A family on the West Island says the recent lack of oil deliveries by Ultramar caused $15,000 worth of damages to their home after some of their pipes burst because of the cold.
Rana Rifai and her family spent the Christmas holiday in Paris. While they were away their furnace ran out of oil even though they are on an automatic delivery list.
Once they returned home they found the temperature in their home had dropped to 10°C.
Rifai's husband called Ultramar on January 5.
"They looked and saw we were supposed to deliver oil on Dec. 26, but they never came," Rifai told CTV Montreal. "Now that we had no oil they told us they would us on the emergency list and we'd have oil in the next 24 hours."
That night temperatures dropped outside, to about -24°C. By morning it was -1°C in Rifai's home so they called again.
"He spent two hours waiting on the phone. When he finally got through, he said, 'Look, I've been waiting on an emergency list to get oil, we have no oil, we're freezing we need to get oil.' The guy said, 'Don't worry, we guarantee,' but he said, 'Yes, but you guaranteed yesterday and I still haven't gotten it,'" said Rifai.
That day, as temperatures outside maxed at -20°C, the pipes in the bathrooms burst.
The repair bill came in at $15,000, which Rifai said the company told her it would pay for, five days ago. Since then it's been radio silence.
"When I called them, I asked them what's going to happen," she said. "They said, 'Email all the pictures and they'll be looked at and we'll call you as soon as we can.' Nobody's contacted me."
To make matters worse, Rifai received a small emergency supply of oil, which is dangerously close to running out again and she has not been assured her oil tank will be refilled.
A spokesperson for Ultramar told CTV Montreal an evaluator will visit Rifai's home to assess the damage and hopefully come to an arrangement.
The company had previously said it had experienced problems with deliveries due to extreme cold weather and tough driving conditions.