Santoro Oil Company

Additional Notes

Complaint: Santoro Oil took over Abilene Oil od whom I was a customer for 8-10 years. Abilen Oil had just put in a new boiler for this house and cailbrated everything , it was running efficently and I was getting good usage. Santoro came to do the yearly cleaning and maintanence - I stratred going thru an absorbadent amount of oil so I had them go back to check the thermostats (there are 3 apartments in the house). They said everything was fine . After months of going thru ridiculous amounts of oil I teminated my realationship with Santoro. Today I had another very reputible company come out to look things over and try to figure out why we were going thru so much more oil with a new boiler. They found that the jet valve was 2x the size it should be which allowed heavier oil flow hence more usage and more money!!! The boiler was calibrated backwards(and my husband who knows about these things was present to see it for himself) and the efficiency was only set for 65% and was reset today for 85% by the new company . It seems to me that this was intentional and this company should be investigated as to prevent other customer from being taken by unorthodox businees practices and to benefit from poor business practices

Desired Settlement: Tha t this company be stopped from fraudulent practices to make money from trusting customers.

Business Response:

In response to this claim, I asked our Service Manager, ****** *********, to to write a summary of our transactions with ***** ******** at 1 Homestead Ave Smithfield, RI 02917.  I have copied ******'s findings below and I have attached all related and supporting documents to this response.

"Response to customer’s complaint with BBB regarding jet value (I think she is referring to the nozzle) being two times the size required and the efficiency being set only 65 percent.  At no time, on any service calls did Santoro Oil replace the nozzle or touch the oil burner settings on any service call that we responded to.  The boiler was installed by Abilene Oil with a 1.10x80w nozzle, which is the factory recommended nozzle.  If this nozzle was not still in the boiler, the boiler would have been plugged up and inoperable.  Modern boilers cannot run for more than a day or two before they completely shut down.  Factory recommended nozzle application sheet is enclosed.

Service call summary follows.

10-8-2011      -  Responded to burner wont operate. Cad cell was defective showing 1400+ ohms, replaced cad cell, burner running at 200 ohms.

10-26-2011    -  Responded to no heat call.  No power to primary control, electrical firomatic on ceiling was loose, tightened to make electrical contact and checked all zones to make sure they were functioning correctly.

10-27-2011    -   No heat, one zone was not calling.  Replaced the thermostat and checked operation.

10-28-2011    -  One tenant still complaining.  Found that fan coil unit in that apartment was never wired in during the boiler replacement.  Would not be able to know this from the basement.  We connected it as a goodwill gesture at no charge, even though we did not sell them the boiler.  Noticed aqua stat not turning on fan cell correctly. Ordered a new one.

11-7-2011       - Replace the defective aqua stat with a new one.  Also replaced the previously installed thermostat, which was off by 5 degrees with a new electronic thermostat.
               
This was the last time Santoro Oil serviced the boiler.  The boiler was installed by Abilene Oil in May 2011.  These calls were all related to items not caught during the installation and would not be noticed when the boiler was only running for hot water.  They came to light when the tenants started to run the boiler for heat.  The boiler ran all winter with no service issues.

Please note that looking at delivery history, with adjustment for the milder winter, the oil usage with the new boiler installed by Abilene was 20 percent lower then the old boiler.  This is inline with industry standards.
Santoro Oil is committed to making sure our customers equipment is set at the highest operating efficiency.  All of our technicians are not only state licensed but NORA certified.  They have also been trained and certified on the proper use and operation of the Wohler A400 combustion analyzer, which Santoro provides to every technician.  We use this at every tune up and every time we have to make a modification to the burner setup.  This is state of the art equipment which generates a computer print out of the combustion test.  Safety and efficiency is a top priority of Santoro Oil.
 
****** W. *********
Service Manager
Santoro Oil Family of Companies
RI PipeFitter/Master I 00007777
Oil Burner Contractor Master  E-001107
Vice President- National Association of Oil and Energy Service Professionals


As you can see from the above response, Santoro Oil made several service calls At No Charge to the customer to help correct her problem.  At no time was the amount of oil being used in question or was there an efficiency test completed because an annual tune-up was not peformed on the unit because it was not required yet, as it was installed by Abeline Oil in 2011.  We feel that we have been more than fair with our services and ask that ***** ******** pay her balance of $367.37 from her last oil delivery on 3/12/2012.  We never charged for ANY labor or parts on any of the service calls we performed and are only asking that we be compensated for the oil she was delivered.

Sincerely,

******* *****
General Manager
Santoro Oil Company
************

BBB's Final Determination: Business offered a resolution. Consumer did not pursue further with BBB and the matter was assumed to be resolved