Quote:
Originally Posted by Larry Legend
I had a friend in college who's uncle owned a small oil heating company.
He said his uncle's company would regularly short and overcharge "rich" customers and use it to subsidize poor customers who were family friends/locals who couldn't afford the normal price of heating oil.
His uncle would also do that and then do things like show up to the local bar and buy a round for everyone in the place.
I have no doubt that this is a somewhat common scam that shady companies pull, I would never use them again.
If I Robin Hooded heating oil, I definitely would not let anyone know about it.
These things are overseen by agencies that don't care about "I steal from the rich to give to the poor" except the first two words.
OP: Document whatever you can and file a complaint with whatever regulatory agency is involved (I doubt your US Congress Representative will bother responding but your state representative may know who's in charge and helpfully point you in yhe right direction). As their counterargument is likely to be "maybe you had less oil than you thought," a record of your oil usage will ve helpful (either to convince yourself that you used more oil than usual or to convince them that you didn't).
ETA: Withholding payment and making them sue you is almost certainly EV- given your level of certainty that you've actually been cheated. Best case scenario is that you get your bill slightly lowered and worst case is that you pay your full bill plus their lawyers fees plus get a ding on your credit score.