Discussion on gas stations

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Silver Cervy

Fair enough, but bear in mind that I haven't even seen the bill yet so no one here knows just how expensive the repairs were according to the dealership. They didn't say that it would be massively expensive, just that the fuel disposal would be the most costly. I know these guys and they know me so I'd like to think that they will give me a fair quote.

You're making it sound like I'm trying to accuse Shell of purposefully contaminating the fuel and breaking my car but I'm not, I know that it's probably an accidental leak. But at the same time we all know that fuel sold in America is not even near the quality of fuel sold in other countries, and that fuel of the same octane can be very different depending on the station you go to. I'm not some wacky conspiracy theorist but the ambiguity of what's actually in the pump leaves room for question.

A fuel pump swap is $1,500 all on it's own! At least that is the price quoted to people that wanted to get one done when out of warranty and the new pump came out.

[Silver Cervy]

I'll say this: if the bill turns out to be egregiously expensive then I'll shut up about the gas stations.

[Silver Cervy]

Here's what he said about the fuel disposal: They'd have to get a man in a truck that works for an independent company to come over and take the fuel away to dispose of it in some manner that they didn't specify.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Silver Cervy

It's not about if I can pay it or not, it's a matter of whether I want to.

I don't really understand why I'm suddenly being portrayed as the villain here. This wasn't meant to be a post about the car bill, just about the gas stations. Are you guys telling me that if your car broke down because of bad gas that you had no way of knowing was bad, you wouldn't at least try to get the responsible party to pay for the damages?

Nobody is trying to make you the villain. Your implication was that they deliberately sold you bad gas and that was my main point of contention.
My other concern is that you were told it was 70% water yet you were able to drive more than a block. You are so focused on trying to place blame on the gas station you are missing (or ignoring) that the extensive repairs were probably not required.


Yes, I would certainly hold the station responsible if I learned I had bad fuel from them. I actually have and told the story on here a year or so ago. You need to get the sample from the dealer, contact the appropriate agency for you State and follow the process. Asking people if they had other complaints is not the way to do this.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Silver Cervy

Here's what he said about the fuel disposal: They'd have to get a man in a truck that works for an independent company to come over and take the fuel away to dispose of it in some manner that they didn't specify.

$50 to $100 as I said before. This is stuff I arrange every single day.

[Silver Cervy]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Nobody is trying to make you the villain. Your implication was that they celebrity sold you bad gas and that was my main point of contention.
My other concern is that you were told it was 70% water yet you were able to drive more than a block. You are so focused on trying to place blame on the gas station you are missing (or ignoring) that the extensive repairs were probably not required.


Yes, I would certainly hold the station responsible if I learned I had bad fuel from them. I actually have and told the story on here a year or so ago. You need to get the sample from the dealer, contact the appropriate agency for you State and follow the process. Asking people if they had other complaints is not the way to do this.

I think you misunderstood me when I said I was going to get proof of complaints. By "complaints", I meant other people whose car broke down because of bad gas they got that day. In other words, I want to see if I'm the only one who was affected by the diluted gas. The ultimate goal is to get them to admit fault and pay for the damages, and if they are getting multiple reports of broken cars from that single day then they will be more pressured to take responsibility. While we've been discussing on here I've been making phone calls and I'm pretty sure I've found the supply company who sells the oil to that specific station.

And as I've been saying, the reason why I was able to get home was because I already had fuel in the tank when I filled up. The water that was in the bad fuel wouldn't have had time to sink down and corrupt the system in a matter of 5 minutes.

I get what you're trying to say though. It is entirely possible that the dealership is being stupid and doing unnecessary things, but I will decide that once I meet the technician in person, see the bill and get a detailed explanation of everything that was done. The only known right now is that the fuel was bad, so that's the immediate problem that I'm trying to take care of.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Silver Cervy

I think you misunderstood me when I said I was going to get proof of complaints. By "complaints", I meant other people whose car broke down because of bad gas they got that day. In other words, I want to see if I'm the only one who was affected by the diluted gas. The ultimate goal is to get them to admit fault and pay for the damages, and if they are getting multiple reports of broken cars from that single day then they will be more pressured to take responsibility. While we've been discussing on here I've been making phone calls and I'm pretty sure I've found the supply company who sells the oil to that specific station.

And as I've been saying, the reason why I was able to get home was because I already had fuel in the tank when I filled up. The water that was in the bad fuel wouldn't have had time to sink down and corrupt the system in a matter of 5 minutes.

I get what you're trying to say though. It is entirely possible that the dealership is being stupid and doing unnecessary things, but I will decide that once I meet the technician in person, see the bill and get a detailed explanation of everything that was done. The only known right now is that the fuel was bad, so that's the immediate problem that I'm trying to take care of.

This is not something you can tackle on your own. If you read all those reports I linked you will see that many stations still denied issues after the government and media went after them. Not sure how you even plan to get others to come forward and how you can weed the real ones out of the crowd that think they have a chance to get a free tank of gas even if they do come forward. There is not one thing you can do as an individual to make them confess even if they did know about the problem. Just pick up the phone and call the proper people with the skills, training and resources to investigate. Every hour that goes past means you have lost that much more chance of them finding anything.

[Silver Cervy]

UPDATE: I spoke on the phone with a supervisor from the fuel supplier of the Shell earlier today (I won't name the company for respect of privacy since they were very nice). After a brief discussion, he admitted that they had accidentally sent out a bad shipment of fuel that had been exposed to a water leak, and I guess it had been delivered just hours before I went to the station. He mentioned that he had received calls from other customers with damage claims but he didn't specify how many. To sum it up, he called it a "lapse of concentration" and was very embarrassed because they hadn't messed up like this before, and he was very apologetic and he said that they would pay for my expenses at the dealership as long as I provided proof of purchase from the Shell station. I sent him a cropped picture of my card history which showed the purchase and gave him the number of the Subaru technician. I still haven't heard from the dealership yet but I'm sure I will tomorrow. It looks like things have finally been settled.

[why?]

Originally Posted by Silver Cervy

UPDATE: I spoke on the phone with a supervisor from the fuel supplier of the Shell earlier today (I won't name the company for respect of privacy since they were very nice). After a brief discussion, he admitted that they had accidentally sent out a bad shipment of fuel that had been exposed to a water leak, and I guess it had been delivered just hours before I went to the station. He mentioned that he had received calls from other customers with damage claims but he didn't specify how many. To sum it up, he called it a "lapse of concentration" and was very embarrassed because they hadn't messed up like this before, and he was very apologetic and he said that they would pay for my expenses at the dealership as long as I provided proof of purchase from the Shell station. I sent him a cropped picture of my card history which showed the purchase and gave him the number of the Subaru technician. I still haven't heard from the dealership yet but I'm sure I will tomorrow. It looks like things have finally been settled.

someone must have really screwed up badly for them to admit it over the phone.