dav7 Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 We needed to purchase a fresh bottle of gas this week ready to go away next week. On going to our usual supplier we were told that they hadn't received any calor lite for two months and when they ring their supplier they just laugh. After ringing around the local stockists after the sixth phone call, we were able to buy some from a local campsite. My question is, is there a shortage of calor lite and why? Surely if it a case of a shortage of lite bottles then Calor can get more manufactured! B-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve928 Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 I guess that it's a function of the fact that the Calor 'deposit' is little more than a thinly-disguised fee. I have 2 Calor-Lites sitting here for which I think I paid a deposit of £30 each. I don't need them any more but would get next to nothing for them if I returned them (even if I could find the documentation) so I'll keep them just in case. I have 4 or 5 other worthless Calor cylinders doing nothing too.. I presume that other people are of the same opinion because it seems that many would rather take their unwanted bottles to the local tip than return them to Calor. If Calor want to get their bottles back into their network then perhaps they should consider repaying deposits in full upon their return, otherwise they need to get on and make more as you say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe63xnotuse Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 Very good points Steve...I'd never really though much about it before but it's true, folk do tend to keep hold of their "not needed" bottles(just in case), so as to avoid having to shell out the 30+quid "deposit" fee again.. (I thought a "deposit" was something that you got back, once you returned or surrendered an item? ;-) ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe63xnotuse Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 Eddy - 2014-03-28 12:48 PM Your thinking of Corona pop bottles, Calor is a "rental fee"...............................I think. :-S ;-) Aah!..I wondered why their van didn't come down our street on Saturday morning anymore!..it was Corona I was thinking of.....not Calor... (lol) Mind you, if the OP does look to exchange at a "Club" site, he needs to be careful...as I've read somewhere that they charge truly extortionate prices..and I dare say he risks being frog marched to the cash point. (lol) ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keithl Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 Go-Outdoors still list Calor Lite and show stock in a lot of their stores if there happens to be one near you. And they seem to be competitive on price if you have their discount card. Keith. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mildi Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 Steve928 - 2014-03-28 12:26 PM I guess that it's a function of the fact that the Calor 'deposit' is little more than a thinly-disguised fee. I have 2 Calor-Lites sitting here for which I think I paid a deposit of £30 each. I don't need them any more but would get next to nothing for them if I returned them (even if I could find the documentation) so I'll keep them just in case. I have 4 or 5 other worthless Calor cylinders doing nothing too.. I presume that other people are of the same opinion because it seems that many would rather take their unwanted bottles to the local tip than return them to Calor. If Calor want to get their bottles back into their network then perhaps they should consider repaying deposits in full upon their return, otherwise they need to get on and make more as you say I had 4 empty Calor 6kg propane which I no longer needed so I sold them on Gumtree for £10 each. Stops some one else being stung by Calor for the £30 a time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulmold Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 I asked Calor why a Calorlite refill costs more than a steel bottle refill - afterall it's the gas you are paying for. The answer I got was that the extra was to pay for investment in new Calorlite bottles. Perhaps they aren't investing and just keeping the extra. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 Calor's "Refill Agreement" terms and conditions are available here http://www.calor.co.uk/help-and-advice/customer-services/cylinder-refill-agreement (It's worth noting the stipulations in the paragraphs headed "Cylinders remain the property of the company at all times and may only be filled by the company" and "Use of cylinder".) The Refill Agreement charge is currently £34.25 and a percentage refund from 70% to 25% can be obtained according to how long a Refil Agreement has been in place. (See paragraph "Termination of the refill by the user".) The current scope of Calor's gas-bottle exchange policy is shown here (the £29.99 figure quoted in the footnote is out-of-date) http://www.calor.co.uk/help-and-advice/customer-services/cylinder-exchange-policy A GOOGLE-search on "calor lite shortage' will show that the problem is far from new. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliB Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 See the Calor website for details of the rental system. To Quote "However, if you don’t want another cylinder, you can simply return the empty one in good condition and receive a partial refund on the cost of the refill agreement, which is worked out on a sliding scale." The sliding scale reaches zero after 2 years. If you can be bothered to cancel your agreement each time you need a refill and then take out a new agreement you would over ride the 2 year cut-off point. http://www.calor.co.uk/help-and-advice/customer-services/refill-and-return-process Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brock Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 Tried to buy a Calor lite from the local Calor depot last week. Chap said they were like gold dust and he hadn't seen any for a while. He also said he would not change a heavy bottle for a Calor lite. Bought the normal bottle as I was exchanging the same, and got it at wholesale price because I was buying numerous other bottles for a firm which was a regular Calor. With BP pulling out of the market, I expect there is less competitive demand for lite. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve928 Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 mildi - 2014-03-28 2:40 PM I had 4 empty Calor 6kg propane which I no longer needed so I sold them on Gumtree for £10 each. Stops some one else being stung by Calor for the £30 a time. Yes I'm aware that there is a black market, mildi, in fact I think that a couple of mine came from Gumtree: 2 for a fiver if I recall, in the days before refillable systems. It's a strange situation really without parallel that I can think of. I have 5 or 6 items of someone else's property that they would presumably prefer to have back, yet there is zero incentive for me to give them back and they seem to be perfectly happy with that. They shall I suppose remain the 'property of Calor', but continue to reside behind my garden shed.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gocro Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 I had to buy a nearly new BBQ in order to get a cylinder £25 off Gumtree, our amenity site never sell anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 AliB - 2014-03-28 3:09 PM See the Calor website for details of the rental system. To Quote "However, if you don’t want another cylinder, you can simply return the empty one in good condition and receive a partial refund on the cost of the refill agreement, which is worked out on a sliding scale." The sliding scale reaches zero after 2 years. If you can be bothered to cancel your agreement each time you need a refill and then take out a new agreement you would over ride the 2 year cut-off point. http://www.calor.co.uk/help-and-advice/customer-services/refill-and-return-process Can I ask, please, where you obtained the information about a 2-year cut-off point? According to Calor's website, as long as the paperwork relating to the Refill Agreement is presented when a gas-bottle is returned, the following sliding-scale will apply 1 year old = 70% refund 2 years old = 60% refund 3 years old = 50% refund 4 years old = 45% refund 5 years old = 40% refund 6 years old = 35% refund 7 years old = 30% refund Over 7 years = 25% refund Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliB Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 Derek, I think I remember reading it in the small print of my agreement. I will have to find it to be absolutely certain. I recall this my wife wanted the garage cleared out and said why don't I take back one of the 4 bottle and I decided it was beyond the return date. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 I expect you are right, as the sliding scale of refunds now shown on Calor's website won't necessarily apply to Refill Agreements taken out in the past. I've no easy way of checking the terms of earlier Agreements as, although I have obtained several Calor bottles over the years, I've always managed to avoid paying a Refill Agreement charge, so have no supporting paperwork. Postscript: I've now found a complaint made to Calor in September 2012 on the following webpage http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/20120402/how-can-i-reuse-or-recycle-empty-bottled-gaspropane-cylinders "Your initial bottle rental is now circa £30 / cylinder, and for you to say you will get a proportion of this refunded upon return of the cylinder is been economical with the truth, as you know well that the refund value depreciates to nothing after 3 years..." so it appears that the present refund sliding-scale was much shorter until quite recently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete-B Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 Had a word with my supplier who informed me they were hoping to get a delivery next week and Calor told him they were having 40000 new bottles made to keep up with demand. He also told me in went into a friends garage last week and the guy had 5 empty Calor Lite's, no wonder there's a shortage Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracker Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 I too have three Calor lites in my garage, but only because our Warwick Duo has a fitted gas tank so we don't need the lites at the moment. However, if I let them go and we change the van back to one with bottles I too would have to fork out Calor's rental fees for replacements, so as I would currently get nothing back on them now and I have the space to store them it makes economic sense to hang on to them. If Calor are that concerned about being so short - and they never have been that bothered it seems - I would be happy to sell them back to Calor but I suspect that they probably cost less to make than the fee charged in which case Calor might well be quite happy for us all to hang on to them ad infinitum? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Dwight Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 Our nearest Go Outdoors has not had any Calor lites for over 2 months. I have swapped Bottles around as and when I need without any problems. I swapped a Calor Lite for a 13kg last year as we now have room for bigger bottles. A couple of years ago a neighbour gave me a 13kg which I promptly swapped up for a Calor lite no problems then, If I had know we were going to change the van I would have kept the 13kg then. The last time I looked at a CC site they wanted £29 for a Calor lite, my loc.al dealer only charges £21 when I asked why so expensive they told me it was due to a delivery charge of £5 a bottle. What a load of b--ls. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 Calor's current bottle-exchange policy is shown here http://www.calor.co.uk/help-and-advice/customer-services/cylinder-exchange-policy but what can be exchanged for what has been changed fairly often in the past and, in any case, Calor agents have discretion regarding bottle swapping. Calor's recommended exchange-prices are shown here http://www.calor.co.uk/shop/gas-bottles.html but Calor agents can choose to ignore those prices if they so wish. (Calor Lite bottles are not available on-line via Calor's website, but the recommended exchange-price for a 6kg propane canister is £20.75 and Calor Lite's exchange-price has always been several pounds more.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PJay Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 Our van was supplied with 1 calor bottle, and we asked for a second one to be fitted. We later changed to the lites when the became available,. I don't recall having an agreement with calor when we bought the van. I must look through the paper work. When anyone sells/exchanges the van , do you keep the bottles? When we sold our baot we left the gas bottles in situ, but they where the small blue ones, and again I don't recall having an agreement. PJay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 If (as Brownhills used to do) a motorhome dealer charges the 'full' price for a Calor gas-bottle being supplied with a vehicle (ie. the price of a Calor Refill Agreement + the refill charge for the gas in the bottle) then the buyer of the motorhome should certainly be provided with Refill Agreement documentaion. However (as I suspect is often the case) a motorhome dealer does not source Calor bottles as 'new' bottles via a Calor agent (eg. the dealer has an arrangement with a guy at a recycling centre), then the buyer should not expect to get Refill Agreement documentation because the dealer plainly won't have it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billggski Posted March 29, 2014 Share Posted March 29, 2014 Could a group like ourselves just operate a swap or loan system? Some members want a Calor lite, others have them spare. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebeaches Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 After reading this thread yesterday, I checked online to see if our local branch of Go Outdoors in Bristol had any stock. It was showing 2 x 6kg Calor lite. So I ordered one - 'click & collect'. In the event they wanted to check my identity very carefully when I called to pick it up this morning. Apparently, I'd got the last one and they'd no idea when they'd be getting more. Checking other Go Outdoors stores it appears to be something of a mixed picture - perhaps half out of stock and the remainder have the Calor lites available. Thanks to the OP for raising the issue. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billggski Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 I've got a spare.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zydeco Joe Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 I have two Calor Lite bottles one at the moment is in need of a refill but our local supply place has not had any for weeks, he said this morning that it was a local area problem with Calor !!!. (Staffordshire). I also have a French Le Cube bottle and in France we have never had a problem finding a replacement at many supermarkets and in fact we are thinking of getting a 2nd one due to the on going problems made by Calor's lack of action on making more lite bottles. The nearest Go Outdoors does not seem to stock many if any Calor Lite bottles ever.......... >:-( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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