Peterson Oil Service

Peterson Oil Service is a Worcester heating-oil and heating company, and a recent one-star Google reviewer said they have had nothing but issues with both service and delivery, called its prices the highest around and said the company does not care about keeping customers. Its website says it delivers heating oil and fuel, installs and services heating and cooling equipment and provides plumbing, and that it has served the area since 1946 as a family-owned business. Google shows 3.2 stars from 93 ratings, and BBB lists it as non-accredited with a B grade and two complaints cited for failure to respond. A recent Google reviewer said Peterson Oil's customer service and service team have never let them down. A 2025 reviewer said Rick and Kenny swapped an old oil tank for a new one, piping it through the roof of a shed and sealing it up. A 2025 reviewer who had been a customer for 18 years said that on a first morning with no heat, someone was out within the hour and fixed the problem. A 2023 reviewer on the company's ultimate service plan since 2016 said it replaced a leaking oil tank, fixed an oil smell by adjusting the direct venting, and replaced valves and the coil in a tankless Peerless boiler, all covered by the plan. A wbjournal.com article says a lawsuit filed in 2019 by nine customers alleges the company sold and delivered a mix of heating oil that caused damage to heating systems and burned at a less efficient rate, and a masslawyersweekly.com headline reports a judge's preliminary approval of a $14M Peterson Oil class settlement. A mass.gov page describes an assurance of discontinuance, entered in Suffolk Superior Court, resolving allegations that Peterson Oil violated the Massachusetts False Claims Act in two statewide contracts. A 2025 r/massachusetts commenter wrote that a Peterson Oil delivery clogged a Buderus boiler until ash was spewing out the chimney and it almost caught fire. A 2024 Google reviewer wrote of a $250 check from the class action settlement fund and said the oil ruined two fuel pumps and a fuel tank. A 2022 reviewer said a local workman pulled a rod from the furnace showing heavy gunk build-up after 40-plus days on Peterson oil. A 2023 reviewer who had been a customer for many years said paid-for oil still had not arrived a week past the promised date, and that they had been charged for priming after the company forgot to schedule an earlier order. A 2022 reviewer said oil paid for up front before Christmas had still not been delivered a week later. A 2022 reviewer said nobody showed up three days after an order, and the company then said it had no record of it. A 2025 reviewer on auto-pay said the company forgot to take out November and then called asking for two months of payments. A 2025 caller who had run out of oil at 24 degrees and offered cash for 100 gallons said the company would not help because the caller was not a customer. A 2024 reviewer said a technician on a 2023 furnace cleaning left for about two hours and said on his return that he had decided to grab dinner, that an additional bill for service nobody approved followed, and that less than a year after the cleaning the fire department confirmed carbon monoxide in the house. A 2025 reviewer said the company did poor work installing an oil tank and damaged a stairwell. A 2024 reviewer said that after an oil tank replacement at the reviewer's parents' house, the company pumped out just under half of the old tank, put 10 gallons in the new one and refused to return the oil the parents had paid for. A 2024 reviewer said the company charged over $200 for a visit to say batteries were needed, that a staff member named Janice called the reviewer a liar, and that a promised refund had not arrived in eight months. A 2022 reviewer described the office secretary, Diane, as condescending and said the service technician demanded payment on arrival, then struggled for almost half an hour to get a newly purchased boiler to turn on. A 2024 reviewer said the woman who fields calls was berating and rude and that the oil had been leaving a ton of residue. A 2026 Google reviewer said a Peterson truck cutting through Seekonk into Pawtucket nearly hit them and the driver flipped them off.