Interstate Gas & Oil Corp

Interstate Gas & Oil (aka Arlex) claims to offer 24/7 coverage for emergency service. We paid for an annual contract for this service and also bought oil on automatic delivery from this company. On February 27, 2016, at 8:48 PM we called Interstate and told their answering service there was a strong smell of oil in our house. We received no response. Fifteen minutes later, after checking our equipment, we again called and said our oil tank was leaking. The agent said she had paged the tech and would do so again. After no call back was received, we called Interstate a third time and again said our oil tank was leaking. The agent said she would call a manager and could do no more. Several hours passed with no response from Interstate. We called Interstate a fourth time and said we had to leave the house due to the overpowering odor and fumes of the leaking oil. After a total of almost three hours with no response from Interstate, we called a fifth time and said we were leaving in ten minutes and wanted a response before that time. We literally begged the agent for a response, but no one from Interstate even called us. The agent didn't even ask how to reached us after we left. Interstate did not contact us until the following morning. Interstate's manager told us she was the one responsible for taking emergency calls. She said she hadn't responded because she had turned off her cell phone for a personal reason that day and then had just put her phone in the charger and left it there that evening. She claimed to be unaware our tank was leaking and said a leaking oil tank was a serious emergency because the whole tank could let go and contaminate the house. When Interstate's technicians finally arrived at our house, they drained the oil from our tank into barrels and connected one of the barrels to our burner. They left the open barrel of oil unvented in the basement instead of venting it or moving it outside as other companies do. This exposed us to strong oil odors and fumes that permeated our house for days. Interstate told us they could not replace the oil tank until March 3rd. They quoted a price for doing this that was an average of 35% more than other prices given by well-known and respected local companies. When we told Interstate we'd chosen another company to replace our tank, Interstate said they'd charge us $540 for removing the oil from the leaking tank. This is 50% more than the average other local companies would charge. Interstate's manager said if we called in future with another emergency, an Interstate tech might come out and then refuse to help us if the problem involved in any way any parts connected to or touching an oil tank installed by another company. When I twice asked Interstate's manager why Interstate failed to respond to our emergency and if they could assure us they would respond in future, she said both times that she didn't know what had happened and could not guarantee that Interstate would respond appropriately to an emergency in the future. I asked Interstate for a refund of the money for the service contract which they had not honored - once in an informal letter and again in a registered letter. Interstate failed to respond to both letters. This used to be a decent company. Some years ago it was bought by Arlex Energy Corporation, run by John W. Maloney. The previous manager and head service tech left shortly after. From our experience under the company's new management, I can only say stay away.

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They were responsible. I moved into my new location and did not have any heat. I called them up and they responded that day. They prime the tank and oiled the old tank for me. The people in the office were great and friendly. The receptionist was good.