What's Happening at Fred Fuller Oil Company?

Here at Fred Fuller Oil Company's main office in Hudson it feels like the scene from,"It's a Wonderful Life," when George Bailey is dealing with a run on the bank.

"I'd like my tank filled, but I will take whatever you can bring me," said a customer at the counter.

It's standing room only. Customers coming through the door are lining up to find out when they will get oil, with at least 20 people huddled in the tiny office space. When one person leaves, two more show up.

Ed Fleming of Londonderry is here for the fourth consecutive day. He says it's like talking to Bernie Madoff.

"They take your money in January and they don't deliver," Fleming said. "My furnace shut down Sunday. But I won't get diesel. I paid good money for a whole season and I want my oil."

Tom Burpee of Manchester is taking a different approach. He is waiting for a manager, after going into the Manchester office to close out his account. He wants the balance of his pre-buy account, $1,263, by his calculations.

He was told to go to the Hudson office, where he was told he would have to wait for the check to be mailed.

"I had my last delivery two and a half months ago, and we ran out. They said they were going to deliver last week, but they didn't," Burpee said. "My wife called Putnam, and they said they will deliver tomorrow."

He asked for a manager.

"Why should I have to wait for my money?" Burpee said.

Several of those waiting said they also came to cancel their accounts and get the balance of their pre-paid orders.

Others just wanted assurance that they would be getting delivery before their tanks ran dry, and all were promised oil sometime between Wednesday and Friday.

Related story: [State Launches Emergency Hotline for Frustrated Fuller Customers]

Fred Fuller was managing things in the back, getting an update on the continued phone issues, which have been compounding the company's communication problems since just before Christmas.

Fuller agreed that the rush of customers in panic mode has been making matters worse.

"It's like a run on the bank. But I've been here for 45 years and I'm not going anywhere," Fuller said. "Things should be back to normal by Friday."

By "normal" Fuller means the 300,000 gallons of heating fuel he delivers daily will be flowing on schedule. He said that things began to fall behind just before Christmas, when his phone system stopped working, and then the region was hit with back-to-back snowstorms.

"I'll admit we have people who got pretty low, but most people just panicked. Then, they started to hear bout it in the news, and they panicked even more," Fuller said.

The root of the phone problem is still unclear, but Fuller said Fairpoint and phone vendor NEC were getting closer to a solution. His tech guy, Jeff LaPorte, took a break from the action to explain.

"We have phone lines today, but we're trying to get all 23 channels live. Fairpoint says we aren't at full capacity. It's a problem with the [Primary Rate Interface]. The phones are locking up, and with the high volume of calls, people are getting busy signals," LaPorte said.

Fuller said when the snow came in late December, there was an additional problem with the oil supply chain regionally, an issue that has since eased up.

With only about 35-40 percent of customers on automatic delivery, that means the number of customers calling for delivery whenever the tank is almost dry also complicates an already complicated "perfect storm" of problems.  

"We have plenty of oil. But when our automatic delivery schedule got delayed, and then our phones were out, everyone trying to call started to panic when they couldn't get through," Fuller said. "We had to temporarily suspend our Facebook page because people were posting there that they needed delivery – and other things that weren't very nice – and we couldn't keep track of things."

Fuller said he's sorry about those customers who have canceled their accounts.

"We've been here since 1969, and we've always treated our customers fairly. This was a tough situation, and we're working through it. I originally thought we'd be caught up by Wednesday, but it looks like it will be Friday before things are back to normal," Fuller said. 

Customer accounts are tracked via computer and automatic deliveries are scheduled based on variables including outdoor temperature and usage history.

Fuller said he understands the frustration his customers are feeling, but insists that much of the problem over the past five days has been fueled by bad publicity.

"The publicity has created a stampede, and fear. It made people who weren't having a problem be scared. They see a quarter of a tank and they panic, even though we know, on average, a quarter of a tank is going to last a good 10 or 11 days," Fuller said.

"All I can say is for our customers to hang in there. Everybody's going to be OK," Fuller said.