Payment requested for unsolicited heating oil delivery

O

Old Jim

Registered User
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An oil truck pulled up outside our house and proceeded to fill our tank with oil. There was none ordered. By the time the mistake was realised and stopped the driver, he had €35 of oil added to the tank.
The oil company have now sent a bill for this €35.
Is it fair to expect payment for this?
 
Re: Payment requested for unsolicited goods?

Tell them they're welcome to take their €35 worth of oil back, anytime they want!
 
Re: Payment requested for unsolicited goods?

What if they had put in wrong fuel, dsl instead of kero or something and messed up ur boiler ? Would they be so smart then? As ang said tell them collect it or forget it.
 
Re: Payment requested for unsolicited goods?

Make sure to tell them to only take their oil out and not any of yours!
 
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Re: Payment requested for unsolicited goods?

yoganmahew said:
Make sure to tell them to only take their oil out and not any of yours!
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Exactly, last in first out a bit like Shylock in the Merchant of Venice, take your pound of flesh, no more no less and no blood. That'll teach them to be more careful.
 
Re: Payment requested for unsolicited goods?

Old Jim said:
I like this suggestion! Thanks all.
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In my opinion it's a poor state of affairs when some poor unfortunate driver makes a simple mistake and the company is expected (or maybe he is) to take the loss. To suggest they take their own oil back is plain silly but I assume that's some sort of joke. What if the shoe was on the other foot, if you were the driver, how would you feel? I agree entirely that if the wrong oil was added then that changes the situation entirely and I'd expect the company to sort the issue out but otherwise why not just pay for the oil anyway? You'd have been buying more sooner or later....
 
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Re: Payment requested for unsolicited goods?

I disagree that the individual in question should be obliged to pay up or be inconvenienced further for the company's/driver's mistake. The point about them collecting the incorrectly delivered fuel is not silly - it can easily be done. As for having to pay for oil sooner or later the individual should have the right to shop around and not be forced unilaterally to take fuel from a particular company.
 
Re: Payment requested for unsolicited goods?


Unbelievable. The driver is 100% at fault. He has a bloody cheek sending an invoice for a measly €35. As pointed out above, what if he had put in the wrong fuel type - would he have volunteered to make good the damage caused? I doubt it.

Don't give him a cent - €35 is a cheap price to pay for him to learn how to be more careful in future.
 
Re: Payment requested for unsolicited goods?

Who's to say I would be buying the oil from them, at their prices? I would shop around for the best price. So you reccommend that I suffer a loss (due to potentially higher cost oil) because they made a mistake.
And what if I don't need the oil? Maybe I am moving out of the house and don't want to pay for someone else's heating?
Maybe it is an anti-competition practice on their part, empty oil into everyone's tank and then go around and collect the money?
 
Re: Payment requested for unsolicited goods?

One other point - I would not necessarily ignore this but would probably write to them outlining the background to the incident and explaining, politely but firmly, that I was not going to pay and the reasons why. If I was feeling generous I would also give them a specific date that was convenient to me for them to call out and take back the amount of fuel incorrectly delivered. At least that way you have something on paper in case the issue escalates and others get involved.
 
Re: Payment requested for unsolicited goods?

Is there also a question of tresspass here? Did the driver enter your property without permission? I'd also be mentioning that when returning the 35 Euro invoice!
 
Re: Payment requested for unsolicited goods?

Lauren said:
Is there also a question of tresspass here? Did the driver enter your property without permission? I'd also be mentioning that when returning the 35 Euro invoice!
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If he injured himself whilst putting the oil into the incorrect tank on the wrong premises I wonder would they be passing on the medical bill to the OP too.
 
You might also consider sending them a bill for the rental of space in your oil tank - 35 euro would probably be about the right figure to bill them for.
 
Re: Payment requested for unsolicited goods?

Graham_07 said:
What if they had put in wrong fuel, dsl instead of kero
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This actually happened to us a few years ago. The oil company realised their mistake, drained the tank, filled the tank with kerosene (what was ordered). They didn't charge us and actually gave us the next fill free too - purely to keep our custom, of course. Naturally, we took our 2 free fills of oil, and havent bought from them since.
 
Re: Payment requested for unsolicited goods?

Nice offer all the same. I can't imagine too many companies offering 2 free tanks of oil, regardless of their mistake.
 
Re: Payment requested for unsolicited goods?

bytelive said:
Nice offer all the same. I can't imagine too many companies offering 2 free tanks of oil, regardless of their mistake.
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My wifes family business would use a serious amount of oil and would probably be one of their best customers.
 
Last year I got home one day to find a bill in my door for €600 worth of oil, my address but not my name (didn't recognise it). Thought it strange since we use gas, not oil. Since I was on maternity leave and bored silly I rang the company and asked someone to look into it. They found the driver who said he put the oil into my tank. Good trick since we don't have one. Left them to it to sort it out and they rang back with an explanation. Turns out it was for someone across the road. The wrong number was taken down, 22 instead of 23. The driver went down our side passage and saw our next door neighbour's tank (the wall only separates as far as the tank at the back of the garden) and proceeded to fill that. Of course he filled it with kerosene when she used gas oil. So they had to empty her whole tank and refill with gas oil for her. Then go back and take care of the original order. Costly mistake for them. The bill I'd seen said credit card payment so there wasn't going to be any bailiffs calling but the guy from the oil co thanked me for letting them know cos it could have been worse if the neighbour had damaged her boiler using the wrong oil (unlikely but you never know) and the original customer would have been annoyed when they ran out of oil a week after paying for a full tank.
There was never the suggestion of the company doing anything other than undoing their mistake. They've a cheek to ask you to pay for their mistake. If it was a full tank maybe they could have tried to compromise with half price or something which would have benefited you too, but for €35 they're taking the mick!
 
Personally I would offer the oil company something, say 20 euro, to call it quits and not have any hard feelings. If they dont accept. tell them they can recover their oil.
Also, I think it's a good idea to fit a lock on an oil tank - it helps avoid these mistakes and also discourages thieves / vandals. (A friend had half a tank siphoned off overnight - the following night the tank was stolen !!!)
 
A neighbour of ours has a bulk gas tank. They had to put a lock on it as the company kept "topping up" the tank when they were in the area and obviously billing them for this. They asked the company not to deliver unless they had an order but they kept doing it, hence the lock. The best part though is the tank is rented, you can't buy it when it's bulk gas apparently. The company said the customer had no right putting a lock on their tank...brilliant! Needless to say, the lock is still there.
 
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