A will call account can look harmless on paper: the customer calls when they need fuel, and the office enters an order. But anyone who has worked through a cold snap knows how quickly that arrangement can turn into a missed delivery, an emergency run, or an angry customer who believed someone was watching the tank. Knowing how to track will call customers is less about chasing every account and more about giving your office and dispatch team a clear, repeatable way to see who needs attention.
Will call customers are responsible for requesting delivery, but that does not mean they should disappear from your operational view. A good tracking process protects your margins, keeps trucks productive, and gives staff the facts they need when a customer calls at 4:30 p.m. looking for oil before the weekend.
Why will call accounts create operational risk
Automatic delivery accounts have a schedule. Whether you use degree days, calendar days, or a combination of both, there is a defined process for estimating consumption and putting the customer on a route. Will call accounts do not follow that same pattern. Their delivery timing depends on their attention, their tank gauge, and often their willingness to wait for a better price.
That creates a few predictable problems. A customer may forget to call until the tank is nearly empty. A new office employee may enter an order without seeing a prior note about a difficult driveway, a credit hold, or a preferred delivery day. Two people may take calls from the same customer and create duplicate orders. In the busiest weeks of winter, a handwritten note or loose spreadsheet can easily get overlooked.
The answer is not to treat every will call customer like an automatic account. Some customers prefer will call for good reasons, and forcing a different arrangement can hurt the relationship. The answer is to track their status, history, communication, and open orders in one place.
How to track will call customers with a clear status
Start by making “will call” a visible delivery classification in every customer record. It should not live only in the memory of the person who took the original setup call. When a dispatcher or customer service representative opens the account, they should immediately know whether it is a will call, automatic, budget, cash-on-delivery, or another account type your business uses.
Then add a simple status that tells staff what action is needed. The labels can vary, but the important part is that everyone uses them the same way. A practical set of statuses may include:
- Active will call – no current order and no immediate concern
- Open order – customer has called and delivery is pending
- Scheduled – order is assigned to a delivery date or route
- Delivered – order is complete and the ticket is closed
- Follow-up needed – the account needs a call, payment review, or other action
- Inactive or seasonal – the account is not expected to call during the current period
Avoid vague notes such as “watch this one” or “customer usually calls soon.” Those notes are easy to interpret differently. A defined status tells the next person exactly where the account stands.
For companies with many will call accounts, it also helps to record a follow-up date. This is not a promise to monitor fuel levels. It is an internal reminder to contact an account after a stated period, review an unresolved issue, or confirm whether a seasonal customer still needs service. Use follow-ups selectively. If your staff spends all day calling accounts that have made no request, you are doing automatic-delivery work without automatic-delivery pricing or customer consent.
Keep the details that matter at order time
A customer name and phone number are not enough to run a clean will call operation. Every account should carry the field information and service instructions that prevent unnecessary calls, failed stops, and driver frustration.
Record the tank size and product, usual delivery quantity when known, access instructions, gate codes, dog warnings, driveway restrictions, preferred contact method, and any delivery limitations. Note whether the customer requires a call before delivery or whether someone must be home. If the account is cash-on-delivery or has a credit limit, make that visible before the order reaches the truck.
Delivery history matters just as much. When a customer says, “Bring me what you brought last time,” the office should be able to see the prior gallons, delivery date, price, and ticket notes without searching through paper files. That history helps your team spot unusual requests. If an account normally takes 100 gallons and suddenly requests 300, a quick question can prevent a bad assumption.
Call notes should be specific and dated. “Customer called for 150 gallons, says gauge is at one-quarter, needs delivery before Friday if possible” is useful. “Needs oil” is not. Good notes give dispatch the urgency, quantity, and customer expectation in one glance.
Separate a request from a scheduled delivery
One of the most common causes of missed will call deliveries is treating a phone request as though it has already been dispatched. An order entered into the system is not the same as an order assigned to a truck. Your workflow should show the difference clearly.
When a call comes in, the office should create an order with the requested product, estimated gallons, requested date, pricing terms, payment requirement, and any special notes. The order then remains open until dispatch assigns it to a delivery date or route. Once assigned, staff should be able to see that it is scheduled, not merely requested.
This distinction also helps with customer communication. If a caller asks whether they are “on the list,” your team can answer accurately. They can say the order was received and is pending scheduling, or confirm the planned delivery day. Do not let staff guess, especially during weather events or high-demand periods.
After delivery, close the ticket promptly and make sure the delivered gallons and any driver notes return to the customer record. An open order that was actually delivered creates confusion the next time the customer calls. A completed ticket that never makes it back into the system creates accounting problems and weakens your delivery history.
Build a daily will call review into dispatch
Will call tracking works best when it is part of the normal dispatch routine, not a separate cleanup project that happens when someone has time. Each morning, review open will call orders alongside scheduled deliveries. Look for orders that have been waiting too long, promised dates that are approaching, accounts on hold, and orders that need payment approval before loading.
A short afternoon review is also worthwhile during peak season. Confirm what was delivered, what rolled to the next day, and what customers need an update. If a storm, equipment issue, or supply problem changes the route, call affected customers before they call you. Most customers can accept a delay when they receive a straight answer. They are far less forgiving when no one tells them anything.
The person responsible for this review should be clear. In a small company, it may be the dispatcher or office manager. In a larger operation, customer service may own order entry while dispatch owns route assignment. Either setup can work. What fails is shared responsibility with no final owner.
Use reports to find accounts that need attention
A customer list is not a tracking system unless it can be sorted and reviewed. Your software should let you filter will call customers by open orders, last delivery date, product type, account balance, follow-up date, and service area.
These reports are useful for more than preventing misses. They can identify customers who repeatedly place emergency orders, accounts that have not ordered in an unusual length of time, and customers whose payment issues regularly delay dispatch. That information gives you a chance to improve the account setup or discuss automatic delivery when it truly fits the customer.
Be careful with last-delivery reports, though. A long gap does not automatically mean a customer is in danger of running out. They may have converted to another fuel, moved, installed a larger tank, or simply use less fuel than expected. Treat the report as a reason to review the account, not as proof that a delivery is required.
Make payment and accounting part of the workflow
Will call orders often come with payment questions because the customer is ordering at the point of need. If the account is COD, needs a card on file, or has an overdue balance, staff need that information before the order is scheduled. Finding out after the truck is loaded wastes time and can create an uncomfortable situation at the delivery.
The cleanest process keeps the customer record, open order, payment status, delivery ticket, and accounting entry connected. That reduces double entry and makes it easier to answer basic questions: Was payment taken? Was the delivery posted? Does this account have an open balance? Can this order be released?
Degree Days Online is built for this kind of day-to-day fuel delivery work, including call-in order handling, ticket printing, payment processing, and QuickBooks Online integration. The point is not to add technology for its own sake. It is to keep the information your office, drivers, and bookkeeper need from being scattered across paper tickets, desk notes, and separate programs.
Turn repeat emergencies into better customer conversations
Some will call customers will always wait too long. Track those events. If an account has made three near-empty calls in one heating season, note the pattern and have a practical conversation after the immediate delivery is handled.
Explain the options plainly. Automatic delivery may reduce emergency fees, protect them during severe weather, and remove the burden of watching the gauge. For some customers, a reminder process or a larger minimum delivery may be a better fit. Others may remain will call customers, and that is fine, as long as your team can see their history and handle each order without confusion.
A good will call process does not make promises your business cannot keep. It gives every employee the same current information, makes open orders hard to miss, and lets customers get a clear answer when they need fuel. That is the kind of control that holds up when the phones are ringing and the weather turns cold.