SAN ANTONIO -- Valero Energy Corp. has mailed checks to reimburse some customers for their car troubles allegedly caused by bad fuel, reported KRIS-TV. The company is sending money to 150 customers, mostly from Corpus Christi and Nueces Counties in Texas, to compensate them for their car troubles. In September, local car dealerships started noticing an usually large number of customers coming in with burned out fuel pumps. They never determined a cause, but a lot of local mechanics blamed the problems on a batch of bad gasoline.
State Representative Abel Herrero launched [image-nocss] an investigation to find the source of the problems, said the report. The Texas Department of Agriculture tested samples of local gasoline and did not find any problems. The Environmental Protection Agency also looked into the situation, but has not filed a report on its findings yet.
Since the problems first surfaced, San Antonio-based Valero has conducted its own investigation, said the report. "We sent a number of failed fuel pumps to a research lab at a university. We had our scientists look at the results," Day told the news outlet.
Although Valero did not find any fault with their fuel, it did decide to upgrade its refining processes and add more inspections in hopes of avoiding any similar problems in the future.
The company is not admitting any problems with the gasoline, and it told KRIS that its fuel meets all legal standards, but said they want to take care of their customers' concerns.
"We're a customer service organization, and we want people to be comfortable buying Valero gasoline," Valero spokesperson Bill Day told KRIS. "We go around guaranteeing all our gasoline and, well, this is what we mean when we say we're going to guarantee it. We're going to step up and take care of them as a customer service thing. It seems like the right thing to do."
Customers who file claims with Valero must prove they had problems in 2008 and send documentation and receipts of when and where they gassed up and the auto repairs to the vehicle's fuel system, along with details on any other expenses, such as towing.
Day said each claim is handled individually, so each driver gets a different amount of money back, but they are all getting an additional $25 Valero gift card.
Valero said it is still welcoming claims from the entirety of this year, but motorists must go through the customer service center.
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