Complaints

This profile includes complaints for Main Brothers Oil Co.'s headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see Find Local Branches.

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  Main Brothers Oil Co.

  1 Booth Ln Albany, NY 12205-1403

• 

  Main Brothers Oil Co.

  68 Rt 9W Glenmont, NY 12077

• 

  Main Brothers Oil Co.

  RR1 Box 135 Roxbury, NY 12474

• 

  Main Brothers Oil Co.

  PO Box 11029 Albany, NY 12211

• 

  Main Brothers Oil Co.

  PO Box 204 Greenwich, NY 12834

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:10/31/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I've used main care for my apartments for 10 years. They recently hired a new salesman Scott R******** Who basically gave me a one-week notice before they picked all 7 tanks on Halloween leaving all my tenants without heat.

  Business Response

  Date: 11/21/2023

  We have been in contact with the landlord and several of his tenants since August 8th. As he knows, some of his tenants have not taken a propane delivery since 2019. This would mean that they are either heating exclusively with electric heat or having another propane company fill Main-Care Energy's tanks. We made many attempts to address the situation with the landlord and the specific tenants involved, however on October 27th, we received an email from the landlord instructing us to remove all our propane tanks from his properties. Once we received his request, we scheduled the picking up of our tanks.We have had a great relationship with almost all of his tenants over the years and we are very disappointed to no longer be their propane supplier. We wish him and his tenants the best and will always welcome them back if he ever changes his mind.  The accounts are now closed at the landlord's request.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:05/21/2023

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I reported an issue to Main Care Energy in December no attempt to resolve the issue was made. Several inaccuracies were identified yet they persist there is no issue. Some of the statements made include a non existent third LP tank, 333 Usable Gallons for two 100 Gallon LP tanks, and I have been billed for time prior to opening an account as well as all the LP Gas delivered to the building that should be split between two apartments. After several attempts to resolve the issue I received notice with the following. Please note heat and Hot water were included in my lease until renewed when I opened my account and the two tanks are for the building not my apartment and have paid every bill except one for $500 equivalent to depleting both tanks for my apartment alone.
  
  Main Care Energy Response:
  Please be advised this letter serves as our final correspondence and attempt to collect the past
  due balance of $609.33. This letter has also been sent as an email as we have corresponded in
  that manner in the past.
  Your landlord, ******* ******, informed us in June of 2022 that he would no longer be paying
  for his tenants' propane use and his final bill was that of 07/11/2022, meaning your usage
  started on that day. You were the last of the tenants to call us to set up an account, which was
  completed on 08/30/2022 and your first bill was dated 09/01/2022. This bill covered your usage
  from 07/11/2022 until 09/01/2022.
  We have honored every request in providing explanations and transparency in the billing, with
  the exception of you requesting your neighbor's billing. We cannot provide you with another
  customer's billing.
  We now ask that you immediately satisfy your obligation with full payment. If we do not receive
  your balance by June 15, 2023 your account will be turned over to a collection agency/attorney.
  You will be responsible for any collection costs incurred.
  Regards,
  Laurie F*******, Customer Communications Manager
  Bob D*****, Customer Support Manager

  Business Response

  Date: 06/06/2023

  This is in response to the complaint from ******* ****** Complaint ID # ********. Attached please find detailed documentation from the inception of the account.  The notes represent our detailed phone conversations and email interactions with ******* on numerous occasions. It shows in detail each of the deliveries the customer is responsible for. There were 3 - 100 gallon tanks on site, but the customer was only charged for the gallons that went through the meter for his apartment representing his usage.  Please see the note from 3/25/23 which was in response to ********* email.  We have made numerous attempts to clarify this for the customer as before ******* had established his account the landlord was providing the propane and including it in his rent each month. Prior to establishing the account with ******* we were not aware of the how the landlord was billing ******* for his fuel for the 2021-2022 time frame.  However our records document the total gallons billed on the landlords account from November thru March totaled 630.7 gallons.  For the period of September 2022 thru March 2023 totaled 518.1 gallons on ********* account.  Please review the attached documentation and let us know if you have any further questions.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 06/07/2023

  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below. 
  As seen in the provided picture there were only two 100 gal tanks at the property with the maximum compacity at 80% that totals 160 gal. The two tanks provided LP for the Two metered units in the building so each delivery is for both units if I was charged for all the LP delivered and the second unit/tenant was also being billed Main Care was double billing. the amount I was billed was equal to more LP than delivered to the property as per the provided delivery slips that I have submitted to the BBB. There was no third tank for this property please provide the account of how many tanks were removed from the address. Additionally as per my lease on the property Heat and Hot water were included for the term of my lease until I renewed when I opened my account. Any billing prior to opening my account is counter to that contract. The property owner also informed me he paid the $108 finial invoice leaving the $500 invoice the only outstanding amount and another example of double billing.
  
  
  Regards, 
  
  ***** ******

• Initial Complaint

  Date:09/08/2022

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I called the company to schedule a propane delivery and made sure to tell them I was out of propane, because, when that is the case, the delivery driver needs to re-light my pilot light upon filling the tank. I was told that the delivery driver would need access to the home and asked if I needed to be contacted before the delivery to make arrangements to let the driver into my home. I made sure to let the company know that I was not home during the day due to my work schedule, and was ASSURED that I would be contacted prior to delivery to ensure that I would be there to let the delivery driver into my home. This did not happen. I received a phone call AFTER the delivery was made and was informed that the driver was there and then left because no one was there to let him in. I was then told I would need to pay an additional charge of $150 to have a technician come out to my house for a service call to re-light my gas tank.

  Business Response

  Date: 09/19/2022

  ******* **** has been a
  customer for several years.  She has no open
  credit terms with Main Care. As such, prepayment for fuel is necessary when she
  is due for a delivery.  Months of phone calls
  and letters went to the customer unanswered until such time she runs out of
  product. This has been the pattern for
  many years.  She has been made aware that
  a “gas check” safety inspection is required each time a customer runs out of propane.  This is an industry standard to ensure there
  are no leaks in the customer’s system and confirms that the “out of propane” is
  due to customer usage and not a gas leak.  The safety of the customer is top priority. Ms. **** has been
  informed of this repeatedly in writing and verbally over the phone.  Yet, she chooses to continually ignore us
  until she has no product remaining in her fuel tanks.  By not responding to our requests, she made
  it impossible for us to schedule a delivery prior to her running out of fuel
  thus avoiding the need for the “gas check” inspection. 
  This has been a pattern
  of behavior for Ms. **** since becoming a customer and unfortunately, we don’t feel
  we are the right propane supplier for her.  We have since advised her, via certified mail and verbally, that she
  needs to seek another fuel provider and have given her ample time to do so.  We will be picking up our fuel tanks as early
  as October 15th.  She will
  need to have her new propane supplier in place prior to that date. 
  Normally, we charge a
  restocking fee for tank pick ups however, we have agreed to waive that fee as a
  courtesy to Ms. ****.  She currently has
  a $0.00 balance and we will be issuing a cred for propane remaining at the time
  of the tank pickup. 
  We have documented each
  contact with Ms. **** and also have recordings of phone conversations between
  Ms. **** and our customer service department to substantiate our position. 

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/04/2022

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  UnansweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  In mid-June, Main-Care sent me a text message indicating they had scheduled my annual service call for 6/23/22 and to reply to the text with "C" to confirm. I knew I was not going to be home on that date so I did not confirm the appointment. The text I receive gave me no option to reschedule or to let them know the date they had selected was not a good date for me. I thought if I didn't confirm, the company would reach out to me; they did not. I tried calling on three separate occasions but was never able to get through to actually speak to some one. On 6/23/22, a technician shows up at my house. I was not home as I knew I wouldn't be. I have contacted Main-Care to reschedule the service call but they refuse.