Asda - Contaminated Petrol

margarert

I am a lady of habit and only buy my petrol from Asda in South Ruislip Middlesex, i only ever use pump 6 and fill up on average every other week. Some weeks ago i was the first to fill up, a top up fill as i was travelling to Luton on the day, two days later my car signalled engine failure. Once the car was booked in to Vauxhall Main dealer they then had the vehicle for 10 days, the main issue being that they found contaminated petrol and the car has to be drained, cleaned, refilled and then finally driven some miles by the dealership to check all was ok. I advised Asda straight away and after two phone called (first they lost all my information) they logged the complaint and would investigate. I then chased by phone and email continually with no real updates.  Meantime the garage has cost around £385.00, i only bought the car in March just before lock down.
I advised Asda of the cost, that i had a report from the dealership and that they were happy to converse with them on the matter, sample of the contaminated patrol and proof of all my petrol transaction (paid on one credit card) my car was also Serviced not long before so again a record of the mileage against Petrol bought would be easily clear to see no other fill up were done elsewhere. They were not interested and said their findings were negative. I asked about who their ombudsman was and they said they do not have one and deal with their customers direct!  i am now trying via the small claims court as it was such a large cost to something that was not my fault. What else can i DO?

Sandtree

What written evidence do you have that it was contaminated petrol? What was the petrol contaminated with? 

There are two types of ombudsman out there, there is the type that is created from an act of parliament who's powers are either directly enshrined in law or are devolved from a regulator (eg the Financial Ombudsman) and companies have no choice but to follow what they say. Others are voluntary/commercial in nature and often operate as a membership club... they have no powers in law and if a company doesnt want to follow their ruling the worst they can do is end their membership. Some are a little more powerful because they are well known and membership may be a criteria people use when choosing who to buy from but others are pretty much nothing.

Retail does have a self styled "ombudsman" - though they have started to drop the term and go by "alternative dispute resolution" - but its very very much in the later camp and so both parties have to agree to their involvement.

Before going to court you will need to issue Asda a letter before action giving them a fixed reasonable timeframe for resolution. My concern for you will potentially be the lack of evidence that the fuel was contaminated... they will presumably point out that another 200 cars used that pump after you that day and no one else had an issue therefore the root cause was probably something else and the garage has just gone for an easy diagnosis - that said you may well get an out of court settlement as its not worth their time to fight it.

Aylesbury_Duck

As it was some weeks ago, they will have presumably have a whole load of similar complaints from the hundreds of others who used that garage.  I think you're going to have a hard time proving the fault was Asda's, but send them a letter before action and try your luck in the small claims court if they don't agree to help.

daveyjp

Contaminated fuel means nothing without proper evidence including lab tests.

What was actually wrong with the vehicle that cost almost £400 to fix?  How old is the car?  How many miles?

Another post which started off with 'contaminated fuel'.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6174849/epc-limp-mode-fuel-contamination/p1

unholyangel

Sandtree said:

What written evidence do you have that it was contaminated petrol? What was the petrol contaminated with? 

There are two types of ombudsman out there, there is the type that is created from an act of parliament who's powers are either directly enshrined in law or are devolved from a regulator (eg the Financial Ombudsman) and companies have no choice but to follow what they say. Others are voluntary/commercial in nature and often operate as a membership club... they have no powers in law and if a company doesnt want to follow their ruling the worst they can do is end their membership. Some are a little more powerful because they are well known and membership may be a criteria people use when choosing who to buy from but others are pretty much nothing.

Retail does have a self styled "ombudsman" - though they have started to drop the term and go by "alternative dispute resolution" - but its very very much in the later camp and so both parties have to agree to their involvement.

Before going to court you will need to issue Asda a letter before action giving them a fixed reasonable timeframe for resolution. My concern for you will potentially be the lack of evidence that the fuel was contaminated... they will presumably point out that another 200 cars used that pump after you that day and no one else had an issue therefore the root cause was probably something else and the garage has just gone for an easy diagnosis - that said you may well get an out of court settlement as its not worth their time to fight it.

Other way around It was ADR at it's inception but companies looking to cash in on the opportunity named their company as ombudsman. 

Nice to see TRO haven't changed their shady practices though. They were ripped to shreds on here when they started as they were doing all sorts of unlawful and shady stuff. The only one I remember off the top of my head is binding consumers to their decisions though - which is something they simply cannot do in law (even decisions from government ombudsman services are not binding on the consumer) because only a court of law can give any sort of binding decision on a matter. 

They're now claiming to be government approved. Being registered as an ADR provider does not mean they have government approval. It would be wildly inappropriate for the government to approve paid for services of a private company. It would be like an accountant or solicitor claiming to be government approved all because they're registered for AMLS.


Eh sorry, went off on a tangent there. I agree with the rest - the fuel was contaminated...but with what? What was wrong with the engine? Did they have to repair the engine? Is there anywhere you (OP) can post (local facebook group perhaps) to see if anyone else was affected? 

custardy

margarert said:

I am a lady of habit and only buy my petrol from Asda in South Ruislip Middlesex, i only ever use pump 6 and fill up on average every other week. Some weeks ago i was the first to fill up, a top up fill as i was travelling to Luton on the day, two days later my car signalled engine failure. Once the car was booked in to Vauxhall Main dealer they then had the vehicle for 10 days, the main issue being that they found contaminated petrol and the car has to be drained, cleaned, refilled and then finally driven some miles by the dealership to check all was ok. I advised Asda straight away and after two phone called (first they lost all my information) they logged the complaint and would investigate. I then chased by phone and email continually with no real updates.  Meantime the garage has cost around £385.00, i only bought the car in March just before lock down.
I advised Asda of the cost, that i had a report from the dealership and that they were happy to converse with them on the matter, sample of the contaminated patrol and proof of all my petrol transaction (paid on one credit card) my car was also Serviced not long before so again a record of the mileage against Petrol bought would be easily clear to see no other fill up were done elsewhere. They were not interested and said their findings were negative. I asked about who their ombudsman was and they said they do not have one and deal with their customers direct!  i am now trying via the small claims court as it was such a large cost to something that was not my fault. What else can i DO?

2 days later? What contaminant takes 2 days to flag up an ECU warning ?
Unless they have had multiple complaints then you will struggle
I suggest you try a local Facebook group for similar issues

JJ_Egan

Last contamination i had cost £60 to drain . My fault with an open filler cap in the rain .

Petrol station as said would have multiple users complaints .

What was the contamination  water ??