Wednesday, January 24, 2007

The Oil Company Drama Continues...

Yesterday, Manny signed and mailed the letter I wrote cancelling our service for oil delivery with Kasden Fuel Company.

  • Hello, I need to speak to Emanuele.
  • Hi, this is his wife. He's not available at the moment, may I take a message? (knowing full well who it was because of trusty old Caller ID)
  • Yes. Well, I just received Emanuele's letter attempting to cancel the oil delivery contract. I'm calling to tell you that the reasons stated are inaccurate. The only way you can cancel the contract is by paying the $450 early cancellation fee.
  • Hmm. Well, how is it you think it's inaccurate?
  • The letters states that we did not indicate the number of barrels we purchased for you, but that's not true.
  • Yes, it is. I saw the contract myself.
  • Well, then, you're misinformed.
  • No, sir, I don't think so. In addition to that, you did not sign the contract.
  • Yes ma'am, we did. Our contract has the number of barrels of oil and our signature. Therefore, you are misinformed.
  • No, sir, we're not. Our only copy of the contract doesn't have your signature, nor does it have the number of barrels in the contract. If you had signed it, then we should have received a copy of the contract with your signature and other information. Just either one of those items missing from our contract are enough to consider the contract null and void.
  • No ma'am, you're misinformed. If you choose to pursue this, that's up to you.
  • I'm misinformed? I don't think so. And we will pursue this. I've already spoken with a state prosecutor who is well-versed in this sort of issue.
  • I'll say again, the only way you can cancel this contract is to pay the $450 fee. We'll expect payment by check shortly.
  • Sir, I can safely say that won't be happening. Thank you for calling, though, have a great day. ***CLICK***

Ass-log. I didn't even mention how his company was completely unavailable for an emergency call, even if we didn't have a service contract with them. It's AGAINST THE LAW to be unavailable to your customers. I called the Department of Public Utility Control, since my mom directed me there, but oil is not a utility. So I looked up the Department of Consumer Protection, and left a message for one of their reps to call me back.

If you live in Connecticut, DO NOT GO INTO BUSINESS WITH KASDEN FUEL COMPANY IN EAST HARTFORD, CT. They're sleazy to begin with, and as you can see, it doesn't just stop with how they try to get your business. They repeatedly knocked on our door and called us when we first moved into this house because they knew we were new to town. My wonderful husband didn't feel like researching and didn't trust me to make the decision, so he signed the contract the first year. Then this past summer, rather than research around, this happened. And now that I've taken control... well... you can bet we're getting out of this. And going with the company of MY choice. This whole thing is just ridiculous.

Here's the letter I wrote for Manny to sign (with help from my mother):

January 22, 2007


Kasden Fuel Company
340 Tolland Street
PO Box 280126
East Hartford, CT 06108

Gentlemen:

Effective immediately, you will no longer make automatic delivery to ** ******* Street, *******, CT. Your lock-in program contract states that the customer will pay a fixed price per gallon on a fixed amount of gallons. Your contract states the price per gallon as $2.799; however, the number of gallons is not filled in, and that alone renders the contract null and void. Another problem with this contract is that the only signature is mine: Emanuele Salafia. Kasden Fuel Company has no signature. That also renders the contract null and void.

According to C.G.S. 16a-23n, the terms of your contract cannot be applied. I spoke with a prosecutor in the State’s Attorney’s office who advised me of this Statute.

Sec. 16a-23n. Contract. Disclosures. Advertisements. Prepaid and capped price per gallon home heating oil contracts. (a) A contract for the retail sale of home heating oil that offers a guaranteed price plan, including fixed price contracts and any other similar terms, shall be in writing and the terms and conditions of such price plans shall be disclosed. Such disclosure shall be in plain language and shall immediately follow the language concerning the price or service that could be affected and shall be printed in no less than twelve-point boldface type of uniform font.

I am also dissatisfied with the customer service, or lack thereof. On the evening of January 17th, 2007, our heater stopped working. Because of the extreme cold temperatures outside, 12-16º, our home became cold rather quickly. By morning, the house was 48º. Because we have three small children under the age of six, this was obviously a concern and an emergency situation. My wife called the customer service number after hours, and although the outgoing message indicated that pressing 0 would forward the call to an answering service, the answering service never picked up the call. Thinking it was a glitch in the phone, my wife called again. Each time she was on hold for several minutes. We found it alarming that our emergency call was unable to be taken, due to the simple fact that no one answered the call. We called another fuel company, who agreed to come out first thing the next morning even though we had never done business with them before and had no contracts with them prior.

We thank you for cancelling all services for oil delivery effective immediately. Because of the fact of the contract’s invalid status, we expect that you will not be assessing the $450.00 penalty charge. In addition, any future oil deliveries you make to our address will be at your expense.

I am carbon copying the Supervisory Assistant State Attorney a copy of this letter.

Sincerely,



Emanuele *. *******

4 comments:

Unknown said...

So I'm curious, who are you using for oil delivery and servicing your furnace? I am looking for a new company and have no idea how to figure out who's good and who's not. Thanx!

mmmm, brains said...

Hello - I'm running into similar issues in Massachusetts with my oil company and I'd love to know where you found the information you cited in your letter: C.G.S. 16a-23n and Sec. 16a-23n. Please email me if you have a moment. Thank you!

♛Qu€€n♛J€§§¡¢a♛™ said...

We currently use Curley's Fuel, Inc. They are fantastic. We have a full service contract with them, which is the least expensive in the area, and our contract even includes emergency after-business-hours service. They have excellent customer service, and do great work. We've been very happy with them. Their oil prices aren't too bad either, and they're *usually* the least expensive in our area (just North of Hartford, CT).

About Section 16a-23n... my mom works for the State Prosecutor for Housing and Development in CT. That was pure luck for me, ha ha.

OK, I don't know the section codes for MASS, but I found this:

http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=cagoterminal&L=5&L0=Home&L1=Consumer+Protection&L2=Home+%26+Housing&L3=Energy+%26+Utilities&L4=Home+Heating&sid=Cago&b=terminalcontent&f=consumer_heating_oil_contracts&csid=Cago

from here:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rlz=1T4GGLJ_enUS301US302&q=Massachusetts+home+heating+contract%2C+consumer+protection

mmmm, brains said...

Thank you! I found that page on the Mass.gov site, too. Now I just need to figure out how to void my contract. I'm fine with paying a cancellation fee ($0.25/gallon contracted) because I've found another oil company who will deliver for much, much less than my contracted price.