Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Businesses Love Happy Customers, Especially When they Tell Us

This is another great e-mail that I received from a first time customer of Codfuel.com. Gotta Love it!! Keep'em comin',

"I used this service recently as it was the first thing I thought of when thinking of who to call to get a COD delivery of oil last minute. It was scheduled for the next day and when I got home I was very pleased to find the receipt from the company who was supposed to deliver in my mailbox just as I hoped for… I added a special note on my order to ‘leave paperwork’ because I would not be home….
I was a little skeptical at first because it just seemed too easy, going on the site, finding good prices, and just picking the best one near me and all that…. But it sure turned out EXACTLY how it was supposed to…. Wow, what a cool service." John C. West Babylon,NY

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Thousands of Long Islanders are meeting their Fuel Oil demands Online

Thousands of Long Islanders are meeting their Fuel Oil demands Online

Many Long Islanders have turned to ordering home heating oil online through Websites like CODFUEL.com. Ordering fuel oil online is not only cost effective, but it puts the Consumer back in control of their oil bill. It gives Consumers options that they do not have with “full service” oil companies that require a commitment to purchase their oil.

Winter is on its way and home heating oil prices are soaring. Consumers are frantically looking for ways to save on home heating costs. Amongst the hardest hit consumers are the ones who signed a contract and committed to one oil company for the entire season.

When a contract is signed, you are obligated to fill your oil tank to its capacity on each fuel delivery. The oil company is also in charge of when the delivery arrives. This can be a very expensive proposition these days, especially during the holiday season.

With CODFUEL.com, a Consumer can order oil online 24 hours a day and schedule an oil delivery to their convenience. They are not obligated to fill the tank to its capacity and there are never contracts or commitments.  “The choice is always up to the customer”, says John Franco, President of CODFUEL.com. In fact, the customer can select their own delivery date, quantity of oil they want and they can even select their own oil Company to deliver it. “We do not give our customers only one pricing option. We give them all of the prices from local oil Companies that service their town” added Franco.

More and more Long Islanders are using services like CODFUEL.com. They just turned nine years old this fall and they are the largest oil price comparison website in the tri-state area. They are putting a whole new twist on the oil industry. Currently, savings can be as much as 50 cents per gallon. They even offer convenient payment options. Oil delivery’s can be paid online with a major credit card or a larger discount is available for cash payments, which can be paid when the oil is delivered.

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Fuel Oil Customer Like More Choices

Is Ordering COD Fuel Oil the Newest Trend? Safest Bet? Most Economical?


After researching many of the "full service" oil Company Websites and heating oil "Institutes". After visiting these Websites you can actually see a pattern.  They all have similar content. They state that "full service" oil dealers offer more choices to their customers than discount fuel oil dealers (C.O.D Fuel Companies). 

I would agree with their statements if we were still in the 1970's. Fortunately, for the C.O.D Oil Dealers and the incredible growth that we've experienced over the last two decades, we offer all of the choices that the self proclaimed "big guys" offer.

In fact, what I've come to realize after watching "our" industry, you will see one particular word that really stands out. The word I am referring to is "Acquisition". In a nutshell, an acquisition happens when one Company purchases another Company. This is common ground within the "full service" oil industry. Trade magazines are filled with advertisements for Companies wanting to acquire others.

Why do we care if one Company purchases another?

It's not for us to say or pass judgment on, BUT; what about the customer? Where have all of their choices gone? With the dozens of acquisitions that happen annually, who does the customer choose?

Take Long Island, NY for example. There was once dozens of large full service oil dealers, all competing with each other. This gave consumers plenty of choices as they had not only a variety of full service Companies to select from, but they also could choose to purchase oil on a C.O.D basis as well. Over the past several years, C.O.D Oil Dealers have seen a constant influx of new customers that have switched from Full Service to C.O.D especially via Codfuel.com where tens of thousands of customers have already registered to order oil from their FREE service.

Now, most of the large oil dealers have been gobbled up by the larger ones, thus leaving the unsuspecting customer to deal with the same oil Company that they may have "dumped" from the previous year. From a customers standpoint, if they left one oil Company for another and their new oil Company has been acquired by their old one, not only have they lost their choice, but they are not even aware that they are under a contract with their old Company because there is no disclosure to the customer regarding the acquisition.

Finally, and to my point of this article ( I know, I tend to get carried away), C.O.D Fuel Oil Dealers offer more choices because we are not getting acquired by other dealers, plus new dealers are sprouting up every year. Customers who purchase Discount heating oil have plenty of choices to pick from on Codfuel.com.

With Codfuel.com, you take control of your own oil bill. You can order when you want and how much you want. There are never obligation to fill your tank or sign a contract. You can order online with our easy and safe ordering system and you can pay by credit card or get cash heating oil. The choice is always yours!

Friday, November 19, 2010

Long Island Homeowners Seek Savings through C.O.D Heating Oil Services

Here is an old Article that still holds up. It's worth a reprint

(Long Island, N.Y.) High heating oil prices are turning the mindsets of thousands of consumers while the tides turn on oil dealers who require long term oil contracts and commitments from their customers.

More Long Islanders are ordering home heating oil on a “cash on delivery” (C.O.D) basis in an attempt to save money. While most fuel oil dealers that require a commitment are fair in their pricing, cash on delivery (C.O.D) services are becoming a popular way to order heating oil giving consumers more choices and better competitive prices.

Shopping on-line for home heating oil has increasingly become more popular. An Internet site called www.codfuel.com lets Long Islanders use its on-line marketplace to purchase discount heating oil virtually choosing their own price per gallon. “There is more flexibility with pricing and payment options with C.O.D oil delivery than ever before; also consumers have the freedom of ordering as much or as little oil as they want. Ordering on a C.O.D basis can save between .50-.90 cents per gallon over the “full service” counterpart.” said CodFuel.com owner John Franco.

High oil prices are not just affecting consumers. Owners of “full service” oil companies are also feeling the punch. Many of these oil dealers are having difficulty getting paid in time from their customers and in return are having difficulty paying their own suppliers. Some oil dealers have renegotiated payment terms and locked in oil prices. They have also added additional late fees, termination fees, fuel surcharges and other miscellaneous fees to their contracts. Even some of the “good paying” customers have gotten burned by some oil dealers who could not provide fuel at the promised price; now forcing the consumer to find oil at a higher price than what was previously negotiated. It’s too expensive for full service oil dealers to play the part of a banker. They just cannot finance the oil at these rates. C.O.D is cut and dry. The oil dealer fills up their truck and gets paid instantly when the oil is pumped into a customer’s tank. This eliminates the risk of consumers getting over inflated oil prices and also leaves room for the oil dealer to provide a discount because there are no payment terms. www.Codfuel.com accepts cash, M/C, Visa, Discover and American Express.

“Ordering fuel oil on a C.O.D basis alleviates many of today’s fears with full service oil. Prices go up and down daily as the market changes but the C.O.D price per gallon always reflects discounted rates. Visit www.codfuel.com today to check current oil prices in your area. It’s fast, easy and free for all consumers” said CodFuel.com owner John Franco.

Sunday, November 14, 2010

What a Nice Article to Stumble Upon

This is an article I came across while just surfing the Internet. It came from: LONG ISLAND VIEWS


Reasons to Be Cheerful, Part Four: Codfuel.com

Last week, I ordered my first oil delivery of the season. My last delivery was back in March so I was due for a fill-up. As I have done, since discovering the site last winter, I ordered my heating oil through Codfuel.com. They service Long Island and the surrounding region. The site serves as a clearinghouse where participating heating oil distributors can post their prevailing price per gallon. These prices are much cheaper than your contract oil dealers. In fact, you can call around and check this very easily.

Go to Codfuel.com and look around; simply enter your zip code and you are free to peruse the list of heating oil distributors servicing your area. Many post a cash and a credit price per gallon with discounts depending on the amount of gallons you order. The more you order the cheaper it is and if you pay cash, you can save an additional 10 cents per gallon in most cases. I ordered last week because I saw the price of crude edging up with the stock market rally and I had been watching the prices for a few weeks.

As usual, my household will make this fill-up last as long as possible. When it gets cold, we turn to the fireplace in the den. We have two heating zones, upstairs and downstairs, so it never makes much sense to us to heat the whole downstairs when we can all keep warm in the den. Even though the price of oil has come down significantly since last winter, we all can still strive to save money on our heating bills; it is one of those bills that we can control. Throughout my entire existence, starting from growing up in my mother's house and now in my house with my family, the maximum thermostat setting for heat has always been 65 degrees. The same temperature as the lovely day outside that everyone was raving about today. Generally we keep it a few degrees below that and we always turn it down when we are not at home and when we go to bed.

Anyhow, I digress. The most important point about Codfuel.com is the huge savings over the contract heating oil companies. What most of us don't know is that when you sign their yearly service contract, you pay at least $1 more per gallon. Sure that contract includes your "free" annual checkup and preferential maintenance but it also requires you to accept automatic refills. If you do the math, you will see how that service contract benefits the oil company more than it benefits you. For every 1000 gallons of oil they deliver, they collect an extra $1000 dollars so all of that service isn't free, is it? If you had to call an independent oil heating system maintenance person for service, would it cost you $1000 dollars? I don't think so. So, quit your contract, save your money and use Codfuel.com. They should thank me for this.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Are the Big Full Service Oil Companies Being Honest?

Below is an excerpt from the Oil Heat Institute of Long Island Website - Please Read, then find the Truth Below.

"You get what you pay for. This maxim applies to so many aspects of life - and heating oil is no exception. You may see a discount or C.O.D. dealer's low, low price in a newspaper ad and think, "Say, this looks appealing." But after a closer examination of the services (or lack thereof) these dealers provide, "appealing" becomes "appalling."

Three words we cannot emphasize enough:
Choose full service.
The full-service member dealers of OHILI offer you a wealth of products and services that set us apart from the C.O.D. or discount companies. And especially in these times of higher Oilheat prices, full service means more bang for your energy buck".



Apparently, they haven't questioned any of our Codfuel.com members to see how they received professional repair service and reliable oil deliveries from quality fuel oil dealers.

QUESTIONS:

1. If the O.H.I.L.I is truly an oil heat institute, shouldn't they be promoting heating oil for the oil industry as a whole? Why attack hard working family businesses within the same industry?

2. Shouldn't they be fighting false claims made by natural gas companies? Wouldn't they want all fuel oil dealers to get business to maintain our industry and combat the gas companies who lack in services & price?

3. Why do you think they are running negative ad campaigns against fellow oil dealers?


Do you think it has something to do with
MONEY?
ANSWER
Of course it does! You see; "Full Service" oil dealers and the O.H.L.I are a team. O.H.L.I promotes full service oil dealers with their oilheat radio ads, television commercials and magazine articles so customers can sign up for full service and pay a higher price for fuel oil and also commit to a long term contract.

In return, full service oil dealers pay money (dues) for every gallon of oil delivered to full service customers. This money is factored into the price of oil on a retail level. So who is really paying for it?

YOU GOT IT!
The customer who signs and gets LOCKED into a full service contract with all the fine print, gimmicks, penalties, clauses and so-called "Capped", "Ceiling" "Fixed price" or any other fancy name they call it these days. The bottom line is this:

FACT
The excerpt above is targeting C.O.D fuel oil dealers and their lack of services.  

QUESTION
If this is true about C.O.D fuel oil dealers, the why does 19 out of the 40 "Associate" member oil dealers on the O.H.L.I website ALSO deliver C.O.D home heating oil under an alias name? (including some of the TOP names in the business) Their "full service"customers would be very angry if they knew that their neighbor was getting the same oil for far LESS per Gallon


ANSWER
There is no answer. But, I could sum it up in my own opinion. They deliver the SAME fuel oil that they call "top grade, 1st quality, premium" or any other name that sounds good to one house at BIG profits, then deliver the same oil to a neighbors house at much per gallon less (C.O.D).

GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR WITHOUT BIG TALK & LOCKED IN CONTRACTS BELOW

Monday, November 08, 2010

Biodiesel available to homeowners on Codfuel.com

Biodiesel has been making it's way to the fuel oil marketplace for quite some time now. Although it hasn't seen a heavy residential demand as of yet, consumers are now starting to seek it out further. Biodiesel has been fairly popular with the larger oil companies until now.

Now, homeowners on Long Island and most parts of the Tri-Sate area can order Biodiesel for their home on Codfuel.com.  One of New York's premier Biodiesel providers, Tri-State Biodiesel has recently joined the increasingly popular Codfuel.com as an exclusive supplier.




What is biodiesel?
Biodiesel is the name of a clean burning alternative fuel, produced from domestic, renewable resources. Biodiesel contains no petroleum, but it can be blended at any level with petroleum diesel to create a biodiesel blend. It can be used in compression-ignition (diesel) engines with little or no modifications. Biodiesel is simple to use, biodegradable, nontoxic, and essentially free of sulfur and aromatics.

Why should I use biodiesel?
Biodiesel is better for the environment because it is made from renewable resources and has lower emissions compared to petroleum diesel. It is less toxic than table salt and biodegrades as fast as sugar. Since it is made in the USA from renewable resources such as soybeans, its use decreases our dependence on foreign oil and contributes to our own economy.

*biodiesel information source from biodiesel.org

Discount Fuel Oil Delivey (C.O.D) Becoming Extremely Popular on Long Island, Queens, Brooklyn, NYC and Tri-State Area

High heating oil prices are turning the mindsets of thousands of consumers while the tides turn on oil dealers who require long term oil contracts and commitments from their customers. More Long Islanders are ordering home heating oil on a “cash on delivery” (C.O.D) basis in an attempt to save money. While most oil dealers that require a commitment are fair in their pricing, cash on delivery (C.O.D) services are becoming a more popular way to order heating; oil giving consumers more choices and better competitive prices.

Shopping on-line for home heating oil has increasingly become more popular. An Internet site called codfuel.com lets Long Islanders and consumers around the Country use its on-line marketplace to purchase discount heating oil virtually choosing their own price per gallon. “There is more flexibility with pricing and payment options with C.O.D oil delivery than ever before; also consumers have the freedom of ordering as much or as little oil as they want. Ordering on a C.O.D basis can save between .50-.70 cents per gallon over the “full service” counterpart.” said CodFuel.com owner John Franco.

High oil prices are not just affecting consumers. Owners of “full service” oil companies are also feeling the punch. Many of these oil dealers are having difficulty getting paid in time from their customers and in return are having difficulty paying their own suppliers. Some oil dealers have renegotiated payment terms and locked in oil prices. They have also added additional late fees, termination fees, fuel surcharges and other miscellaneous fees to their contracts. Even some of the “good paying” customers have gotten burned by some oil dealers who could not provide fuel at the promised price; now forcing the consumer to find oil at a higher price than what was previously negotiated. It’s too expensive for full service oil dealers to play the part of a banker. They just cannot finance the oil at these rates. C.O.D is cut and dry. The oil dealer fills up their truck and gets paid instantly when the oil is pumped into a customer’s tank. This eliminates the risk of consumers getting over inflated oil prices and also leaves room for the oil dealer to provide a discount because there are no payment terms. Codfuel.com accepts cash, M/C, Visa, Discover and American Express.

“Ordering oil on a C.O.D basis alleviates many of today’s fears with full service oil. Prices go up and down daily as the market changes but the C.O.D price per gallon always reflects discounted rates. Visit codfuel.com today to check current oil prices in your area. It’s fast, easy and free for all consumers” said CodFuel.com owner John Franco.

PriceEnergy Management Making a new Website

If you were a PriceEnergy customer member or fuel oil dealer, you may have had some trouble trying to order oil (consumer) or getting paid for the deliveries you made (dealer).

PriceEnergy's Website has been taken offline. Now, the same management team is about to promote a new Website. Could this really happen without payments to the hard working oil dealers getting paid from last year's oil deliveries?

"It is even more disturbing to the unknown number of heating oil dealers who are owed a huge sum of money by PriceEnergy, which one anonymous source put at over $1 million. The affected dealers worked with PriceEnergy when it was owned by the out-of-commission Able Energy of Rockaway, NJ, and their debts have remained unpaid since Able first closed shop in February." (excerpt from Heatingoil.com)

Codfuel.com has been in operation since 2001. Their platform is simple. Customers get to choose their supplier and their fuel oil price. There are no contracts or commitments where the customer is obligated to use the Website. Codfuel.com customers have free choice to order oil at any time, whenever they want and how much they want.

They can select the same supplier or a different one on each oil delivery. Many Customer's appreciate the option to have choices and they enjoy being in control of their own heating oil needs. Especially with today's oil prices always on the rise, Codfuel.com offers many choices of fuel oil prices and dealers to deliver the oil.

When ordering from a Website, you should know the price per gallon and WHO is delivering your oil. Many of these Website Companies have sub-contracted truckers and dealers delivering your oil. The Customer should know specifically, which Company is delivering the oil.

Register for your FREE Codfuel.com account today and see what everyone has been talking about. Your oil is always delivered by a local oil dealer selected by you.

Internet Heating Oil Website Turns 9

Internet Fuel Oil Company, Codfuel.com Turns Nine


discount fuel oil

In an industry where Internet technology has not been at the forefront, Long Island, NY, based codfuel.com turns nine years old. Codfuel.com is a pioneer when it comes to shopping for home heating oil on the Internet. Founded by John Franco, Codfuel.com was first launched back in 2001 as a simple classified ad filled web page. While the on-line fuel oil ordering system was in development, local oil companies shared a single web page to promote their businesses.

Now, many years later, Codfuel.com operates in several states in the North East and several emulating Websites were launched but never caught on like Codfuel.com. Some of these Websites are owned by large oil corporations who guise themselves under another business name. Many lack the personal approach that Codfuel.com offers their customers. “We are a small operation that focuses highly on customer satisfaction and appreciation over and above everything else”, Franco said. The convenience of one stop shopping and fuel oil price comparison between oil dealers is unprecedented.

Nine years ago, when Codfuel.com was being developed, oil companies and consumers alike were not ready for on-line heating oil. Franco had other thoughts and continued programming the Website. It wasn’t until 2004 when the actual launch of on-line ordering took place. “We started out with two oil dealers who had enough trust in us to put their name and oil prices out there for the world to see”, Franco said. Since then, Codfuel.com has evolved into one of the most successful oil price comparison Websites generating more than 3 million dollars in savings for their customers.

With savings between .30-.70 cents per gallon, when comparing to “full service” oil dealers, Codfuel.com puts the customer back in control of their oil bill. Ordering discount oil may not be for everyone. Some consumers prefer to be locked into a long-term service agreement from a full service oil company or perhaps, that’s just what they were always used too.

With the constant rising price of heating oil on the minds of 8 million oil heat Consumers, it’s easy to find out what various fuel oil companies are charging in your neighborhood. Codfuel.com is a free service for all consumers and they can view current oil prices 24 hours a day without having to register or enter your e-mail address.

Growth has been steady for Codfuel.com, which puts on nearly 50 new members per day during the heating season. Slowly but surely, the fuel oil industry is becoming more in tuned with the Internet. It certainly enabled Us and our Vendors to discount their oil prices to our customers by decreasing costs involved with getting new customers and facilitating their needs.

Codfuel.com urges all professional fuel oil Companies in all U.S. States to register as a participating dealer.