Boiler juice cancelled my oil order!

[Whatistrumpdoingnow]

I live in a rural area in the Midlands where oil heating is our best option. On Saturday 28th February, Boiler Juice were promoting my postcode to encourage orders. As such I placed my usual timely order at a cost of £313. With things escalating in the Middle East I kept checking that the order was being processed and on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and even this morning the status was 'pending delivery' before Friday 13th March and the amount had left my bank account indicating all was absolutely fine.

Then late this afternoon at almost 4pm I had an email cancelling the order!!!!! I spent an hour trying to speak to someone only to be told they would accept a reorder but it would now be double the price. I could have understood this if it was cancelled on Monday but the price has steadily gone up every day meaning their delay in notifying me is going to cost £100s extra. Sadly both me and my youngest child have a genetic connective tissue disorder which means we need heat especially during a flare up or post surgery (due complex joint replacement surgery next month) when immobile and nonweight bearing.

Anyone else frustrated by Boiler Juice/ oil companies??? It feels like clear profiteering and a deliberate ploy to delay notifying clients so the cost is much higher. I'm not confident Boiler Juice will even honour the current price if I reorder. To add insult to injury they have also kept my refund in my Boiler Juice account rather than refund it to my bank from where it was paid. That will be another hour in the phone to request the refund to my bank and no doubt a two week wait for the refund to hit my bank.

What are others doing?? I have enough oil if careful to last for another couple of weeks but will the prices just keep going up and up??? If anyone has a crystal ball please advise 😉

BoilerJuice have now stopped quoting but you can get 5 ”handy” 20 litre boxes for £320.

People are going to get very cold.

Boiler Juice isn't a great way to buy heating oil. They take orders, then ring round oil suppliers to find someone who will deliver for the price they've quoted you. If no company is prepared fulfil the order at that price, Boiler Juice will cancel - that's what has happened here. You need to order direct from a fuel oil supplier.

Interesting to hear how they do it. We don’t order any but it makes sense to try elsewhere on that basis.

Does it count as a loss of bargain? The price you paid was as expected. The price increase came after you'd ordered.

If they've took money that's a contract.

I have written to Boiler Juice who say my contact is with the supplier. I have now written to the supplier asking them to "confirm the contractual clause you rely upon for cancelling a confirmed and paid order after delivery had already been scheduled".

We’ve always ordered with Boilerjuice and never had a problem. I ordered on the 3rd March and have the order confirmation as well as the supplier details so fingers crossed!

BoilerJuice are quoting £762 for 500l in my area!

I just caught some of the BBC lunchtime news where they reported the price to fill a tank of home heating oil had risen by just £100- ha I wish!!!! I wonder if they mixed a £ with % as mine has gone from £313 to £748 for just 500l /half a tank!!!

Sadly I've had to totally turn off the heating as I can't even source a delivery for 10 working days with many local suppliers no longer quoting. I'm on the waiting listing now with 2 companies who will call me the day before with a price- I dread to think what it will be.

I've gone out this morning and bought a heated clothes horse as I tend to use the radiators for those bits that can't be tumbled. Sadly the weather forecast is looking a bit grim later this week with cooler weather and sleet predicted. Hoping to save the tiny amount of oil I have left to be able to turn on the heating if need be to prevent frozen pipes. I'm hating boiler juice more and more with each passing day.

When the cold snap comes, fill up as many gallons of water bottles as you can and store them.Turn off your water and open the taps to empty the pipes. You can fill the cistern of the toilet from the water bottles as well as using them for drinking and cleaning. It’s a pain in the arse and means only having a sink wash etc, but if you’re trying to eek out the oil and it’s a short cold snap, it saves you worrying about frozen pipes.

I had to do it when my oil tank failed it’s service and needed replaced (was really old when I moved in and was at risk of just disintegrating), work ended up delayed after the old one was removed and I had no tank for two weeks during a November. Nightmare! We had to keep the water off due to how cold it was in Scotland, so we were roughing it for a while!

We've had oil central heating for 35 years.
I always compare prices and occasionally boilerjuice is still the cheapest even with the admin fee. They are also not the only company to cancel orders last minute, I've had it done by local independents as well.
Over the years I think we have done reasonably well with price fluctuations. During covid it was cheaper than for over 20 years. It shot up with the Ukraine war of course.
There really should be protection for domestic consumers in the same way as the electricity price cap.
I have about a month's worth at normal usage but I've cut back on central heating and I'm using the immersion heater for water. We have been lighting the stove when I wouldn't normally as logs as cheaper than oil atm.
Electric oil radiators also come in handy.

My friend didn't complete on a house till late on Thursday. I mentioned dipping the tank it was very low so they ordered on Friday. I hope to god it doesn't get cancelled because they don't know the last time that the open fire was used it's blocked off. Will all need checking first.

Same here. Our usual tank is a grand. Now it’s €2000…

Domestic heating oil is kerosene. You can put red diesel in your home oil tank, but it burns dirtier than kerosene, so you may find your boiler will get a lot of soot build up. Some modem boilers don't like diesel at all, and if you have an oil fired range they get sorted up quickly too.

We ordered just before the crisis and 1000 litres have just been delivered, thank goodness.

Good Luck! I’ve ordered with Beetlejuice (!) a few times in the past, too, no problems previously. But, I ordered 2nd March…. Order confirmed with Halso delivery due 9th March. They then cancelled on the 5th, having given us no opportunity to source elsewhere as the prices started going up. It’s really not ok what they are doing!

Our MP has obviously had a lot of complaints as he has published a letter on his Facebook page which he sent to the energy minister asking to take into consideration the fact that there is no price cap for oil and that something needs to be done.

Not sure whether it will have any effect but he's the first ever Labour MP in a very rural constituency so will be keen to burnish his credentials.

It’s a nightmare. How bloody awful for them to ditch your order like that. I’ve never liked Boilerjuice, only used them once. We are lucky that we had received an order days before the war started. But we have a second house, under renovation, that needs a refil. And we can’t afford it now! My husband wonders if it might calm down. Our house rushes through oil. I think we may buy a new log burner for the living room instead of filling up! It’s probably cheaper.

Apparently Kier might be off to Northern Ireland today where I'm sure the good people of Ulster will fully enlighten him as to the situation. I also read that Martin Lewis is working on putting together lots of examples and will be taking it further too. Hopefully we'll have some positive news.

You could try reporting them to Trading Standards. But under the circumstances you might not get very far. The war is outside their control but it doesn't seem to stop companies profiting from it.

There really should be protection for domestic consumers in the same way as the electricity price cap.

Be careful what you wish for. If there was a cap, it would penalise us when prices suddenly drop, as they did last year after the Venezuela incident and all their oil came on the market.

In 30 years this has only happened twice. I'm always careful to keep the tank well topped up, and to be ordering when prices are at their lowest, usually in the summer. Incidentally, the first time I had to order oil, when we moved here, it cost 9ppl. Those were the days!

They’ve done this to me when I’ve made an order before a price spike - arseholes. I won’t use them now.

Guess who's just secured an oil delivery for tomorrow from a lovely local supplier? Weird how relieved I feel after just a few days of using plug in radiators...and at having to pay only double so £626 instead of £313 for 500l. Hope others have got sorted too. Roll on summer heat eh

Email your MP. Keir Starmer said he would stand for companies profiteering which this company plainly is.

There is a survey on heating oil being run by the Labour Rural Research Group. Not holding my breath but you might want to make your opinions known

https://getcampaigning.co.uk/survey/d46686ac-1d81-4824-a36d-fba70ad69288?hub=lrrg&fbclid=IwVERDUAQf1-9leHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA8xNzM4NDc2NDI2NzAzNzAAAR5Vc3a_rSfGs25j6tELrMPUu9PpCSXT8oTyeGVJIZ458FyxzVM7i22CvDpnhw_aem_3GJM0KM0STbN16fBBPdXPw

Just got our delivery at the price I ordered at before the big hikes, so relieved. Used Jone Fuel Direct but they have since increased the price

The NFU are doing a lot of work on this as well - advising the government of the impact it’s having on the rural community