“I usually order through Homefuels Direct and have had no problems until my last delivery. The Certas driver reversed into my drive got out of the vehicle looked at my oil tank which is up a small hill and drove off again. The oil was delivered a couple of days later but I was out so I don’t know from which company. I then get a voicemail from Certas saying there is a risk of the driver slipping so I have to install steps if I want any more oil. There has been a tank in that location for over 60 years and this has never happened before.
Hopefully other drivers are less risk averse”
“I cannot believe how poor this company is - they obviously don't read their reviews as there are no replies on here - I wonder why I'm doing it, but I need to inform all to stay away from it - the previous reviews are spot on - not one positive one !!!
I have been waiting for a delivery since 28th March - it is now 15th April - I ordered the oil through boilerjuice and have been doing so for the last 5 years. I have had numerous deliveries with a standard tanker previously without any difficulty.
On the 10th April a Certas tanker driver turned up to deliver oil - I have cctv on my drive and can see the road outside my house. There was a small council wagon parked outside the house, dropping off some tools for a job further up the road. He arrived in a standard tanker. He walked down my drive passed the council workers and then returned and drove off. He made no attempt to ask the council workers to move their vehicle, which I am sure they would have, to allow him to make his delivery !!!!! What a ridiculous and insensitive non- customer based person this was. The next day a driver is supposed to have turned up and an excuse given for failure to drop is that the vehicle was too big - a standard tanker. I could not see that any driver attended on my cctv either.
I have rung Certas twice and was promised on the first occasion by the customer service person that she would make enqs and return my call by the end of the working day. Guess what - No Call back. The weekend then followed and no delivery and the customer service team don't work on weekends, neither do the Boiler juice staff. Ridiculously poor service again.
I rung today, Monday morning to speak to Boiler Juice, they have had no update from Certas !!!!!! Infuriatingly I rung Certas again, I was not surprised to have to repeat my account of the failures as the previous customer service advisor had not updated the records !!!!!!!! I am now waiting for a Call Back from their customer service team again - which will probably not happen and I still have no oil delivery confirmed. DO NOT USE THIS PATHETICALLY INEPT COMPANY.”
“25 mins on 'phone to Sales team without getting through - 3 times in last 24 hours, as well as 15 mins on 'phone without getting through to Accounts.
No replies to emails - not even an automated acknowledgement.
These people are taking the Michael.
I have been a customer for 20 years and have seen the back office service deteriorate markedly over the last year.
Time to take my custom elsewhere.”
“Paid for my oil on 11/1/24 through heatingoil.co.uk, chose standard speed delivery to be delivered on or before I believe 29/1/24. I received an email on 26/1/24 to say my oil had been delivered on 24th, but it hadn’t as nobody had been to my house and the tank was still empty.
Spent an hour on the phone to them only to be told they’d have to contact delivery depot and get back to me, which they did a couple of days later. They told me it had been delivered and signed for but they couldn’t tell me who had signed for it but they’d get it sorted out.
I received a couple of calls after this while I was at work to ask me how to find my property so it was delivered to the correct house this time. I gave them the info on how to find my house and tank, can’t miss it, it’s the house with the big green shed in the front garden opposite the big farm. They’d delivered to me a few times before and never had issues finding it before.
They eventually found it and filled it so I thought all was sorted, but no. They then send a payment reminder a month later to pay for the oil AGAIN when I’d already paid and they chose to deliver it somewhere else.
Do not use these, the reviews are 1.4 star for a reason and I won’t be using them again”
“RUDE - APPALLING CUSTOMER SERVICE - AVOID THIS AWFUL COMPANY
Driver turned up today at 1.15pm, a day late to deliver oil for our family home.
He did not go to the location of the oil tank, which is accessed via a bridal way and I have provided you the "what three words" location for already.
Instead the driver tried to drive through our front gate, which is narrow and winding and can not fit an oil tanker through. The driver has damaged our wall. I saw him hitting the wall and ran out. His response was "how am I supposed to know where your oil tank is". I replied "because the company I paid for the oil has been told and they should have told you".
He replied "well they haven't".
I replied "What are you going to do about my wall?"
He replied "That's not my problem, I'm off."
I then recorded him and asked why he wasn't delivering the oil".
He replied "because of the way you spoke to me".
I asked him "how did I speak to you".
To which he muttered some obscenity and drive off.
I recorded everything and am now emailing the CEO of CERTAS so he can sack the awful, rude driver that thinks he can play god with the health and safety of children by depriving them heating.”
“Absolute waste of time. Driver refused to fill the tank as it's in a wooden enclosure and he couldn't 'see if there might be a crack in it'. The tank has been in the enclosure for over a decade, and EVERY local company has now filled it on several occasions. To stand at the door and inform me I couldn't get oil for some petty specultion based on absolutely nothing is unprofessional and a waste of people's time.
Do yourself a favour and avoid - not in the least surprised to see that the reviews hear clearly testify to how inept these people are!”
“Hi,
I wish to raise a complaint.
I paid extra to ensure an oil delivery by 8 March. It did not arrive and I was not notified.
I had to call and email to raise the issue and was told it would be expedited. It was not and did not arrive on 9, 10 or 11 March. No contact from yourselves.
I called and emailed again on 12 March to be told it had been routed out and asked for a complaint to be raised.
Oil level was below the sight tube by this time causing great distress.
I am looking for compensation for late delivery and lack of contact by Certas and the distress caused.”
“Certsa advised they would be delivering on 14 of month before their latest date of 18 of month. On 14 of month sent text at 13.47 sent text 'your fuel delivery is on its way. It is 3.7 miles away. the fuel never arrived. No contact from Certas. When I contacted them they advised lorry had run out of oil and delivery would be recheduled. On 15 of month Certas sent text saying del is due on 18 of month. by 14.30 on 18 of month no delivery had arrived. Phoned to check position and advised by Certas that lorry had broken down. They had no intention of advising me of this but said they would in due course advise Boiler Juice. They had made direct contact with me earlier with their misinformation.”
“Use at your peril, If I could zero rate this company I would. We thought we would try a different supplier as the price quoted by Certas Energy was £0.12 a litre cheaper than our usual supplier, what a HUGE mistake. We ordered and paid for 1000 litres of Premium heating oil on the 13th of February and received an email advising the oil would arrive by the 27th February, no further communication was received so this morning (27th) I called their office to ask if it was coming and approximately what time, I was told yes it was coming and any time after 10.00am. The tanker arrived just after 10.30am, very pleasant driver who managed to pump 200 litres into our tank before his system failed, despite his best attempts at getting the system sorted he could not and handed me numerous print outs and a phone number to call to arrange a convenient date for the balance of my order to be delivered and off he drove.
Well, I called the number and spoke to a gentleman who couldn’t have been less interested in what had happen but went on to explain that what had happened was in fact “not” a failed delivery because allegedly 200 litres had been delivered successfully. He also informed me that they would not be returning and that I would be refunded the balance of the undelivered oil.
This company deserves to fail, by the time we receive our refund our money would have sat in their account for 22 days.
Absolutely appalling service.”
“Having read the numerous negative reviews of Certas, I was tempted not to bother adding any more fuel to the fire but was so incensed by our experience that decided to share. Like many others, ordered through Boiler Juice and waited almost 2 weeks ( in January) to get a short notice mail to inform us of the delivery. Having waited in all day, cleared the garage to give access to the tank, I heard a note dropped through the door and saw the tanker making a speedy exit from our property. No oil was delivered as the tank wasn't 65% visible! Our tank has been in the garage for the last 13 years and with an average of 2 deliveries a year, this has never been an issue. If the driver had bothered to ring the doorbell and speak to us, we would have been able to give him/her clear view of the tank. We contacted Certas immediately and were given a load of gobbldygook which only added to our irritation. It was clear that on a Friday pm the Driver simply couldn't be bothered to make the delivery or provide any service whatsoever. We were also tempted to kick BoilerJuice into touch at the same time but a very sympathetic and skilled Customer Service Representative talked us down. We now have a note on our account that Certas will not be considered for any future deliveries and are awaiting a refund. I suggest other disgruntled 'customers' do the same.”
“Order placed thru Boiler Juice Delivery promised on or before 26th Jan. Email from Certas Oil on eve of 24th Jan to say delivery would be made on 25th Jan. Called Certas 8.30 am on 25th for approx time of delivery and was told it was drop 10 and should be with me about lunch time. When it had not arrived by 3.15, I called Certas on the number they had given me, and told it would NOT be delivered today. No reason given and could not confirm when delivery would be made.
Contacted Boiler juice and was told that they were told that Certas had added a comment from their driver that they could not deliver as they could not access the property. This was a complete lie. We were in just to take delivery and no Certas truck came to our property all day. !!
Would like to hear what the company says about this misinformation but am not hopeful.
I have cancelled the order.”
“As below, ordered January and told it would be delivered on 17th, wife getting over Cancer so urgent as need heating, nothing had arrived. Got email to say it would be 19th (Friday) nothing, contacted them over 5 times got nowhere, even told none of the previous phone call had been logged on the system. Nothing on the 20th, 21st, 22nd. Got hold of head office on the 23rd told it had never been loaded ? and still waiting at 4pm?
Will not use again.”
“You sent a wonderful engineer round and he mended my boiler after a lot of problems tried to hinder him. Lovely stuff and now I’m warm as toast! Xxxxx”
“Where to start with this awful company....
Order placed on the Jan 2nd with a latest delivery given as the 9th of Jan.
Suffice to say we still have no oil on the 15th of Jan.
I have emailed 4 different email addresses with no reply.
I have messaged on facebook with no reply. I have commented on their FB posts and they have just deleted them.
They have no phone number to reach them on (very dodgy in this day and age)
I will now be ordering elsewhere and contacting my banks fraud department to get a refund.
It's a shame as I've used them 3 or 4 times before without issue but I understand they have been brought out so maybe they dont care anymore??
AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE!!!”
“Below is a review I left of Homefuels Direct, which is basically Certas, so I thought I'd share my experience for those considering going direct (spoiler alert - DON'T)
Price is good but that's where it ends. Having made a number of orders with them, all of them have taken the maximum amount of time estimated and never turned up on the day they notified it would. If your delivery is on a Friday forget it, you wont see them until the following week, that's happened to me twice now. They also don't respond to queries through the online form, you have to get their number online if you want to speak to someone.
Written in great frustration because, anticipating higher usage over Christmas and longer lead times I ordered oil before Christmas but it didn't turn up today as advised and I have run out of oil.
Reading some other reviews other seem to be having the same issue as me but struggle to contact them. They are part of Certas Energy and the number is 0345 600 4040
Update on 10/1/24
Still no oil! 6 days without heat or hot water. I have been speaking regularly with Certas Customer Services, who are very nice but as much use as an ash tray on a motorbike. They can't call the depots only email them or send a message through some internal written comms system, which I'm certain is completely ignored by the depots, who don't care because they know that they don't have to answer to anyone. They don't know where the depots are, although 30 seconds on the internet solved that one. They have absolutely no influence whatsoever over your delivery so can do nothing but tell you what the website can, they have no ability to offer any service whatsoever.
The excuse every day has been that the driver ran out of time, yet I was told this morning that I was the 10th delivery so should be with me mid-morning. Which is EXACTLY what I was told this evening when I rang to hear the same rubbish they've been spouting all week. I've probably got the truck that only does 9 deliveries!
I'm supplied by their Bristol Branch who clearly couldn't organise the proverbial in a brewery.
Also noted that their price comparison graph comparing them to BoilerJuice is extremely deceptive because in my area the aren't at the moment. I think they are probably picking their lowest price and BoilerJuice's highest, which is for an emergency delivery.
I responded to their message below (you cant see it in this post, but check other bad reviews to see it because it's boilerplate), which was followed up by 2 standard emails, the first saying that my query had been sent to the 'relevant dept' and the second, today, saying that my query hadn't been dealt with in the timeframe, but not to worry because they were still dealing with and would come back to me soon.
What a shower of muppets. The short story is they just don't care about service levels and are big enough that they don't care about your custom either, so have put a pointless customer service in place as a buffer to fob you off.
Stick to your local supplier and pay a bit more.”
