Office: 167 Main Street, North Brookfield, MA • Mail: PO Box 55, No. Brookfield, MA 01535
Office Hours: Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. • Telephone: 508-867-6740 • Fax: 508-867-6871
Email: oil@crowleyfuel.com

We like to think Crowley Fuel Company is different from many of the other local options you have for heating your home.

When it comes to making decisions about which company to use, certainly price should be high on your list; but price should not be your only consideration.

Here are 10 questions every homeowner should ask of their oil company together with our own answers to those questions.

We are confident that our answers will provide you with some important insights into why there is a lot of added value for you in doing business with Crowley Fuel Company.

As always, we welcome your comments and feedback.

1. Do you offer a price cap contract to your customers?A price cap is a program where an oil company buys oil from their supplier, sets the cap (or highest price that customers will pay for that heating season), and then buys insurance that will pay the difference between the cap price and whatever the market price comes down to (should it come down). There is a fee to buy this insurance but the protection that it offers the customer is well worth it. Crowley Fuel has been protecting their customers with a price cap program for nearly 18 years saving them hundreds to thousands of dollars.
   
2. Do you offer a Service Contract and/ or 24 hour service? Service contracts can give you much peace of mind and save you money for most repairs that may be necessary for keeping your heating system running. A good contract will include a thorough tune-up which is where many problems will be corrected so that you’ll be trouble free for the year. Crowley Fuel offers a service contract at a reasonable rate that includes most oil tanks. Our licensed and experienced service department can handle all repairs that you might need.
   
   DOWNLOAD A COPY OF OUR 2009-2010 SERVICE CONTRACT
   
3. Do you sell premium fuel? Premium fuel is heating oil that has had additives blended into it. The reason this is necessary is because oil is now refined through a process called cracking which allows refiners to make a greater percentage of heating oil for heating season and gasoline for drive season. The problem is that cracking causes the oil to be less stable and form sludge that will plug up your filter, oil line, and nozzle causing you to lose heat and unnecessary repair bills. At Crowley Fuel we have been blending additives into our heating oil for 20 years and have since had very few oil quality related service calls.
   
4. Do you offer payment plans? Receiving payment for goods and services is a most important subject for any business and, with the uncertainty of oil prices over these last few years, it has become much more of a concern. Many companies require payment on or before the delivery by cash or credit card. We accept payments by these methods at Crowley Fuel but we also offer pre-payment and budget plans as well. The majority of our customers take advantage of our 12 month budget plan to help spread out payments.
   
5. Do you supply oil through Fuel Assistance, Citizen's Energy or Good Neighbor Programs? With the grim economic situation have come a greater number of people who must turn to these programs for help heating their homes. These are not people who expected to need this assistance but may have lost their job or gotten sick and must now take advantage of these programs. Not all oil companies will do business with these programs because the profit margin is usually much less and there is often a long wait for payments. You can count on Crowley Fuel to be there when you need us to deliver fuel assistance oil to people who have been our loyal customers and who now need their oil company to be loyal to them.
   
6. Do you blend biofuel into your heating oil? Biofuel is fuel that has been made from plant or animal sources such as soybeans, corn, fryolator grease, and soon we will produce it from more environmentally friendly sources such as algae and switchgrass. This fuel is now available through many suppliers and blends of 2% are being mandated by the State of Massachusetts for next year. We at Crowley Fuel have begun purchasing a blend of 2% biofuel from our supplier with good results. We expect to increase the biofuel blend as soon as burner manufacturers approve it for use in their burners. Low sulphur heating oil will become available soon and, with a blend of just 20% biofuel, heating oil in the future will release less carbon dioxide than natural gas!
   
7. Do you offer a program that will protect my oil tank from corroding and replace my oil tank if it does corrode and leak? And will you replace my oil tank at little or no cost to me? There is a program that offers annual anti-corrosion treatments for your tank at a reasonable price. This program will replace your tank for free or at a reduced cost to you. We have been treating customers’ tanks for over 30 years with Tank Guard which is manufactured at Lincoln Laboratories in Leicester, MA. We have had a few tanks on the program develop leaks which were replaced by the Bond-Tite side of the Lincoln Labs company at no cost to our customers.
   
8. Are you fully insured and do you have risk management procedures in place to reduce the chance of damage to my property? Many people are blissfully unaware of the condition of their oil heating storage and delivery systems and may be unaware of codes violations that apply to these systems in their homes. Crowley Fuel has been proactive in the risk management area for years and we have helped our customers identify potential problems and correct them for reasonable prices. You cannot put a value on losses that did not occur; but you can rest more comfortably knowing that we are watching out for your best interest and will be there to help you if you have problems.
   
9. Will you get me the information that I need to make important decisions about heating with oil? You will notice that most oil companies are happy to tell you how long they have been in business and show you nice pictures of their oil trucks in their advertising. Few of them give you any important information that would help you to understand what you need to know before buying an oil contract or replacing your heating system. Crowley Fuel has been a family-run business selling heating oil for 79 years and selling coal for many years before that. Our advertising strategy during these difficult years has been to give you information that you need to make good decisions. We have recently started holding free public seminars with guest speakers who have spoken about energy conservation, fuel assistance programs, low interest heating loans, understanding how the different price protection programs work, and the latest laws affecting people who heat with oil. We have made these seminars available to local public access channels and they are also available for viewing from our website: crowleyfuel.com.
   
10. What is your price for oil today? This is the most frequently asked question that we answer every day. We understand that a low price is important to our customers and do our best to control our costs and keep our prices down. We think that you should look over the previous 9 questions because you may find that the lowest price isn’t always the best deal
    
    
    If you have any questions about the information provided above, please call Bob LaFlamme at: 508-867-6740 or email him at: ralaflamme@live.com.

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