How should I proceed?

Scottgnh

I had my yearly maintenance for my furnace today. The tech said our line from the oil tank was damaged during the the maintenance and the line needs to be replaced. He quoted me about $ to replace it. My question is am I just gunna have to bite the bullet and pay for it or should the company be on the hook for it? Tech told me it happens from time to time. I don’t know enough to argue that point. Just curious. Thanks in advance

pecmsg

I call BS
Is only 3/8” copper it can be fixed. 

Sounds like you got a salesman
tell the contractor it broke during maintenance they can fix it. If not call a different contractor!

STEVEusaPA

He broke it, he can fix it. What he should've said was, "I broke your oil line while doing maintenance. I fixed it, obviously no charge."
Also, pricing isn't allowed on the forum, but that price is criminal, especially for a repair. I'd call his boss, then maybe my local tv consumer reporter if they don't waive it.

EdTheHeaterMan

Sounds like a call to the manager or owner of the business. Ask them if the mechanic at the car dealer were to smash your car durning an oil change would you just pay for the damage? That is what auto dealers have business liability insurance for. Then ask how is your mechanic damaging my perfectly good oil line any different?

If the oil line was suspect and on its way out, a good mechanic would have brought it to your attention prior the the damage. The mechanic obviously did not believe there was a problem or he would not have touched it.

This reminds me of a customer of many years with a fuel oil line coming up thru the concrete floor in front of the oil boiler. Every year I would do my best to not bend the fuel line at the point where it came out of the concrete. One year I was teaching a trainee how to do oil burner maintenance and BAM, I kicked the line and it broke. I did not know where the oil tank was located or if it even had a valve on it so I plugged the hole in the ground with my thumb and told the trainee to go find the tank and turn it off. I was relieved when he was able to find the tank and that there was a bottom tank valve. (You see, I always turned off the oil at the burner. There was a firo-matic valve just before the fuel filter)

Knowing that this was gong to be a forever problem, I decided to chip up the concrete to get enough fuel line to add a new flare fitting. I then added a union and a flexible braided fuel connector from the union to the firo-matic valve. I included that repair in the price of the maintenance because I was not smart enough the tell the customer that there was a potential problem. The customer knows that he should have a new fuel line from the tank to the burner, but the finished basement makes it impossible to do that job easily.

I was able to place some cement on the flare fitting union to make sure it did not put any torque on the copper. Probably not the best repair but the only movable parts of the fuel line now is flex fuel line. And you can chop up the concrete if you want to service that fitting.

How long have you been a customer of this service provider? Do you have a service plan of any type? Are they your fuel supplier also? See it they make it hard or easy to change to another company.