Standard Oil Of Connecticut

Every time they were in my home this past year, things did not go well. Furnace did not work right after annual cleaning. Six months later, they did a shoddy repair, which broke down four months later. And when some equipment needed to be replaced, they provided the most expensive quote. They didn’t seem to care at all about customer loyalty (I had been a customer under contract for 6+ years).

The price is included in my yearly service fee.

The cost is included in our plan monthly bill. Good service keeps me as their customer.

Quickly and professionally installed

It's an annual plan, not really tied to one service.

Good - technician was very thorough, friendly and knowledgeable.

I have a service contract with them. They do their job. They do what they need to do. I've used them for 5 years.

They've been good. They were great. I thought the price was fair. They were up front, they were direct, they didn't change their prices a million times.

Excellent, they offered excellent suggestions on how to secure the property without causing inconvenience to us.

Water heater was bad and needed new one Problem was misdiagnosed

They do not check for carbon monoxide leaks and I had one! It was discovered by the energy-efficiency people in the first 2 minutes they were there! I called and asked Standard Oil why they didn't find it first since they were there less than 2 weeks prior and they said they don't check for CO leaks unless we specifically ask them to!

That's been my company for a long time. The last time they were here was part of the contract I have with them. They have always been A service for me. They are a good company all around. I use them all the time.

I have nothing but praise for them.

I continued to use them in the future.

Standard Oil is unscrupulous and the customer service is non-existent. Their service techs are unprofessional and skimp on maintenance items and repairs.They charge their customers for services not yet performed and then charge you finance charges if it's not paid. I would categorize them as bullies in the heating oil world. They truly care only about the bottom line. There is no regard for the customer or loyalty which is why, after 3 years, we have cancelled our contract with them. I think they're desparate for customers because they offered us a significant discount on the annual maintenance plan if we would remain their customer and the best message we could send them was to turn down their offer, although tempting, but not enough to make us stay with them. Good riddance.

They’ve been my service for last year. They’ve been here different times this year. The workers were very good. They are dependable.

Standard Oil is suing us in small claims court for a bill we paid promptly 3 months ago. We have electronic records from our bank that the check was received and deposited by Standard Oil. We will vigorously defend this lawsuit.

I used Standard Oil for a year after purchasing a house that used steam oil. The previous homeowners used them and the reviews weren't bad so we decided to give them a shot. The problems started immediately after we signed up. They kept harrassing us in the evening with phone calls. There was always "one more question." They kept trying to cross sell products such as their security system. I'll bet signing up took over two hours on the phone. We eventually agreed to let a tech come to the house just out of politeness and to get them off the phone for a free home security assessment. The guy came and unsolicited mentioned that a lot of people have no real interest and just do it because standard oil pressured them into it. The assessment was also a joke. They told us nothing other than what kinds security systems they could install. We also had problems with our $300+ yearly service contract. Don't be fooled by it. You'll get little to nothing. We had a problem with part of our system working, but according to some fine print somewhere, this wasn't covered. And you have to be diligent to even get the early service of a boiler covered by the yearly service contract. We called a month ahead of when the boiler needed serviced only to be told they were booking over two months out. 2 months from the date of the call was beyond 12 months on the contract so to actually get them to do it we have to pay another yearly service fee of several hundred dollars. No thanks. Fool me once... The problems are especially ridiculous when you look at them in combination. How can they feel comfortable calling me several times in the evening to harrass me about their security systems but not call to say that the boiler needed service and because they are understaffed it needed to get scheduled way ahead of time? It has been a very long time since I disliked a company this month. We won't be doing business with them again. Ever.

Our water heater started to leak right after they performed the purge service. It was not expected and we was suprised knowing from it is fixable to had to replace it. It is costly, so we talked to the head manager about the reason what cause the leaking. He gave out the dishonest informations about the age of our water heater and told us that he will try to replace our water heater under the warranty even if we am not the original owner. He is not a trustworthy person. The stander oil management is a mess. We are leaving the company right now and will not go back. Forgot to mention one more thing, the delivery guy left the cap on the ground until a month after our gardener found it. Horrible service they provide.

I called for service as part of my maintenance contract because our multi zone HVAC system was not controlling the zones correctly. When zone 3 turned on, zone 2 also received heat/AC. The service person came out and within 20 minutes had diagnosed and determined the problem. 2 weeks later the damper was replaced and now my zones are working properly. Two different service men came out to the house and both were friendly and courteous. I have been a customer for several years and although I know oil pricing varies, their pricing is fair for both oil and service and they do respond to calls under the service contract.

They are okay. They are not great. I am under contract with them so I am kind of married to them. I am kind of stuck. I signed a contract with them last year when oil was going up and now it has gone down so I am paying more than the market price. I am not paying as much as I would have paid last year. They have high pressure salesmen who kind of drive me crazy.

With regard to price for delivery of home heating oil, they're ok - not the lowest, but not the highest. We signed up for the Fixed Rate plan where our price per gallon was fixed for the first 600 gallons and then it went to a variable rate from there. They tack on an extra fee if you use this service which I believe was about $20. I spoke with a local competing company the other day and they don't offer a fee if you lock in to their Fixed Rate plan, so I'll be calling around this year and most likely won't be returning to Standard Oil for the several reasons. The $20 fee I could deal with, but the poor customer service is a deal-breaker for me. 1) Customer service is touch and go. When I've had a question regarding pricing or my bill or delivery, I call the Customer Service line and there has been only 1 person that I can remember who was actually very courteous and helpful. All of the other times I called, I ended up with a woman (all the reps I spoke with were women) who just clearly didn't want to be on the phone answering questions. They were not courteous or in any way friendly. They were curt with their answers. They just aren't pleasant to deal with and it got to the point where I just dreaded having to call them. 2) the young man (kid, really) that they sent out to perform the annual maintenance on the boiler was unprofessional. He was talking on the phone with a fellow employee and complaining about a customer that his fellow employee was in the middle of dealing with - the things that he was saying and in the presence of a customer were very rude and unprofessional. 3) He didn't replace the air filter or the thermostat on the hot water heater because he said the air filter looked more or less clean and even though the thermostat on the water heater wasn't working properly, it should be ok for another year. Both of those items were covered under our annual maintenance contract and looking back, I feel like I should have insisted that he leave an air filter because the on in the furnance will eventually need to be replaced and I should have insisted that he change out the thermostat. Our water runs terribly hot - scalding actually, even on the lowest possible setting of the thermostat, but I didn't question the young man's decision which, looking back, I should have. I guess they're trained to save money at all costs even when customer has already paid for a service contract. 4) I had agreed the first year to have an additive added to my oil tank to keep the sludge at bay, but I didn't know that they were going to automatically add this to the tank every year without notifying me first. Luckily, I caught it just in time because they had added it to my bill prior to actually performing the service which is usually done in the summer. I called and told them that I didn't request or sign up for, in any way, a second year of oil tank additive. The way they do this comes across as sneaky. They hope they can get it past you by adding it to the bill and it's not a ton of money - I think it's about $40 or $50, so they're probably hoping you won't notice, but it should be my choice to request this service every year or every other year or whenever. I don't like them trying to sneak it in. So long, Standard Oil. I'm not going to miss you this season.

On this particular occasion, I was able to schedule an appointment for the afternoon that same day. The repairman was professional and experienced. He took the time to explain what the problem was, both visually and verbally, and why he was making his recommendations. He was there for approximately an hour and a half, and he resolved the problem. Were I rating Standard Oil solely on the basis of this visit, I would give them all As except a B for price (I spoke with some friends after the fact and learned that the cost of the cleaning was somewhat higher than what they had paid their contractors). However, I have not always been this fortunate with Standard Oil, and I would give them mixed reviews overall. When I found water leaking from my HVAC unit in the basement, I called Standard Oil for the first (and only) time for assistance. Again they were able to schedule an appointment promptly, and the technician arrived as scheduled. They charged me several hundred dollars for the "repair," and I wasn't quite sure what had been done. When the leaking began again a few weeks later, I called a new company (which is now unfortunately out of business) . That repairment told me that it was a clog in the condensation tube. He taught me how to do it myself in 5 minutes. Sure enough, I have been able to stop the leaking myself since then with that advice, without paying several hundred dollars for the pleasure. From the perspective of oil service, "shop around for another company" is on my to-do list. Their rates are higher than industry, and the lock-in deals that they have only seem to favor the company. They also have an aggressive billing department. At one time, I was in a lock-in plan where you pay a set amount per month, which they determine based on their estimate of what you will use in the coming year. My actual oil purchases were well below the total amount I was being billed, and I had a *credit* that rose above $2,000. When I received the next monthly bill, I was on vacation and returned a few days after the due date for the monthly installment. I was in the middle of paying bills when I checked my answering machine, and there were already 3 calls from their billing office inquiring as to where my payment was (notwithstanding the $2,000 credit). I discontinued that plan because it was only benefiting Standard Oil, who was able to keep a significant amount of my money and make interest on it while harassing me for a payment that was just a few days late. The oil replacement service has also been touch-and-go. I woke up to no heat last winter, and called Standard Oil. They came over promptly, and the repairman told me that I had no heat because I had no oil. HMMM. Because Standard Oil is supposed to routinely fill my tank without my involvement in any way, he made inquiries and learned that the last serviceman did not fill the tank when he visited because he "could not hear the whistle." Apparently a whistle sounds when the tank is full so the serviceman knows when to shut off the oil. I still don't understand how/why he decided not to fill the tank, since it seems to me that the problem would arise at the end of the service when the serviceman doesn't hear a whistle and the tank overflows. In any event, Standard Oil filled the tank immediately and all was well, although I was charged the base service fee for the visit. Then the same thing happened 6 weeks later, but at least someone had left a note on my garage door saying "whistle is broken." Another repairman visited and performed a diagnosis of the tank and confirmed that the whistle was functioning. When he tried to charge me the base service fee for his visit, I said that I shouldn't have to pay because their serviceman was having difficulty hearing. He admitted that this problem had happened at other homes with the same serviceman. He called Standard Oil to fill the tank....and they sent back the same serviceman. Another note on the garage door! It was *almost* funny at this point. Almost. I called Standard Oil and requested that a different serviceman be sent to fill the tank from now on. In retrospect, I should have also requested a refund of the first service fee, but I let it go.

We had been a customer of Standard Oil for 20+ years, they provided oil, we rented a water heater from them and they serviced our A/C and oil furnace annually. In 1996 we contracted with them to install a new oil furnace for us. Since then we had consistently experienced irregular heat/cooling distribution and used excessive amounts of oil and accepted this as normal, but subsequently were proven to be the fault of a very shoddy and unprofessional installation. An energy audit revealed a gross inefficiency in the pressure of our heating and cooling system but the cause was never diagnosed until we replaced the system this past winter with a high efficiency propane furnace. I wish it were possible to upload photos to show the HUGE gap between the oil furnace and the original ductwork that they had covered with metallic tape. This breach was the cause for 18 years of excessive heat loss and inefficient heating and cooling , not to speak of the related energy costs incurred from this discrepancy. It is difficult to imagine that this was not covered up repeatedly by the various service people who came here throughout the years and this does not speak well of their honesty or professionalism. I am happy to put Standard Oil behind us and would never recommend them to anyone.

Disappointed with Standard oil with whom we have been for over 6 years. Recently we decided to switch over from oil to natural gas for home heating. I had put my account with std oil on hold, since I did not want them to deliver automatically and top-off the tank. I called up Std oil and asked them if they could do a one-time delivery of 100G, and I was told its not possible and they only top-off. But anyways thanks to Angie's, I found about Hoffman oil and their sales rep who was very nice in explaining and they provided the best price in town, Also the sales associate told me I don't need an another delivery and with the 300G tank with the 1/2 way mark should be good.