Am I liable to pay for heating oil delivered to me by mistake?

[MacarenaMacarena]

I had a call from my usual heating oil delivery company. They said they've accidentally put heating oil in my outside oil tank that they'd meant to deliver to a neighbour.
They are asking me to pay for it.
I hadn't budgeted for a couple of hundred pounds again for oil this year.
If the driver is going to be held accountable for this of course I will cover it, but do I have to pay for it, or allow them to drain out the extra at their leisure, or should they just let me have the oil?
IABU pay for the oil!
IANBU try not to pay and tell them they're lucky I don't sue!

I think legally they can take it back so either tell them to do that or ask for discount or time to pay .

This. I get a text when delivery is due then make sure key is available. I've never had an oil delivery without prior notice.

If you would have bought some from them later in the year anyway but don't currently have the money then just tell them that - "I had every intention of asking for a delivery in October so I am happy for you to leave the oil with me but I will not have the funds to pay for it until October. This wasn't my mistake so I am.not going to put myself into financial difficulties for you, and I won't profit from it in the long run either as I will pay in October, but not before"

I don't think they should suck the oil out - they wouldn't be able to guarantee the quality as they have no control over the condition of your tank.

How did they even manage it? Surely your tank is padlocked and you have to remove your lock before anyone can access it?
Is your tank not secured with an extra lock?

Storage costs

Sueing a company who you need to do business with later is not a good idea.

Is this a scam? They are usually very good at where / when the delivery happens. The fault is theirs. Have you dipped the tank? How much was in there and is in there now? I'd be asking them how they are going to fix this and having heard about a number of local companies being hacked, I'd be very vary.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/1179735/oil-delivered-in-error-what-to-do-now

As a priority you need to look at the fact that a non authorised third party has access to your oil tank in the first place - why isn’t it locked away?

Obviously they should take it out, but I’d be nervous that they would take more than they had delivered and I’d be left worse off. They won’t want to do this either, they would have to bring an empty tanker in case there is contamination in your tank, it’s a right bollocks.

When we had an oil tank the price was much lower per litre in August, than in the winter so I would order it then. So you will be paying much more in a few months

Offer to pay in instalments, with a bit of a discount.

@penelopelady

In Scotland, "quantum lucratus est" would apply and OP could well be expected to make some payment

See also unjustified enrichment

Storage costs

Which haven’t cost the OP a penny.

I wouldn't want to pay either. But do you have an alternative supplier if this one blacklists your address and refuses your oil orders in future?

Do you know that it's been delivered to you, eg you have a level indicator that's shown an increase in the amount of oil in your tank?

When are you likely to need oil again? If it's over winter, its likely to cost more then than it does now, so the best thing to do is probably to say that you'll pay for it when you would normally buy oil, at the current price, or the price at the time, whichever is most advantageous to you - then track the oil price and pay for it when prices drop

And get a lock so the mistake won't happen again and also to reduce the risk of your oil being stolen, which is sadly quite common.

I'd ask them what they think you should do if they were in your position!

OP my son is a deliver driver and no way can they deduct a mistake from his pay. It might not be a driver mistake anyway could be an admin mistake as the house number may have been wrong on paperwork. Anyway it's not your mistake. Just tell them you did not order this and you can't afford it ATM. Suggest a large discount and payment plan.

Can they prove they delivered it in the first instance?

How can they even prove how much they put in your tank? It's a ridiculous situation.

Thanks all for your helpful insights and information xx
They rang again today to see whether I was willing to pay something, I opened negotiations with "I really hadn't budgeted for any more oil until summer next year, this would put me in a tricky situation"... Fully expecting them to counter with how about a discount and a payment plan, and I would have said yes... But they just said "OK!".
So maybe they'll call back, maybe they won't!!
And I will be putting a padlock on the tank, thanks for the advice!

Hi Op. I have had this happen previously. They have two choices. Come and collect it or sell it to you at a discount. To be clear any suggestion they deduct the costs from the driver would now be illegal. They can discipline him but they cannot charge him.

Similar happened to us. I would have needed oil within a few weeks so we arranged with the company that I would pay it in instalments which suited me. I don't like how they are asking you to pay for their mistake though op. You do need to check your oil deliveries though, you can always get new drivers who get things wrong.

I have found some oil companies have been pretty panicky over the past two years or so. At one stage it was so expensive I actually rang and asked why they had delivered double. They hadn't. They told me some customers were slamming the phone down when they found out the price.

By the way, some oil delivery companies do have keys for oil tanks.

The delivery note did say my house number, and the number of litres it took to fill it to the top, so it looks like an admin mistake rather than delivery driver wrong address mistake.
Maybe the person who rang me sympathised with the situation, they certainly didn't engage with a negotiation process!
I would have been pleased to be offered a 20% discount and schedule of payments, but at the same time it's just a bit cheeky of them, and not my fault they can't negotiate!
Thank you for all comments x