"In defence of Housefuel"

I live in the NW Highlands, and therefore have to pay the 'extended postcode' delivery surcharge. Fair enough. My choice to live here. Still, the per bag price I end up paying compares very favourably with our only realistic alternative suppliers. Some of the moans I have read here seem based on poor communication all round, not just HF. Other moans are about the products - come on people, you get what you pay for! So if you buy 'mixed ovoids' at that low price, you can't expect anthracite performance. If you do the research you'll find price and performance to be pretty much pro rata ie. a coal that costs £400 a ton lasts 33% longer than one that costs £300 and so on. In fact, my own experience is that the more expensive fuels more than pay for themselves. It's also partly down to the appliance that the fuel is burned in - a top brand boiler stove with great controllability is naturally more efficient than an open fire over which there is little control... As to the company's delivery 'system' - yes, not perfect. My delivery day is never what they say, and I always have to phone them to remind HF that our 'logistics'/pallet company, Caledonia Logistics, only deliver on Tuesdays and Thursdays here on the West Coast. But their drivers have always gone the extra mile to drop as close to my front gate as possible, even at considerable inconvenience to themselves, one guy even pushed the non-powered pallet bogey 30m to my front gate! It has taken a while to 'educate' HF staff as to the situation here (I don't think they had often had orders from the northern Highlands when I first used them, though I did read one review from someone in the Outer Hebrides - it's a bloody long way from the English Midlands to the Hebrides!!! With a ferry crossing involved, I doubt the pallet company makes anything from such a delivery, more like a loss) but now I have had 3 or 4 deliveries everything seems to run pretty well. No complaints about any of the products I have tried, although I have had to gamble a bit as it is never worth ordering less than a ton, quite an outlay if I wasn't happy. But so far, so good.

"mixed ovoids not the best"

I have ordered a number of times from this company and have a no issues with the service.

Delivery has not been perfect, but this has been down to the delivery company rather than house fuel. I have not always had the delivery on the date that i have selected but arrived the next working day, twice i have had the excuse that the truck has broken down! this would be an issue if i was working the next day because of this i usually pick a day when i have 2 days off in a row.

As for the mixed ovoids , i have not been that impressed with them. The price is great, you would be be hard pressed to get a ton of coal for the price. But I found that they were not as hot as other fuels and produced more ash than i would have liked. People need to take note that each fuel will burn differently depending on the appliance, so what might not be suitable for my stove may be suitable for yours.

This season i have ordered the smokeless ovals which so far i found far superior for my stove.

"Dreadful Customer Service, Lies, Obfuscation and They Don't give a Fig About You"

Ordered two pallets for delivery to farm where we have double gates off a public tarmac road (cul-de-sac) onto full hardstanding, and which would be a good place to turn an 18 tonne truck round, then pallet truck 15' into shed. Website says, delivery kerbside (drop point is about 10' from the kerb in the concreted yard - couldn't be an easier drop if you tried). Called as I had no notification about delivery and to ask for drop as above. Told would be called an hour before delivery (live a mile away). No call of course. Called later only to be told delivery had been made. Pallets dropped not a kerbside, but in the main entrance to the farmyard. Called Housefuel. Loads of BS words on how they can try and call deliverer but can't get through blah blah blah - just passing the buck and making excuses. Told them breach of contract and to refund and pick up. They said it would cost £90 for them to do that. I said I may well sue for breach of contract. What a shambolic customer service. I have bought from them before and have to stomach the 3 or 4 marketing calls throughout the year trying to flog me fuel. I will NEVER buy from them again. AVOID.

"No issues with product but poor P.R. and extremely disappointed with attitude"

very disappointed with my recent contact with House Fuel. Have been a customer in the past and saw they had a price promise on their website. As I'd seen what I normally order from them at £50 cheaper I contacted them and was told they'd check it out within 10 minutes and ring me back.
1 hour later after staying by the phone I rang them back to be told as it was a sale price I'd seen they wouldn't honour the price promise (would have been better to put that on their webpage) Unless I'd rung them back they wouldn't have got in touch with me!!
Bad P.R. Housefuel - price promise a joke but even worse your lack of communication
Needless to say I ordered from elsewhere

"Efficient delivery on time"

Efficient delivery on time

"Pallet issues and some bags not sealed well. Coal not tried yet"

The Superheat is always good so I assume it is the same as I have not used it yet from this batch. Some of the bags where not sealed very well and opened as we moved them which also made the delivery more problematic. However the pallet that it was on was obviously well used and fell apart before it could be put in place and because of this the coal slid forward from the pallet. This meant that it was only just in a safe place. The driver was as helpful as usual.

"Shocking service;"

Shocking service;

My order was placed 3 weeks ago, I emailed to tell them that the largest vehicle that could access our property was a 7.5 tonne vehicle. Day of delivery I was called by someone in an 18 tonne vehicle, the notes on delivery had not been passed on.Told delivery would still be that day.No delivery, I was then told it would be the next day, again no delivery, I was then told that the depot had told them they could not deliver to us in a 7.5 tonne vehicle and could either pay an additional £60 for the coal delivering by van in two trips or I could cancel my order and pay £37.80 to return the pallett to them!! I told them we have 7.5 tonne vehicles deliver to us on a regular basis but they still refused!! After speaking to a very unhelpful customer services adviser who was stuck on a loop insisting we pay the return fee which we refused to do, and a letter to them advising them of the legalities of what they were trying to do, spoke with a manager who agreed that yes we should have a refund in full and that day. This was the 7th of April, I then got an email saying I would have to wait for the refund until the coal was delivered back to their depot, which again I emailed saying a manager had said it would be refunded straight away. After another email today asking where the refund is, I was told it was refunded yesterday!!I have since had a delivery from ace energy.....and guess what, it arrived on a 7.5 vehicle and when they said it was going to!!

"Terrible experience."

Terrible experience.

Seems the transport company they use are at fault most of the time but the customer services is non existent when something goes wrong.

I asked for a smaller truck (7.5 tonne) to deliver my goods which they failed to do, lied about calling me when the driver had some sort of issue.

The driver had lied about ringing me and 2 of the customer service agents cut me off as they wanted me to pay for the cancellation. Spoke to a manager (Natasha) who fully justified the process and agreed I would need to pay for the goods to be cancelled.

Absolutely awful experience, lacks any sort of common sense and customer service skills.

They're not the cheapest suppliers out there so can get better value for money elsewhere so avoid the headache of having to deal with this company in case something goes wrong.

"Have used 3 times before delivery…"

Have used 3 times before delivery drivers very helpful fuel burns well good heat output however this time booked a 8/1 time slot as have to have it delivered to road side and barrow it up into garage .Turned up at 3 was on a night shift so had been waiting all day and then had to rush to get it shifted before leaving at 6 for my shift .I know they say it's 98% successful but in the cases when it's not they should refund the money you paid extra to have a set time slot !!

"Ordering and delivery ok"

Ordering and delivery ok, heat output poor. Selected mixed ovoids purchased. Heat output poor compared to similarly priced ovoids from various other suppliers. Original review on their website has mysteriously disappeared.