R M Packer

R.M. Packer Company has fueled Martha's Vineyard since 1930, when Captain Ralph Packer started what the family still runs from the same stretch of Beach Road in Vineyard Haven. The business delivers home heating oil, services boilers and furnaces, and runs marine fuel docks that supply the island's harbors — the kind of year-round utility people call when the tank runs dry or the furnace won't start on a January night. The reviews on file are older but consistently warm. Google shows a 4.1-star average across 7 ratings, and the written reviews span 2022 to 2023. Writing in 2022, one customer says they've worked with Packer for 29 years and been treated fairly through financial hardships, and another writing the same year credits the company with coming through in emergencies, including calls answered in the middle of the night, and calls its billing fair rather than one that piles on fees. What's worth knowing before calling is the company's environmental and legal history, which island and state press have covered extensively. A federal judge ordered R.M. Packer and an affiliated towing company to pay penalties reported at $1.2 to $1.3 million in 2019 for years of violations tied to fuel storage and handling (news accounts differ on the exact total). MassDEP followed in 2022 with a separate $15,000 penalty for failing to respond to a compliance notice, and that same year a Dukes County lawsuit accused the Packer family of transferring real estate for one dollar to shield it from federal fines. Earlier still, a 2015 court decision assigned Packer's insurer legal costs tied to a 2007 fuel spill cleanup dispute. None of that touches the home heating and boiler service reviewers describe, but given how much petroleum the company stores and moves along the waterfront, it's a history worth weighing. Packer is a reasonable call for islanders who want a local, decades-old outfit for fuel delivery and heating system upkeep and who value the personal relationship the reviews describe. Before booking, it's worth asking directly about current environmental compliance and getting delivery and service pricing in writing, since nothing on file speaks to cost.