ComplaintsforBrothers Oil Company, Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  07/18/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I’m currently experiencing a financial hardship and went through operation fuel’s oil assistance program. Operation fuel ordered a specific amount of oil from Brothers Oil to be delivered to our home and operation fuel covered the cost with their budget for the season. My family received a bill from Brothers Oil for $32 with no explanation for the charge. I called Brothers Oil about the bill and learned that the driver who delivered the oil made a mistake and filled our tank with 9.8 gallons more oil than requested and so they billed us for their error. I asked that the bill then be sent to operation fuel because that is who purchased the oil on our behalf and covered the cost due to our hardship. The receptionist at Brothers Oil told me that they can’t do that because Operation Fuel won’t cover the cost and so they’re hoping I would just pay it as this type of mistake happens all the time where they give more oil than requested and the customer usually just pays it, calling it an honest mistake. Should a company bill a customer for unauthorized services and then expect the customer to just cover the mistake? Brothers Oil should take accountability and cover their own mistake. The receptionist said they could just take the oil back out of our tank but that costs more. Again, are they expecting the customer to cover the cost for their company to remove a service the customer didn’t request in the first place? I want my account with them cleared and for them to stop sending me this $32 bill.

  

  Business response

  08/15/2024

  Ms. ****** is correct. Operation Fuel authorized her to receive $ 410.04 of home heating oil. We did overfill her tank by 9.8 gallons for an amount of $ 32.26. Our receptionist did not state that this happens all the time. It doesn't. but rarely a driver makes a mistake.Ms. ******'s account was credited for this amount on July 22, 2024 and we consider the matter resolved. We first received notice of this complaint by mail on August 14, 2024.

  Customer response

  08/15/2024

  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***** ******

• Initial Complaint

  04/07/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Date of Transaction: March 30, 2022. I have not paid the bill as of yet- the amount agreed upon was $500 dollars (service charge of $125 and soot boiler cleaning $375). The technician completed additional work without my consent and came to a final price of $1557.17, which is three times the amount I agreed to. On the work order for my signature- it reads, “phone auth”, which is false information. I did not verbally confirm/authorize via phone, the additional work. Instead, after the technician completed the repair, he called me to tell me all the services completed and provided me with the vast difference in charges, from $500 to $1557.17. When I asked him, why I was never made aware of the additional work and that I will not make such a large payment. His response was, the office will call you tomorrow. I spoke to a service member at the office the following day: I was told he would call the technician and call me back. Instead, the technician called and basically said, he did the work and the bill stands and I will have to pay. The office is taking the word of the technician against mine and are unwilling to accept that I am telling the truth. I don’t know if this is common practice and other customers have simply succumbed to their slander and threats? I am being told I am a liar and used their company to receive free service. And it is deeply offending. And at least, if this is brought to BBB’s attention, maybe someone else can be spared from this situation. Although I did not authorize this labor/bill; in attempts to resolve the issue, I agreed to pay half the cost- which Brothers declined. So at this point— they have not tried to resolve my complaint, or meet me at a reasonable position. They are demanding full payment, and are threatening to pursue the matter with ****** Police and Smalls Claims. I notified them that I would contact BBB to look further into this issue and hopefully come to an amicable agreement. Correspondence/bill is attached. Ref# ******.

  

  Business response

  04/13/2022

  We received your notification regarding Mr. ******’s complaint regarding the service call on March 30, 2022.  I was actually kind of surprised to learn of it given that on the morning of April 7, prior to learning of the complaint, Mr. ****** and I had a good conversation regarding the call and payment arrangement.  He informed me that he had a $750 money order that he was planning on bringing by that day, and we agreed that when he came to the office to drop it off, that I’d be more than happy to discuss with him some options regarding the remainder of the bill.  Unfortunately, Mr. ****** never showed up, and instead his cousin **** (Mr. ******’s tenant) came by and dropped off the money order after the office was closed.  I called Mr. ****** the next day to follow up on his plans to come in to discuss the remainder of the bill, however he did not answer and has been unresponsive to our reaching out.

   

  On March 30^th, our technician informed Mr. ****** the boiler was sooted and plugged up due to not having any routine maintenance having been performed in quite some time, which would be about $500.  He informed Mr. ****** that once that was done that he would be able to assess if any mechanical repairs would be needed to get the boiler running.  Mr. ****** told our service technician to “do what you have to do, my tenant needs heat and hot water”.  In my phone call with Mr. ****** on April 7^th, Mr. ****** agrees that that was the instruction he gave our service technician.  Unfortunately, it seems his understanding was that even though he told our technician to do what was necessary to repair the boiler, that the technician should have provided an additional quote of charges prior to performing the additional work.  I can’t speak personally as to why Mr. ****** thinks “do what you have to do, my tenant needs heat and hot water” means “don’t do anything until you tell me the additional amount”; however, recognizing that that was the position Mr. ****** was taking, I informed Mr. ****** I was willing to work with him when he came in to drop off the $750 money order payment.  Unfortunately, he never showed.

   

  Prior to my phone call with Mr. ****** on April 7 and subsequent to the call, we had already made several attempts to arrange payment and discuss options with Mr. ******.  Both our service technician and our service manager had reach out a number of times.  We received a variety of responses regarding the bill including “I don’t have the money”, “I don’t have a credit card, I need to call someone to get a card and will call you back” and “That’s too much, im only paying you ‘this amount’” etc.  Eventually, Mr. ****** again was unresponsive so we informed him that if payment resolution was not forthcoming, that the service balance would become in arrears and that the next step would be a mechanics lien on the property.  That is not a threat.  That is a customary practice of informing a person the process of collection.

   

  In addition, on April 7 when we spoke, I asked Mr. ****** if he would like me to have the technician reverse the repair work, and informed him that ofcourse the tenant would have no heat or hot water.  Mr. ****** declined.  As previously stated, the $750 money order has been received, and if Mr. ****** would like to come to our office to discuss with me the remainder of the balance as he agreed he would on April 7, I would still be happy to do so.  The balance on the account will be 30-days old at the end of this month, so it will remain outstanding in the event Mr. ****** remains unresponsive or unwilling to come in as he said he was going to on April 7.

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