Well now I know how much oil I used last year - wrong tank was filled!

[cbrodsky]

So I'm not quite sure how this is going to work out...

I came home yesterday to find an oil delivery statement on my garage, and I don't have an oil company. Turns out it was supposed to be for a neighbor. I feel bad about this because I know no matter what happens, the driver is going to get in trouble over it.

I wanted to pull the bottom plug and install a drain valve on the tank to bleed off accumulated water/crud that settles (recommended by an oil service guy at some point) and since I was down to only 20-some gallons, I was finally in a position to do that - no way I will try that with a full tank now. I also really wanted to put in bio-diesel this year. And the oil price is $2.80/gallon which doesn't seem very good compared to calling around recently.

How do they usually resolve these cases? They can come pump it out, but that's going to cost them a lot of time and hassle. I'm somewhat inclined to say they can make me their typical $100 off new customer offer that always comes in the mail. They'd just have to be aware that I won't buy any oil for at least a year and would not accept automatic delivery, which would then make the price for this tank about $2.39/gallon which I think is more reasonable. It's what they would've been stuck with anyway had I taken them up on that offer and probably keeps the driver out of hot water, but still means no bio-diesel and I can't drain off my tank.

Anyone know what I can expect when I call them on Monday for resolution from prior cases like this?

-Colin

 

[begreen]

Ultimately I think you should focus on your needs. Otherwise you are multiply compromised. I wouldn't worry too much, after all, they're still going to get a call from your neighbor that never received his fillup. Getting a free pump out may be the silver lining here. It will be up to you as to whether you even want to do business with this company again. Are there competitors that offer better pricing or service?

 

[reaperman]

I'd lay back and let them realize their mistake. Then you can see how they are willing to remedy this. I feel for the driver in this matter also. Sometimes finding the correct address is a royal pain. Be happy you still have a tank in your basement( I assume). A similar situation happened here last winter where a delivery person filled the neighbors instead of the correct tank. Except the neighbor no longer had a tank in the basement, but still had the filler outside. The basement was filled with quite a bit of diesel before the someone noticed

 

[drizler]

I jsut ordered mine filled this week and it is going to be at 2.45 gallon. It suck sure but is about as cheap as its going to get for sure. I don't use much either and I even belong to the fuel coop but with my corn and pellets a tank will last me a full year mostly heating hot water. Of course you have em and essentially no one like the oil guys but by screwing em isn't going to put one to Exon. It will just hurt the slob in the middle like it always does. Give em a call and make em give it to you for their cost and nothing more. They owe you that much and it won't even cost em a dime, just some lost profit. You will use it anyways some time or another, it won't spoil. Heck they might even fire the poor delivery guy so give em a break, thats one cold nasty hot late hours job. Save the screw ems for the oil company itself by heating with anything but oil..........................Thats revenge, best served cold
For your biodeisel you could probably do as well using a few 55 gallon drums, the stuff needs to settle anyways. You can often gets drums free from your local lube oil distributor, they have to pay to get em hauled away and its not cheap since they are bulky. You can even drain the leftovers and use it in your car or burn it. There is usually nearly a gallon left in the bottoms.

 

[begreen]

Oh boy reaperman, now that's a big problem. It could ruin a house.

As far as the biodiesel goes, add a half a tank when the tank is lower. That way you're burning B50 which flows better when it's cold.

 

[BrotherBart]

Reaper I spent most of my professional life doing negotiations. The ones that are the most fun are the ones where the other guy has blatantly screwed up already. Let them do all of the talking. They blew it and you need to let them lay out what offers they have to fix it. And don't take the first ones. "Oil? What do I need oil for? I burn wood now.".

Push comes to shove tell them about the crap in the tank. The last thing on the planet that they want to do is pay to suck contaminated fuel oil out of that thing to take back and contaminate the bulk tank.

 

[cbrodsky]

My guess is they won't want to pump it back either as they have no idea what's in my tank, but I really have no clue what they do if a customer just says "sorry, I don't want/need it." They must do something with the oil which makes you wonder what you're buying... Can't even imagine what a disaster they'd have on their hands if they poured it into a basement through a disconnected filler... they must have to carry serious insurance for cleanup after a mess like that.

The strange thing is that our house is way at the end of a shared driveway so he'd have to pass the neighbor's house first which is much more obvious to find - we're another 2/10 of a mile back into the woods. We have many times had our packages misdelivered to them for that reason, and I wouldn't be half as surprised if our oil went to them by mistake. But it's odd that it's the other way around in this case.

As for the biodiesel, in our area, you can only buy B20, and that's a fairly recent development so I'd like to support the dealer selling it. Given that our oil will sit 1 year+, I've been told it's not safe to go much higher or you risk problems with things growing in it but B20 is basically a drop-in replacement. If I could find B100, I could indeed just dilute it up myself but it's not available to my knowledge.

Will report back once I see what they propose to do about it. Certainly don't want to rip them off or have someone lose their job, but hopefully it'll be a mistake that this guy never ever makes again as the consequences could have been a lot worse if I had the tank open or disconnected...

-Colin

 

[begreen]

Small recommendation. It would be a good idea if you and your neighbor put very clear address number signs on each neck of the driveway. Missed oil delivery is a nuisance, but in an emergency or fire, you want them to find the correct house and fast. Often your fire dept. will have these because they save lives.

 

[jtp10181]

I get really pissed off when I am trying to find a customers house and its one driveway with 2+ houses. About 90% of the time there are 2+ "fire number" address markers on the single driveway and when it splits off in different directions you just have to guess, or look for the house with the fireplace cap on it. To anyone with a setup like this, MARK YOUR INDIVIDUAL DRIVEWAY. It will save everyone who has to find your house the confusion.

 

[BrotherBart]

This happend twenty miles south of me.

November 27, 2001, AP wire reports massive spill by Quarles in Culpeper, VA. Driver blows .14 on Breathalyzer.

--------------------
Fuel floods basement of home in Culpeper; driver charged
--------------------

By the Associated Press

November 27 2001

CULPEPER, Va. -- An oil company driver who made an emergency delivery on
Thanksgiving Day pumped about 550 gallons of heating oil into the wrong
house and flooded the basement with fuel.

State police charged the delivery driver from Fredericksburg-based Quarles
Petroleum with driving under the influence of alcohol.

The house's owner, Matt O'Saben, was called away from an out-of-town family
Thanksgiving dinner after his brother called to say police were looking for
him.

Workers were cleaning up the mess when O'Saben returned.

 

[TresK3]

Colin-

As others have hinted at, let them make the first offer. ("Hey... did you know you filled my tank up with oil that I didn't order? How are you planning to resolve this?"). You are under no obligation to accept what they mis-delivered - at market price or any other price. If you really want to be a stinker (which I personally would not), you COULD insist they either remove it or let you have it for free. They'd probably let you have it.

However... I agree that the driver shouldn't get fired if it was a simple mistake. When you counter their offer, you might ask if the driver will get into trouble, and make your acceptance of anything they propose contingent on him (or her) NOT getting fired. They may have other issues, though. Perhaps he's done this before, or maybe he was delivering under the influence.

Over all, if it were me, I'd err on the side of grace. Let us know what they offer.

 

[Harley]

Small recommendation. It would be a good idea if you and your neighbor put very clear address number signs on each neck of the driveway. Missed oil delivery is a nuisance, but in an emergency or fire, you want them to find the correct house and fast. Often your fire dept. will have these because they save lives.

Good advice... especially for an emergency....

A few month's ago I took a day off and was working around the yard - heard a fuel truck pulling up in the driveway, my regular oil company, so I worked my way up to the house, as the guy was finishing up the slip. As he was about to hand it to me, he asked "Are you Todd?, and of course I said yes, and then he said "oh, good.... I'm a little new on this route, and only a few of the houses are marked on this road, So I was taking a little bit of a guess". He hands me the slip, and I head inside to put the slip on the table, and that's when I took a look at the slip... It didn't even register with me when he asked the question, but my next door neighbor's LAST name is Todd. I start running down the driveway trying to flag the driver down, and finally he sees me and stops - I explain the misunderstanding, and he marks up his copy of the ticked to changes it to a delivery to my house, and then headed over to fuel up the neighbor.

Later in the afternoon.... UPS truck pulls up with a delivery.... The driver asks.... "Todd?". This time my response is... "depends... do you mean first or last name?" Again... wrong house... "go down the road about 1/4 mile on your RH side". That night, I called the neighbor and told him what happened just in case the original fuel delivery got billed to his account and to keep an eye out for that.l

Two days later - I come home from work, and as I pull into the driveway - I stop at the bottom.... looks like someone mowed it!! As I drive up further, I'm thinking who the heck would have done this? I get to the house, and all of the rest of the yard is mowed and weed-whacked. Now I'm getting a little uncomfortable that someone I don't know was wandering around the house most of the day. So I call the Mr. Todd, and ask him if by chance, he heard someone mowing the lawn up here. After a long pause (and a bunch of things I know I cannot say here) he said " my tractor has been in the shop for a couple of weeks, and I finally called a landscaper to do the mowing, and I've been waiting all day for them to show up... I heard them up there, but didn't think anything of it because I heard you with the chainsaw the other day, and figured you took some time off".

There's a number marker at the end of my driveway now... Thankfully there's never been an emergency where someone had to find the house quickly..... just one of those things you never really think about.

 

[Xena]

Sucks to be them. Same thing happened to a friend
of mine. Oil Co. ate it.

 

[rich81]

i think that would be considered a "gift" by some laws. i'd keep it as long as driver don't get in trouble

 

[jjbaer]

So I'm not quite sure how this is going to work out...

I came home yesterday to find an oil delivery statement on my garage, and I don't have an oil company. Turns out it was supposed to be for a neighbor. I feel bad about this because I know no matter what happens, the driver is going to get in trouble over it.

-Colin

Short answer is that you own it..........you didn't ask for it yet they delivered it to you. I'm assuming the bill had your neighbors name on it so the problem will come to their attention when they call him and ask why he didn't pay the bill or when he (your neighbor) calls them and asks where his oil is. You could be proactive and tell them it was delivered to you and maybe offer to buy it for half price......

 

[cbrodsky]

We resolved this with the oil company by settling on a rate $0.50/gallon below market. Turns out the driver's supervisor was with him that day, so he stayed out of trouble and nobody got ripped off... just means I'll have to wait at least a year until I'm in a position to buy some biodiesel :-(

-Colin

 

[BrotherBart]

We resolved this with the oil company by settling on a rate $0.50/gallon below market. Turns out the driver's supervisor was with him that day, so he stayed out of trouble and nobody got ripped off... just means I'll have to wait at least a year until I'm in a position to buy some biodiesel :-(

-Colin

If you are good with it then life is good. But they dodged a bullet, big time.