OMG Petro - any thing we can do?

So, wed morning we realize we have no hot water. I have a service contract with petro for my oil.

We have a tech come wed night and he tells us that there is something wrong with the chimney (either a cleaning or something else). The tech gives us a card for their recommended chimney company.

The chimney company comes Thursday. They tell us it doesn't need to be cleaned, but that the whole flume needs to be replaced. $1500

We had a plummer friend come by and look at the water heater and he tells us its the hot water heater that is the problem. (Something with the combustion belt? whatever it is it is covered by our service contract)

So, we call petro back. Another service guy comes. Same response.

We call a chimney company that was recommended by a friend and they tell us there is NOTHING wrong with the chimney and it doens't even need a cleaning.

So, here is is Saturday. We have been without hot water since Wed with the two little ones.

We call petro and we have another service tech coming today.

***** is going on? Can someone please tell me or help me out here?

I feel like we have been scammed by these petro guys who are probably getting kick backs from the chimney company "they recommend".

Re: OMG Petro - any thing we can do?

I honestly would fight wtih Petro and get them to fix the hot water heater, if not I would get an independent guy to fix the hot water heater and threaten Petro with everything...we had something similar happen to us two years ago..We signed with slomins also with a service contract, the guy comes and checks everything before we sign, our oil tank was in the crawl space...mind you my dad checked it out for us and it was fine, the guy signing us checked it out and it was fine...after we sign we had a tech come do our yearly cleaning he goes in the check the oil tank no clue why, bc they never do this..all of the sudden our oil tank he claims is now leaking slightly..no odor no nothing..I have my dad's guys come and check it out, not leaking..so we leave it alone...two months later in the middle of November right before thanksgiving we run out of oil, we had automatic delivery, we call they tell us it's bc we are not fixing the leak...another tech comes tells us there's a slight leak..so now we have to abandon this tank and get a brand new tank...who comes to install it but the guy that "found" the leak...I went ape sh!t...I lost in on Slomins, it was too late bc they were already installing it, but let me just tell you my DH has never seen me like that..I'm usually very level headed when it comes to talking with cusomter service etc, he's the one that normally loses it..I went off...they really didn't do anything about it, but gave us some sort of random credit...I hate them.I think they're all sneaky sh!ts!!!!

Re: OMG Petro - any thing we can do?

ahhhh so this is common. What is wrong with people? I mean how do you sleep at night knowing that I have 2 little kids and you left me without hot water in order to make a few bucks?

My husband called because I would have lost it also. They are having a manager call us on Monday.

Re: OMG Petro - any thing we can do?

wow, we have had a totally different experience with Petro. they've fixed things we didn't know needed it and updated stuff too. we did have a chimney problem and told them when they came to do a cleaning, but they never recommended anyone. definitely get another tech out there!

Re: OMG Petro - any thing we can do?

a 3rd tech is here as I type this.

Re: OMG Petro - any thing we can do?

Drop Petro and find a new oil company.

Re: OMG Petro - any thing we can do?

We had just the opposite experience with Petro. They came to fix a problem, showed up at the beginning of the estimated time frame they said they'd be there, and when we asked about a problem with the hot water occasionally running cold he took a look and notice there was no backflow valve on the hot water heater. He said it wasn't in the contract but if he had one in the truck he'd take care of it because Petro's policy was to fix anything that took less than an hour to fix, even if it wasn't covered - no charge.

Re: OMG Petro - any thing we can do?

I have them and we've had problems but nothing that we've ever been charged for. Their techs have fixed everything free of charge, but we were without heat and hot water 3X this past winter.

Sounds fishy to me though...

Re: OMG Petro - any thing we can do?

so how'd the 3rd visit go?

Re: OMG Petro - any thing we can do?

I had a similar problem with Petro last year.

Call Petro back and request the service manager. Explain the story to him and demand that something be done ASAP and you be compensated. Once you get the right person on the phone, they should take care of you. If they do not get your local sales rep involved.

Re: OMG Petro - any thing we can do?

I would call them back and make a big fuss. I don't even see how a leak in the chimney would affect your hot water heater even if there was a leak.