Revdex.com Complaint #[redacted]
Account #5675717
The customer did not sign a Capped price agreement. The Customer is on a variable rate which fluctuates daily. Six (6) oil deliveries were made between February, 2015 and December 31, 2015. The Customer has been charged varying rates between $1.49 per...
Please also see attachmentBelow is our response to the complaint We regret that our customer feels that we forced him to buy an oil tank but such was not the case. We did have several miscommunication related to us putting the tank on delivery stop. allowing him to run out of oil and then...
mistakenly making a delivery to a tank that we should not have made. Given the extent of our internal communication failures, we understand why [redacted]feels the way he does. We appreciate him taking the time that he did so that these communication issues on our part can be corrected as we move forward. We have reached out to him by phone to address these issues. Background:There has been no change in liability to where the oil company is now responsible for spills per [redacted] comments in his complaint.. The tank system is the property and responsibility of the customer who owns the system. The responsibility that we have is to point out to the customer potential issues when we see them and in our opinion, if the situation requires we shut down the tank or heating system to protect the homeowner and ourselves. If the homeowner does not agree with our action or recommendation, they are free to chose another provider. Attached is a PDF from the PA Dept of Environmental Protection titled, Tips for Residential Heating Oil Tank Owners. It gives the home owner a self inspection checklist. It states that if the answer is yes to any of the questions, call an oil burner technician for a more detailed inspection and corrective measures. Our technician observed conditions while on an unrelated service call for an tune up. The first question on the check list was a yes. The tank legs were crooked. The third question on the checklist is tank condition which our technician described as showing as showing age according to the customer. The crooked legs were sufficient reason to shut the tank down as it present an unstable condition that is also not in compliance with code and manufactures specification. Once we address just replacing the legs, the tank system would need to be brought up to current NFPA 31 codes. The cooper fill and vent would need to be replace as codes since 2001 no longer allow that material. The oil line would need to be replaced with a coated line to prevent corrosion per the same code. Your then left with an ageing tank that could have and probably does have internal corrosion to some extent which would continue. The proper and cost effective solution is a new oil storage system. [redacted] could have gotten estimates from other companies and either had them install the new system or he could have declined our proposal and chosen another fuel and service provider. We appreciate that he moved in the right direction but are now disappointed, that he feels that we forced him into the transaction. The time line below suggest that Mr.Rodini had several point to stop the new tank installation including the fact that he had a full tank of oil in his old tank and could but did not call a time out at that point. He had plenty of time to recind the transaction.10/29/15 -put account on delivery stop but did not effectively communicate to customer12/10/15 -ran out of oil / dropped 25 gallons with tech12/14/15 -filled tank with 180 gallons of oil which we should not have done.12/15/15 -Customer signs contract for the new tank. Contract contains three day right of recission.12/18/15 - New tank system installed as emergency.12/29/15 - Customer terminates his account.
[redacted] let me explain your oil delivery to you as I believe, [redacted] has already answered the other questions you had by email yesterday as you never gave us a chance to look into this as we tried contacting you for other reasons to no avail over the previous month or...
so. I am not sure how you would expect to use no oil at your home for heat and hot water as we had a very cold spring and after the April 20th delivery there were another 285 degree days. If we take your adjusted K-Factor for the spring and divide that into the degree days we calculate that you would of used 71 gallons for heat, (285 / 4) by the end of May. The difference of 138 galloons was for hot water for the summer. I find it even more curious in that you were a customer of ours the previous year and you had a delivery in April of2016 and when you resigned with us in November you took 449.2 gallons so although that delivery was made about a month later you took a lot more than this delivery. I don't know how you think you could have hot water for six months and not use any oil? I am not sure if the gauge on your tank stuck in August or if there was a problem with your vent alarm but I can guarantee you from your history as well as from the numbers used to calculate your usage you received that oil. Also just for the record we have a delivery manager, [redacted]z as well as a Customer Service manager, [redacted] who would of been more than happy to look into any of your concerns by simply placing a phone call as I see nothing in our logs nor did anyone speak to you about this prior to your complaints sent to us via email as well as here at the Revdex.com. Although I am 100% sure of your delivery there could of been a mistake made and we would of made it right by you with a phone call as we are here to take care of our customers and not to try to put something over on them. If you have any further questions please feel free to call me directly at 203-368-4273. Sincerely [redacted] General Manager Hop Energy / Kaufman Fuel...
Complaint: [redacted]I am rejecting this response because:
My contract with the business had expired and I notified them I no longer wanted a delivery from them. They acknowledged my request and never told me they wanted the request in writing.Sincerely,[redacted]
Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:
Your company had multiple opportunities to explain to me how to remove my account from your automatic delivery. I received the first phone call in Aug./Sept. and when I told the representative that I no longer wanted your companies services, he did not notify me of the proper procedure to stop delivery. Weeks later I was surprised that I received a 2nd phone call from a different representative asking me to renew my contract again. This was the 2nd time I should have been told what to do to cancel the automatic delivery. But I was not. Finally, after you delivered oil to me on December 28th 2015 (which I did not want) I called your company on January 4th to figure out why I was getting oil delivered. This was the first time I was told that I needed to submit a written statement to cancel automatic delivery. I asked the representative to email me the information I need to cancel the automatic delivery (because I was driving and could not write it down), which she agreed to do. I never received that email. I called the company again January 7th, after not receiving the email of instructions and finally took down the information. Your company had multiple opportunities to explain to me how to cancel my automatic deliveries. Because your representatives did not inform me of the policies of your company, I have to pay for it. That is not acceptable by any standards. If you do not want to accept a payment of $1.39 / gallon for your delivery (the price I was planning on paying when I needed to have an oil delivery) then I would be happy to set up a time for you to send someone over to pick up the oil that you delivered.
The bottom line is that you delivered oil to a customer who thought they had canceled their contract with you. Your employees had multiple opportunities to do the right thing and for whatever reason, they did not. You can not hide behind laws that are meant to protect homeowners from freezing just to take advantage of customers who are not familiar with the laws and policies regarding oil delivery.
Please let me know how you would like to proceed.
Sincerely,
[redacted]
Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in...
reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find this resolution to be the best I will get as we disagree with the contract words "prevailing retail price". I was expecting the prevailing rate to be what the current price is for this area, they are telling me it means their prevailing rate. So, they can say the prevailing rate is anything they want it to be, because it is not stated in the contract how their prevailing rate is calculated. Bottom line, we can close this complaint as we agree to disagree. I told them that I thought they offered this contract as a way to increase customers, after I fulfill my contract obligations, I will be looking for a new oil dealer.
Sincerely, **
[redacted]
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.
Sincerely,
[redacted]
Revdex.com:Thank you so much for your assistance, in the resolution of this situation! I had unsuccessfully tried to resolve this situation with them for this past year. Again thank you. [redacted]
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
Sincerely,
[redacted]
In the customers rejection he restates his allegations and rejects my response. I had stated that If I missed any e mail correspondence that I would credit off the $433.64 owed for the last delivery .I had credited $98.60 to address his price differential so the new balance owed is $335.04. I also offered to call his company on his behalf and seek a refund for him of his pre purchase payment. I have not received any new e mail correspondence nor a phone number to call to seek a refund on his behalf. I have no new information so our response is the same as the initial response. It is unfortunate that we have not been able to resolve this issue yet. He acknowledges calling on the day of the last delivery which is when we then took him off automatic delivery. We have no record of telling the customer that we would pump out the oil but we do understand that suck was his request. If the customer would send any documentation of his e mail to stopped delivery as well as his current suppliers phone number we will attempt to get this resolved to his satisfaction.
In October 2016 [redacted] contract was renewing and he elected not continue with a CAP Plan during this time because rates were low, thus continuing on a Variable Rate plan. On January 3, 2016 [redacted] called our office and was offere[redacted]...
@ 900 gallons. The next day, [redacted] elected to terminate his account. During this time, he disputed his December 26, 2016 delivery of 1[redacted]. We offered a $100.00 credit towards that delivery with a CAP contract at 2.699; he refused. Today, we will offer [redacted] the December 26, 2016 delivery for 19[redacted]. If accepted I will apply a delivery credit of $236.64 towards that delivery.
Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID 1[redacted] and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
Sincerely,
[redacted]
The account is terminated per request and the customer was offered a budget payment of $185.29/month until balance owed is paid in full. The pricing contract states the customer is responsible for cancelling automatic delivery if additional deliveries are not desired. The Customer is responsible for payment of balance.
Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:The service contract should NOT be terminated. That is a 12 month contract that I paid for in full back in August 2015 and is not set to expire until August 2016. If terminated then I should be credited for the remaining months not used. I paid $291.40 for this service contract. The service contract and the oil delivery contract are 2 separate items.
Sincerely,
[redacted]
We have reviewed Mr. [redacted] account and see he entered into our Capped agreements twice in 2015 (1/8/2015 -program fee $70.00 and 4/1/2015- program fee $140.00). The terms of our contract state "if our prevailing retail price for home heating oil drops below the Capped Priced...
during the Pricing Period then you will pay our prevailing retail price for home heating oil." Our retail price did not drop below the Capped Price during the timeframe Mr. [redacted] was under agreement (outside of the one delivery he mentioned in his complaint). [redacted] Express is a full service home heating oil company and our rates reflect 24/7 emergency service, worry free automatic delivery and experienced licensed heating and cooling service technicians. With that being said, we are sorry to see Mr. [redacted] leave us as a customer and as a good faith gesture have credited his account $210.00 (total for program fees). Thank you.Sincerely,Barbara [redacted]Customer Service Manager[redacted] Express [redacted]
Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:I accept that my [redacted] account will transition to a Service Only account; service contract to remain in effect until expiration in August, 2016. I take issue with the following: "The customer will not receive additional oil deliveries." I am fine with discontinuing deliveries by [redacted] but I want to revert to using your affiliate, [redacted] as I have done for years prior to entering into this contract with [redacted]. I attempted to place an order with [redacted] this morning and it would not complete my order and stated that my account is locked.I was a long-time [redacted] customer that transitioned to [redacted]'s affiliate [redacted] for the past several years before going back to [redacted] in August 2015 to give it a second chance. The fact that we are terminating our contract due to misunderstandings communicated between the [redacted] salesman Walt and me should not prohibit me from continuing my business relationship with [redacted]. I want my [redacted] account to be unlocked so I can place oil deliveries as needed through [redacted]. So if my [redacted] account it reset and unlocked, my [redacted] oil deliveries are stopped without the early cancellation penalty and my [redacted] service plan contract remains in effect without reprisal until August 2016, then I would be happy to close this dispute.Sincerely, [redacted]
Sincerely,
[redacted]
Here is our responseThis customer is disputing a delivery made on Dec. 21, 2014. I emailed the customer with a copy of the delivery showing that the delivery was made.
In July 2015, [redacted] terminated his COD account with our sister company [redacted], to sign a CAP plan contract with [redacted] which had a pricing period that would remain in effect until May 2016. After the pricing contract expired, the customer was billed at our Retail Posted Price; as per...
the signed contract agreement. In good faith, we will honor [redacted] request to have the January 14, 2017 delivery rebilled at a rate of [redacted] totaling a credit of [redacted] for that delivery. In addition, any late fees incurred on the account have been waived. After all credits are applied, [redacted] outstanding balance will be [redacted]
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.
Please release me from contract with no penalty per your offer and we can both move on.
Sincerely,
[redacted]
Revdex.com Complaint #[redacted]
Account #5675717
The customer did not sign a Capped price agreement. The Customer is on a variable rate which fluctuates daily. Six (6) oil deliveries were made between February, 2015 and December 31, 2015. The Customer has been charged varying rates between $1.49 per...
gallon up to $3.19 gallon.
Please also see attachmentBelow is our response to the complaint We regret that our customer feels that we forced him to buy an oil tank but such was not the case. We did have several miscommunication related to us putting the tank on delivery stop. allowing him to run out of oil and then...
mistakenly making a delivery to a tank that we should not have made. Given the extent of our internal communication failures, we understand why [redacted]feels the way he does. We appreciate him taking the time that he did so that these communication issues on our part can be corrected as we move forward. We have reached out to him by phone to address these issues. Background:There has been no change in liability to where the oil company is now responsible for spills per [redacted] comments in his complaint.. The tank system is the property and responsibility of the customer who owns the system. The responsibility that we have is to point out to the customer potential issues when we see them and in our opinion, if the situation requires we shut down the tank or heating system to protect the homeowner and ourselves. If the homeowner does not agree with our action or recommendation, they are free to chose another provider. Attached is a PDF from the PA Dept of Environmental Protection titled, Tips for Residential Heating Oil Tank Owners. It gives the home owner a self inspection checklist. It states that if the answer is yes to any of the questions, call an oil burner technician for a more detailed inspection and corrective measures. Our technician observed conditions while on an unrelated service call for an tune up. The first question on the check list was a yes. The tank legs were crooked. The third question on the checklist is tank condition which our technician described as showing as showing age according to the customer. The crooked legs were sufficient reason to shut the tank down as it present an unstable condition that is also not in compliance with code and manufactures specification. Once we address just replacing the legs, the tank system would need to be brought up to current NFPA 31 codes. The cooper fill and vent would need to be replace as codes since 2001 no longer allow that material. The oil line would need to be replaced with a coated line to prevent corrosion per the same code. Your then left with an ageing tank that could have and probably does have internal corrosion to some extent which would continue. The proper and cost effective solution is a new oil storage system. [redacted] could have gotten estimates from other companies and either had them install the new system or he could have declined our proposal and chosen another fuel and service provider. We appreciate that he moved in the right direction but are now disappointed, that he feels that we forced him into the transaction. The time line below suggest that Mr.Rodini had several point to stop the new tank installation including the fact that he had a full tank of oil in his old tank and could but did not call a time out at that point. He had plenty of time to recind the transaction.10/29/15 -put account on delivery stop but did not effectively communicate to customer12/10/15 -ran out of oil / dropped 25 gallons with tech12/14/15 -filled tank with 180 gallons of oil which we should not have done.12/15/15 -Customer signs contract for the new tank. Contract contains three day right of recission.12/18/15 - New tank system installed as emergency.12/29/15 - Customer terminates his account.
[redacted] let me explain your oil delivery to you as I believe, [redacted] has already answered the other questions you had by email yesterday as you never gave us a chance to look into this as we tried contacting you for other reasons to no avail over the previous month or...
so. I am not sure how you would expect to use no oil at your home for heat and hot water as we had a very cold spring and after the April 20th delivery there were another 285 degree days. If we take your adjusted K-Factor for the spring and divide that into the degree days we calculate that you would of used 71 gallons for heat, (285 / 4) by the end of May. The difference of 138 galloons was for hot water for the summer. I find it even more curious in that you were a customer of ours the previous year and you had a delivery in April of2016 and when you resigned with us in November you took 449.2 gallons so although that delivery was made about a month later you took a lot more than this delivery. I don't know how you think you could have hot water for six months and not use any oil? I am not sure if the gauge on your tank stuck in August or if there was a problem with your vent alarm but I can guarantee you from your history as well as from the numbers used to calculate your usage you received that oil. Also just for the record we have a delivery manager, [redacted]z as well as a Customer Service manager, [redacted] who would of been more than happy to look into any of your concerns by simply placing a phone call as I see nothing in our logs nor did anyone speak to you about this prior to your complaints sent to us via email as well as here at the Revdex.com. Although I am 100% sure of your delivery there could of been a mistake made and we would of made it right by you with a phone call as we are here to take care of our customers and not to try to put something over on them. If you have any further questions please feel free to call me directly at 203-368-4273. Sincerely [redacted] General Manager Hop Energy / Kaufman Fuel...
Complaint: [redacted]I am rejecting this response because:
My contract with the business had expired and I notified them I no longer wanted a delivery from them. They acknowledged my request and never told me they wanted the request in writing.Sincerely,[redacted]
Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:
Your company had multiple opportunities to explain to me how to remove my account from your automatic delivery. I received the first phone call in Aug./Sept. and when I told the representative that I no longer wanted your companies services, he did not notify me of the proper procedure to stop delivery. Weeks later I was surprised that I received a 2nd phone call from a different representative asking me to renew my contract again. This was the 2nd time I should have been told what to do to cancel the automatic delivery. But I was not. Finally, after you delivered oil to me on December 28th 2015 (which I did not want) I called your company on January 4th to figure out why I was getting oil delivered. This was the first time I was told that I needed to submit a written statement to cancel automatic delivery. I asked the representative to email me the information I need to cancel the automatic delivery (because I was driving and could not write it down), which she agreed to do. I never received that email. I called the company again January 7th, after not receiving the email of instructions and finally took down the information. Your company had multiple opportunities to explain to me how to cancel my automatic deliveries. Because your representatives did not inform me of the policies of your company, I have to pay for it. That is not acceptable by any standards. If you do not want to accept a payment of $1.39 / gallon for your delivery (the price I was planning on paying when I needed to have an oil delivery) then I would be happy to set up a time for you to send someone over to pick up the oil that you delivered.
The bottom line is that you delivered oil to a customer who thought they had canceled their contract with you. Your employees had multiple opportunities to do the right thing and for whatever reason, they did not. You can not hide behind laws that are meant to protect homeowners from freezing just to take advantage of customers who are not familiar with the laws and policies regarding oil delivery.
Please let me know how you would like to proceed.
Sincerely,
[redacted]
Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in...
reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find this resolution to be the best I will get as we disagree with the contract words "prevailing retail price". I was expecting the prevailing rate to be what the current price is for this area, they are telling me it means their prevailing rate. So, they can say the prevailing rate is anything they want it to be, because it is not stated in the contract how their prevailing rate is calculated. Bottom line, we can close this complaint as we agree to disagree. I told them that I thought they offered this contract as a way to increase customers, after I fulfill my contract obligations, I will be looking for a new oil dealer.
Sincerely, **
[redacted]
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.
Sincerely,
[redacted]
Good afternoon - after reviewing the account, HOP Energy will rebill that delivery at a price of $1.89/gallon.
Revdex.com:Thank you so much for your assistance, in the resolution of this situation! I had unsuccessfully tried to resolve this situation with them for this past year. Again thank you. [redacted]
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
Sincerely,
[redacted]
In the customers rejection he restates his allegations and rejects my response. I had stated that If I missed any e mail correspondence that I would credit off the $433.64 owed for the last delivery .I had credited $98.60 to address his price differential so the new balance owed is $335.04. I also offered to call his company on his behalf and seek a refund for him of his pre purchase payment. I have not received any new e mail correspondence nor a phone number to call to seek a refund on his behalf. I have no new information so our response is the same as the initial response. It is unfortunate that we have not been able to resolve this issue yet. He acknowledges calling on the day of the last delivery which is when we then took him off automatic delivery. We have no record of telling the customer that we would pump out the oil but we do understand that suck was his request. If the customer would send any documentation of his e mail to stopped delivery as well as his current suppliers phone number we will attempt to get this resolved to his satisfaction.
In October 2016 [redacted] contract was renewing and he elected not continue with a CAP Plan during this time because rates were low, thus continuing on a Variable Rate plan. On January 3, 2016 [redacted] called our office and was offere[redacted]...
@ 900 gallons. The next day, [redacted] elected to terminate his account. During this time, he disputed his December 26, 2016 delivery of 1[redacted]. We offered a $100.00 credit towards that delivery with a CAP contract at 2.699; he refused. Today, we will offer [redacted] the December 26, 2016 delivery for 19[redacted]. If accepted I will apply a delivery credit of $236.64 towards that delivery.
Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID 1[redacted] and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
Sincerely,
[redacted]
The account is terminated per request and the customer was offered a budget payment of $185.29/month until balance owed is paid in full. The pricing contract states the customer is responsible for cancelling automatic delivery if additional deliveries are not desired. The Customer is responsible for payment of balance.
Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:The service contract should NOT be terminated. That is a 12 month contract that I paid for in full back in August 2015 and is not set to expire until August 2016. If terminated then I should be credited for the remaining months not used. I paid $291.40 for this service contract. The service contract and the oil delivery contract are 2 separate items.
Sincerely,
[redacted]
We have reviewed Mr. [redacted] account and see he entered into our Capped agreements twice in 2015 (1/8/2015 -program fee $70.00 and 4/1/2015- program fee $140.00). The terms of our contract state "if our prevailing retail price for home heating oil drops below the Capped Priced...
during the Pricing Period then you will pay our prevailing retail price for home heating oil." Our retail price did not drop below the Capped Price during the timeframe Mr. [redacted] was under agreement (outside of the one delivery he mentioned in his complaint). [redacted] Express is a full service home heating oil company and our rates reflect 24/7 emergency service, worry free automatic delivery and experienced licensed heating and cooling service technicians. With that being said, we are sorry to see Mr. [redacted] leave us as a customer and as a good faith gesture have credited his account $210.00 (total for program fees). Thank you.Sincerely,Barbara [redacted]Customer Service Manager[redacted] Express [redacted]
Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:I accept that my [redacted] account will transition to a Service Only account; service contract to remain in effect until expiration in August, 2016. I take issue with the following: "The customer will not receive additional oil deliveries." I am fine with discontinuing deliveries by [redacted] but I want to revert to using your affiliate, [redacted] as I have done for years prior to entering into this contract with [redacted]. I attempted to place an order with [redacted] this morning and it would not complete my order and stated that my account is locked.I was a long-time [redacted] customer that transitioned to [redacted]'s affiliate [redacted] for the past several years before going back to [redacted] in August 2015 to give it a second chance. The fact that we are terminating our contract due to misunderstandings communicated between the [redacted] salesman Walt and me should not prohibit me from continuing my business relationship with [redacted]. I want my [redacted] account to be unlocked so I can place oil deliveries as needed through [redacted]. So if my [redacted] account it reset and unlocked, my [redacted] oil deliveries are stopped without the early cancellation penalty and my [redacted] service plan contract remains in effect without reprisal until August 2016, then I would be happy to close this dispute.Sincerely, [redacted]
Sincerely,
[redacted]
After reviewing the account it has been determined that a refund in the amount of $211.64 will be issued to customer.
Here is our responseThis customer is disputing a delivery made on Dec. 21, 2014. I emailed the customer with a copy of the delivery showing that the delivery was made.
In July 2015, [redacted] terminated his COD account with our sister company [redacted], to sign a CAP plan contract with [redacted] which had a pricing period that would remain in effect until May 2016. After the pricing contract expired, the customer was billed at our Retail Posted Price; as per...
the signed contract agreement. In good faith, we will honor [redacted] request to have the January 14, 2017 delivery rebilled at a rate of [redacted] totaling a credit of [redacted] for that delivery. In addition, any late fees incurred on the account have been waived. After all credits are applied, [redacted] outstanding balance will be [redacted]
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.
Please release me from contract with no penalty per your offer and we can both move on.
Sincerely,
[redacted]