Heating oil rant

Eliza_2

I so hate this having to ring round every time I want oil! I've rung 6 companies and including boilerjuice, all have given me different prices, for 500l varying as much as 6p a litre. Then when I told the last company they were second so far, they asked for the frontrunners price and offered .25p less than that.

Why the hell can't they just give me the price that the oil is full stop? In the shop where I work no-one expects to go round all the other shops in the area to price up an item then come back and ask me to give it to them for 25p less.

Now presumably I have to ring all the others back and tell them the lowest offer and see if they can better it. I've got better things to do with my morning and my phone bill will soon negate any savings.

I know we're encouraged to barter and try to get a better deal from suppliers but this is just ridiculous specially when we're told they're not making any profits - so how are they offering me a reduction? If this was my elderly mum she would have accepted the first price and lost out by a considerable amount of money, it doesn't seem right. Prices should be decided and that's it.

Rant over!

suki1964

All important question - How much have you got it down to per litre?

Eliza_2

60.5 + vat for 500l. Have now lost the will!

A._Badger

Thanks, Eliza. Boilerjuice (ha!) were quoting me just over 63p this morning - which means my usual supplier will be a couple of pence less.

It's still too expensive and I share your angst about the games the suppliers lay.

suki1964

you got a good price there - I just forked out 61ppl for 900:mad:

Eliza_2

TBH Boilerjuice were the cheapest at 60.74 to my surprise. I expect it depends on where you live though god knows why. I'm always asked for my postcode so there must be a reason for that.

Are you more likely to get a better deal because you've been to them before or is it better if you're a new customer? I've used every supplier for miles around over the years I reckon.

Thanks for the reminder, I haven't paid them yet - now where's that card!

Oh GRRR!!

suki1964

Who knows how they come about pricing. I live in county Antrim. If I lived just 20 miles up the road in county Derry I'd be paying 2 ppl less

Mind I think on average we pay less here in NI then you do in England. Possibly because most of the population here is on oil

reeac

Eliza wrote: »

I so hate this having to ring round every time I want oil! I've rung 6 companies and including boilerjuice, all have given me different prices, for 500l varying as much as 6p a litre. Then when I told the last company they were second so far, they asked for the frontrunners price and offered .25p less than that.

Why the hell can't they just give me the price that the oil is full stop? In the shop where I work no-one expects to go round all the other shops in the area to price up an item then come back and ask me to give it to them for 25p less.

Now presumably I have to ring all the others back and tell them the lowest offer and see if they can better it. I've got better things to do with my morning and my phone bill will soon negate any savings.

I know we're encouraged to barter and try to get a better deal from suppliers but this is just ridiculous specially when we're told they're not making any profits - so how are they offering me a reduction? If this was my elderly mum she would have accepted the first price and lost out by a considerable amount of money, it doesn't seem right. Prices should be decided and that's it.

Rant over!

Where I live in East Suffolk there is a communal oil buying scheme run by Suffolk ACRE [an organisation which exists to assist parish councils in coping with the current prodigeous level of bureaucracy imposed by Govt. legisation]. They collect orders on a monthly basis and then do the phoning around for the total order which normally exceeds 100,000 litres.. I buy oil once per year and have used this scheme once and it came in at about 2 pence per litre below Boilerjuice price. Any member has to pay £20 per year for membership so there's that to bear in mind but it's quick and simple. I assume that there are comparable schemes elsewhere in the UK. There are many smaller scale communal buying schemes but as householders have different sized tanks and rates of useage it's often difficult to get a big enough order together to get much buying power.

Eliza_2

reeac wrote: »

Where I live in East Suffolk there is a communal oil buying scheme run by Suffolk ACRE [an organisation which exists to assist parish councils in coping with the current prodigeous level of bureaucracy imposed by Govt. legisation]. They collect orders on a monthly basis and then do the phoning around for the total order which normally exceeds 100,000 litres.. I buy oil once per year and have used this scheme once and it came in at about 2 pence per litre below Boilerjuice price. Any member has to pay £20 per year for membership so there's that to bear in mind but it's quick and simple. I assume that there are comparable schemes elsewhere in the UK. There are many smaller scale communal buying schemes but as householders have different sized tanks and rates of useage it's often difficult to get a big enough order together to get much buying power.

Thanks, that's interesting. We have a scheme which sounds the same (I'm a councillor) but the takeup has been very low - I think because of the £20 initial charge, but also because some people actually like being in control and being the one who phones round and barters or begs for the best deal. It's great to see it works so well for you - this one seems to do well too and is free - http://www.oil-club.co.uk/home, friends of mine use it in their village but not sure the savings are that much better than someone who is comfortable with bartering and didn't give up as soon as they're offered one better offer - you could play the companies off forever I imagine if you didn't have anything else to do with your day.

The other thing is that my price was for 500l, not all companies charge more for a smaller amount like that, though many, incl Boilerjuice do.

Better go to work to earn the money to pay for it now I suppose!

pottsy1976

Hi

I found this forum via a search to try to find cheaper prices in my area.
I've been a BoilerJuice user for a while, but this time around I think I'm going to try heatingoil.co.uk as they seem to be competitive in my area (mid Wales).

Has anyone else tried them? Would be good to get some advice.

Sarah
x

devildog

pottsy1976 wrote: »

Hi

I found this forum via a search to try to find cheaper prices in my area.
I've been a BoilerJuice user for a while, but this time around I think I'm going to try heatingoil.co.uk as they seem to be competitive in my area (mid Wales).

Has anyone else tried them? Would be good to get some advice.

Sarah
x

I was the same as you, first used Boilerjuice then switched to heatingoil.co.uk because of more competitive prices, however after 1-2 years they were not so competiitive and now I have reverted to calling companies for a price(but use boilerjuice/heatingoil as a base/start price)