Ballard Oil Co

Horrible customer communications. I called them because I found their number on paperwork at my rental’s furnace. Don’t be fooled by their pricing. GENESEE Fuel & Heating will match. Terrible phone manner and lack of follow through. Cancelled order placed. Glad I did. GENESEE delivered in just 3 days!

THESE GUYS ARE THE BEST. PERIOD.
Why would you put up with the lack of customer service at Sound Oil when you can get everything you need (with a smile!) from the helpful people at Ballard Oil?
I’ll never go anywhere else. Thank you, Ballard Oil, for your amazing customer service at a very frustrating and cold time in our house. I’ll be telling everyone about you!

Was planning to sign up for Ballard Oil based on their advertised price, but I decided to google them first. Discovered that they sued to help create the Missing Link on the Burke-​Gilman Trail in Ballard. Based on that, I decided that my money should go elsewhere. I’m not going to help this business endanger the people of Seattle.

WARNING — Ballard is the only oil company that quotes prices less tax. This artificially deflates their price. They are the only oil company that post prices online, but when shopping around, the other oil companies quote pricing with tax included. Keep this in mind.
Usually the the best deal on home heating oil in Seattle. Ballard Oil’s primary business is buying and selling fuel for marine sales. They buy so many varieties of fuel from so many sources, they are constantly getting competitive inventory. Whereas some of the heating oil retailers in Seattle buy only heating oil, in relatively low volumes, only a couple times a year. And they often buy on futures or take inventory when prices may be low, such as early Spring. The problem is if prices slide after they set their inventory, they are selling at a high price.
Today, for example, the home heating oil vendors are selling heating oil about 40 cents/​gallon more than Ballard. Ballard’s price is just about the same as the current good price for Off road diesel (on road, off road diesel and home heating oil in our market are the exact same thing except on road diesel has about 35 cents of added road tax). The reason the home heating oil guys are off by 49 cents is they probably locked their price 6 months ago. Be a smart consumer.

I’ve been getting home heating oil delivery from them for a few years. They are always by far the cheapest around, and the only ones who post the price on their website. I love it.
I had an issue with my order this year and they quickly went out of their way to make it right. Great service

Companies like Ballard Oil make me really miss living there. They have small town charm which I love. I’ve used them off and on for about 7 years.
Say you’re a renter like me and have no idea which way is up with a furnace because this is the first time you’ve used heating oil. And let’s say that you run out of oil routinely because of poor planning and general freeze-​assery during colder winter months. Well, you may have issues getting heat when you need it most.
In the most dire of times when I was positive that my furnace was on the fritz, Ballard Oil offered comforting advice, talking me through things, and helping me to make rational decisions when I was clearly incapable of doing so. The technicians have spent time on the phone with me trouble shooting to find my issue. Whether it’s servicing the furnace, replacing filters, or simply buying some oil, I’ve always found them to be helpful. They’ve also been honest with me about service calls, letting me know ahead of time whether something could possibly cost overtime so I can decide what to do.
If you’re strapped for cash, you can pick up a few gallons in person. As with all oil, the more you buy, the better the price. They also try to be efficient by ensuring they have a full route before delivering oil, which I appreciate. Over the years, I can honestly say that most of what I know about my furnace and heating oil has come from the folks who work at Ballard Oil.

Ballard Oil checked our furnace after it was having problems. Someone came over, went into crawlspace for about 5 minutes, did nothing, and then charged us $ 40. Don’t use this company.

Ballard Oil circa 2012: I reviewed Ballard Oil a couple years ago (see below) telling everyone I could how great these folks are. Once again, I’d like to say that Ballard Oil is outstanding in their honest, straight forward business practices. This time (March 2012), when I expressed concern about the price of fuel oil and asked if the price would likely be lower in a couple months, I once again got a straight answer from their highly professional and personable staff member.
All the reasons I originally opted for Ballard remain valid. Great personnel, fair prices, excellent service, and honest, honest, honest. Gotta love ‘em. As a homeowner it is such a pleasure to work with a business that puts integrity first.
10/​12/​2010 (5 stars) «An outstanding company. We were originally with Olson Energy and way overpaid for our heating oil (we were „locked in“ at over $ 4 a gallon in 2008 even when the standard price fell dramatically). Ballard has a great staff, is a union shop (which we like) and still charges less for oil. In addition, their furnace servicing staff (Arlie) are much more thorough and even taught us some important safety details about our heating system. As this is the first time we’ve had an oil furnace, we knew doodily squat about it, but thanks to Arlie, we feel much safer and informed. Ballard folks are personable, have a great work ethic, are trustworthy, and I would recommend them to anyone.
K M Lake»