Oil co. cancelled my account...

[ylomnstr]

Yes, I paid the balance due EXCEPT for the $599 cancellation fee.

Probably will take a bashin with this post....but here is my opinion.

If you haven't burned your bridge yet with the dealer, you might want to give them a call or visit them and see if there is something you could work out.
Not taking their side of the coin......but if you bought oil last year at the height of oil prices....and you bought when it was $4/gallon, its tough to argue with them when they bought at a very high wholesale price, and it was almost a year before you paid them.

I don't think that a $599 termination fee is reasonable, but I think they provided what was asked of them, and I do think they are entitled to something....again, not taking their side...just playing devils advocate.

If you ran a retail store, and a client bought on store credit and didn't pay monthly as required, and after 9 months you did not receive anything from the client...how long would it take you to send to collections/take to court?

I don't like buying oil either......but if your agreement was to pay monthly, and you didn't, I think any oil company/retail store etc...has a right to some compensation.

Just sayin, and I guess let the bashing of me begin

I understand, but I DID send them a payment every month. Another of my main gripes is that I was never told that if I didn't pay off in full, I'd be cancelled. On certain months, I even sent them 2 payments.

 

[daveswoodhauler]

Yes, I paid the balance due EXCEPT for the $599 cancellation fee.

I understand, but I DID send them a payment every month. Another of my main gripes is that I was never told that if I didn't pay off in full, I'd be cancelled. On certain months, I even sent them 2 payments.

ok, we are getting more info, so this is good.
Was the amount you paid monthly the "required amount" or were the payments lower than was was requested by the dealer?
Also, they state that they have a recorded contract from you...can't they send you a copy? (Forgive me if this was addressed in an earlier post)

 

[ylomnstr]

Well they didn't have a minimum payment. The sent us an invoice for the total amount. We were unable to pay that all so we sent them what we could each month. The following month, they'd send us another bill, including a late fee, with the new balance. They'd also call to remind us that payment was due. I'd tell them that we sent them what we did, they would say thanks, and the next month we'd go through the same thing. Not ONCE was I told that if I didn't pay the balance off, we'd be cancelled and charged a cancel fee. I assumed "hey, we're paying them every month when they send the bill, and we also pay the late charge they're charging us, so there doesn't seem to be any harm."

 

[daveswoodhauler]

Well they didn't have a minimum payment. The sent us an invoice for the total amount. We were unable to pay that all so we sent them what we could each month. The following month, they'd send us another bill, including a late fee, with the new balance. They'd also call to remind us that payment was due. I'd tell them that we sent them what we did, they would say thanks, and the next month we'd go through the same thing. Not ONCE was I told that if I didn't pay the balance off, we'd be cancelled and charged a cancel fee. I assumed "hey, we're paying them every month when they send the bill, and we also pay the late charge they're charging us, so there doesn't seem to be any harm."

Thanks for the info.

A fee of $599 is a pretty small amount to send to collections, but I guess it would depend on how the cash flow is for your dealer.
I still vote for giving them a call and trying to make amends of the situation.....you might have already done this, but I think its worth the effort as we still don't know of what the recorded statement/contract they have on file for you.

On a side note...does your dealer take credit card payments???If so, this is what we do. I buy oil (just did today), will get the bill in about a month....about 25 days after it is delivered...I wait about 25 days....then call the dealer and let him charge my account the balance.....we have 2 cards..so I just use the one where the prior month just closed out.....bill from the credit card comes in about 30 days later, and then have another 15 days to pay....in which I do in full.

So basically, last time I bought oil was 12/3, got the bill on 1/3...paid by cc on 1/29, and I don't have the cc bill yet...should be due by 3/17. Also, get reward points from the cc company, and I think last year we were able to redeem for appx $300 in gift cards for bigname stores which helped a lot with xmas gifts. Only recommend this approach if you pay in full and budget your money well each month.

Good luck with your dilemma.
We pay off the cc in full each month...but since the banks float your money...why not float theirs.