7 Oil Heating & Air Conditioning

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

To whom it may concern,Thank you for reaching out. This is the first email we have
received. We apologize for the delayed response. Customer satisfaction is very
important to us, as I'm sure you can tell by our great track record with the
Revdex.com over 30+ years.What the customer is...

referring to is a debit card pre
authorization. It is the policy of 7 Oil to pre authorize the card of any
customer who requests a tank fill up when paying with a credit or debit card.
It is also our policy to explain to the customer how the pre authorization
process works.  For example, for credit cards, a hold is put on the card
for an "safe amount" based on the customer's tank size. For example,
if the customer wants their 275 gallons tank filled and the price per gallon is
$2.00 we would pre authorize the card for somewhere around $550. This will put
a hold on the card for $550, securing the funds until we make the delivery. Once
the fuel is delivered, we close out the card for the actual purchased amount,
which is based upon the delivered amount. At that point the rest falls off and
the only transaction the customer should see would be the second and final one.
This process is the similar for debit cards but the way the bank handles the
pre authorization is slightly different. Since the card is a "bank
card" the pre authorization does not "drop off" as quickly when
the card is closed out. It could take up to 5 days for the initial transaction
to "fall off", holding up those funds. Understanding that this could
be a potential inconvenience to our customers we thoroughly explain this policy
and discourage customers from using debit cards when requesting tank fills. We offer
many other payment options including cash, check or even billing. Urgency and
convenience are usually the factors when a customer’s decides to use a debit
card to pay for a fill tank request. In each case we make sure the customer
understands this policy and they give us approval to use that form of payment
because it is the most convenient at that time. After speaking with my team and
reading the notes in the account, it is my understanding that this case was no
different. It was not until after the fact the customer had an issue with the
transaction. We reached out to the customer to apologize and explain. They were
not happy with and did not accept our reasoning, even though the procedure was
explained before the delivery was made. Furthermore I would like to just add that
the customer left a positive message about their experience with the company on
[redacted] only to follow up with a “bashing” regarding our policy and how it
inconvenienced. I’m concerned about the motivation of the customer, their actions seem to
be a little inconsistent.If you would like more information please
reach out and I can provide you with notes from out “comment memo” section of
the customers account well as the credit card transaction report showing the
timeline of transaction history.I would like to assure the Revdex.com that we will
investigate this process further. In the past we have explored the possibility
of eliminating this policy but after much discussion have decided that it would
a bad decision to go against one of our company values to “go above and beyond”
for our customers. Eliminating this policy would force customers with no other
payment options, other than debit card, to have to find another way form of
payment to fill their tank. The other option would be to over pay for the
delivery and refund the card. An option our customers have been concerned about
in the past. We would hate for one customer's bad experience to hurt the
experience of many more. We hope you understand our rational and support our decision. Please let us know how we can assist any
further. Thank you.

Review: On 11/25/2013 I called to 7 oil and talked to a lady by the name of ([redacted]). I told her that my heater is not working and I need someone to come out and check it for me. She told me that the cost of repair will be $89.00 and there will be additional parts for any parts that the service person have to replace. I gave her my debit card information and agreed upon the conditions. At 3:49 pm a service person arrived at my house, during his visit he told my husband that the thermostat needed to be replaced. He told my husband that he needed to go to home depot to get the thermostat because for him to repair it the price would be $150.00. The service person left and afterwards I checked my bank account and saw that I was charged $250.00. I immediately called 7 oil and told them about the account error. I spoke to [redacted] again and she told me that 7 oil will be holding $250.00 for 30 days. I asked them why would they hold my money when I only owed $89.00. [redacted] told me that she was done talking to me and hung up the phone. I contacted my bank and explained the situation to them and they told me that when the money post to the account, they will file a complaint against 7 oil.Desired Settlement: After being talked to in such a disrespectful manner, I don't want anything but my money returned to me.

Review: The company put a hold for 500 dollar with my bank before they came and filled my oil tank. Once they filled my oil tank, which only took 385 dollars worth of oil they placed ANOTHER HOLD with my bank for the actual amount owed. The problem is now,885 dollars of my money is now being held by the bank for 385 dollars of oil. I do not believe they should be able to hold this amount for 3 to 5 days and tie up my money for there security and possibly less paper work for themselves.If I had ordered 250 gallons and had say 200 gallons delivered they would have put a hold on the money for that amount and would have refunded me the difference that I paid. But because I asked for my tank to be filled they put the hold for that amount which is okay, but instead of taking that and refunding me they placed another hold for the actual amount on top of the initial hold. By doing this, they tied up my money for 3 to 5 days for there security and or convenience. I don't believe I or anyone else should be inconvenienced because of there business practice.Desired Settlement: Stop there practice of placing two holds with the banks when one would have been sufficient with a refund for the balance.

Business

Response:

To whom it may concern,Thank you for reaching out. This is the first email we have

received. We apologize for the delayed response. Customer satisfaction is very

important to us, as I'm sure you can tell by our great track record with the

Revdex.com over 30+ years.What the customer is referring to is a debit card pre

authorization. It is the policy of 7 Oil to pre authorize the card of any

customer who requests a tank fill up when paying with a credit or debit card.

It is also our policy to explain to the customer how the pre authorization

process works. For example, for credit cards, a hold is put on the card

for an "safe amount" based on the customer's tank size. For example,

if the customer wants their 275 gallons tank filled and the price per gallon is

$2.00 we would pre authorize the card for somewhere around $550. This will put

a hold on the card for $550, securing the funds until we make the delivery. Once

the fuel is delivered, we close out the card for the actual purchased amount,

which is based upon the delivered amount. At that point the rest falls off and

the only transaction the customer should see would be the second and final one.

This process is the similar for debit cards but the way the bank handles the

pre authorization is slightly different. Since the card is a "bank

card" the pre authorization does not "drop off" as quickly when

the card is closed out. It could take up to 5 days for the initial transaction

to "fall off", holding up those funds. Understanding that this could

be a potential inconvenience to our customers we thoroughly explain this policy

and discourage customers from using debit cards when requesting tank fills. We offer

many other payment options including cash, check or even billing. Urgency and

convenience are usually the factors when a customer’s decides to use a debit

card to pay for a fill tank request. In each case we make sure the customer

understands this policy and they give us approval to use that form of payment

because it is the most convenient at that time. After speaking with my team and

reading the notes in the account, it is my understanding that this case was no

different. It was not until after the fact the customer had an issue with the

transaction. We reached out to the customer to apologize and explain. They were

not happy with and did not accept our reasoning, even though the procedure was

explained before the delivery was made. Furthermore I would like to just add that

the customer left a positive message about their experience with the company on

[redacted] only to follow up with a “bashing” regarding our policy and how it

inconvenienced. I’m concerned about the motivation of the customer, their actions seem to

be a little inconsistent.If you would like more information please

reach out and I can provide you with notes from out “comment memo” section of

the customers account well as the credit card transaction report showing the

timeline of transaction history.I would like to assure the Revdex.com that we will

investigate this process further. In the past we have explored the possibility

of eliminating this policy but after much discussion have decided that it would

a bad decision to go against one of our company values to “go above and beyond”

for our customers. Eliminating this policy would force customers with no other

payment options, other than debit card, to have to find another way form of

payment to fill their tank. The other option would be to over pay for the

delivery and refund the card. An option our customers have been concerned about

in the past. We would hate for one customer's bad experience to hurt the

experience of many more. We hope you understand our rational and support our decision. Please let us know how we can assist any

further. Thank you.

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.

Regards,

Review: I have been a loyal customer for about eight years. Last week, when I came home from work and had no heat, I called them for service- I have a service contract. The tech came eventually and diagnosed that there is ice in my oil tank. This supposedly was not covered under my service contract- of course. We paid $104 for the man to put an additive in my tank and he left. We still had no heat. The next day, still no heat. Called back, was told I would have to pay an additional service call fee and there is no guarantee that I would have heat when they left. It was 16 degrees outside. Eventually, I called [redacted] for service. They diagnosed and fixed my heat within minutes- a problem that should have been covered under the service contract with 7 Oil. He charged me NOTHING. When he left, I had heat. I called 7 Oil to request compensation for having to take my baby to live elsewhere for days due to no heat and their inability to fix it as well as for the service call which left me with no heat. I was told they would not help me and they did not seem to care that I have been a loyal customer for years. I spoke calmly an tried to explain my concern, but the customer service person told me the best she could do is apologize. Very dissatisfied.Desired Settlement: I want to be refunded the money I paid for a service call, as the problem was not diagnosed properly or repaired. We were not offered an options for fixing the problem. The heating company failed to restore heat in my home. My child and I were forced to leave our home for days until we could get another company to come to the home and fix the problem right away and free of charge.