"media predictions of ever increasing oil prices was a form of terrorism"
"and they (prices) came down. Why the media did not see that I will never know."
It is not the medias job to tell you how to live, it is to report the way you are living. It is your job to give them something nice to report.
The real terroroists here are the wall street investors, marketing companies, party controled propaganda "news" companies, some talk show hosts, and a few others. There are those who do nothing but try to make money off the mis information they spread which creates fear in a portion of the population. Some would add that the various governments assist them by not having regulation in place to curb these 'terrorists' . Some would say there needs to be no regulation and our own Constitution denies these regulations.
What we all need , and many have in small amounts on varying subjects, is an understanding that people are out to , and need to be able to, take care of themselves. Brenda may not pre buy at a perceived high price again, but may at what she thinks is a low price. If oil is a low price, people like Brenda will benefit, If it's at a high price, all those 'terrorists' will benefit. We all have to take care of ourselves. This is getting harder to do as those terrorists are working on ways to make our lives easier, which means they will have more control on how we think and do things. If your media source was telling you that oil will go up and up (as well as other predictions that may spur you to buy something such as car ads that tell you prices will increase( buy now and save implies that if you don't buy now, you will lose) or mattress/furniture/clothing/etc ads that tell you to buy before next years price increase kicks in - they all stir up a little terror) than you need to change your media source. Or at least get conflicting views so you can make a better judgment. Listen to both NPR and the republican radio stations. You will notice that one speaks to you and offers discussion and dialog in all directions and one tells you how to live, which is generally in fear of everybody including those whom they support.
I'd just like to add that I voted for both democrat and republican candidates, just to mix up the opinions, I listen to both radio opinions, I don't listen to the tv news but read whats at the bottom(occasionally as we don't and won't have a tv), Have always sold at under market prices in my business(antiques are way down in price for those who would like to convert from spending too much on new things, it's like the 1960s prices all over again), do not intend to sell my house at a huge profit, and believe in the saying 'live simply so that others may simply live'. This will keep the American Business Terrorists from thinking that they can drive the price of your oil and other neccesities up and up making it hard for you to take care of your self. However if you make it hard for those around you to take care of them selves, you may fall into their, the "ABT s" catagory.

"Be Informed" put this argument to rest and answered the complaint by the Koch's.

We almost did the same thing. I am glad that we did not but we would have understood and just dealt with it.

Why should the oil companies lose out trying to offer a deal to customers and make their life a little more stable.

I was offered the same deal back in the summer, but with a different company.
At that time, oil prices were VERY high.
I did not sign the contract.
I made the right move.
I knew oil prices were going to come down.
The trends in the economy were pointing to that.
So I waited.
And they came down.
Why the media did not see that I will never know.
When times are bad and getting worse OPEC is a loser because of less demand which in turn brings down the cost of a barrel of crude.
We are seeing that cost drop every day or almost every day.
Since you locked in, you have to pay the high price.
The same situation goes when the oil companies lock their customers into low prices and the price of oil goes up after that.
The companies lose and they have to honor the contracts.
That has happened before.
Never, ever, sign a contract until you get some facts.
Education is money in the bank.

George Vreeland Hill

Be Informed's post is accurate. I used to buy energy for a multi-national company and that is exactly how it works. The family in the article made a decision. Now they have to live by it. The local oil company has done nothing wrong. No one forced the author to sign anything. It was offerred and then they accepted it, that makes it a legally binding contract.

We were taken advantage of. The media predictions of ever increasing oil prices was a form of terrorism. Many families need budget plans to get them through the winter. The oil companies didn't give us enough time to see what would happen. There were lock-in deadlines.With my company, the price protection was an extra sixty cents per gallon, not ten cents. That would have brought my per gallon price to $5.40! But, the best we can do is learn from our mistakes.

As someone who works in the office of a fuel company, I just HAD to reply. I listen to people on the phone about this subject hours on end each day. If you believe the "local" companies are raking in big dollars because the price has dropped, you're dead wrong! In order for our companies to even begin to offer a pre-buy contract to our customers, WE NEED TO PURCHASE CONTRACTS PRIOR. What this means is that we are purchasing "futures" and each "future" is 42,000 gallons. (Try buying that amount under contract that with suppliers who will absolutely NOT let you break the contract....under any circumstance.) My particular company purchased 3 futures so we could provide a pre-buy program for our customers. (Do the math, it's 126,000 gals we prepared to sell....and sold out of.) Now, these contracts were purchased at over $4 a gallon. We are under contract to haul this fuel from our suppliers and at that price. When we sold our pre-buy contracts, we must provide our customers with the amount of gallons they requested us to set aside for them. I can assure you, it's certainly not the dealers who provide you with the fuel that is making "the big money." The media played a big part in everyone's purchasing decision, including dealers. If there was anyone in the industry who could have predicted prices would have fallen the way they have, certainly the dealers, like my company, would have held off on purchasing futures. All companies compete and try to give customers the best deal and perhaps gain new customers while offering that "best deal". I sympathize with anyone who pre-bought, but also know that the dealer who you purchased from pre-bought on a much higher level (meaning more gallons) and are simply unable to let people out of their contracts. Now, with all of that being said.....there is NO excuse for rude customer service. Yes, that woman or man on the other end is probably getting numerous calls a day with angry budget or pre-buy customers-however, if people are INFORMED as to how the local dealer works, they may be more understanding. If a customer believes you will simply not let them out of a contract because they believe you're making money hand over fist......of course they'll be upset. It's all about knowing how it works..........

<<<i believe that a better argument here goes to the customer service aspect of companies. when did many small businesses, even local companies, lose their focus on customer service? i recognize that they pull in most of their profits from years such as this one and contracts like Brenda's, but i think they need to reevaluate their attitude and position on treatment of customers in a broader sense>>>

This reeks of pure ignorance. The local company is not getting rich on these contracts. They're also locked in at the higher price. What do you expect the small, local oil company to do? Should they refund Brenda's money and lose their homes because she screwed up? Nobody held a gun to her head and forced her to sign the contract. Personal responsibility. We're becoming a nation of bed wetters.

speaking of pointing the finger, why do so many of the comments find it necessary to point the finger at brenda and in such a hateful fashion? she's a concerned customer in a difficult economic period. and yes, she agreed to sign the contract, and may have made a poor choice, but i think it goes without saying that she's learned her lesson. perhaps she may not have articulated her feelings as well as she should have, but i think her point is still valid. the oil industry in general is of course doing quite well while the average american is feeling the pinch. i believe that a better argument here goes to the customer service aspect of companies. when did many small businesses, even local companies, lose their focus on customer service? i recognize that they pull in most of their profits from years such as this one and contracts like Brenda's, but i think they need to reevaluate their attitude and position on treatment of customers in a broader sense. and to those that are asking brenda to "quit whining:" why shouldn't she be allowed to express her feelings on this topic? a bad bargain is still a bargain, but she has every right to vent her frustration in this venue, or so i thought. she should have that right without being attacked. i wish we could focus on the issues instead of attacking our fellow Concordians.

Oil has gone down, even if it's temperary. House prices are down, so they say, I don't see it. Metals are down, nows the time to have that plastic plumbing replaced with copper. Silver and gold are down, grab some new jewelry. I'm having a 40% off sale at my store and a 90% off sale is planed for before christmas. How many of you are lowering you prices now that gas and oil are down? How many of you are taking a cut in pay now that prices are down. I am.

Just think of how lucky all the current buyers of oil are, especially the elderly of fixed income that had to take their chances and hold off buying until now. Someone out there may have a much happier winter because of these prices. Don't you feel happy for them?

The best thing to do is fill up your tank with cheaper oil from another company and you will have a credit with your old company at the end of the contract. You will save $2.30 a gallon. Look at it as an investment. You will save over a $1,000 on 500 gallons.

If you buy a car, the dealer will tell you it's worth much less as soon as you drive it off the lot. If you buy new furniture, don't run it through auction, it will bring about 90% less than what you paid. If you buy a granite counter top, it becomes worthless as it won't fit someone elses counter. Wake up. It's all over priced. Don't complain about it. Just stop dealing with these people. Do without, buy used, buy on the down market, keep your options open, never sign a contract unless you are willing to accept all the responsibility. I filled my oil tank at the $4+ price and I've had the electric heaters on instead of using the oil up. As Tinbird 68 says, lose the credit mentality and use your brain, and cash instead.

We have an elderly neighbor, a widow, who also locked in at a high price. She is upset but I think puts it into perspective by comparing it to going to Las Vegas. You make you bet and if you lose, she says, you don't tell the dealer I want a do over or I can't afford that loss. So Brenda, like many posters, we can empathy but not sympathy for your plight. Being a retiree myself, we older folks on a fixed income have really two choices. Get off oil heat for a renewable source of energy while downsizing our dwelling to one of manageable size or relocate to a warmer climate, say South Carolina. Fossil fuels are cheaper now due to world wide recession but that won't last and the prices will be marching upwards. We have to take care of ourselves, and makes some hard gutwrenching decisions in order to survive in the years to come.

they are bailing out everyone else that makes poor financial decisions...

Brenda, since when has the media told the truth -- about ANYTHING???

I knew it would go down to $50 or so a barrel so I did not pre-buy.

You are watching the wrong TV stations, and reading the wrong papers (this one)

I'll bet you voted for Obama too! Just wait til you get kicked by THAT foolish move!

Yep, you sure are stuck with a terrible contract. Unfortunately, so is the local provider you do business with. There's probably not a way to break and/or renegotiate your contract with your particular provider.

In the future, try hedging your bets by splitting the cost. For instance, try prebuying 50% of the amount you think you'll need, and pay the remainder at the market rate.

One benefit of the prebuy: you know exactly how much you'll need to budget for heating, no surprises.

Diabolical! YES! I will tell all my friends....but take the credit. MLOL (Menacing laugh out loud)

True, but you have to be able to afford to pay nearly double in the meantime - the monthly pre-buy (Ms. Koch is actually describing a budget plan where she must pay every month) plus the oil you actually by on a cash basis.

Sorry, Brenda, the responsibility lays with YOU. And unfortunately you made a poor choice. Stop blaming everyone but yourself.

If you are locked into a price, it's usually for a fixed time frame. Hook up with another oil company, and have them fill your tank at the lower price before your oil company comes and fills your tank. Come next spring, that money will still be sitting in your account for next year, not locked into a price.

I always used to pre-buy my oil. A couple of years ago, I couldn't afford to, and prices came down, I was very lucky. That was the year Rumford went out of business and all their pre-buy customers got robbed. I've been on a cash basis ever since. Last year, my oil company couldn't fill my tank in March. In July, I bought a pellet stove. Your oil company still has oil, you way overpaid, live and learn.

Not true. Mine most definitely did not. If they had, I would have chosen that option as I have in years past. This year, you either paid x price over 10 months, prebought at .10 lower than the 10 month price, or paid as you went (which was NOT recommended). Last year they offered the price protection, this year they did not. Like an idiot, I thought I was doing right by my family and locked in at 4.69. Now of course it's costing our family way more than it could or should have ($2+ per gallon extra-$1200 extra total). Am I upset? Of course I am. I'm sick about it - our family could really use the money - especially on top of Boscawen's horrendous tax surprise. But there's nothing that can be done about it except to be smarter next year and shop for an oil company with price protection.

This letter is a perfect illustration of what's happening in this country now. Everybody feels entitled to a bailout. People bought big houses they couldn't afford and now want a handout to fix their bad decision. Suck it up Brenda, nobody put a gun to your head and made you sign that contract.

would you be willing ot let the oil company break a legal binding contract to get more money?? oh you wouldnt, they are not the little people like you? get off your high horse and stop being greedy. you made the deal and probably did no homework, you actually would have bought in at the peak??? not smart I guess but you did it to yourself..

To the 1st comment - Irving Oil charges 40 cents a gallon to protect your investment, that if the price lowers you'll pay the lower price. That's 40 cents on top of the $4.89. Not 10 cents or less like you say. Maybe then more people would have hopped on the price protection bandwagon. But who can afford another 40 cents when it's already more tha we can afford. I wish I knew which company it is that only charges a dime so I can switch.

I didn't sign a contract for a pre-buy from my oil company because I was afraid I couldn't keep up the $470 per month payment. I was being led to believe by the oil compnay that oil would continue to rise and this was a bad decision. I was also solicted to purcahse an insurance option to hedge against oil going down for an additional $400. I was told if oil did go down that I would be given a credit for next heating season. I decided to gamble which for now has been a good decision although who knows once January comes. I feel this oil company was not looking out for the best interets of its loyal customer but instead enjoying the record profits reported by Exxon and other oil compnaies. At the very least Brenda should be allowed to get out of this contract or possibly negoiate a new more fair agreement. With the oil industry in such turmoil I think they should abondon all pre-buy plans as no one except stockholders benefits.

read it before signing? Or did you just whip out the ol' credit card? I pay cash and NEVER pre-buy....

Uh Oh...someone is on the bitter end of a bad deal. Brenda signed a contract that snuck up and bit her on the tushy, although she was completely aware of the likelihood of this outcome at the time of signing...and now that the worst case scenario has come true. WHOA she wants to get out of this deal. Sound familiar?! Sorry Brenda. Suck it up. Oh wait theres hope yet...I think just maybe (in our era of no personal responsibility) the government may step in and offer some taxpayer money as a personal bailout to Brenda. Good luck.

Make sure you spit on the politicians and big oil, these are the people forcing us to believe we should accept the need to sign these contracts to purchase oil. Since when? It's more crap on top of their old crap.

"They should be forced to modify these fuel oil contracts, especially in view of the difficult economic times we "little people" are facing."

That sort of sounds like how this country got into this mortgage mess and now want a bail out. People, do your homework, ask questions. Oil contracts are a hedge against the potential rising cost of heating oil. I also signed a $4+ contract, but guess what, when OPEC cuts production and its 10 degrees outside I bet you that heating oil wont be $2.59 a gallon.

Brenda stop your sniveling and take your lumps like the rest of us.

Fuel to heat our homes, and purchase gas so we can go to work is more about survival. As the victims of a hurricane face disaster we in the North country face disaster without fuel to heat our homes. Pipes freeze and burst without heat, not to mention human beings freeze as well. Our stadiums and school gyms will fill without heat for home owners and renters. It is a disaster that would move slowly, rather than in a matter of days.

Without proper set up to run alternate forms of heat, we are left with limited choices to ensure our survival through winter. What will the landlord do in the dead of winter should his building's furnace simply break down, and a repair will not be available within the day? Where will his tenants go?

Not all of us are in a financial position to install chimneys and wood stoves, so we look for the next best option. Our household was not fortunate enough to sign for an oil purchasing contract, the $ just wasn't there.

We in the North country can't allow ourselves to accept that our very survival is something to be based on supply and demand. The sudden increase in our fuel costs has caused a very different situation this winter requiring a different approach than just a good business decision. We're all in the same boat on this one. Unfortunately, a contract is a contract and we've been led like sheep to believe this is an acceptable method to deal with the price of fuel.

You signed a contract, do not be mad that you have to live up to your end of the deal.

The local oil company, which has to take a lot of guff over these contracts when the price of fuel goes down, is over a barrel (pun intended). The problem is that they buy oil in the "futures" market when they make these contracts with homeowners, and their suppliers make similar contracts with their suppliers. It's a seemingly endless chain, but that's how business works. In other words, they have contracted with their suppliers for a certain price and are obligated to pay it, just as the homeowner is under their contract and have to pay. It feels awful if the price goes down, and this year it went down a lot further than anyone expected, of course.

The other side of this is that the price could just as easily soar back to where it was in the spring when the contracts were made - or go even higher. No one expected the stock market and the economy to tank and demand for fuel to drop, and now OPEC is cutting production drastically which is bound to have an effect on the price going forward. I lucked out by not signing a pre-buy contract - for now, but who knows what's going to happen. Life is a gamble.

Your frustration is understood. Unfortunately we can never know which way prices will go, you're darned if you do or don't. I'm sorry this has happened to you... but just think about this: Your first mistake was "Following the advice of media..."

Lesson learned? On more than one front, hopefully. Prices could go the other way, very quickly as well.

To anonymous: Yes, greed and me-first is typical of business and economy, on both sides. If you read my entire letter, without self prejudice, you should see that I offered the idea that it is held by the service provider and the consumer, alike.
The me-first attitude is very is omnipresent if you listen and observe people's behavior. Most folks say "me and . . ." ( a "me-first" example and grammatically incorrect) when talking about personal experiences; many drivers blow through stop signs and red lights (even braking the law) because stop means stop FIRST then proceed, but only if the way is clear. That action to stop and give the right of way to others who have that right is a non me-first action. Stealing and other similar actions are clearly an example of the "me-first" philosophy. Maybe someday the world will end its romance of self indulgence and move to a global viewpoint.

Like any other contract, you are gambling that you'll end up better off than if you didn't have it. I was wondering when the first person would complain. I have a feeling this person is not going to get much sympathy from anyone here.

Greed and "me first"? It is called business and economy; plain and simple.

If the prices had gone up, would Mrs. Koch have been the "greedy" one, underpaying for her oil while the oil mans family suffered?

Price controls? Ok Nixon, let's control prices and let the government rule over individual freedom of commerce. Your response reeks of class envy.

People need to understand that their choices determine their outcome. Sometimes we win and sometimes we lose but in the end it generally comes out even.

Mrs. Koch, please stop whining.

I'm sure that if the price of oil continued up (rather than falling) you would not be writing your letter about a terrible contract. However, what you describe is the result of an unfortunate business decision (on your part). While I do agree that the oil industry and foreign suppliers, as a whole, are prime examples of the greed and me-first philosophies, your purchase of a contract to hold the line on price increases is also an example of the same attitudes.
I also agree that the government (primarily federal) should have stepped in years ago to invoke price controls, but that did not happen as there was very poor leadership at the highest levels. Perhaps with the recently elected folks, a new direction will emerge that is consumer friendly rather than so terribly rich and shameless friendly. However, until the greed and me-first philosophies are eliminated, I suspect that experiences such as yours are bound to continue.

So you want to go elsewhere? Then go?
No one is holding a gun to your head. You made the deal now deal with it. I chose not to make that deal.

When are people going to take responsibility for their choices and actions. You gambled, you lost. Grow up and stop whining, please!

BTW, this is a local company, not BIG OIL...please become informed!

Would you have paid the difference to the oil company if the price skyrocketed even more? You locked into a contract - period. The local oil company also locked into the price. It's pretty ignorant to think that they can eat the difference between today's price and your pre-buy price, for every single customer. They are NOT big oil. You agreed to it. Did they know it would go down as much as it did? Are they supposed to lose 100's of thousand of dollars because you made a bad decision?

Grow up! You're the same type of person that's now asking for mortgage help because they overpaid for a house. While the rest of us bought responsibly, and continue to pay back what we borrowed, without whining about it.

This year I didn't pre-buy. But last year I did, and ate it. So what? I can assure you, that "taking your business elsewhere" is gonna produce the same kind of results in future years, when you gamble and lose. NO local company can do what you're asking. If they did, they be out of business in the blink of an eye.

and not "big oil"....It is a locally owned business. Do locally owned gas stations make "jillions" on gas?..I think it's only