Heritage Fuel, Inc.

Review: At he end of the summer, I contacted this company (as well as 2 more), to put a new oil tank in my house , located in Purdys, just miles from Croton Falls, the owner of the mentioned company , came to my house and gave me an estimate, which included town permits and taxes., because of the good attention and the answers provided on that occasion, we decided to go with them, to put an over the ground tank , providing the tank ourselves and expecting to have exactly the same system that was previously running the oil in the house.When the technicians came , they install the tank with only one line (with gravity feeding), when ask for the reason to do so, they explain to me that is the way they do it under this conditions.Time went by, and as soon as the first cold day came,we found ourselves without heat at 10 pm , we knew it couldnt be the oil level (because the tank was full), and we knew it couldnt be gelled oil, because the company that supplied the oil uses a anti gel agent.We call our boiler service, the technician came and fix the problem, when I ask what was the problem, the technician first asked me if it was a new oil tank, the answer was yes, the second question was why they installed an oil tank just with a gravity feed on the bottom of the tank, and the answer was , I was told that is the way they do it,the third question was who did, and when I told him Heritage , he said he was surprised that a company like that would make such a mistake.The tech told me that also condensation from even minimal water in the tank will go to the lowest point of the feeding line before entering the house, and that results in a frozen line, which is exactly what happened now.The tech told me that , the ideal would be to leave the system with two lines, the way it was before, the way it should be, but some people solve the problem by changing the feed line to the top of the tank., in his opinion that eventually could freeze the line too.The next morning , I called the owner of Heritage in Croton Falls and I explained the situation to him, as well as what the tech told me, the owner told me then that the problem should be fixed by changing the bottom feed to top of the tank feed, that it was unnecessary to change the system to two lines, that two lines are meant for inground tanks ,he apologized for the inconvenient , and he said he was going to send a tech to fix the problem so it wouldnt happen again.Two days later the tech came , and changed the line to upper feed, the boiler worked until the first very cold night came.When the second freeze came , the tank was halfway full with an antigel treatment given my provider, it happened at 3:30 am , the pipes in the whole house didnt burst thanks to the boiler pump that kept working, I have kids in my house, and I cannot be having issues like that in the middle of the winter, issues that I never had before, and that I thought I was going to avoid by hiring a professional to do the job, instead of doing it my self.I called Heritage the same night , the tech came and fixed the problem after trying several things, the problem was now again the feeding line been frozen, the tech ask me to sign a paper (not an invoice), with some writing on it saying that the oil in the tank was gelled, after not sleeping the whole night and aggravated to another higher level, I did sign the paper.If the oil in the tank would have been gelled the same problem would have happened again and again and again the same night , and it didnt , therefore the line was the problem ,.NOT the perfect oil in the tank.Some time after , I get an invoice form Heritage , to my surprise is an invoice for $57.38 for THE TIME THE OWNER APOLOGIZE TO ME AND SEND A TECH THE NEXT DAY TO FIX THE PROBLEM,Now and LETS BE CLEAR, the owner APOLOGIZE to me , which means he ACCEPTED the fact he was wrong and send a tech 2 days later to fix the problem , and later on he send me an invoice anywaysI called the owner several times to make him notice the error and he never called me back.A week later, I get another invoice, now for $196.49 to total $253.87 with the previous, for the night the tech came to fix the problem that was still dragging from the very first day the did the job, when I called this time the secretary told me that the owner is a working owner and he is on the road, unavailable.After several times calling this individual for the lapse of three weeks now , I havent get any phone call back, every time I called,the same secretary tells me the story of the working owner on the road, the sent to me the same invoice handwritten on the bottom line saying that the bill is for a gelled tank from oil delivered from another company , (funny because when I called Heritage to ask for oil, they told me they didnt have time to deliver oil within my frame time, because they were delivering oil to customers with contract), and the other charge is for a conversion from bottom feed to upper feed, and that the charges were correct.Desired Settlement: I don't mind been charged for a service that is correctly done, in this case and after the first problem i've had , the company should have sent me a tech to install a 2 line system, because regardless of the case it self, when when I got a budget from them was to install a new tank according with my specs. , and not to their standards... I don't care how they connect tanks for other people , and /or how many people got their tanks connected like that(fine if it works for them),for me it didn'

Consumer

Response:

Hi there, I think that reading my account of the facts, it is clear that the way the tank was connected was wrong from the begining.

The fact that the owner apologized for connecting the line on the top and sent a technician to "correct" the issue by connecting this time the line on the top , expressing besides that, that this new connection will result in no more problems for us..., shows two clear things, 1. apolizing under this circumstances and in this context, means: he is wrong and he is accepting responsibility for something done wrongly ; 2. when he apologized and promised to send somebody to fix the problem ,knowing that the best way will have been to do a two line system, the right thing to do is under any circumstances let a customer down TWICE over the same problem (which is exactly what happened).

Then I tried several times to contact him and discuss the problem, and he let me down again, delegating somebody else to deal with me, neglecting a good (until that point) relationship with a customer with a lot of patience , showing one more time the luck of proffesionalism that him and his company has.

Now , you are asking me what do I want from him?, I think and strongly believe that I should pay for any service that is provided to me in a correct way, but this service wasn't, the first time I called was for them to rectify the problem, (they changed the line from bottom to top , wich is not the way that was originally on my other tank, regardless that the other tank was inground, two lines is the correct way and the way I the customer wanted it), and then the problem persisted and with my family in the house (kids inclusive), we were without heat due to the line been frozen again ,(the oil in the tank wasn't gelled , like logic proves by the fact that once the tech cleaned the line the burner was working again, it even says it on the "blank bill" he make me sign , clearly mentions using a whole can of anti freeze..., what's MORE clear than that?)

Therefore , we didn't do anything wrong , we didn't get the service we paid for (with the installation of the tank), we were arbitrarily charged twice for mistakes that we didn't do, I just cannot believe this individual has the lack of shame to do something like this, I don't think I owe him anything , I want the invoice for both charges to be cancelled, and I will seek help from another company to finish the work he couldn't get right, doing a two line connection for my oil tank (feed/return).

Thanks in advance for you help, U. [redacted]

Business

Response:

To whom it concerns,

This is in response to [redacted] Claim # [redacted]. Last Summer I was contacted by [redacted] to do an estimate for a new oil tank at his home.

An appointment was scheduled and I arrived on time to find out that [redacted] was not home. I spoke to what I remember to be his Father or Father-In-Law. I was walked to the back of the house to find a brand new oil tank sitting on its side near the location they were interested in having it set up.

I was told that they would like us to install the new tank they had purchased, outside, on a slab of cement they poured. I was also told to price the job as inexpensively as possible since they were getting other quotes.

I asked to see the utility room so I could see what challenges if any that might be encountered. I explained to [redacted] on the telephone that a "gravity oil line" system would be appropriate and the least expensive choice for him. I also suggested that we install Galvanized Steel tank legs and flanges instead of the bare steel legs they had purchased. When tanks are installed outside, I always suggest this type of material. I also explained that during very cold nights and days that the fuel oil could gel in the tank and if he was a Heritage Fuel client that we would add "Cold Flow Improver", better know as CFI to each oil delivery starting in November and ending in March.

We were hired by [redacted] in August to do the job and set up the appropriate inspections by the Town Of Somers. This installation passed its inspection and we proceeded to transfer all the good useable oil from the old tank to the new tank and started the heating system. We never heard from him again until the first cold day in November.

[redacted] had called someone else for his fuel service. The service person from another company had been dispatched to his home and found a frozen oil line and the explained to him that the installation was incorrectly done. This is a matter of opinion, not a matter of incorrectness. After speaking to [redacted] I apologized for the inconvenience he incurred and told him that the "supply and return"

system was feasible but cost more money and is why I hadn't done it that way. I have dozens if not hundreds of customers with gravity systems that work flawlessly and is why I didn't hesitate to do it at his house.

Since this became an issue I had agreed to convert his tank to the supply and return system. Then on a late Saturday afternoon after all of our trucks were parked for the day we received a phone call that he had run out of fuel. [redacted] was on a "will call " status for his fuel deliveries and had run out. Our trucks were parked for the evening and we told him that we could send a serviceman over to dump 20 gallons of fuel in and that would hold him until Monday when the trucks were back on the road. He declined that offer and purchased a tank of oil from another supplier. All was working well until the first bitter cold snap from the Polar Vortex. Guess what, the tank gelled and now it's our fault!!

We dispatched a service man after [redacted] called us for help. Derek, Our service technician found the tank gelled and tried to get the oil moving with not much luck. I would have gladly tried to heat the tank or make some other type of arrangement but since the fuel was purchased from another supplier and we could not know the quality of the fuel, we declined him of any further service at that point. That service call was a charge incurred to [redacted] and the irony of the matter is that the charge was due to someone else's fuel being added to the tank, therefore the whole situation was out of our hands. It is the policy of Heritage Fuel to not service customers that don't purchase their fuel from us.

Notwithstanding our connection to the tank, I feel [redacted]'s claim against our company is without merit and hope to have this dropped from the complaint file at the Revdex.com.

Sincerely, [redacted], Heritage Fuel Inc.

Consumer

Response:

At this time all I have gotten from Heritage is a new bill( with a non explained lowered balance, completely arbitrary, bill that doesn't specify what the charges are coming from as well and doesn't identify the reason for lowering the amount), the bill also expresses a "friendly threat" by saying that if no payment has been received by 5/**/14, bill will be passed to the executive department..., by the way at ANY moment the owner or anybody else for that matter has had ANY intention of contacting us to discuss anything , showing once again the quasi "dictatorial regimen" , of doing as they please, providing wrong or none service at all and billing as they please with an almost "immune trader power" of doing whatever they want without been reviewed-punished for their actions.

We are going to pay the amount billed, we want trully nothing to do with this bullies, and we HOPE, we really hope , the Revdex.com keeps all this communications on plane sight at their website, for anybody researching for this particular trade or any other to see, and learn from our victimary experience.

STAY AWAY FROM HERITAGE FUEL AT [redacted]

PS: thanks to the Revdex.com for interceding on our behalf.