To be beyond angry with Certas?

[JamieFrasersSassenach]

I am fuming. We live very rurally and our house and water are both heated by oil. 2 weeks ago we ordered 1000 litres of heating oil from Certas - we have been customers for over 13 years, paying monthly by direct debit.
We were told when we ordered that the oil would be with us by 21st December at the latest. Knowing that we could manage until then we accepted that.
I should point out here that other oil companies are available and we would have gone elsewhere if we thought that the 21st was too late.
On the 20th I checked online where our order was and it said it would be delivered by 23rd latest.
Today at 1pm I received an email to say they now aim to deliver it on 29th December.
We are nearly out of oil now. I phoned them immediately to be told there is nothing they can do. Have explained that we face a cold Christmas without hot water if we don't get some oil today. The response was - is there somewhere nearby you can get some oil from? Seriously???? It's Christmas Eve, we are in tier 4, Tesco don't sell heating oil funnily enough.
And because we are in tier 4 we cannot even go to another household tomorrow.
I know there is little point getting so worked up, but I am just so shocked by their ineptitude!
Thank you for hearing me rant!

Gosh that's awful, I hope they manage to arrange something for you.

Don't know if it would be of any use but you can buy 20 litre tubs (and multiples of them) of heating oil on ebay with next day delivery.

I bought one two weeks ago and it turned up exactly when it should have so it might be worth a look and maybe message some of the sellers to see if they could do you delivery for the 26th or 27th - might help tide you over at least?

I have heating oil too and know there are a few places locally that sell it by the drum...pop a post on Facebook asking where your nearest supplier is.

Have you had any luck in sourcing more oil yet OP, I hate the thought of your family being cold over Christmas!

That's really awful, especially as you have very little chance of getting it over Christmas

Does a local non supermarket garage near you not sell red diesel by pump?
I know won't help til the 27th. Or possibly ask a local farmer. They might have some and be willing to sell you a few cans

I can understand your anger but in my experience this is what the big oil companies are like.

Our local ones are much better

Thank you for your replies - I have emailed them, no response, I have tweeted them - they've said they will look into it. I'm done with Certas now!!
Sadly red diesel won't work - it needs to be kerosene.
I think we need to just suck it up. Will see if we can siphon some off from a friends tank and pay them.
I'm done with Certas now. We are only with them because they bought out the local oil company we used. I will be cancelling my direct debit and finding a different supplier.
I will also see if I can find somewhere that can sell us a drum - I don't actually believe Certas when they say it will be with us on 29th, so if I can get some from somewhere else I will cancel my order altogether.
Roll on 2021!!

Kerosene, heating oil, paraffin, 'red' diesel are all pretty much the same beast - buy any and there will be a statement stating that it is not to be used in road vehicles.

I don't buy in bulk now but found the Boiler Juice website very handy when I did, they compare the best prices for your postcode and also have special 'buying weekends' if you aren't in a rush where the price per litre goes down each time someone else in your area puts an order in.

In short, it doesn't pay to be loyal. I have been quoted different prices per litre by different local companies when phoning around and that was with me finishing up with one and calling the next straight away!