Complaint Review: Augusta Fuel Company

Moved to Maine with  my wife and 3 children recently. Signed an exclusive agreement with Augusta Fuel Co. for our Heating, Electrical, Plumbing and Oil delivery. In return for this exclusivity, AFC would waive the 1st year service agreement charges, ($250) and cover our heating system, (boiler & components), for 1 year. Under the terms of this agreement AFC would repair & replace, including labor, just about anything that went wrong with the system, (this is a standard practice among fuel companies). Once our system was inspected by a master boiler technician, the system was fully covered. We felt safe in that if anything went wrong we were covered and were told that, "we here in Maine take care of our customers like they are family, because it's not about making money, it's about doing what it right for our neighbors".

During the course of the year we honored our part of the agreement and called upon AFC for all of our electrical plumbing and oil delivery needs. Also during the course of the year AFC would respond to a number of calls for service related to our heat delivery system, (boiler). Parts and labor were covered and there were no issues. 

Also, during the course of this year, we installed 3 wood burning devices in our home to help keep us warm and defray the cost of heating oil, (two wood stove inserts and one wood pellet stove in the basement), when the manangement of AFC learned that we did this, they became very irritated and rude about it. They had the nerve to ask us, " how are we going to sell oil to you if you're burning wood?"

The unfortunate thing for AFC was that several components of the system wore out simultaneously, (circulators, relays, etc.). At the end of the first year, AFC called us and stated that , "we lost too much money on your account this year, so we are not going to offer you a service agreement this year." 

We are astonished at the way we were treated by the manegement of Augusta Fuel Company in May of 2013, and would like to warn any potential new customers who are contemplating chosing AFC as their provider to think twice before using them as their provider of services or oil. We were treated with disrespect and would never deal with them again.

In conclusion, we hope that this is an isolated case of rudeness and bad business practice by Augusta Fuel Co. and that true Mainers have more class and respect for their neighbors and that instances such as this will not be commonplace in the future.