Good and Bad both. Rates good on relatively inexpensive or at least somewhat affordable heating repair or service, however the technicians don't wear a uniform or use a company van for you to be able to identify them when they show up. They could be any Tom, Dick or Harry, so ask who they are before you open the door.
Also they seem to be less backed-up than Woodfin and can get to you faster for furnace repair, but the staff is nasty and rude. I do believe that these are NOT actually Southside Fuel employees, but instead outside 3rd party contractors that are hired for an as-needed basis who pay their own taxes, which might account for the non-identifying clothing or vehicles. Either way, Southside should know about the bad attitude as it is still a reflection on them, but they don't seem to care and neither does the technician.
Their oil delivery prices are slightly less than Woodfin's by $10 to $20 total for the same amount, but Southside still isn't the cheapest in town, but Swift Oil and Adams are. Additionally, I have had problems with Southside before - - even for delivery of oil, which when promised a certain day, came 1-2 days later and sometimes phone calls weren't returned either. They are only open half a day on Saturday til 12 or 12:30pm, but they don't even seem to have a dispatch or an on-call service for emergencies. I have called after 12:00 pm on Saturday or left a message Saturday before they closed (with no return call), and so my call wasn't returned until Monday at almost noon. When I needed oil on a Saturday, they were not available, yet Kelleher was, and they came to the rescue. When I complained about the slow service and lack of return calls, it was lightly addressed with an "I'm sorry that happened", and then right on to "what can I do for you today." But then they did it again, so they aren't really sorry and they haven't learned anything. When I mentioned it again, they blew me off and acted like, .... Oh well, what do you want me to do about it.
They do happen to be one of the places listed for Fuel Assistance, but then again so is Woodfin for that matter. If Woodfin wasn't so expensive for furnace repairs, I would use them every time, because I hate dealing with Southside.
Lastly they didn't do the entire job, so while they fixed some things, they didn't check the settings and valves they made adjustment to, so 3 hours after they left - - the PSI's and Temperature (both) were running high. They would not come back that night or even in the morning to fix the problem, but instead wanted to direct me by phone HOW to adjust it myself (a non-technican homeowner) and I know nothing about how that system works. Sloppy and lazy. The one bright side is that I learned something when I was directed by phone what to do, but still only some of that was fixed (and only temporarily), and yet another problem was caused in the process. They turned up the Aquastat for the high/low pressure and the temperature was registering at 225 degrees because the gauge he installed was off a bit (and a used part too) and ALSO because he turned up the high side of the aquastat to almost 200, when it should be set on 180, and also the differential should be set at 20 degrees difference and was set at approximately 15. I did not know these things at first or even what was right (or wrong), but after 4 people have been here to make repairs, I've learned quite a bit about the boiler, so next time maybe I will be a little wiser and not get taken for a ride. Why he turned up the Aquastat high side to 200 is beyond me. Either he wants to get his foot in the door for yet another trip to squeeze more money out of me, or either he changed the setting to test something and forgot to put it back when he was done. Either way it cost me more time, and money, less sleep, more aggravation, and again another boiler problem. By the way, both the high side Aquastat setting and the differential setting was caught or found out by Woodfin, who corrected the problem.
This was a life lesson, I'd rather not repeat. read more