EAST AMHERST, N.Y. (WKBW) — An East Amherst couple is looking for answers after they say an address mix-up delayed National Fuel’s response to a report of a strong gas odor outside their home.
Winford and Joyce Quick have lived in their home for nearly 30 years. They said landscapers working outside recently noticed a strong smell of gas near the back of the property and alerted them.
Joyce walked me through the area where the landscapers first noticed the odor.
“This is the area that they were cutting and trimming,” she said. "One of them came back and he said to them, ‘I think we better tell the owners that we smell gas back here.'"
Winford then called National Fuel Gas.
"And that's when the fiasco started," he said.
The couple says the first representative they spoke with had trouble locating their information and initially told them National Fuel did not serve the home.
They later learned the address information being used for the emergency response did not clearly identify their residence. A responding crew was first sent to a nearby location before eventually arriving at the correct home.
Joyce said she saw the truck coming back down the street and waved the worker over.
"He pulled over, and he got out and he said, ‘I'm so sorry, but I didn't have that address,’" she said.
While they waited, Winford and Joyce stayed outside in their car. Both are in their 80s, and Winford uses a walker.
Joyce said the delay was especially concerning because they did not know how serious the situation could become.
"It was really, it was kind of frightening,” she said. "We thought, why is this taking so long?"
Once the crew arrived, National Fuel says two small leaks were identified — one at the gas meter and another involving a customer-owned connection to the natural gas service. The company says both were addressed and the situation was made safe within an hour of the initial call.
For Winford, one of the most frustrating parts was that the couple has received National Fuel bills at the same home for 30 years.
"I have no problem getting my bill that comes in the mail and all that, and I just don't understand it," he said.
WATCH: ‘I just don’t understand’: East Amherst couple questions National Fuel response after address mix-up
Winford showed me payment confirmations from the account and said he wants the company’s billing and emergency-response systems to be consistent when it comes to identifying a customer’s home.
The couple says their biggest concern is what could happen if another customer faces a more serious leak or has difficulty quickly evacuating.
“We thought that we would share is just to make sure that people realize that this could be very serious if you know you really needed it ASAP, and the gas was escaping and you could be gone,” Joyce said.
In a statement, Karen Merkel, a National Fuel spokesperson, confirmed there was difficulty identifying the Quick home because the address information in its system “did not provide enough specificity to readily identify the location.”
An emergency order was created using a nearby address after additional information was gathered from the customer, which led the field representative to initially respond there.
Once the discrepancy was identified, the worker immediately went to the correct home, which was only a few hundred yards away.
The company says it is now updating the address information for the Quicks as well as other customers on the street to more clearly identify service locations and help prevent a similar situation.
National Fuel also says it treats every report of a natural gas odor as an emergency and averages response times of just under 15 minutes during business hours and just under 17 minutes after hours.
The Quicks say they are thankful no one was hurt, but they hope sharing their experience leads to changes before another family faces a similar situation.
