Fuel Testing in Sydney
Submitted: Tuesday, Mar 29, 2011 at 15:16
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Steve D1
Hi all, Does anyone know of a place in
Sydney that does fuel testing. Last Saturday I got a bad tank of ULP. Car didn't even make it out of the driveway of the servo before the first stall.
Got it
home, drained, flushed and replaced fuel filter, and now is all good.
Before doing all this, I rang the supplier / manufacturer, and submitted a claim. today I was notified that the claim was rejected, without even taking a sample of the fuel I drained.
Thanks
Steve
Reply By: Rob! - Tuesday, Mar 29, 2011 at 16:47
Tuesday, Mar 29, 2011 at 16:47
Steve,
if you are going to fight this, you will be doing it for the principle and not the cost. the cost in time and money is going to be huge. There are many issues that will need to be resolved.. For example how can you prove that the sample that you
test is the same as what came out of the bowser.
Now you may win the battle with lengthy arguements, but these lenghty arguements need to be done by a lawyer, and lawyers will certainly not work for free (that's why they become lawyers in the first place)
You would have got a better chance if you got an independant body to take a sample of the fuel, directly from the bowser, on the same day. But you didn't, and the fuel co. know that.
Remember the old innocent until proven guilty. It's up to you to show the proof, and if you lose, you'll be up for the cost of the other's lawyers.
I think, the best thing you can do is
1. do the old "Name and Shame",
2. send a letter to the relevent authorities
3. never buy there again
4. move on.
Good luck.
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: Rob! - Tuesday, Mar 29, 2011 at 16:48
Tuesday, Mar 29, 2011 at 16:48
... I forgot to add. If the fuel was so bad, there must be others who have experienced the same. See if you can find them. That would help your case substantially.
FollowupID:
721953
Follow Up By: Steve D1 - Tuesday, Mar 29, 2011 at 17:07
Tuesday, Mar 29, 2011 at 17:07
Hi Rob.
I do realise that taking it further would be a waste of time & money, I have better things to do. It would have been nice to be re-imbursed for my time, parts and the cost of the fuel I drained.
I was fairly sure my complaint would be dissmissed when I was filling in the forms they sent me when 2 of the questions were
1 do you hold an account / ( name of Co. ) fuel card?
2 is the vehicle a fleet car?
I guarantee if I answered yes to either of these questions, the complaint would have been taken more seriously, at the risk of losing an account. As a private owner they know I won't / can't take it further.
I'm more interested in confirming my conclusion, ( which is black & white ).
Also one of my concerns was what do I do with the fuel that was drained. No one wants to take it, and I don't want to risk using it. Their response was that it wasn't their problem. I think I'll just dump it at the offending servo.
Steve
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: Rob! - Tuesday, Mar 29, 2011 at 17:44
Tuesday, Mar 29, 2011 at 17:44
I think taking the fuel back to the servo is a great idea.
Make sure you put it in a few big yellow (approved) conatiners with a big
sign saying "CONTAMINATED FUEL - BOUGHT HERE ON dd/mm/yy...." and drop it off at their door during peakhour.
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Follow Up By: Kimba10 - Tuesday, Mar 29, 2011 at 17:48
Tuesday, Mar 29, 2011 at 17:48
Same thing happened to my mate. He had the same experience as yourself. After filling the car (coughed and spluttered then stalling in driveway) he went into the servo and questioned the console operator who simply gave him a form to fill out and return, he new straight away it was going to go no where so he bought himself a new small petrol can while he was in there and filled it there and then from the same pump and had video on his phone, so even purchasing the can,filling the can etc he recorded along with receipts. He was 99% sure it was the fuel as he didnt have a single issue with the vehicle prior (fairly new car). Knowing he had all this the fuel company didnt even take it any further and refunded him the cost of fuel,can and after getting it drained and new filter etc he sent them the receipt and was also refunded for that cost. I have picked up dodgy diesel in the old lux but been an old diesel system she just blew smoke ran like a pig lost power etc but it got me
home and I did the same as yourself, and it was from our local servo, I didnt bother with any of the above and copped it sweet but never in 7 years have I been back there and I made sure everyone I new or lived around here that he had crappy diesel and funny enough when you start to mention it people would then say to me, yeah never go there he's known for it.........Would be an interesting experiment if you get another form but this time where they ask are you fleet etc tick the yes boxes and see what happens then ?? unless of course they ask you for other details then you cant go any further................Then if they return your call you can see if you get any further, if not then tell them what a bunch of ***holes they are.......
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