May 14, 2001
Steve St.Laurent
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**************
**************
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****** ******* Petroleum
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To Whom It May Concern:
I filled my truck with diesel fuel at your ***** station in Charlotte, MI on *. ****** and got a bad load of fuel. I have had communications with your company and was told after my last conversation with **** (I talked with him twice) that there was no way I was going to get anything out of you. I filed a complaint today with the Attorney Generals office of Consumer Protection regarding this situation and that complaint is attached to the bottom of this letter. If you would like to attempt to resolve this before they get involved I would be receptive, I can be contacted at either the above numbers or through my office at ***-***-****. Thanks for your time.
Sincerely,
Steve St.Laurent
Attachment:
The complaint you submitted has been recorded.
If you need to reference your complaint, or supply additional information and/or documents in support of your complaint by Email, facsimile or postal mail, refer to your complaint with the following Complaint Identification Number: *********
I have a diesel pickup truck that I use for my personal as well as business use. Due to the possibility of getting bad diesel fuel or having a bad fuel transfer pump, I have installed on my truck a fuel pressure gauge that allows me to check the status of the fuel filter in my truck - a clean filter will show a 0 psi pressure drop across the filter, the dirtier the filter is the higher the pressure drop that will be shown. I regularly check this (every time I drive the truck) to be sure that I'm not starving my injection pump for fuel - as it is a very expensive part to replace ($4000+). I filled my diesel truck up with 18.583 gallons of diesel fuel on May 5th at the station in Charlotte. After leaving the station and getting on I-69 southbound my truck started hesitating going down the road, I checked the fuel pressure gauge and I had a 2 psi restriction across the filter whereas I had none before filling up at that station. I finished my trip that day (180 miles) dealing with the hesitation and stopped back into the station to get the managers name and phone number so I could contact her to discuss the situation. That night I changed my fuel filter (which had 5,000 miles on it, typically changed at 15,000 miles) and had a 0 psi restriction again and the truck started and ran fine, took it out for a test drive within 1 mile it was again hesitating and I again had a 2 psi restriction across the filter. This told me that I had gotten a bad load of fuel from them. My previous fill up had been a week earlier and I had put approximately 300 miles on the truck over that week with no problems. I contacted the station on monday morning and spoke with Debbie, the manager and she put me in contact with Terry of Walter Dimmick Petroleum, he stated that they had no other complaints and wasn't willing to do anything. I contacted a diesel pump shop and they confirmed that it was a bad load of fuel and walked me through the procedure I'd have to take to correct it. This included draining my entire fuel tank (34 gallons worth of diesel fuel that is sitting in my garage in fuel cans) then treating the tank with a biocide (to kill the algae that was in the fuel) along with using a fuel additive to add lubricity to the fuel while running the biocide through the system, then filling the entire tank full, and then change the fuel filter again. Then for the next 3 tank fulls of fuel to run the biocide and the additive and be prepared to change the fuel filter 2 or three additional times because they may clog up with the dead algae. After going through the first step in this procedure (draining the tank, treating and refilling it, and changing the fuel filter) the truck is now running fine and I am continuing with the recommended treatment. I then left a voice mail with ****** Petroleum (who is both the fuel supplier and the owner of the station) to explain that I had verified the problem was there's and that I wanted to be contacted to work out a remedy. Two days later I had not heard back from him so I contacted the station manager again - she understood my frustration and said she would have someone else call me. ***** called me back in approximately two hours very irate over the phone and told me that there was no way I was going to get anything out of them. I told him that I was going to take this to the next level which is when I contacted your office, I was then sent to the Agriculture department as they handle fuel issues. Today I got a letter from the Ag dept stating "You indicated that you experienced a problem with diesel fuel. The Motor Fuels Quality Law, P.A. 44 of 1984 does not establish standards for diesel fuel and the department has no jurisdiction over the quality of diesel fuel at this time." I then contacted your office again explaining the situation and was told to file this complaint. Here are my costs entailed so far (and assuming 1 more filter change and the required additives to finish the treatment):
$54.36 - 34 gallons of contaminted diesel fuel at the shell stations price of $1.599/gal
$100 - 4 fuel filters at $25 ea
$20 - 4 bottles of Stanadyne performance formula additive
$13.49 - BioKleen (biocide)
$55.93 - 7 - 5 gallon fuel cans to store contaminated fuel
$420 - 7 hours of my time @ $60/hr (my hourly rate that I charge my clients), a diesel mechanic would cost $65/hr
For a total of $663.78. The resolution I would like to see is to get reimbursed for my costs of $663.78 and for them to test their tank and treat it so that other owners do not have to go through the frustration that I have. If they wish they can have the contaminated fuel and fuel cans as I have no use for 34 gallons worth of contaminated diesel fuel. I am the President of a diesel truck club (The Great Lakes Turbo Diesel Registry) in the Great Lakes area with over 100 members and am also a staff writer for a national diesel truck magazine (the Turbo Diesel Registry) with over 18,000 subscribers. Someone with less knowledge and resources than I have at my disposal would have incurred MUCH higher costs in remedying this situation. I am hoping to avoid a protest in front of the station along with many other truck owners to warn people fueling at that station of their business practices - but if a satisfactory resolution is not reached that is what will happen. I will of course coordinate that with the local police department to make sure that everything is done in a legal manner and so they can be prepared for the potential traffic congestion. That is why I attempted to talk with them directly and when they were totally uncooperative brought it to you. If you need copies of the receipts please let me know and I will be happy to provide them. Thank you in advance for any assistance you can give me on this.
SCARY!! So I bounced it back over to the Attorney Generals office, filed a complaint with them and then faxed this letter to the fuel supplier - any bets on how long it will take before I get a phone call back?
