Merwin Oil Co.

Review: On 1/20/2016, I called [redacted] Oil because our furnace was turning on & off intermittently and not fully heating our house. I informed them that the furnace seems to keep the house warm when the outside temps are around 30 degrees or higher, but doesn't keep it warm when it gets much colder than that. They came out the same day and spent approximately 1 hour (a little less than an hour) servicing the furnace. They called when they were done and told me the problem was that the furnace filter was plugged and the blower was getting hot because it wasn't getting enough air through the filter. Our bill reads 'The technician serviced the heat exchanger'. He offered to put in a new filter for an additional $107. I told him not to, knowing that I had changed the filter a month ago & I would be capable of changing it again for less than $10 and less than 5 minutes of time. At this time, we were never told an approximate cost of any charges other than $107 to put in the filter.

Following this service (or lack thereof), the furnace continued to turn off intermittently. Knowing how much they were planning to charge for changing the filter, I decided not to bother calling them to come out again. Instead, I chose to call a different heating company who was there less than an hour & diagnosed the problem correctly - a faulty gas valve. The furnace now works fine - even with temperatures dipping into the single digits.

Upon receiving the bill for $305.46, we called [redacted] to complain about the bill and their inadequate service. After several attempts of calling, I finally spoke to the owner and explained to him that they misdiagnosed the problem and their diagnosis of 'poor air flow' was not really the problem and therefore, I didn't feel like I should have to pay the bill in full. We asked them to come out to fix the problem, which they clearly did NOT do. The owner was extremely rude and claimed that they provided a service to us, which I am disputing. They did NOT provide the service that we asked for, which was to FIX the furnace! He went on to say that his services are guaranteed; however, that was never mentioned in any phone call nor was it on our invoice or anywhere else that I saw and since the cost to replace a simple filter was outrageous, it didn't seem reasonable to call them for return service when they were unable to fix the problem the first time. I offered to pay the $119 trip & dispatch charge, but didn't feel obligated to pay the repair charge, since they did NOT repair it! He insisted that they provided us a service that I called for and claims that I was given some sort of estimate before they came out, which wasn't the case. When I informed him that the other company charged $100 less than him, which included the trip, parts, and labor and they ACTUALLY REPAIRED the furnace. he said that, 'well, now you have two bills' to pay and that I will need to pay him in full and hung up on me!Desired Settlement: [redacted] Oil to adjust our bill to the Trip & Dispatch charge which was $119.00, which I feel is more than fair since they did NOT fix the furnace which is what I called them out there to do.

Business

Response:

In reviewing this complaint, we went back to the technician to review his work order. We have concluded our technician recorded his work incorrectly. This resulted in an incorrect billing. We will be crediting the invoice which generated this complaint and re-bill with explanation. We apologize for the inconvenience our customer experienced.

Consumer

Response:

I had an issue with my furnace over the weekend. I called Merwin Oil 24 hour service. The technician that was sent out (with a $150 service call) confirmed my assessment that my furnace had a bad gas valve. He then proceeded to tell me that the new valve cost was roughly $800.00 with tax. A new valve on Ebay costs between $85 and $200. Merwin wanted to charge me roughly $1000 to replace a valve on my furnace. I was able to get the valve from another supplier within hours for $250 and I had heat. I feel sorry for the other customers that do not have the ability to refuse this price gouging service when they have a heating emergency during off hours.

Review: Having trouble with furance called merwin they have been out a number of times to repair furance. We were told it needed a part under warrenty but would have to pay install I understand that but I received a bill for two service calls where I feel I shouldnot be charged for the same repair.I e-mailed them with no responce...Desired Settlement: Only charge for one service call

Business

Response:

Thank you for the opportunity to respond to the recent

statement you’ve received from our customer [redacted] regarding the HVAC

service we provided at his home for on a York furnace.

We have provided service to Mr. [redacted] since September,

2013. We have done two cleanings at his property and have made several service

calls to repair his furnace that was installed by another company, that has

since gone out of business. Most recently, we have been working closely with

the manufacturer to determine the problems that Mr. [redacted] has been

experiencing.

On Oct, 10, 2014, Mr. [redacted] called and said his furnace had

gone out. He told us that this had happened multiple times, and Mr. [redacted]

would restart it. It would run for various lengths of time, and then it would happen

again. He was concerned that it might happen when he wasn’t there, and could

cause damage to his property with no heat for an extended period of time. He asked

for us to send a technician to see what was going on. We told him that as long

as it was running, we couldn’t diagnose the problem, and that he should call

back when the furnace was not running.

He called again on Nov. 20th. We sent our

technician out that afternoon. The technician spent over an hour on site to

determine what was causing the furnace to go off. He placed a call to York’s

tech support to get assistance with the codes. He was unable to get through to

York’s technical support, so after documenting the fault codes, he restarted

the furnace and left the site. Mr. [redacted] was charged $109.00+tax that he was

quoted when he called and asked us to come out. After returning to the office,

the technician called York again. He was able to leave a message. York returned

his call late the following afternoon.

Our staff worked with technical support and the warranty

department at York for quite some time before we were given a direction on how

to trouble-shoot the problems that Mr. [redacted] was having with the furnace. We

have helped Mr. [redacted] to utilize the parts warranty that he has on the

furnace, but the labor charges to make the installations were not covered by

that warranty.

After quoting an hourly rate of $109 port to port, Mr.

[redacted] asked us to return to his home on Dec. 17, 2014 to work through the

process that York’s technical support suggested to determine the problem. Our

technician invested 2.25 hours to this process. Based on the results, it was

determined that burners should be replaced.

Mr. [redacted] was told that if he replaced the parts with the same type the

parts would be covered by his warranty, but if he upgraded to a stainless steel

parts, they would not be covered. Intallation charges would also need to be

charged. Mr. [redacted] chose not to have the parts replaced.

We have not charged Mr. [redacted] for anything that we have not

quoted prior to dispatching our technician or making the repairs. Mr. [redacted]

has a right to be upset, but perhaps he should be looking to the company that

installed the furnace originally or to the York Company that manufactured the

furnace. We have been very straight-forward about our pricing with Mr. [redacted],

and feel that we’ve made a sincere and honest effort to resolve his problems.

As always, we appreciate your mediation services.

Consumer

Response:

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.

Review: I was solicited by Merwin Oil to replace my former propane provider with Merwin Oil. After numerous sales calls and the promise of lower propane costs, I agreed to go with Merwin. Before agreeing to the change I made it clear that I would like to make monthly payments on any outstanding balance I may incur and would gladly pay any interest that would accumulate as I did not want to make any large payments up front. This was how it worked with my former propane service and I was happy with the arrangement. In the winter of 2013 the propane prices went way up and I contacted Merwin with my concerns. I asked that they not fill my tank until I asked them to in order to save costs on the high priced propane. Shortly after, I began getting harassing calls from Merwin insisting that I pay my balance in full. They were calling me twice a week. I explained that this was not my agreement and I would pay my balance in the near future, all the while making monthly payments toward that balance. Merwin told me they would not fill my tank until the balance was paid in full which again went against my agreement. I decided to heat my home with electric heat the rest of the winter, paid off my balance and did not purchase propane until spring. I was upset with the service and the rude treatment I received from Merwin and decided to go back with my former propane provider. I asked Merwin to remove their tank from my property, which they did. About two months later, I received an invoice from Merwin for $730 for tank drop off/pick up, and 4 hours of labor at the ridiculous amount of $118/ hr. Merwin alleges breach of contract as I did not utilize their service for the minimum of three years. I contacted Merwin and explained my issues and asked that they not bill me. The person I spoke to was extremely rude and said she would tell the owner. Thirty days later I was billed again with the addition of a service fee and late fee. I wrote Merwin a letter explaining my dissatisfaction. I included in my letter and explanation of how, in their zeal to get their tank on my property in the spring, they had damaged my lawn. Their truck actually was buried in my lawn and had to be pulled out. At the time I did not make an issue of it and their service guy said they would be back to repair the yard. They did return in summer and dropped some seed and soil in the ruts which did nothing to restore my lawn. At this time I still did not make an issue of this. I ended up purchasing a load of top soil, renting a skidsteer and spending at least 8 hours of my time repairing my yard. In my letter I expressed that I was trying to be a reasonable person and that I believe they breeched the contract by refusing to fill my tank. I asked that we call it even since I was out even more that the $700 they were billing me for. Thirty days later I received another bill with late fees and service charge. I then began billing Merwin for my losses. This has gone on for four months now. I have billed Merwin twice, with no response. I have included a letter with my intent to contact the Revdex.com and to take court action against them if they continue to bill me. Yesterday I received ANOTHER bill!.Desired Settlement: I am out over $1000 dollars for my lawn repair. I want Merwin to stop billing me and I will in turn, not proceed with a small claims action against them. I contend they breeched our contract by requiring my balance be paid in full before a refill and I therefor was not obligated to keep them as my provider. As I stated, I would like to call it even. I have never dealt with such unprofessional and rude people. $118/hr for labor? I contract electrical contractors and they charge far less than that for electricians.

Business

Response:

On December 31, 2012, [redacted] entered into a 3 year Propane Tank Lease Agreement (a legally binding

agreement) with our company. We installed the 500 gallon LP tank in January

2013. In November of 2014, [redacted] instructed us to

pick-up our LP Tank. [redacted] had changed LP

gas providers and no longer needed our tank.

We did as he requested. As stated in the Tank Lease Agreement, we

invoiced [redacted] for breach of the agreement.

When LP tanks are delivered and

installed or picked-up, driving a vehicle and trailer on the customer’s lawn is

required. This process could leave tire

tracks. Generally, the tire tracks are

minor and disappear after a short time. In

this case, when the LP Tank was installed the truck tires “spun” and left a

“burn” mark on a small area of grass. The

damage was very minor. As a courtesy, we

returned to the jobsite in May 2013. We

spread the affected area with top soil and raked it our smooth. We then seeded the area. The customer did not indicated that he wasn’t

satisfied. We are rather surprised, 21

months later, when [redacted] sends us an invoice for lawn repairs ($1200.00). Had our repairs not been sufficient, [redacted]

could have contacted us at the time they were made.

In regard to [redacted]’s claim of

“harassing phone calls”, there were only 2 – neither was harassing. The first call was a normal collection call

to a “past due” account. The second call

was a courtesy call to inform him that his promised payment had not arrived.

We regret that [redacted] decided to go

with another provider so soon after signing his lease with our company. We

appreciate the opportunity to respond to Mr. [redacted]’s complaint.

Business

Response:

I'm sorry that Mr. [redacted] feels that way. We did check our records for dates, so we feel our response was accurate. If Mr. [redacted] would like to settle for our original charges of $723.20, I can credit the late fee and finance charges that have accumulated on his account. The credit will be applied once his payment is received.

Consumer

Response:

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. Please ask [redacted] to invoice me the $723.00.

Regards,