Enstone couple's frustration over missed fuel delivery

Mallory Newman said she spent hours trying to contact the firm by phone to complain

A couple with a one-year-old baby have expressed frustration with a heating oil firm after they were left without supplies for five days.

Jason and Mallory Newman from Enstone, Oxfordshire, said Watson Fuels later demanded an extra payment of £400 before delivery, even though their account was already in credit.

More than 80 customers have complained on the Trustpilot website of missed deliveries in December.

The firm has been asked to comment.

Watson Fuels said customers were experiencing delivery delays

Ms Newman said she spent hours in a phone queue on Saturday 17 December after the missed delivery the previous day.

She said: "At that point we had completely run out of oil. I tried to phone back, and the number just went to an automated message saying: "We are now closed until Monday.'"

Despite paying monthly instalments and being £150 in credit, she said she was eventually told to pay an extra £400 before the order would be honoured.

The heating oil arrived on Wednesday together with an apology from the firm, she said.

'Disgusting service'

Ms Newman added: "It's awful - it's not something that we wanted to do. It's why we pay monthly.

"We're lucky we've got a bit of savings set aside, but some people wouldn't have had that."

The Trustpilot website shows a string of recent complaints from customers who have experienced similar problems.

One wrote: "The most appalling and disgusting service I have ever received from any company in the UK. Dozens of false promises, call-backs and emails, nothing."

Another said: "Have signed up for prepayment scheme to ensure priority delivery. No delivery made. No communication at all."

A third customer wrote: "Received a call on the day of delivery due to a credit issue when I had only put a new dd [direct debit] in place 3 weeks ago so credit not an issue. Clearly they had no intention of delivering oil today."

Watson Fuels replied to one customer: "We are experiencing incredibly high-call demand at the moment and call waiting times are very long.

"I can assure you that we are still in business and are delivering orders to hundreds of customers every day, but as you can see some customers are experiencing delays in receiving their orders.

"We are working very hard to ensure that we get as many orders out as quickly as possible."