Choosing an Oil Company
Selecting the right home heating oil company is more than just looking at the price. Chair City Oil is always priced well below the state average. Selecting the right oil company to provide you with both home heating oil and heating system maintenance means looking for best value – looking at quality, service, expertise, experience, and customer satisfaction.
To help you select the right oil company for your needs, here are some sample questions to ask that will help you determine the right fit:
What’s your service area?
Service – especially in emergencies – is only as fast as your oil company is close. If you choose a regional oil company, be prepared to wait for a service technician to show up – he may be coming from another county or even another state. Chair City Oil sells and services in Gardner, Westminster, Hubbardston, Templeton, East Templeton, Phillipston, Baldwinville, Otter River, Winchendon and Ashburnham. That means we often can get to your house in less than half an hour.
Will your employees service my home heating system?
Who is responsible to keep you warm, be sure to check who the technicians actually work for. Discount oil companies will often advertise available service, but often it’s from subcontractors the discounter doesn’t really have any control over. Chair City Oil has seven licensed service technicians on staff so we can provide both scheduled and 24 hour emergency service quickly, conveniently, and cost-efficiently.
Do you do your own home heating system installations?
If you’re buying or building a new home and looking at a new home heating system, it helps to select a company that can design, install, and service your system, now and for years to come. At Chair City Oil, we’re system design and installation experts. We design and install a wide variety of heating equipment and back it up with effective, cost-efficient maintenance programs. Ask about our FREE “walk through” evaluation and estimate.
What happens in an emergency?
Let’s face it. Emergencies happen when you least expect them – that’s why they’re called emergencies. If your oil company doesn’t have technicians on staff, chances are your call will go to an answering service that will contact the service company on call and hopefully they’ll be able to get in touch with a technician. By the time your call gets through all the middlemen, hours may have passed. At Chair City Oil, we have service technicians available 24/7, 365 days a year. Whether you lose heat in the middle of the night or the middle of a storm, we’ll be there promptly, often in less than half an hour.
What about liability insurance?
Accidents happen, so when they do, it’s important that your oil company has the coverage to pay for any damage they may inadvertently cause. Chair City Oil carries extensive liability insurance covering our employees, equipment, and fleet of well-maintained vehicles. All our technicians are licensed and certified to install and service oil heating systems to provide safe, efficient home heating.
Do you sell high quality oil?
Be wary of low price come-ons – unscrupulous oil dealers will buy whatever oil they can from wherever they can, no questions asked, just so they can claim to have the lowest prices. At Chair City Oil, we’ve been buying high quality home heating oil for over sixty years.
We recently upgraded our oil storage and distribution facilities, which has enabled us to blend and store our own high quality ULTRA2BIO Premium Home Heating Oil – far superior to any other home heating oil on the market. It burns cleaner and more efficiently so you actually burn less oil while extending the life of your home heating system. Best of all, IT DOESN’T COST YOU ONE PENNY MORE than what other companies charge for average grade home heating oil. (learn more about ULTRA2BIO Premium BioHeating Oil)
Do you offer credit terms or do I have to pay all at once?
You can expect a full service oilheat company to give qualified customers a standard 30 days to pay their bill, whether in full or using a monthly payment plan. A reputable oil dealer will let you spread your heating oil payments over time, often 12 months – a more convenient option than cash-on-delivery, which requires you to wait at home to accept delivery, something that many smaller or discount oil companies do.
Chair City Oil offers a variety of flexible payment plans designed to meet your needs. You can choose to use one of our budget plans and spread your payments out in equal payments over 9 or 12 months or “pay as you go” if you prefer. We also offer attractive Price Protection Plans to help protect you from the rising cost of home heating oil (see below).
Do you offer price protected oil plans?
While a number of oil companies offer some form of price protection, many of them are simply guessing what the price of oil will be. As a result, you may not be getting all the benefits of true price protection.
At Chair City Oil, we’re experts at price protection. In fact, we were one of the first companies to offer price protection, including “downside protection”, which enables you to pay less for your oil as the price drops. Ask about our Best Price Budget, which enables you to pay the lowest discount price when your oil is delivered. You also get a “Max Cap” guarantee – if prices spike higher, you’ll never pay more than the max cap price, no matter how high prices go. Our annual budget and special price plans begin every May.