Automatic TLC Energy

They did a great job. On time and very professional. I also use their budget plan for my oil deliveries. I’ve never run out. Also their customer service is wonderful. Spoke to Veronica today and, as usual, she was knowledgeable, helpful and courteous.

Perfectly done!

They are really good and we will continue to use them.

Very honest with us. Heating system was working really well, we used them for emergency services. When we screwed up the heating system, husband friend burnt the heat, we decided to go to gas. As we price other people, they were the best price to converse from oil to gas. We still use them for the gas service, but we haven't had to use them since we install the unit. Their maintenance service is an A. Their delivery service we had more issue with. The price we never got a great deal, but we counted on that we had oil when we needed it. Its a shame you do not do plus or minus, that would make a huge difference. Use them for maintenance, not oil delivery. We had issue with the take out of the tank. Their maintenance people are phenomenal. Their emergency services are very good. This is their strongest suit I believe. Workers were professional.

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They are easy to work with.

They were way too expensive. They did good work. I got the best deal I could get from them but the deal wasn't great.

The service department is excellent. They logged the highest price. That's horrible. That's the worst. Their service department is amazing. The service technicians are an A but the billing department is horrible. I am going to cancel them. Quality of work is good. They weren't punctual but the technicians were good. I had to call a couple of times.

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I have a relationship with this company and they have been very good to me. They react when I call. I have my burner service and the same guy has been coming for years. They have longevity there so it must be a good company to work for. When I call, I can talk to the same person and I don't call very often. One of the things I had to have done over the years was, my oil tank was in my basement rather than under the ground, it needed to be replaced and I didn't have a hatchway to get it out. So they had to cut that thing apart and take it out piece by piece. They brought a whole crew in and did whatever they needed to do to get it out. I have probably had them for 20 years. I am happy with them. When you call in, the response is there but to get somebody to call you back, sometimes it takes a second call. They are very professional.

We have had TLC as our fuel oil service provider since moving into our house in 2008. We went with them only because the former resident used them and I thought it was easier to keep them as our service provider. We signed up for their gold plan to make sure we get regular maintenance and emergency service when needed- any repairs covered under contract. The amount for this service call, $285, was the amount on the bill I signed but didn't have to pay a thing because we pay for the 'gold plan'.
The reason we called TLC this time was only because our oil tank fuel gauge was sitting dead on empty, it had been there for the last couple of days. I asked the wife to call them to tell them we need oil. According to my wife, the receptionist was a bit 'snotty' asking if and quot;are we really on empty?and quot; telling us they would be delivering oil tomorrow. Since I spend a good deal of time in the basement, I hear the furnace come on and off all the time. I noticed it hadn't come on for awhile making me believe it may have run out of fuel. We called again requesting them to bring oil now, this was about 9:00 pm. In the mean time the furnace did fire again but the call was already in. The technician showed up around 10 pm. The first thing he did was take the fuel gauge off so he could look into the tank to see how much fuel was remaining, when he did, he chuckled. He then handed me the flashlight to see for myself, I looked in, the tank was very nearly bone dry! He said it wouldn't have lasted the night, to me it looked like it literally wouldn't last another hour!
The $285 bill..... All that was on the bill was and quot;ADD FUELand quot;, and only 10 gallons at that and quot;to get us through the nightand quot; as the tech put it. While with him, I remembered to mentioned how I've started noticing how the furnace sometimes acted different shutting off, like it was missing or 'hiccuping' once in awhile, he said it was probably because the filter needed changing. With that, he changed it, however this task wasn't documented on the bill, had it been, it may have pushed it up over the $300 mark..... He even remarked how bad the filter looked showing it to me (as he was rinsing it with some of the precious fuel oil he just put in the tank, using the feed line at the furnace to do it), it looked like a black grease ball. Now, I thought our 'gold plan' included yearly tune-ups which cover the basics like changing filters. I know the service provider at our former residence, Wilson Oil, was punctual performing this preventative maintenance task, they would call us each season to set up an appointment. To my knowledge, TLC never has done this with us, let us know we were due for a seasonal tune-up. I really don't remember the last time we had a tune-up by TLC, I vaguely remember them changing the filter once. We have had to have TLC come out on a few emergency calls in the past 5 years, replacing parts here and there, maybe they combined and considered some of those calls as 'tune-ups' then. If so, we were never made aware of it.
For TLC's response, I give them a and quot;Band quot;, only because I feel they could make it here sooner (compared to the service and response time we got from Wilson Oil at our former residence) but at least they have shown up every time we needed them to. As for the technician's professionalism I give them all an and quot;Aand quot;, but give TLC an and quot;Fand quot; because of the unfriendliness from the receptionists my wife has had to endure and also because of their irregular deliveries and billing. My wife said the after-hours receptionists are much friendlier. Another sore spot issue is, we signed up for 'budget billing' so that we can have an idea of what to expect to pay each month, however near the end of this year, my wife just found out an 'adjustment' has caused an increase close to double of what we normally pay, almost $1000! To add insult to injury she was informed there is a hold on our account until this is paid and it isn't even due yet! First of all, we don't believe we owe that much, we plan on doing a self audit of this past year and confront them with our documented findings. We have never missed or been late with a payment. We always paid in full, well within their specified time so that we receive their and quot;discountand quot; for doing so. What's worse is how many times we have had to call TLC, nearly a half dozen times through the past 5 years, simply because our fuel gauge was so low we would start worrying that we were going to run out. This sometimes happened in the middle of a snowy winter and low temps for days. If it is possible for a company to be passive-aggressive, TLC sure is.
This last incident is the stick that broke the camel's back. We have been nothing but loyal paying customers for 5 years! Sometimes they brought oil when we we were barely at a half tank and didn't need it, nor expecting a bill for such at that time, other times we all but had to beg for a delivery. I have to wonder if we didn't call when were they going to show up? Bottom line is they have not been regular with anything except causing us grief worrying if we are going to run out of oil at a crucial time. Enough is enough! I am feeling like an idiot for putting up with their ineptness for as long as we have.
The technicians are good- knowledgeable and friendly people but TLC's pricing seems whacked. $285 for an emergency call for 10 gallons of fuel oil (and filter change), oil they should have delivered on a regular schedule a week or two ago? The technicians are the only bright spot at TLC.
Because of this last experience, is the reason I joined Angie's List, to find a better HVAC service provider. Not surprisingly, when I looked up TLC, they are one of the worst ones in our area. We are soon to be former customers that can vouch for that. Not sure why Wilson Oil isn't listed here though. We don't plan on going with them, we liked a lot of things Wilson Oil did for us but had a couple of minor issues with things we didn't care for. One thing is for certain- WE ARE DONE WITH TLC.

We have transferred our business to a smaller, local, family-owned business with substantial saving on the price of oil, as well as a service contract that is just over half of the one from TLC.

They have been providing this service for about 4 years.  They’re professional and punctual.

Automatic TLC Energy did all the work in a good timely manner. We had a big storm that time and everything was practically shut down because no body had electricity but I had electricity so they came that morning and their entire crew came because no body else had electricity. The cost was not cheap but they didn't charge me more because I had more people doing the service and the installation was included in the prices. I was busy because I had people in my house because they didn't have electricity in their house so they went about their work and I did my work. Several of the workers who came woke up to no electricity. They fulfilled their contract and I didn't ask for anything more and they are still maintaining the furnace.

I've been using them for about seven years, I am very satisfied with their performance. They were easy to deal with, they were honest and well trained. So far I have to problem with them, they did an excellent job.

Oil deliveries:During the first year I would get automatic deliveries and I would get that slip in the door with the price (per gallon) written on it. The bill came in the mail so much lower that I actually got concerned enough to call and ask about it. Apparently, because of the service contract I was under, I got a better rate.Now, three years later, I don't pay the very high price for the service contract with all the bells and whistles. So, my bill is about a dollar per gallon more than it was before (and incidentally more than competitors). I asked about this and they wanted to know if I wanted to 'talk to someone about my rate'. I told them it would just make me more upset---after all, they have a LOT of customers they are ripping off. Talking to ME isn't going to help anyone but me...and I wanted to take my case online without being a hypocrite. So, here I am. My frustration: this isn't a cable company. It's a heating company. People need to stay warm and safe. It's one thing to have a teaser rate when you are cable company. It's simply unethical to hurt families with children, or people on fixed incomes, etc, in an industry that people rely on in the winter to keep them warm. Thank goodness for the freedom to choose to take my business to a competitor.

Service:We have a relatively new furnace in the house we moved into. However, when the installers (not this company) installed the furnace they must have forgotten to change a part that turns on a fan that cools the burner after it's done. Apparently it's on a timer and it can run from anywhere from 10 seconds to several minutes. If the burner isn't cooled then it stays hot, leaks oil, and can cause your basement to smell of raw oil fumes. Who knew?! Apparently not the first 4 people (including one of Automatic TLC's Technical Experts) that showed up to our house over 3 winters to take a look at it. Finally, the one guy they have that seems to really have his head on straight (he fixed an A/C issue we had as well) took a good look at it, during a regular cleaning no less, and figured it out. The others? they vacuumed, they changed parts, they spent hours down in my basement...and all they had to do was turn a little dial. It makes one wonder about competency. I was just very glad, that at that time, I had that service contract.

Early am the company called to evaluate my situation...surprised by the fact that my home had power following the storm the first group was dispatched to break down the old boiler and remove it. Followed by the installation techs who systematically worked together to fashion an intricate structure of copper piping attached to the new compact and quiet furnace. There was attention to detail such as bleeding all radiators in the house, setting up new thermostats and leaving the area clean.
They took time to show me some basic controls I might need to know about. A hard days work, a neat job and I found that none of these employees had power at their own homes but I heard no grumbling.

Over priced. Over the past year, oil prices were consistently 25 to 45 cents per gallon over the state average; today's quoted price was 72 cents more than other companies I checked with. They seem to quote low prices to new customers and then raise prices on subsequent deliveries. Their current service plan price, $382, is $130 more than the new local company I'm going with, although I have to say, the service they provided under their contract was good. Sometimes if my furnace stopped, it would take them several hours to show up, but they always got it running. The company is so large, over the past few years, it was never the same service man who showed up and they weren't all consistent with what they were telling me about the furnace. Finally they schedule annual cleanings in the Spring, which to my mind is just backwards.

One of the worst companies to do business with; just ask George Gombossy of the Hartford Courant and Atty Gen R. Bluementhal.

I was pretty satisfied with the job he did for us. His pricing was very fair and the quality of his work was very good as well. As far as my experience with him goes, I have been satisfied in both the quality of his work and the prices he has given me for the jobs he has done for me.

They did a good job, showed up on time and were fairly quick with no surprises with the installation. The water heater is working well and we have not had any problems with the unit since the installation was done.