Auction held for defunct oil company

Franklin, Conn. (WTNH) - Frustrated former customers of a bankrupt oil business are still no closer to getting their hard-earned money back.

The assets of Bernie's Oil in New London went up for auction on Thursday.

17 tank trucks, a lot of other smaller trucks and office equipment all went up for auction.

News 8 cameras were the only cameras at the auction where most of the money will go to Washington Trust which financed the now defunct Bernie's Oil.

Proceeds from just three vehicles will go back to the US Bankruptcy court. Bernie's, which shut it's doors without warning this spring owes millions to creditors along with half a million to hundreds of customers who prepaid for oil they never received. However, it's not likely those people will get their money back.

Jeff Suntup's father started Bernie's Oil in 1961. Suntup took over the company when his father died in 1984 and then sold the business to Daniel Groben in 2003. Suntup isn't just upset about the business, he is upset about the condition of the trucks now. "Obviously since we bought them, a lot of them were new," said Suntup who now owns Anytime Fuel Oil . "But when we look at them now, it's kind of heartbreaking to see them in the condition they are."

Seven years later Groben goes bankrupt and Suntup is back into the oil business with this wife Lilly. They bought three trucks at Thursday's Franklin auction for their new company. The trucks keep his dad's philosophy but not his name, especially after what has happened. "Of course we have the transparent pricing and we're always there and Lilly is there everyday," said Suntup. "We'll do anything to keep people from freezing that was always our motto."

One of the first items auctioned off was a list of 6,000 customers. However, the list didn't even sell because the highest bid was $1,000 and they wanted $10,000.