Many Exchanges Mislabeled
Inspectors typically spot-check stores every 12 or 13 months. Our checks found all kinds of mislabeling from no price and no weight to just no weight or just no price. This mislabeling leaves consumers walking inside the store to figure out the price.
Click on the slideshow to see how several area retailers labeled their propane exchange cages.
We showed Hayes pictures of the cages in the Kansas City area. We had him take a look at the various labeling.
He suspected a problem while looking at one snapshot and mentioned that there was no weight label. However, we pointed out that there is a label -- Hayes just missed it which shows how easy it is for a consumer to miss the weight disclaimer.
Only 25 percent of the stores didn't miss the mark, and actually followed the law. The Lowes at Vivion and North Oak Trafficway uses two stickers on every cage to alert customers to the shrinking size.
However, waiting customer Hance Pierson still didn’t see it until we told him.
"I almost feel like they're cheating me," Pierson said.
The good news, you won’t always get cheated. There’s still 17 pound tanks in circulation; you just have to know where to look.
Check out our list of 20 stores and the results we found.
At Lowes, we spotted several dusty 17 pound tanks and told Pierson. He was ready to drive off with a 15 pound tank.
"You intervened and told me to be sure to get a 17 pound cylinder and I did and he gave me one."
That resulted in an extra 2 pounds of propane for Pierson.
"Thank you," Pierson said.
There is no alert at the Midtown Home Depot. We brought an empty 17 pound tank, and the store exchanged it with a 15 pound tank.
Our undercover producer said, "Now this one says 15 pounds that one is 17 pounds. Do you have any 17ers?"
The clerk looked puzzled and said, "Wow. No, everything is 15. It looks like they changed their sizing because that's the exact same AmeriGas can. Same size. They just don't fill it as much it seems."
So our undercover producer asked, "Do I get a discount for giving a 17 and getting a 15?"
The clerk answered, "No."
