Via the Orange “Alert us” button, many of you are surprised at the price of fuel oil on the day of delivery. It is sometimes more expensive than when you placed the order. If they don’t have any stocks, the deliverers charge the price of the day, and that’s completely legal.
If you place an order for heating oil today, you will see that the official price per liter is 1€19. But if this fuel oil is delivered within a week, this price will probably have changed, perhaps upwards. And in most cases, it will be passed on to the customer. Which surprises Michael, who sent us this message: “Is it normal for the customer to bear the fluctuation between the day of the order and the delivery, when he has no control over the organization of the delivery rounds?”.
It all really depends on when the supplier is going to buy your fuel oil.
“Some retailers don’t have the option to buy their product in advance, so the product that they will deliver in 10 days, they will buy it in 10 days, so it is impossible for them to set a price in advance , because they may buy it 100 euros more expensive or 100 euros cheaper”underlines Bernard Ory, the director of an oil delivery company.
And if retailers have to pay this difference themselves, they will be working at a loss. For the customer, it is therefore a risk to be taken. Your heating oil may be a little more expensive, or a little cheaper at the time of delivery.
It is possible to lock the price
But is it legal? This is the question Bernard asked us: “My delivery person informs me that he cannot provide us with fuel oil at the price on the day of the order but at the price on the day of delivery, two days later. If the price increases too much, how will I pay the difference? Is it legal?”.
We asked a lawyer about it. It is actually legal. In any case, if the merchant has not undertaken to deliver it at a certain price. If he made a price promise at the time of the order, he is obliged to respect it.
This fixing of the price, on the day of the order, is practiced by some of the biggest deliverers. “We block the price and we guarantee it, whatever the day of delivery, in a week or in 10 days, because we have the possibility when we sell it, to buy it, so I cover myself compared to my sale price on my purchase price”explains Bernard Ory.
It’s less risky. But also less advantageous, in the event that the price is ultimately lower on the day of delivery.