if you are on automatic fill for your furnace, & they don't come & you run out of oil. Who is responsible, & do we have to pay f.or the oil

It would be very difficult to make a useful comment without seeing the contract that you've signed. These are usually boilerplate documents, many fuel companies have them on their sites, perhaps you can point us to the one that you're using if it's available online.

But in general terms, I've looked at my own (LPG though, not oil) and several other automatic oil delivery contracts I could access online, and they are normally specifically denying responsibility for freeze-ups under any circumstances, including running out of fuel. In other words, if you did have pipe damage, they would be under no obligation to pay for repairs.

All fuel companies mention that the calculations of your use are done in a software and include your previous use history and the average temperatures. It is possible that the  new company botched the move of that historical data from the software the old one used and that's what messed up the delivery time. 

Interestingly, I could never quite find a reference to run-outs due to the provider's miscalculation of your fuel use. They do usually claim no responsibility for run-outs due to your credit card being declined but your specific situation does not seem to be universally covered. This may be a little bit of a gray area that may give you some leg to stand on, and perhaps negotiate a price reduction for the delivered oil if you can get a proper person on the phone. I am certain the best you can hope for is a price reduction, not a completely free refill. Good luck!

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homeowners
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We have had the same oil company for thirty years, and have never run out of oil. Six months ago, a new company bought them out, but assured us there would be not interruption in service. This is the first time we ran out of oil, and the furnace shut down. When I called they asked all sorts of questions about what type of service do we get, etc. It is automatic fill, so we don't have to worry about runniing out of oil. It took almost 4 hours to get here and they are only 1/2 hour away. They assured me the drive would be able to bleed the furnace lline and restart it. But when he got here he had no clue what to do. By this time the heat in the house was down to 40 and the outside temp was -27. Another 8 degrees and I could have had frozen or broken pipes. What I want to know is, since they were didn't fulfill the terms of our contract, should we have to pay for that tank of oil. If we had been away, anything could have happened, and as this is a designated heritage home, I am very upset.

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Dawn

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