Oil Co. Cries Foul Over College Deal
When the Colleges of Worcester Consortium chose C.K. Smith as a fuel oil supplier for members of its purchasing group for the 2008-2009 heating season, it seemed like a simple deal. The organization has helped arrange discounts on all kinds of bulk purchases for its members and the process usually goes smoothly.
But after C.K. pre-bought enough oil on July 31, 2008 to supply eight consortium members, prices dropped dramatically. In the end, says Fran LaPorte, customer service manager for C.K. Smith, five of the members didn’t actually order or pay for the oil the company had purchased, presumably going elsewhere for their heating needs. And now, he says, the company is left with “a couple million gallons” of oil sitting unclaimed at storage facilities.
The Consortium insists that neither it nor its members did anything wrong. The agreement it signed with C.K. Smith specifically says that it doesn’t guarantee a volume to be ordered, though it does indicate how much oil the members of the purchasing group used in the previous year.
To LaPorte, though, the situation violates the intent of the agreement. LaPorte said C.K. Smith received binding contracts from three members — the Bancroft School, Worcester Academy, and Quinsigamond Community College. Then it sat waiting for five others, Anna Maria College, the Worcester Art Museum, the YMCA of Greater Worcester, the YWCA of Central Massachusetts and Notre Dame Academy.
Representatives from those institutions either declined to comment for this story or did not return phone calls. The Consortium offered comment for this story only via e-mail, stating that the terms of the contract with C.K. Smith were very clear and that “quantity is not guaranteed.”
LaPorte said C.K. Smith has contacted lawyers about the situation but doesn’t know if it will file a lawsuit.
“We’ve always had very, very good business relations with those people, and we certainly don’t want to cause any kind of a firestorm here to jeopardize this,” he said.
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