Just weeks before the start of spring, Eugenia Snyder and her husband paid to winterize their Campton home as a way to keep pipes from freezing after repeated delays by AmeriGas to refill her propane tank.

For weeks, the fuel company promised it would refill Snyder’s tank before it ran empty. Last week, her propane tank supply sensor hit 0%. With cold temperatures in the weekend forecast, she and her husband, Guillaume, didn’t feel they had another way to prevent frozen pipes than to call a plumber to winterize them.

“We’re totally at their mercy,” Snyder said of AmeriGas. “I’ve had text messages saying they’re coming and they don’t. I’ve had emails saying they’re coming and they’re not. This has gone on for a couple of weeks.”

The Snyders are one of many AmeriGas customers in New Hampshire who have reported running out of fuel because of late deliveries in recent weeks. Eleven customers fileformal complaints against the company have been filed with the state Attorney General’s Consumer Protection and Antitrust Bureau since the start of the year, and the office has received numerous calls on top of formal filings.

“It does seem to be a problem,” said Senior Assistant Attorney General Brandon Garod. The bureau has gotten “more complaints than usual” in recent weeks about AmeriGas, specifically complaints from people having trouble getting fuel delivered, he said.

It leaves customers like Snyder in a tough spot. Because her tank is AmeriGas property another fuel company can’t fill it. An emergency supply would take weeks to set up, she was told by another provider.

Further complicating things, someone over the age of 18 has to be present when the company comes to fill an empty tank. Without fuel the house had no heat, so Snyder’s husband slept by a space heater, waiting for a knock on the door from the gas company.

Monitor requests to speak with an AmeriGas representative were declined.

Brilynn Johnson, group director of customer relations for AmeriGas, issued a written statement blaming winter weather as the cause of the delays. It also said the company was aware of its customers’ needs and doing everything it could to meet them, including bringing a rapid-response delivery team to New Hampshire.

In the winter, fuel customers who are “will-call” — meaning they are responsible for scheduling deliveries as needed — should be vigilant about checking their tank and scheduling deliveries in advance, Garod said. Fuel companies aren’t at fault if the customer waited too long make the call.

Many of those with complaints, though, are on an “auto-fill” system. AmeriGas automatically is supposed to fill their tanks once they fall below a certain le. That’s the case for Snyder.

It’s also the case for Cathy Turrentine, whose homeowners association in Moultonborough has an agreement with AmeriGas.

Like Snyder and her husband, the Turrentines repeatedly called AmeriGas asking for delivery, anxiously watching their fuel level approach, and then reach, empty. They were told a truck would come on multiple dates that came and went.

It’s not the first time the Turrentines have had a problem with the company. A few years back, their account was switched from auto-fill to will-call without being told, she said. They ran out of fuel that time, too.

When AmeriGas came with a delivery on Saturday, the Turrentines had been relying on their small fireplace and ordering take-out meals for six days.

Of the 11 complaints against the company, eight were in February, according to the Consumer Protection Bureau’s online database.

Garod, in the Attorney General’s office, hadn’t heard a definite answer as to what might behind recent delivery issues, but his agency can communicate with companies to advocate for consumers’ rights. They’ve done this with AmeriGas before.

“Far and away we get more complaints against AmeriGas than any other fuel provider,” he said.

He encouraged anyone having an issue to reach out.

“We are in a position to lend critical help,” he said. “We want to make sure nobody is out of fuel and no one is cold in their homes.”

The New Hampshire Consumer Protection Hotline is (603) 271-3641.

Catherine McLaughlin can be reached at cmclaughlin@cmonitor.com. You can subscribe to her  Concord newsletter The City Beat at concordmonitor.com.