Just before Memorial Day last week, members of Home Depot’s Garden Club received an email with links to various garden coupons.
The third coupon, for a free tank of propane (when you bring in an empty one presumably), was particularly timely for many families.
Upon clicking the link to print the coupon, a heretofore undisclosed catch is revealed:
*MOUSE PRINT:
Oh, you have to buy a $200 grill to get the free propane. Funny how that tiny detail was omitted from their email promotion of the offer. Often, the worst mouse print is the mouse print that is missing.
A couple years back I bought a grill from Home Depot and it included a Propane tank. Now it seems you need a coupon to get a free exchange.
i never click on links anymore for online coupons since they pull this a lot, not just home depot but many companys will have lots of mouseprint or ask you to fill out surveys with person info to get a lousy coupon. Many people are also not aware at how often the coupon link will also generate a lot of spyware to dump on your computer.
Aww that is just plain crooked!
Along the same lines, propane companies have started to fill standard 20-pound tanks with less fuel (15lbs) while charging the same price as before (when they filled the tanks 12% fuller)
As far as I can tell, you won’t find this information anywhere on the tanks themselves.
Here’s the story from Consumer Reports: http://blogs.consumerreports.org/home/2009/05/amerigas-blue-rhino-propane-gas-tank-exchange-gas-grills-home-depot.html
The lesson is, don’t buy propane through a tank exchange program. If you have your tank refilled at a dealer, the propane is metered into the tank and you pay for what you purchase. You know how much you are getting and the cost per gallon.
who, in their right mind, really think home depot is going to just give you a free tank of propane with no strings attached? pt barnum said it best!