On Monday, September 30, 2013 9:24:30 AM UTC-4, wrote:
On Thursday, September 26, 2013 9:41:04 PM UTC-4, Alex Gunderson wrote:

But, what about "abandoned" property?



You are what's wrong with the country today.



All you are doing is trying to weasel your way into a "free" tank because you don't want to pay for tank rental.







Deep down you know who it belongs to, and that you should be paying the rental fee. It's only fair.



Either the previous homeowner or you were supposed to call and transfer that tank account to your name. Obviously the previous homeowner didn't care. Rather than do the upright and honest thing you kept your mouth shut.



That's a big assumption and I doubt it's correct. First,
it would be very stupid for the previous owner to not call
up the gas company and tell them to terminate service. The
previous owner could continue to get billed for gas, so
it's very likely they did call them up. Second, if they
didn't, then why didn't the previous gas company just show
up and continue to fill the tank? After they sent a bill or
two to the former owner, something would have happened.?
It looks more to me like something fell through the cracks
at the gas company.

As far as Alex being responsible, I'd say he has some
responsibility now, because the service guy from the gas
company told him that the tank shows up in their database
as belonging to the previous gas company. This is 3 years
later. But what exactly
do you think he should do? Call up his current company
that now has bought out the previous company, so they may
own the tank, and force the issue? A representative
of the company knows about it. What more is he supposed to
do? He's not hiding the tank or lying. For one thing,
all we know is what a service tech told
him. Presumably that service guy will do whatever it is
that he's supposed to do. Maybe he'll hear from the gas
company. If he doesn't, I sure wouldn't go forcing the issue
either.

And his assertion that it could be abandoned property is
a valid issue. It doesn't make Alex a bad person. It's like
if a tree on my property that's healthy falls onto my neighbors
shed and crushes it during a wind storm. I, like many people, would
feel some moral responsibility, since it was my tree.
But the law says otherwise. Unless the tree was diseased, dead,
etc and I knew about it, etc, then I'm not responsible.
The law sets the rules we play by. And if his tank meets the
law for abandoned property, then it's his tank now.




You've had that tank rent free for however many years. Time to do the honest thing, own up, and pay the long-overdue bill.

What bill? He had no contract with the previous company.
The former owner did. If they want to collect past rental
fees, they would have to go after the former owner, not Alex.
Alex had no say in negotiating or signing that contract. For
one thing, it's clear from the thread that Alex would prefer
to BUY a tank. If the gas company had presented him with
a bill 3 years ago for rental, he could have said, "I want
to buy it, how much?" And if he couldn't come to terms with
that company, he could have told them, he's switching to
another company, etc. You can't enforce a contract where no
contract ever existed.