Following a takeover by Petro, Inc. Of CT based Home Oil Sales in mid, I was billed by Petro on my final month of an account. Not only did they jack up the price per gallon in violation of my contract, which, by the way, they NEVER sent me, my former upstairs neighbors or landlord but they refused to honor the free servicing of both furnaces agreed to by the Home Oil rep I had dealt with. The reason for the free servicing was due to both residences switching from another company to theirs for a better price-per-gallon ($1.149/gallon).
When they refused to honor the contracted price and the servicing, I told them (sometime around May- July) that I would no longer use their services and was looking elsewhere for a fuel oil company. Also, I mentioned to them that, as they would not honor the terms of the agreement, they could wait until I was good and ready to pay their inflated balance, as they refused to lower the price back down to the original price originally quoted and approved by me and my neighbors.
For the next few months, I ignored their incoming invoices.in a letter dated NOVEMBER 19, I received a notice that my account had been canceled (gee, ya THINK?!) from their Credit Department branch in Port Washington, NY. Mentioned in this letter was a statement that read, "This is our final request for a settlement of your seriously delinquent account". By the way, in another letter dated January 9, I received the very same letter. Final request?!
I then received a statement from them, dated December 16 on which they added a $175.00 cancellation fee for early termination of service.???!!! It was only then I tried to contact the company, which was on a Saturday, January 24. I called the number listed on the invoice, 1-866-966-0126 but discovered they had no one working on Saturdays in the Customer Service and/or Credit Department. Agitated as I was, I was intent on contacting them right away and discovered another telephone number at the bottom of the letter sent to me by the Port Washington, NY office. That number is 1-877-929-4788. There WAS someone there and as I made my frustration and anger quite apparent, he assured me that he was going to make my day right away by crediting the (trumped up) charge of $175 and was there something else he could do for me that day? I asked him to please remove the late charges accumulated on my account and then, I would be more than happy to pay my bill in order to get this company out of my life for good, even though I would be paying their inflated charge per gallon.
We then set up a Check-By-Phone payment method. I authorized the company to take a $95.11 payment using check #* from my checking account for that day, January 24 and for the balance of the other $95.11, to use consecutive check #* dated February 23. My account would then be paid in full and we could all go on our merry way. Or so I wrongly assumed.
The first $95.11 payment was processed without incident. Now, keep in mind that following the first cleared payment, I received my banking statement listing that payment as well as the paper check-by-phone copy. I received their next invoice, dated February 7 with all the credits agreed upon listed but there was no payment of $95.11 credited to my account. I assumed at the time it was due to the time frame of the payment vs. The statement printout and I'd see it on the next statement.
However, as the second payment was to be deducted a month later, I forgot to enter that payment into my checking account ledger and my account was about four dollars short when they went to process the payment. The check obviously bounced and so noted on my account. Realizing my mistake, I immediately deposited sufficient funds to cover it so it would clear when they resubmitted it.
Approximately a week later I checked my account using the on-line service and discovered they had not tried to resubmit my check, which I though was pretty unusual for a company so eager to get their hands on my money in the first place. My suspicions aroused, I began checking my account every day, only to find they never tried to process this payment again.
Last week, I received their most recent invoice, dated March 8. AGAIN, there was no credit of the $95.11 payment that cleared. Additionally, there was no mention either of their attempt to secure payment with the second check, nor did they ever try to contact me concerning that bounce check. Now I was REALLY suspicious.
I called Petro to try and clear this matter up. Imagine my surprise when Customer Service Rep #1, by the name of Adam told me there was absolutely nothing in my account records to indicate there was ever any payment made. I told him I had the canceled paper check as well as the bank statement and was advised to copy both sides of the check plus the statement and mail it to Petro to get a credit to my account. "No, that was NOT going to happen", I told him. I said, "I did a check-by-phone so I WOULDN'T have to go through the hassle of the paperwork". I also stated that if they don't know where the money went in the first place, I certainly wasn't going to allow another payment to be deducted from my account until they could tell ME where my money went.
I then asked to speak to someone else and, to my surprise, instead of this Customer Service Rep. Using the typical rep opening of "Hi/Hello, how can I help you?", she asked, "Are you Cindy Owens?" Very odd, I thought. It just sounded weird. I explained my situation and she hurriedly agreed with me, saying, "Yes, I see where you made that first payment but you still have another payment that needs to be made. I'm going to switch you over to Customer Service so you can work out the arrangements." She never provided me with her name.
This woman I spoke to quickly put me on hold as I was left scratching my head, wondering what was going on. If SHE could see it in my records, why couldn't Adam and the rest of the accounting/credit department?
The phone was picked up by apparently, ANOTHER person (or so he said) by the name of Adam. This person had NO knowledge of the conversation of the between me and the woman I had just spoken with. He told me the phone just rang and he picked it up. He did NOT speak to this woman and had no knowledge of my payment. It was then that my suspicions were confirmed.
By this time, I was quite certain that somehow, payments coming to Petro via check-by-phone on closed or closing accounts were being diverted from the real account to a dummy account that no one was aware of. I mentioned my fears to this Adam #2 but he was, of course, quite certain that it could never happen there (haha).
I asked to speak to someone ELSE and told him that the woman I had just spoken to DID have knowledge of my payment and I wanted to know what kind of crappy bookkeeping was practiced in this company. He then transferred me to another person, this time by the name of John and once again, John could see no entry for my payment and again suggested that I mail in copies of the proof so they could credit my account. Again, I said no way. I told him to contact someone high up on their "food chain" to become aware of this potential situation and that, when they ascertained where the money went and how the "mistake" came about, I'd be glad to make that final payment. Until then, they would not get another cent of my money. I also stated to him that I would be contacting my bank and the CT Attorney General's office to report my suspicions.
After I hung up with John, I did contact my CT Attorney General's office (Richard Blumenthal). Unbelievably, to my surprise, they were not interested and said they only deal with civil cases, which, of course, isn't true. They suggested I contact my local State Attorney, who handles cases such as this, which are considered criminal.
So, I did just that, immediately contacting the local State Attorney's office located in Bantam, CT. I spoke with the person in the office who stated that the attorney was not there and I'd have to run it by her first.By this time, I'm tired of repeating the same story over and over and told her I really wanted to speak to him and not repeat myself. She would not agree and said I'd HAVE to run it by her first. So, I explained the situation once again. After spending 20 minutes on the phone and being put on hold twice for other calls, she informed me that I'd have to contact my local police, as the State's Attorney's office ONLY handles cases where an arrest has already been made. WHAT??!! What DO these people in this state DO anyway? Petro, the CT Attorney General's office AND the State Attorney's office wanted nothing to do with this, basically dismissing my concerns as a flight of fantasy coming from someone with too much time on their hands.
So, RELUCTANTLY, I contacted the New Milford Police Department. I say reluctantly because I have absolutely no respect for their methods. This comes from other incidents I have knowledge of and do not wish, at this time to further elaborate on. Suffice it to say, there are some there not so honorable. I explained the situation to the dispatcher - once again and was told by him that I'd have to come down and file a report but since I had no "real" proof, they'd most likely dismiss my claim. I basically told him once again what I thought of the New Milford Police Department and ended the call.
By this time, I'm sure you can understand that I am quite frustrated with the lack of concern on the part of all these facilities. Even Petro, the company I believe is being ripped off refuses to address the fact that there may be criminal action going on in their own company. Yesterday, March 17, I had another call from Petro, from a rep saying that she's gone through my records and cannot find one iota of proof that I made payment. I became quite angry when it became apparent that she was not listening to a single thing I was saying, that I've been through all this before with other reps. Finally, I just told her to get me a higher-up, as I could really trust no one now on the phone. Who's to say this woman wasn't part of the scheme? She informed me that there were no supervisors available to speak to me so I told her to have one call when they WERE available and mentioned her incompetence. She then hung up on me.
Later yesterday afternoon, a supposed supervisor by the name of Beatrice called me and once again, could not find any indication of payment. I asked her what was the account number used by Petro for depositing the check-by-phone payments. She stated she did not know. I said, "I know what it SUPPOSEDLY is; it's sitting right in front of me on this canceled check. If YOU can't provide me with the correct account number the payment should have gone to, why should I give it to you?" I finally ended the phone call by her suggesting that someone representing the company's owners would contact me. I'm still waiting for that phone call.
If you logically put all the facts together, as I did, it ONLY points to fraud and/or embezzlement, NOT to funds "mistakenly" credited to another account.
Why was there an attempt to collect the second payment once and not again after the check bounced? Did the alleged
embezzler get cold feet?
Why was the mysterious woman I spoke to after Adam #1 so knowledgeable about my account, yet did not speak to the
Customer Service Rep before I did to inform him of the problem? And, why was she so quick to get off the phone?
Why does Petro refuse to investigate easily retrievable files to ascertain exactly WHERE that money went? Why do they
demand that I furnish THEM with documentation to prove payment, yet they can't pull up the Petro bank account number it is
supposed to be credited to?
I CANNOT, in good conscience, provide this information knowing that there is a good probability of embezzlement going on there. I wonder how much money HAS been diverted to these peoples' own accounts? It's unfortunate that no one is interested enough in getting to the bottom of this. I also wonder how many people just mailed their canceled check copies in for credit, unaware that they and Petro themselves might be getting ripped off?
I'm sure I missed a few details but this is the gist of the matter. I advise everyone with an account with this company to question payment sent to Petro. I'm still hoping that someone will look into this. It's not as if the money is the big issue; it's the fact that probable criminal action may be transpiring and nobody is willing to investigate.
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