MANCHESTER, NH – Fred Fuller Oil & Propane Co. filed for bankruptcy Nov. 10, according to this Concord Monitor story.
Fuller is New Hampshire’s largest home heating oil delivery service, with customers around the state.
A call to Fuller Oil Tuesday morning to find out what this means for customers was referred to a manager, who was unavailable for comment.
The action tops off what has been a tumultuous year for the Hudson-based company.
In January of 2014 Fuller was inundated with calls from automatic delivery customers who were running low or and running out of oil. At that time Fuller blamed a “perfect storm” of bad circumstances – unseasonably cold weather following a severe storm and a phone system malfunction.
Since then, Fuller’s company was slapped with a $5 million lawsuit by oil supplier Sprague Energy Corp., for non-payment.
WMUR reports court paperwork estimates Fuller has 1,000 to 5,000 creditors. His assets are estimated to be $10 million to $50 million, matching his debt, also an estimated $10 million to $50 million.
Sprague has asked for Fuller’s fleet of oil delivery trucks as compensation.
In January, the state Attorney General’s office set up an emergency hotline due to the volume of customers worried about the status of their pre-paid accounts and lack of oil. Senior Assistant Attorney General James Boffetti began meeting again with Fuller’s attorneys three months ago after news of the Sprague lawsuit went public.
Boffetti heads the Consumer Protection & Antitrust Bureau. He can be reached at (603) 271-3643 or by email at: james.boffetti@doj.nh.gov.
We’ll follow up with more information as soon as we hear back from a Fuller spokesperson.
If you are a Fred Fuller customer and would like to talk about your recent experiences with the company, contact Carol Robidoux at 603-930-0640 or email robidouxnews@gmail.com.