Faster, better…

Last year my gas company told me I couldn’t have the guaranteed lowest price of oil unless I signed up for for a monthly payment plan. In the face of HUGE price increases at the time I accepted. It was really extortion and and here’s why:

1. The oil company filled my tank at the end of Winter when we had typically stopped using oil heat. They had NEVER delivered this late ever. Why did they? Because they could deliver at a much higher price to the consumer and then themselves take advantage of much lower home heating oil prices in the Summer months.

2. Once the company’s tanks were full at the lowest prices they could find they were ready to change the steadily climbing oil price we always see in the heating season. Sure enough I have been sitting on a full tank of heating oil since late March I believe. (Purchased at a Winter price) I usually purchased refills in September before the prices really started to climb. Funny how the oil company never refilled in the Summer months so we could save a little.

3. The price of home heating oil is steadily climbing as predicted and I won’t need oil now until the PEAK of the heating season. I will be paying the higher price the company dreams up for “guaranteed price customers.”

4. Whether I choose to use oil or use wood, I am now locked out of saving monthly becuase these greedy extortionists now want money every month of the year ostensibly to help me pay large bills (which have gone down this year some.) Heating oil companies and now INVESTMENT companies. They are involved in the tricky finances designed to maximize their profits at our expense. Getting us all to sign up was very easy last year compared to this year. They are, in my opinion, outside of the capitalist market inside the new greed market that charges whatever the market will bear and then whatever else they can get away with. A bean counter somewhere made a hefty bonus dreaming up this whopper.

I may have actually saved money in the long run by paying the higher, non-guaranteed price of oil in the Winter and refilling myself on the non-guaranteed price in the Summer!. That brings up another question, why does Maryland allow a two-tiered oil price system where those that don’t have credit or do not want agreements have to pay a higher price for oil than those that do. It sure seems like discrimination to me. (Seniors, the poor, the business savvy.) Since I moved here I have always thought that energey was just another racket in Maryland, with our government looking the other way as long as the taxes were paid.

5. Their terms change at whim. regardless of the agreement I paid each bill as a I got it thinking the agreement ran October to February as my heating season always did. No it ran twinkles months. The greedy trolls didn’t want me to pay for the oil since they were no longer an oil company. They’re a bank, an investment form, another sales and marketing oligarchy just like all the rest.

I hate sneaky businesses that make offers with their fingers crossed behind their backs and I hate lousy customer service. I went to this company because they actually picked up the telephone when I had a questions. The previous company in this area, also a large one, never returned calls, and if they kept appointments they were never kept on the first try or they were late. The reason of course is that they are no longer an oil company delivering a service at a fair market price, they are a bank, an investment firm, a financial house looking at dollars and their bonus checks.

The Feds and State of Maryland probably appreciates this maneuver because they can expect higher fuel taxes the way the oil company, excuse me the oil bank, has the deliveries timed to the government’s and their advantage.

All these little changes in many industries have been occurring before our very eyes. Every month each one adds more and more stress to the consumer. The bank managers and oil bank managers don’t worry about it because their bonuses keep them up with the times.

As a senior citizen in Calvert County and a resident of Maryland I am sick of being treated this way. If government and industry has its way we will all be much worse off as the years go on. Old age may be the worst time of our lives thanks to American business and American government.

We have reached that point for American business. One customer doesn’t matter unless the bill isn’t being paid. When they lose one or two it is of no concern because there are no enough people to take the place of everyone the business loses. Now all American business cares about is squeezing every last penny out of every customer however they can accomplish it.

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