Anyone been reimbursed for bad gas?

[cruizin01]

Rant...

 

So about a month ago, I ran by the Sunoco station on Waggoner rd which is right by my house. Filled up the wifes X3 and got some gas for the mower. $63 worth. By the time I got home the car had a slight miss. I thought "that's weird" but left it alone.

 

In the a.m my wife gets ready to leave for work and comes back in saying her car is shaking and the check engine light is on. She takes my car and I figure Ill mess with it before I leave. I go out and start it up and its barely running. Spitting and sputtering like Ive never heard. I could barely get it to move. So I arrange it in the driveway so that it could be towed. As I do this it clears up just enough that it seems driveable, so I go ahead and drive it into my work. (dealership)

 

I have a friend pull some gas out of it and let is settle in a bottle. It definitely didn't have all gas in it. So we drain the tank and push some fresh gas in it. Runs great now no problems.

 

We determined that the water or whatever settles in the bottom which it did overnight and then when she started it in the morning that it was all water or whatever that caused it to run poorly but once I moved it around it mixed enough to be driveable.

 

So at this point I'm glad its fixed but Id like to at least get my $$ back for the fuel. So I email Sunoco's customer service. (CUSTOMERFIRST is their slogan) They have me call in and give all my info about what happened. They lead me to believe they have a 3rd party company that will call me in a few days to arrange a solution.

 

Almost a week go by and I get a call from the gas distributor. Beck Supplier. They are the distributor and franchise dealer I guess for the owner of the gas station. He lets me know that Franklin County Weights and measures came out 5 days after I pumped my gas and that the gas checked out fine... Well first off, how much gas has been pumped in 5 days at this station is my question? The best he can guess is between a 1000-1500 gallon of gas. So of course everything checked out fine. I tell him my whole story and that I'm certain something was in the gas. He claims to have called the station owner and will get back to me. I told him I'm very easy going and am just looking to get my $63 dollars back..

 

I gave it several more days and never heard back from him. I do eventually get a call from Sunocos claims company "ESIS" who lets me know that Sunoco is NOT responsible for anything related to my situation and that is comes down solely to the distributor and station owner.

 

So I've called and left 2 voicemails to Beck and have yet to receive a call back.

 

I keep going back and forth about just leaving it alone and going about my business because I don't really care about the $$ but the situation just rubs me the wrong way about how 3 companies can pass the buck and no one wants to take responsibility. I could have a $1k bill I'm trying to get paid for but all I'm asking for is $63 f'ing dollars.

 

Anyone been in a similar situation?

 

Thanks for reading.

[RC K9]

That's what we have become as a society these days. Skirt responsibility. That's a shame man. Your story aggravates me as well. I wonder if any other complaints have been filed in the same general time period from other customers.

[zeitgeist57]

You did WAAAY more than I admit I would do. I've had bad gas experiences with BP in the past so I swear off it, but I know everytime I fill up at pretty much any station (even Shell/Sunoco) I'm taking a gamble.

 

Saving up for a Tesla...

[Geeto67]

did you take a pic of the fuel and water settled out at the time that it occured? If not, how do you intend to prove to them that you got bad gas?

 

I will say this from my days of representing franchise businesses, for every legitimate claim there is also false claim filed, so often these cases come down to how you can prove that you got bad gas. having a picture with a time/date stamp (like one taken with a cell phone) close in time to the purchase is one way. having a repair bill from a shop that states bad fuel as the reason is another. If you have some proof beyond your word, send it to them and make a demand for the cost of the fuel. If you don't then I don't know what to tell you.

[cruizin01]

That's what we have become as a society these days. Skirt responsibility. That's a shame man. Your story aggravates me as well. I wonder if any other complaints have been filed in the same general time period from other customers.

 

I posted on the Blacklick FB page and their was another guy in a GTI that got premium fuel the same day and had the same issue.

 

Then 2-3 weeks after their was another complain that Franklin County received and they went out and checked it. Luckily for them it was the next day and it checked fine.. So hard to say if it was legit.

 

did you take a pic of the fuel and water settled out at the time that it occured? If not, how do you intend to prove to them that you got bad gas?

 

I will say this from my days of representing franchise businesses, for every legitimate claim there is also false claim filed, so often these cases come down to how you can prove that you got bad gas. having a picture with a time/date stamp (like one taken with a cell phone) close in time to the purchase is one way. having a repair bill from a shop that states bad fuel as the reason is another. If you have some proof beyond your word, send it to them and make a demand for the cost of the fuel. If you don't then I don't know what to tell you.

 

All points legit. I did keep the sample for a week or so and asked in the beginning if it was necessary to keep my sample. I was never led to believe it was going to matter one way or another. I should have known better but I still don't think it would matter at this point unless I wanted to get legal.

 

I WISH they would say they are denying my request because I don't have a legit repair order or any proof of what I'm saying. That would at least lead me to believe they have a system in place for request of this nature. Instead they are just ignoring my calls and pushing the blame to the other party.

[Geeto67]

 

 

All points legit. I did keep the sample for a week or so and asked in the beginning if it was necessary to keep my sample. I was never led to believe it was going to matter one way or another. I should have known better but I still don't think it would matter at this point unless I wanted to get legal.

 

I WISH they would say they are denying my request because I don't have a legit repair order or any proof of what I'm saying. That would at least lead me to believe they have a system in place for request of this nature. Instead they are just ignoring my calls and pushing the blame to the other party.

 

They do have a system in place for these kind of things, and sometimes the waiting game is part of it. Remember it costs them money to do anything to resolve this, so if they do nothing and you go away, then it costs them nothing. Being slow to get back to you and hope you don't take it further and go away is one step in the process. You being persistent that you were wronged and maybe start writing them letters detailing that you made a complaint, someone else made a similar complaint same in time, and that you offered a sample and disposed of the sample when they told you it was not necessary, are ways to continue to be annoying enough.

 

The other side of this is that the people who commit fraud with these types of things know that it pays to be a pain in the ass and usually keep chugging as well.

 

Without taking it to small claims court - certified letter writing is pretty much it for what you can do. send them a bunch of letter certified mail and see if it gets traction. They will think you are putting together a case for small claims court and may handle it to get it out of the way before they have to file a claim with their insurance and insurance hires a lawyer, and their rates go up.

[cruizin01]

They do have a system in place for these kind of things, and sometimes the waiting game is part of it. Remember it costs them money to do anything to resolve this, so if they do nothing and you go away, then it costs them nothing. Being slow to get back to you and hope you don't take it further and go away is one step in the process. You being persistent that you were wronged and maybe start writing them letters detailing that you made a complaint, someone else made a similar complaint same in time, and that you offered a sample and disposed of the sample when they told you it was not necessary, are ways to continue to be annoying enough.

 

The other side of this is that the people who commit fraud with these types of things know that it pays to be a pain in the ass and usually keep chugging as well.

 

Without taking it to small claims court - certified letter writing is pretty much it for what you can do. send them a bunch of letter certified mail and see if it gets traction. They will think you are putting together a case for small claims court and may handle it to get it out of the way before they have to file a claim with their insurance and insurance hires a lawyer, and their rates go up.

 

All legit but just a very poor way of doing business. I know in my environment it would be very simple to take care of this situation to keep a "customer" than force them to attempt legal action and hope they don't. Regardless whether it was 100% cut and dry as to who's fault it was. At this point Ill go about my business by choosing not to purchase Sunoco fuel and maybe write some piss poor reviews online about my experience with each company.

[Supplicium]

Rant...

 

So about a month ago, I ran by the Sunoco station on Waggoner rd which is right by my house. Filled up the wifes X3 and got some gas for the mower. $63 worth. By the time I got home the car had a slight miss. I thought "that's weird" but left it alone.

 

In the a.m my wife gets ready to leave for work and comes back in saying her car is shaking and the check engine light is on. She takes my car and I figure Ill mess with it before I leave. I go out and start it up and its barely running. Spitting and sputtering like Ive never heard. I could barely get it to move. So I arrange it in the driveway so that it could be towed. As I do this it clears up just enough that it seems driveable, so I go ahead and drive it into my work. (dealership)

 

I have a friend pull some gas out of it and let is settle in a bottle. It definitely didn't have all gas in it. So we drain the tank and push some fresh gas in it. Runs great now no problems.

 

We determined that the water or whatever settles in the bottom which it did overnight and then when she started it in the morning that it was all water or whatever that caused it to run poorly but once I moved it around it mixed enough to be driveable.

 

So at this point I'm glad its fixed but Id like to at least get my $$ back for the fuel. So I email Sunoco's customer service. (CUSTOMERFIRST is their slogan) They have me call in and give all my info about what happened. They lead me to believe they have a 3rd party company that will call me in a few days to arrange a solution.

 

Almost a week go by and I get a call from the gas distributor. Beck Supplier. They are the distributor and franchise dealer I guess for the owner of the gas station. He lets me know that Franklin County Weights and measures came out 5 days after I pumped my gas and that the gas checked out fine... Well first off, how much gas has been pumped in 5 days at this station is my question? The best he can guess is between a 1000-1500 gallon of gas. So of course everything checked out fine. I tell him my whole story and that I'm certain something was in the gas. He claims to have called the station owner and will get back to me. I told him I'm very easy going and am just looking to get my $63 dollars back..

 

I gave it several more days and never heard back from him. I do eventually get a call from Sunocos claims company "ESIS" who lets me know that Sunoco is NOT responsible for anything related to my situation and that is comes down solely to the distributor and station owner.

 

So I've called and left 2 voicemails to Beck and have yet to receive a call back.

 

I keep going back and forth about just leaving it alone and going about my business because I don't really care about the $$ but the situation just rubs me the wrong way about how 3 companies can pass the buck and no one wants to take responsibility. I could have a $1k bill I'm trying to get paid for but all I'm asking for is $63 f'ing dollars.

 

Anyone been in a similar situation?

 

Thanks for reading.

 

 

YOOOO Text mE I had this happen on 4/28 at that SAME Sunoco.

 

So on 4/28 Saturday morning I filled up a 2017 Audi Q5 with "ultra" complete empty tank. I drove down waggoner about a mile and the car went into limp mode and would not let me go over 10mph. I got it towed to Byers, the immediately knew it was bad gas and drained all 60$ worth of fuel. After settling it was clearly half water. I took my bill and receipts to the gas station. They denied it being possible so I called the Weights and Measures department at 6pm no answer, left a voicemail. They called me at 7am and asked what pump number I was at I said 5 and he sent a crew to test the station, they were there by 8am. All there checks came back good and the gas logs showed they actually tested the gas load before the gas load I filled up with. So the load before and after mine was tested and both came out good. So they could not help me unless other people made reports. They also would not test the gas sample from my car because it was out of their control. If I was you I would have them test your gas straight from your car before it gets drained by the dealer. This along with my report and Im sure there are others now maybe we could win.

Edited May 17, 2018 by Supplicium

[cruizin01]

small update.

 

I left a 1 star review on google for Beck Suppliers, which in return they responded to immediately asking for more information.

 

So I sent them my information and Andrews info. We'll see if that amounts to anything.

[Cordell]

Used to go to that station all the time, I guess my suspicions of them not keeping up on the place were right. Shame you had to deal with that, it's shitty. Had my card skimmed at the Speedway just down from there. I'm about ready to move, this is just yet another annoying thing about the area.

[Richard Cranium]

I have my doubts if this is helpful, but I used to install underground tanks. Some were gas stations. For most all of them we installed monitoring equipment that would measure the amount of gas in the tank, and had a separate float sensor that would tell if there was water in the tank. I think they might have been mandatory to prevent corrosion of the tank. The ones we installed were by a company called Veeder-Root. Ours would print out a receipt tape periodically with the status of the tank. I wonder if you requested to see their records if that would have any effect.

[Supplicium]

Used to go to that station all the time, I guess my suspicions of them not keeping up on the place were right. Shame you had to deal with that, it's shitty. Had my card skimmed at the Speedway just down from there. I'm about ready to move, this is just yet another annoying thing about the area.

 

Same I live across the street from the Sunoco, I am putting my house up for sale in a month. When I first moved there I left my credit card at the sunoco cashier, didnt realize it for like 5 days and went in there and they had it no problems. So since then I always gave them business even when the fresh market opened I would go to Sunoco.. not anymore..

 

I have my doubts if this is helpful, but I used to install underground tanks. Some were gas stations. For most all of them we installed monitoring equipment that would measure the amount of gas in the tank, and had a separate float sensor that would tell if there was water in the tank. I think they might have been mandatory to prevent corrosion of the tank. The ones we installed were by a company called Veeder-Root. Ours would print out a receipt tape periodically with the status of the tank. I wonder if you requested to see their records if that would have any effect.

 

They do have a system like that at this station. Franklin County/Columbus Weights and Measures checked for corrosion everywhere and didnt find it. If the system works as it should then the station blatantly sold bad gas

[El Karacho1647545492]

Not me, but when I sold cars i had a client in an Abarth drive down to Louisiana to visit family. They even called ahead of time to ask if it was ok to put regular in. They've got knock sensors and will detune if they sense bad gas so I said it was fine but to really try to go to gas stations in populated areas and use premium when possible.

 

 

They stopped in BFE and filled up with premium. Locals knew that the Premium pumps were actually full of diesel, but they didn't know that til they got to the road and the engine died.

 

 

Long story short, they had to hire a lawyer but the LA FIAT dealer came through big time with a loaner car for the week they were down there, got the new motor installed, and had them home in their own car. Lawyer found that the gas station hadn't been properly inspected in 5 years. Sued and won, my customer had nothing out of pocket except for all the gifts they bought for me (coordinating roadside assistance on a Saturday night when I was drunk and partying), the LA FIAT dealer, and the attorney.

[Not Brian]

I put BP gas in my Mustang a few years ago and a day later started hearing a random ticking noise from the engine. Changed the oil, tick was still there. Filled up with Shell, tick still there. Could be 100% coincidence, but I avoid BP at all costs.