F&S Oil closed
If you're an F&S oil customer, you should read this WFSB article on them closing their doors and shuttering their windows:
The sudden closure left a lot of home heating oil users in the Waterbury area without an oil supplier, and many with useless pre-buy contracts. Now homeowners are forced to find a new supplier and the state is working to reclaim money from the prepaid contracts.
"Closing your doors at 5 p.m. -- literally disappearing into the night -- leaving 12,000 customers without notice and thousands of pre-buy contracts not honored is no way to do business," Rell said.
If you (or anyone you know) use F&S... please check your oil tanks and do what you need to do.
Tim White
h/t to Vin Flynn!
17 comments:
FYI: Village Oil is owned by F&S and probably has also ceased operations
F&S also owns Carlson Oil out of Meriden.
What a shame.
They were a bunch of scam artists! I'm glad they are gone, but very sorry for all of the people they screwed along the way..............
I agree, could not happen to soon for that group. It is also too bad they ruined a small business in Carlson Oil that has been around for about 50 years. F&S wanted to be the big fish in the small pond, convinced Carlson to sell out to F&S and the biofuel deal was going to be the be money maker. The biofuel part is still up in the air but when you try to build the facility without all of the permits from the Town and State, then you get a low interest loan from the State to help you out, then you go bankrupt because of greed.....Feel sorry for all of the workers that put their faith in the self appointed captains of industry that ran that firm.How could you lose money in the oil business?
We had twenty-seven years of experience with F&S and their related companies. Never had a problem, but I will probably lose on my prepaid burner service contract.
I guess we were lucky -- we had overlooked their earlier offer for fixed-price oil and were waiting for the second offer which we were told was to come in April. Their guy was supposed to come and give the furnace its annual check up tomorrow -- an earlier appointment had been canceled by F&S because all their guys had the flu. In retrospect, I wonder.
Why did some of you people buy the prepaid contracts for this year and now some of you bought them recently for next year. The prepays for next year were at $2.98 gal. If you follow oil prices at all you have to know it is not getting cheaper for next year. For you people paying $2.42 or so for this year how could think any oil company could stay open when it cost more than that just to buy it. Service contracts are ripoffs, they all use old parts. The oil companies are not our friends.
Does anyone know who owns F&S oil?
They sure stuck it to their customers.
3:03 You can't make accusations about specific individuals stealing... not without proof. If you want to post your comment again (and not have it deleted), you'll need to provide a link to a reputable news source.
Despite what anyone thinks, high oil prices adversely affects everyone along the supply chain with the exception of those that are bringing it out of the ground at a cost of between $5 to $45 per bbl. When a residential consumer can't pay the bill, the problem becomes the oil dealer's. If the dealer can't pay then it's a problem for the wholesaler. Everybody suffers. There are not necessarily any villains. On the pre-buys, those funds are probably used to run the business (float) and hopefully buy some hedges to fix the price. If the dealer suffered some non-payments, slow payments, or didn't hedge, then the dealer is going to get squeezed. Bad management perhaps, but not necessarily criminal.
For what it is worth that is my two cents (or in this oil market $3)
While I understand the volatile economics of oil, especially in the current questionable economic climate, it seems that there were some very questionable business practices going on at F&S. Check the Republican-American's website for further details. Basically some half-wit CPA trying to leverage F&S in order to get money to build a bio-fuel plant in Cheshire.
I should have known they were going under - despite repeated calls to them that my tank was almost empty, they didn't respond for days - and even when they got around to delivering they only gave me half a tank (when they had always filled it in the past). Oh, and the oil was delivered by a Village Oil truck despite the fact that we've been F&S customers for the past 10 years. My retired neighbor got rid of them about two years ago because he sensed something wasn't right with the company...wish I had listened to his advice.
Just so everyone knows, F&S Oil also owns US Fuels, which delivers the same oil that F&S Customers get delivered but at a much lower price per gallon. Most of their service technicians were unlicensed. The company began to sink a few years ago.
Let me put it this way; when the Exxon Valdez hit the reef in Alaska, the Captain of the ship was not even at the helm. Who was held responsible? The CAPTAIN. Thats the way the system works. whether you are alert at the wheel or not, you are the responsible driver.
I find it difficult to believe the owner had no clue as to what was happening to his company. Village oil also had the previous owner Ned Bowman he was paid as a consultant a long time I does he fit into this. I think more than just Carr is quality of fraud. I am confident that will come out soon
what a shame
any remorse
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