example of how not to look after there customers. I have been having problems with them for the last 2 months. They are near impossible to get on the phone. Never reply to emails and if you do get to talk to any one they are no help what so ever. We ran out of gas in February I ordered gas on line and then tried to ring them the following day to see when they would be able to deliver it. After 5 attempts to ring them I finally got to talk to some one and was told that my account was on hold and I would have to increase my standing order to £250 or pay of the balance of £500 to get a delivery. I paid of the balance and was told that I would get a delivery with in 4 days. When it did not arrive I rang them and after 2 hour I got to talk to some one and was told that my account was still on hold Despite paying the bill. after I pointed this out to them I was told that my delivery would be made in 2 weeks time. I asked to speak to a manager and was told one would ring me and surprise surprise they did 4 weeks after I had asked to speak to one. He told me he would sort a new price out and email it to me and ring me the following week. I am still waiting for the email and the call back from him. I would not recommend them to anyone.
If country wide do take the time to look at this please dont reply with your standard reply of emailing you on your new address as you do not reply to them.
I will be cancelling the contract with you due to you not supplying the service that I am paying for

We are a caravan park that needs a reliable gas supplier & when we first had Countrywide as our supplier everything was fine. We had a local depot we could ring and get a delivery either the same day or the next day. However when they centralized the system and we had to ring a call center it all went wrong. We started to get quotes of 3 to 5 working days for delivery, then it changed to 7 to 9 working days. We were also let down on promised delivery days. In December 2017 we received a letter to say our prices were being increased by £7 per 47kg cylinder. In late January we heard through a local gas supplier the Countrywide Farmers had gone bust and the gas sales had been taken over by Flogas. However we were not informed by Countrywide there was anything wrong until 14th March when we had an email from George Webb stating that the LPG business was no longer part of Countrywide Farmers Plc and that there was no need to worry about supplies etc and everything would carry on as normal. I sent a reply email with questions that needed answering, but no reply. As we needed a gas delivery before the start of the new season I rang them. No one to answered the phone, just a message to say it would be a 30 minute wait. Needless to say I did not bother to wait and have changed to a local supplier.

Appalling before and absolutely horrendous since Flogas take over. As repeatedly stated by others an absolute nightmare to get hold of, no replies to e-mails, none of the promised call backs etc etc. At our last fill up the engineer broke our tank and left it leaking, it was during the v cold weather. Both of us had awful colds and too bunged up to smell and as so cold the gas fumes were lying v low. Fortunately another engineer arrived a few days later to replace (yet again) a faulty sensor and saw and smelt the leaked LPG and turned it off, he also sorted out a further engineer to come and replace the valve that had been broken. It took us days to get hold of whoever they are called now, and weeks for them to get back to us. At no point has there been an apology for the breakage or the lost gas or any satisfactory recompense for the lost gas and our money. Their customer service is diabolical at best. We are changing to Avanti who not only answer the phone but charge 50+% less per litre!! Only get one star as no option for the none they deseve. RE RESPONSE TO E-MAIL LPGAS@COUNTRYWIIDE ; WE HAVE THEY DO NOT REPLY!

Initially I received a good service.

I have called several times, no answer, no returned calls.

I found myself with NO GAS at the weekend as only 1 bottle of gas was delivered in my last order, but I have paid for 2.

I placed an email order for 2 more and required and investigation as to why I only had one bottle delivered? I received a response asking me to confirm if I wanted to order. Well of course! That's why I've emailed you, why didn't I get a phone call, you had my number? And why no quote for the total cost and expected delivery time?

I was told 2 had been delivered. I've never had a problem in the past apart from long delivery waits. I can assure you, only one bottle has been delivered as i have to manually change my bottles over. The valves don't open themselves!

HAVING ORDERED MY GAS ON THE 19TH FEBRUARY ,TRYING TO GET ANY SENCE FROM THEM IS IMPOSSIBLE ,THEY HAVE TAKEN MY £209 + BUT DO NOT EVEN ANSWER MY CALLS OR EMAILS .ITS NOW 4TH APRIL STILL WITHOUT GAS ,I REALLY DO NOT THINK IM EVER GOING TO GET MY ORDER . AT LEAST FLOGAS DELIVER IT MAY BE MORE EXPENSIVE BUT THEY DO ANSWER THE PHONE AND SUPPLY.

We are supposed to have our gas topped up automatically as monitored by Countrywide. We're now down to a reading below 10. I've been trying to get through to them on the phone for the best part of this morning. No response! Interesting to note that they recommend that customers who do not have an automated system that they contact them when the meter is reading 40%. Appalling service and always has been hit or miss.

Concur with all that has been said. Sheer contempt by company beggars belief. Still waiting....existing on fumes as well and yes phone bill will be astronomical with 1hr and a half waiting times eventually met with gormless person who hasn't a clue what is going on. How difficult can it be to put more people on the phones and tell you the truth? What to do? Definitely stopping direct debit but we have paid up front so between a rock and a cold hard place. Other companies here (welsh borders) are flogas and calor who seem to have equally bad reviews but at least they reply to them.Yes any practical suggestions gratefully received. Grrrr

Excited like waiting for Father Christmas to arrive we have been told for the fouth time gas is coming !!