Oil delivered to wrong house - what are our rights?

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TillyD

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An oil company from a border town filled our tank with €400 (500ltrs) of oil by mistake. We know nothing about this company, and they are a distance away from where we live. We didn’t need oil as our tank was over half full (1200ltr tank).

They want us to pay the full amount with a €30 discount or pay €38 weekly or take the oil back out. We got a docket with someone else’s name on it, the person who the oil was meant for but nothing in our name.

We rang after the event and said we weren’t happy with how this happened and how do we know what was put in, considering everyone has eircodes (detached house) and that we knew nothing about them. We also asked could they verify the amount they were taking back out. Nothing too serious in the lines of conservation, more enquiring. They got very rude and told us to hang up and go and get the oil tested – so my husband hung up!

We don’t want something for nothing. These things happen, we also don’t want a €400 bill before Xmas and we certainly don’t want a €38 payment plan that we never requested. We would be happy for them to take it back but not sure how this would work. Can they measure the amount of oil they take back out? They never answered this.

Today they sent us a ‘sale of goods act’ letter mentioning unsolicited misdelivery saying they could access the property to take it back. This was sent by registered post. Just feel this is very threatening when we did nothing wrong and didn’t say we weren’t going to engage.

Does anyone know what our rights would be in these circumstances?
 
I don't know what your rights, are or where you live, even if it's in the south. If I had a fair idea of how much was in in my tank, like yourself you said you had a half tank, I would see if they might do a deal. Offer them half of what they want if your tank is filled up, otherwise, i'd imagine they can go and jump.
Where did they get your name and address to send you a letter?
 
noproblem, we have no idea where they got our name and address, we're assuming from the person they were meant to deliver to but we don't know for sure. We are in the South of Ireland (NorthEast). We asked around if anyone heard of the company but no one we know knows them. They are from Blaney in Monaghan 40 odd kms away from us. Their parent company is in Crossmaglen.

When we rang we were willing to sort out a discount payment, a lot more than 30e though. However, family are saying we are mad. We don't know what they put in our tank, what kind of oil it is (although heating is working away), and we didn't need oil or a payment plan! I'm really annoyed that we got this letter just before XMas too. Think this has annoyed me more than anything, a call to the house from someone to follow up with us would have been a better approach and I have no doubt we would have come to some kind of agreement. However, now I feel like saying take your oil but just prove to us that you are taking exactly what you put in, which we have no evidence to what that is.
 
A call too the house from someone- sure anybody could call into you and tell you they delivered the unwanted oil too you.
 
Tell them it’s their problem and they should be more careful about where they’re delivering their oil to.

It could well be a scam.

The Sale of Goods letter is bogus. They have absolutely no right to access your premises under that legislation. If they do, call the Gardai and treat them as trespassers. It’s no fault of yours they delivered oil to your property. If they even did this.

This smells very fishy to me.
 
If it was sand or gravel or something you would be able to tell their property from yours and let them just remove it and clean up the mess. But they have (allegedly) mixed their property with yours, and you are expected to just take their word for it.....

Letting them take it back out is pointless. If it's not proper quality heating oil the damage is already done. If you want to try to verify that it's not a scam and work out a (heavily discounted) payment plan, then ask them to tell you who exactly ordered the oil so you can verify the story with that person at least. If the person is local to you, it's probably a genuine mix-up.
 
Yes they can request to take the oil back. Once you can verify that they are reputable, then the kerosene will be fine. It's all the same - comes from same refineries with same process.

Thing is, oil prices have dropped dramatically in the last few days and price of 500l will drop below €350 in the next 10 days, so if they can show a docket showing a 500l delivery, you should allow them a supervised withdrawal of an amount that will include a disturbance compensation.

I think 400L is a fair compromise.

The other option is that you offer to pay for the 500L at the 500L price that is pertaining on say 10th January which possibly would be when you would be looking at a delivery. Less a €50 charge for the hassle.

But some agreement has to be made. They are entitled to get their goods back.

Btw, most home heating oil distributors are fairly small companies working on tiny margins, so it's a fair loss for them on top of not delivering to the correct customer but they are handling it wrong.
 
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TillyD,
Have you dipped your oil tank? Do it, then go to the guards and let them know what those gang are at. No harm to have it logged in case anything strange happens. Reading back on everything, I smell a scam being tried on. Good luck.
 
On the one hand we've got a fuel company.... border area.... rude, aggressive approach demanding money.... what could possibly be the problem?

Or, alternatively, honest mistake by a reputable company.

Which is it? Hard to say, really. But their approach is poor. You could tell them they are welcome to collect the oil, but you need them to pay for a mechanical engineer to supervise the process. Alternatively you might agree to purchase the oil at a discount of about 25%. That'll cost them €100 or so, but it's their mistake, so that's a reasonable outcome.
 
noproblem said:
TillyD,
Have you dipped your oil tank? Do it, then go to the guards and let them know what those gang are at. No harm to have it logged in case anything strange happens. Reading back on everything, I smell a scam being tried on. Good luck.
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Gardai? Ah come on.

The gardai would have zero interest in this. It's a simple error by a delivery driver who has probably got it in the ear by his employer.

Civil issue.
 
The oil company lost its credibility and legal standing once it sent a letter stating that the law allows them to effectively trespass on the OP’s property to get the oil back! Any reputable company would not do this. If it was a mistake, the company should be big and bold enough to absorb the loss (its only a few hundred quid - I’ve lost more on a night out!). Or if it feels really strongly about it, dock the driver’s wages for delivering to the wrong address.
 
Johnno75 said:
The oil company lost its credibility and legal standing once it sent a letter stating that the law allows them to effectively trespass on the OP’s property to get the oil back! Any reputable company would not do this. If it was a mistake, the company should be big and bold enough to absorb the loss (its only a few hundred quid - I’ve lost more on a night out!). Or if it feels really strongly about it, dock the driver’s wages for delivering to the wrong address.
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That’s great…dock a driver’s wages in the mouth of Christmas for making a mistake.

Margins are tight in that industry, and drivers aren’t exactly getting paid like Premier League footballers.

Mistakes happen and the OP will need the oil in time, just not right now.

At a minimum, pay the €38 a week and move on with your life. You mention that you don’t want a €400 bill before Christmas, which is understandable, but then you do on to say that you certainly don’t want an unsolicited payment plan.

If money is that tight, think of the upside of the payment plan in January.

There really are only three options, take the discount, take the plan, or let them take it back out. Choose one.
 
Gordon Gekko said:
Mistakes happen and the OP will need the oil in time, just not right now.
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So if someone just left 200 rolls of toilet paper on your doorstep you'd pay for them? I mean you will eventually use the toilet paper, right?

There is some absurd advice on this thread. The OP has had fuel of uncertain provenance added to their tank. There was no contract in place. There was trespass. The OP has no legal or moral obligation to the fuel company whatsoever!

There is zero chance of the fuel company having any legal comeback here. Every firm can lose money due to employee error. Having systems in place to mitigate this risk is their own business, and not the OP's.

Best case it was an error. Worst case it is some kind of scam involving a lower volume or worse quality fuel than what they are claiming.

@TillyD write the company a letter. Make it clear that you had no contract in place for fuel delivery and that they trespassed on your property. And that a minimum they should pay for testing to ensure that the contents of your tank will not compromise your central heating system.
 
NoRegretsCoyote said:
So if someone just left 200 rolls of toilet paper on your doorstep you'd pay for them? I mean you will eventually use the toilet paper, right?

There is some absurd advice on this thread. The OP has had fuel of uncertain provenance added to their tank. There was no contract in place. There was trespass. The OP has no legal or moral obligation to the fuel company whatsoever!

There is zero chance of the fuel company having any legal comeback here. Every firm can lose money due to employee error. Having systems in place to mitigate this risk is their own business, and not the OP's.

Best case it was an error. Worst case it is some kind of scam involving a lower volume or worse quality fuel than what they are claiming.

@TillyD write the company a letter. Make it clear that you had no contract in place for fuel delivery and that they trespassed on your property. And that a minimum they should pay for testing to ensure that the contents of your tank will not compromise your central heating system.
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The toilet roll comparison is ridiculous.

If I used oil and a half a tank was delivered by mistake I’d negotiate a discount and get on with my life.

Or ask them to remove it. Or pay in instalments.

They’re the options.

Paying nothing wouldn’t be fair.
 
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