Office of Fair Trading investigates heater oil price comparision sites

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has ordered two online comparison sites engaging in practices that could be misleading to make changes.

WCF Fuels Ltd and Boiler Juice Ltd, offering price comparisons for heating oil, were investigated for breaches of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations; the law that prohibits aggressive and misleading sales practices.

The OFT found that although WCF Fuels, which runs the fuelfighter site, claimed to compare prices between different products and services, it only quoted prices for its own. It also used false customer testimonials on the site.

Boiler Juice on the other hand did provide price quotations from a range of distributors but the OFT said the site failed to be transparent about its links to parent company DCC plc; which owns GB Oils Limited, the largest heating oil distributor in the UK.

Clive Maxwell, OFT executive director said: "Our investigation has aimed to ensure that any relationships between businesses supplying heating oil and websites are transparent and that the number of prices that have been compared by the website is stated prominently.

"It is important that people can genuinely shop around and make informed decisions about which suppliers to use. The changes that we have secured mean that people buying domestic heating oil will be better able to compare deals on offer."

The OFT said that all the companies involved cooperated fully with its investigations and agreed to make changes to their sites. The directors of both companies have signed formal undertakings with regards to future conduct