Complaints

This profile includes complaints for Dead River Company's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see Find Local Branches.

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Dead River Company has 61 locations, listed below.

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  Dead River Company

  82 Running Hill Rd Ste 400 S Portland, ME 04106-3218

• 

  Dead River Company

  PO Box 510 Farmington, ME 04938-0510

• 

  Dead River Company

  665 Elm St Biddeford, ME 04005-4420

• 

  Dead River Company

  114 Main St Ashland, ME 04732-3428

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  Dead River Company

  177 Turner St Auburn, ME 04210-5131

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:02/07/2023

  Type:Delivery Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  DeadRiver.com touts their "Our Promise", "Delivering on A Promise" on their About Us. They show a picture of a delivery driver delivering fuel in a snowstorm. I ordered 175 gallons of #2 heating oil and 200 gallons of propane on 2/3/2023.Dead River failed to deliver both. One of the delivery drivers (Propane) drove right up to my house and then left shortly after. I received a voice mail stating that I need to clear a path to my tanks which is absolutely ridiculous! Their delivery driver refused to walk through a few inches of snow. I'm located in another state and don't have access to the property to create a path to the tanks by removing the few inches of snow on the ground. Dead River is falsely advertising that they deliver.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 02/13/2023

  Dead River Company takes the safety of our drivers very seriously. We ask that our customers do their best to clear their driveway of snow or other obstacles and a path to the oil or propane tanks to allow the delivery drivers safe access. In this case,the customer, who lives out of state, did not clear his/her driveway or a path to the tanks. After he/she made a complaint directly to Dead River Company,contact was made and arrangements were created for the safe delivery  of the desired fuel oil and propane the following day.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 02/13/2023

  [A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response.  If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does satisfy my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint #********. I understand that by choosing to accept the business response that my complaint will be closed as resolved. 
  
  Regards,
  
  ***************************

• Initial Complaint

  Date:02/01/2023

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  We were 2 months behind on a payment due to a check not clearing. We received no notice from them by phone. They state that a letter was mailed last week however we are not able to find this. They also state that they called us however cannot state what day they called on and there is no record of a received call or voicemail left on our phones. They came and disconnected our propane yesterday without notice, and did not even knock on our door to tell us it was happening until we noticed our oven wouldn't turn on. We contacted them immediately and it took several hours for them to resolve the issue and be able to take payment. They didn't come to turn the gas back on, and today when we called to find out when they would they stated "probably not today, maybe tomorrow." ******** line also connects to a backup heating device in our kitchen in the event that we lose power. To turn off our gas over a $200 bill with little to potentially no notice in the winter in ***** is unethical.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 02/03/2023

  Customer received four different notices by mail of the outstanding balance along with 2 phone messages.

  No response to any of our attempts to contact - prior to disconnection were made.

  After the service disruption we did speak with one of the account holders who verified accuracy of our records for mail and phone.

  Once the account was settled on January 31, authorization was given to reinstate service immediately. 

  The service department indicated service would be reinstated today, February 3.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:01/16/2023

  Type:Sales and Advertising Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I have had a lot of problems with dead river servicing my furnace and having it break right afterwards. Last winter the furnace was not working and a tech came to repair it. However, after he left we could not stop the heat from running upstairs and it was 80 degrees. Because of the high price of oil we were concerned that we would run out before we could afford more. Dead river sent a tech a few days later and he told me the first tech had made a mistake wiring the furnace and fixed it. I had to argue with dead river about weather the return visit was a separate issue or not. They finally agreed and delivered oil early without an extra charge since we had wasted so much of it. They serviced the furnace in September and said it was in good working order. But after running out of oil before a delivery I went to go bleed the pips and the restart button was obviously broken. I could not restart the furnace and had to call them in on the weekend to fix it. The person I spoke with when I called for help said that it sounded like a follow up call since it had just been serviced. However, they pretended that having a broken part was not part of the servicing of the furnace and charged me extra money for coming out on the ************ the cost of repairs. I called them and complained to their manager who took $200 off the bill. I got sick of them and started getting my oil delivered by ****** instead. This weekend we started to smell a creosote smoke like smell in the house that got worse as they day went on. I had called the fire department and they told me to call 911 and leave the house immediately. They came and said that they was some kind of exhaust coming out of the furnace and turns it off. They had found low traces of CO2 in the upstairs bedroom where my two year old had been playing. They checked her and said that her oxygen levels were fine but why would have happened if we had not called the fire department and the problem got worse? They told me to call the service company and have them check it. I called dead river and ****** to get somebody to come a get the heat running again. My husband had tried turning it back on in the morning but turned it off saying it was smoking. ****** tech came and said that dead river had not cleaned the product properly and took pictures showing the build up of junk in the pips that should have been cleaned out during the service in September. The tech from ****** said that part should have been cleaned when they serviced it but had not. I have attached the photos of the dirty parts and all the invoices from dead river related to this case. I am waiting to get the *** report from the fire department but the fire ********* he send me a copy.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 01/19/2023

  We spoke with the customer today, and explained the work that we had performed where we had replaced the igniter, and the primary control.   We apologized for the call call back where the boiler was not operating properly,  and we agreed to apply a credit for all of the work performed totaling $771.85. The customer wanted us to take care of the existing balance of $147.21 which would leave a credit of $624.64.  The customer then requested a propane delivery of 45 gallons at $3.79 per gallon totaling $170.55.  After we deduct this amount from the credit of $624.64 the total credit we refunded to the customers credit card on file was $454.09.  The customer appreciated us reaching out, and we believe this has been resolved to their satisfaction. 

• Initial Complaint

  Date:01/05/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  My name is ***************************, I am a 50 year old disabled woman,and i Receive fuel assistance from tri county cap. Dead river makes huge mistakes with giving the customers what they need/want, and than blame the customer and charge them for the mistake. First major s**** up with me was I called them on 12/02/2022 to get a refill of propane for my cooking stove. I told them specifically that I only wanted what I had as an available credit. The employee that came out filled it instead. I didn't ask for it, I'm not paying for it. Which they are sending me invoices every week of $122.83. Fast forward to 01/04/23 I called them to tell them I was completely out of kerosene and that my home was an icebox. the office manager said that could not be possible, seems how we just filled it on 11/30/22. Well that's interesting, because I called two weeks before Christmas to have you guys top it off, they never showed up and I haven't received any invoices left on my door since the beginning of last year. She told me go and look at the tank, it was clearly marked empty. I was than instructed to take the long probe out of the tank and drop a stick down into it. I know when something is empty. So she responds with it has to be your heating system, not the absence of kerosene. The service calls are well over $200 and cap will only pay up to $200. I have no extra money to spare, They come and fill my tank, when i told them i would not be home until after 3:30 pm. The continuous banging on my door kept my dog riled up that was inside. They said they heard voices, which was my tv I leave on for her. They had to return because it needed to be Prime started, charged me an additional $50. The heat went off again approximately 9:00 pm. Called dead River back, and they said if we come back out, you are going to have to give him some money. You have already charged me $50 and it didn't even stay on, I'm not giving you people anymore money. So no heat for the rest of the night.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 01/07/2023

  The 12/02/2022 propane delivery the customer references in this ******************** complaint took place on 02/24/2022. We looked back in the account records and it appears on 02/24/2022 one of our Customer ********************** Representatives erroneously did not lock in the preset to stop the delivery at the requested 25 gallons.  This consequently caused the over delivery, and this was an error on our part. We have reversed the charges for the excess gallons. In addition, we have issued a courtesy credit for the inconvenience.  On 01/04/2023 the customer requested a delivery because her tank was empty.  Our forecasting indicated that should not be the case, and when the customer was unable to check the level herself, we sent one of our Delivery Driver Managers to check the tank to make sure it was not a Service issue.  The *** did confirm kerosene tank was empty, and we delivered 170 gallons.  We have checked our delivery truck GPS tracking data and it indicates the delivery truck delivering kerosene was in the same spot at her 11/25/2022 delivery as it was at her prior (03/22/2022),as well as, at her most current (01/04/2023) delivery. After the 01/04/2023 delivery our Service Technician performed a prime and start on the system to restore the heat. On 01/05/2023 the customer called in a no heat and the responding Technician found the door on the heating unit was not closed all the way; the safety switch on the door was not fully pressed in. It is quite possible the Technician who performed the prime and start did not close the door completely, so we will not invoice for either call and well issue another courtesy credit. The total account courtesy credit will be $100. We apologize for these negative experiences, and we called the customer before close of business 01/06/2023 to follow up and let her know that she does now have a credit on her account and to express our desire to provide her with a better experience in the future.         

  Customer Answer

  Date: 01/07/2023

  [A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response.  If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response submitted by the business and have determined that the response does satisfy my issues and/or concerns in reference to complaint #********. I understand that by choosing to accept the business response that my complaint will be closed as resolved. 
  
  Regards,
  
  ***************************