The home heating oil industry has a long and proud history, and Fuel Oil News has been there supporting it since 1935. It is an industry that has faced many challenges during that time. In its 77th year, Fuel Oil News is doing more than just holding
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JUNE VOL . 7 6 NO. 0 6 EDI TO R ’ S N O T E EDITORIAL STAF F Keith Reid moments. Our 26-year-old furnace stopped producing heat about the same time our tree root sewer issue cropped up again. Both issues raised very similar concerns with trust and the selling pro- cess, but I’ll concentrate on the furnace issue here. The furnace was already starting to die A a piece at a time, and after a bunch of elec- trical testing with the relays, it turned out the induction motor was frozen, which was confirmed by how hot it was to the touch after putting it under load. The decision was made to finally replace the old unit, sadly six months after “Cash for Caulkers” expired. You are over the barrel as a customer in this situation. The weather is cold enough that taking a week to compare prices is not an easy thing to do. Similarly, there is the initial cost of the service call hanging over your head that you will pay if you go somewhere else. The service technician acted as the sales agent (while in phone contact with the office sales manager) and I was quoted only two equipment options that were basically the stock 80 percent furnace or the most expensive, feature-rich high effi- ciency unit that was a bit of overkill for my home. Upon further questioning, that I had to initiate late in the process, I discov- ered that there were a range of alternatives that would get me a high efficiency unit without the features (more appropriate 8 Trust has a value all its own FEW WEEKS AGO I HAD ONE OF THOSE homeowner moments. Actually, make that two homeowner for a fully integrated heating and cooling system for a McMansion type of home) and cost (an extra $1,000) that I did not need and I went with one that was more appropriate for my situation. As I noted previously, oil is not a viable option where I live, so my relationship with the HVAC company was one of occa- sional service when my old furnace had an issue. I was always satisfied with the ser- vice as being both reasonable in price and trustworthy. However, these selling prac- tices left a bad taste in my mouth for that company. I was only offered the choices the company wanted in a situation where the ability to compare prices and evalu- ate decisions was limited. I went with the company for the install as I determined the price for the unit I chose was fair for my market and I would have to eat the service fee in addition if I went elsewhere. However, had I been an oil customer I would have reevaluated my relationship with this company as a fuel supplier. Trust has a value all its own. As a customer you are at the mercy of the pro- fessionals in many situations where notable money is on the line. There is a natural temptation among these service providers to maximize that opportunity for short term gain. In the case of the HVAC com- pany I dealt with, this was somewhat less risky as the long-term relationship issues were minimal. But for oil and propane dealers with HVAC service that is not the case. If you lose that trust over a short- term temptation, it may come out to cost a lot more in profits over the long haul. JUNE 2011 | FUEL OIL NEWS | www.fueloilnews.com Editorial Office 1030 W. Higgins Road Suite 230 Park Ridge, IL 60068 847/720-5600 Editor Keith Reid 847/720-5615 kreid@m2media360.com Managing Editor Debra Reschke 847/720-5618 dreschke@m2media360.com Columnists Charles Bursey, Sr. John Griffin George Lanthier EXECUTIVE STAF F President/CEO and Group Publisher Marion Minor List Rentals/ Reprints – Cheryl Naughton 678/292-6054 Fax: 360/294-6054 cnaughton@m2media360.com PRODUCT ION Production Manager – Mary Jo Tomei Art Director – Andrew Stamm ADVERTISING SALES East – Dave Campbell, Associate Publisher 413/528-2364 Fax: 413/528-8835 ddc12@verizon.net Central & South – Rich Alden 603/899-3010 Fax: 603/899-2343 ralden@m2media360.com West – Ken Jordan 972/540-2122 Fax: 972/540-2127 kenjordan3@yahoo.com MAIN OF F ICE 1030 W. Higgins Road Suite 230 Park Ridge, IL 60068 847/720-5600 • Fax: 847-720-5601 CUSTOMER SERVICE 847/763-9565 Fuel Oil News P.O. Box 2121, Skokie, IL 60076-7821 M2MEDIA360 Membership applied for 7/1/2010 BEV-AL COMMUNICAT IONS INC. Marion Minor Gerald Winkel President/CEO Director of Finance Joanne Juda-Prainito Mary Jo Tomei VP Audience Develolpment Production Director