Oil company issues.

[janedoe]

We started having weird problems with our oil company at the end of last year. They weren't showing up. The delivery guy was new. The accountant was also new and called us repeatedly about some internal accounting error which showed us as $8 short. I faxed her the confirmation from our online payments and she was really unhappy that I had that documentation. They had cancelled the online service because they apparently thought it would be free of charge for them and were annoyed that they had to pay so they tried to fork it off on us.

We've been with this company for 10 years and my mother in law was with them for who knows how long before that.

Just before last week's blizzard, we called because they hadn't shown up. Again. They came when there was hardly any oil left. It's supposed to snow again on Monday which should bring us to about seven feet of snow in two weeks. So my husband called and asked them to deliver tomorrow because we were low.

The response that he got was nothing short of horrifying. The woman pitched a fit. Long story short, I fired them. They're paid up and I don't have to deal with them anymore. It took all of two minutes to get set up with another company.

I am so confused by this series of interactions. Is it even legal to withhold oil delivery for people who are paid up? My husband was on the receiving end of the diatribe and he just looked at me and said, "What did I say?" Poor guy.

[sparky]

Good for you for firing them. My dad had the same issue with a LP gas company. We had issues when we were trying to set up for our LP gas. Several companies said we HAD to lease THEIR tanks and could only buy THEIR gas. We finally found a company that sold us our tank and we can buy gas from anyone we choose.
Customer service is a thing of the past these days.

[smartrock]

That seems totally crazy. We have oil heat, too, and there are probably 5 different heating oil trucks that come through our neighborhood on a regular basis so I could find another company without batting an eye. The company we use has been nothing but pleasant and cooperative. The first year we lived here I thought I needed to call to get deliveries so I was calling regularly. I soon figured out they must have some algorithm to let them know when to deliver. I don't even look at the gauge any more. They never questioned my request, just showed up with oil.

Is the cost per gallon of heating oil down, like the price of gasoline? Around here they will suggest you lock into a price per gallon, supposedly so that if the price goes up, you'll be paying the lower price. I wonder if the price has gone down and now people are locked into that higher ppg?

I'm glad you easily found another company, the originals sound like pills.

[Sue]

Could be worse. Just saying.

Thousands of Gallons of Heating Oil Pumped Into Septic at Medomak Middle School

Classes at Medomak Middle School in Waldoboro will go on as scheduled Feb. 6 after thousands of gallons of heating oil were pumped into the building's septic system instead of its oil tank, according to Principal Kate Race.

According to Race, Rockland-based Maritime Energy delivered 2087 gallons of oil at 1 p.m. on Feb. 4, and inadvertently pumped it into the septic system's 1000 gallon lift tank.

The lift tank stores liquid from the septic system, and pumps transfer the liquid from there out to the system's leach field, Race said.

Both the oil fill and and lift tank access are located behind the school, and are similar in size and shape. The oil fill is located below ground level, and is slightly larger in diameter than the above-ground lift tank access.

A "vac-truck" sucked 785 gallons of liquid out of the lift tank the night of Feb. 5, which was probably predominantly heating oil, according to RSU 40 Facilities and Transportation Director George Bridges.

Whatever oil was not removed by the vac-truck was pumped out into the leach field, Bridges said. The 2800-gallon septic tank and the system's grease trap were checked and were free of oil, he said.

After the issue was discovered, Maritime was back at the school Feb. 5, along with the Department of Environmental Protection, Race said.

Waldoboro Fire Chief Paul Smeltzer said he provided plans for the school building and its septic system to DEP and Maritime to assist in developing a plan for dealing with the situation.

Calls to Maritime Energy and attempts to reach the DEP were not immediately returned.

As of 9:35 a.m. Feb. 6, Race and Bridges said they were headed to a meeting at Maritime Energy to meet with the company and state officials to discuss what occurred and what the next steps will be.

The issue was discovered after school custodian Kim Wellman, anticipating a fuel delivery, went to check the oil level on Feb. 5, according to Smeltzer. Discovering it was still low, Wellman called Maritime, who said they had already delivered the oil, Smeltzer said.

By going up the chain of command with the school district, "the custodial staff that discovered it handled it appropriately, handled it very well," he said.

"Though this occurred yesterday, the professionals agree that school is safe to resume tomorrow, Friday, February 6," Race said in the message sent to parents the night of Feb. 5. "Our restroom facilities will be up and running as normal but our drinking water will be unavailable until we can confirm the ground water is safe."

Smeltzer believes it is "perfectly safe" for the students to be in the building, and his biggest concern was over the school's drinking water, as the school is on a well.

"We're going to monitor that," he said.

Drinking water has been provided to students in five-gallon containers - two in the main entryway, and two in the cafeteria - and students are encouraged to bring their own water bottles to refill.

The school has 45 staff members and 283 enrolled students, Race said.

A call to RSU 40 Superintendent Steve Nolan was not immediately returned.

[beth101509]

Customer service is a thing of the past these days.

I think that is sad. I was raised to be polite to customers and work hard at your job no matter what. I find it crazy how many tenants will tell me how polite I am and thank you for being helpful and I just want to say "shouldn't that be standard everywhere you go?" but it isn't. One guy literally thanked me twice for not "yelling" at him when he asked me questions. I wanted to hug him and say "where are you getting yelled at so I can go down there and kick their butts for you!". Poor guy.

[voodoo]

I miss having choices. I am stuck with city/state gas meter/bill. I dont even think they read the meter anymore but charge me averages every month.

[sparky]

I think that is sad. I was raised to be polite to customers and work hard at your job no matter what. I find it crazy how many tenants will tell me how polite I am and thank you for being helpful and I just want to say "shouldn't that be standard everywhere you go?" but it isn't. One guy literally thanked me twice for not "yelling" at him when he asked me questions. I wanted to hug him and say "where are you getting yelled at so I can go down there and kick their butts for you!". Poor guy.

I just don't see customer service as being as big a deal as it once was. I (like you) have been taught to be nice and treat people with respect.

[Sir Winston]

I miss having choices. I am stuck with city/state gas meter/bill. I dont even think they read the meter anymore but charge me averages every month.

When it comes to utilities, there aren't really choices, whether the company is privately or publicly owned. It's either a state-run entity or a legalized business monopoly. Neither has much incentive to provide better customer service. I've had horrible experiences with both public and private utilities.

I had a horror story with the water company here, which is privately owned. They kept cutting our water off without notice. Not because we hadn't paid the bill, but because there is road construction near the house and the shutdowns were related to road work or busted water mains. They apparently had us on the wrong main on their map, and were cutting us off without realizing it. Thus, no notice. They offered nothing in the way of compensation other than 40 cents a day for their "service fee." For the three days without water that came to $1.20. I was outraged. So I e-mailed my city council member, filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, and with the state public service commission. They got a bit more cooperative after that, and I got a $50 credit. But the whole issue about the mapping error would have never been resolved had I not complained to regulators so that it got attention from people higher up the ladder. The customer service people would have never gotten to the bottom of a problem like that.

Re: your meter issue I'm guessing they probably don't actually read your meter every month. We have that problem too, although I have noticed that part of the issue with the water company and electric company here is that they have irregular billing cycle length, so that one month this bill is for 25 days worth of use, and another month it's for 32 or 33.

[janedoe]

could be worse. Just saying. :d

omg.

[janedoe]

They called today all sunny and nice asking if my husband wanted a fill on Saturday.

Um. No.

But here's the thing. It was a different woman. She didn't want to talk to me. She wanted confirmation on the fill from my husband. Because a 19 year marriage, being an owner on the house and having my name on the bill means nothing when it comes to authority. The truly unfortunate thing is that these are women treating another woman like she doesn't matter because she's a woman. Taking passive aggression to a higher level. I informed her that I could not be any clearer and that my husband was so upset that he was not willing to speak with them again (in fact, he doesn't want to hear anything about it anymore). So then she says, "Well, I guess I'll tell my manager then."

Good idea. Or . . . you could send a truck by the house and I'll call the police.