Automatic Tlc Energy

I had the same experience as karen b and alex k. Biggest crooks I’ve come across. According to their contract, written notice is to be given to not renew, which i did in December. My contract was up the end of January 2016. Well much to my surprise i received oil far past my contract end date… and at a price gouging rate of $ 2.899. Pricing other companies, their prices were at $ 1.40 — $ 1.80 p /​gal. When I called to challenge the price and the fact that they were no longer my oil company, I got such a run around. We agreed on a lower price, still much higher than competitors. I hope everyone that reads this takes all of these reviews under consideration. Totally totally disgusted with this company.

AKA-​HOP Energy, Valley Oil and who knows what other names they do their dirty scamming under. Had a contract and still got gouged. Better Business Bureau has 128 complaints on just one of the names they use. Valley Oil! I don’t know how the heck they are still in business. The Hartford Courant wrote them up in 2009. I thought I was a pretty savvy shopper. Well, word of mouth can kill a company. I hope it works in this case.

I used TLC for a year on their automatic fill up system. I had just moved into a new house and being a first time customer I decided to purchase a service contract with them at a discounted rate. Fast forward a year, I was locked in at $ 3.64 a gallon for the last few fill-​ups and can’t get out of that price until I have used all the oil that was originally allotted to me (for reference the market price for oil at the time of me writing is $ 2.39). They also automatically renewed my service contract at the full $ 500 without my consent. I was never notified that this contract would auto-​renew and had no idea until I saw my bill. I immediately called and talked to customer service on the phone, insisting that they remove the charge and also closeout my account as I no longer wished to receive automatic payments. For a while they tried to convince me to stay, trying to explain how in a market where oil was going down every week it was still a good time to lock in a price for the next year. After about 20 mins they finally agreed to close out the account. I was told the service contract was removed and I paid off my remaining balance over the phone. Quite a surprise I have when a month later I see a bill from TLC with the service contract on it, plus a $ 70 late fee. I called back and had to explain the whole story again. Now I finally think my account is closed out with a $ 0 balance, but I won’t know for another month. The only good thing I can say is that the second customer service agent Janet was very nice, didn’t try to convince me to come back, and removed the service contract and the late fee. Janet, if you see this, you were wonderful, but I will not be purchasing oil from you company again.

Awful. Deceptive delivery/​billing practices. Avoid. Seek out a co-​op, like Pinergy. If you do sign a contract, make sure you budget your estimated gallons on the high side. Report to the Department of Consumer Protection. SWITCH TO NATURAL GAS!

I wish for once I could give zero stars. I’ve had over 15 years of unfortunate experience with Automatic TLC. When we first purchased our house, my father recommended TLC as it was his oil company. We purchased a service contract, and then the scam started. They would deliver with no notice even though we requested not to be on automatic delivery. Then they would admit to their «mistake» but there was nothing we could do. Cancelling was not easy — they insisted we send in detailed paperwork to get out of the agreement we never signed. Finally I went with other oil companies as «will call» and I have a fantastic furnace guy who handles my service issues as they arise.
Fast forward to now. My father, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s, is living in a nursing home. I manage his affairs, but TLC still calls him which causes him great anxiety. In December 2013, they delivered 500 gallons of oil to his house even though he was NOT on automatic delivery and they did NOT have authorization. We’ve requested that they remove the oil but they have refused saying that it’s «contaminated» with the oil that’s already there. They admit that the delivery was in error, but insist we pay for the oil. We’ve paid the bill, but they still call my father and won’t change the contact number.
I’m at the point of reporting TLC to the state and BBB for unfair trade practices. They are a scam of a company. Do not do business with them.

As an existing customer, we called on Sunday for an emergency fill up (which shouldn’t be needed as we’re signed up for their automatic delivery). No one showed, no one showed, and we continued to call to check in on an estimated delivery time. Customer service could not provide an estimated delivery time and when they did, no one showed to deliver the oil. Their prices are low, but the service is poor. We will be searching for another company ASAP.

I can’t believe the reviews I just read. Today at 10 am I ran out of oil. Just moved to ct and never used oil heat before. So I still had not sighned up with a company. In a panic I called the first company recomended and they wanted 3.87 a gallon. Then I called tlc after seeing their add of 3.09 for first fill up. Then I’m locked in for one year at 3.64. Not bad at all.
Long story short. By 12pm 2hours later I was sighned up and tech here priming my heater and filling me up. Dont have to pay for 30 days. The tech was like greased lighning knew his stuff like the back of his hand and replaced the filter had me up and running in 15min. The lady I sighned up with was honest and made things super easy to sighn up. This company is awesome. Nothing but great service so far. But lets see if ill be waiting 4 months for a refill… for some reason I think that’s bull dinkies.
SIGHED UP AT 10AM! HAD HEAT BY NOON. 3.09 FIRST FILL UP LOCKED INTO 3.64!!! THE PROOF IS IN THE PUDDING!

My appointment was between 3pm and 5pm; after 6pm when I called (as they didn’t have the decency to call me) they said they are «on their way.» They weren’t the slightest bit apologetic. After receiving poor customer service and subsequently requesting a credit to my account, they ignored me.
I received a letter in the mail today stating they are raising my budget plan amount from $ 200/​month to $ 467/​month, «.based on the fluctuation of our pricing market…»
At the time of setting up the budget plan, I shared my ideal temperature, age and square footage of my house, the lack of energy efficient windows and doors and number of occupants. After being in business for «over 90 years,» shouldn’t they be able to appropriately estimate a budget plan? Did oil prices mysteriously double? Being a little off is acceptable as it is just an estimate. Now, I have to pay 233% of the estimate.

I called this company today to set up an appointment to have my furnace cleaned. After being transferred between 4 different people I gave up.