Update 6, August 29, 2012 -- BP on Wednesday posted an interactive retail site list at www.bpresponse.com for consumers who suspect they purchased off-specification gasoline in Indiana, Chicago and Milwaukee during the past two weeks.
Click here to access the site list.
All gasoline now shipped from the BP Whiting Refinery in Indiana and its network of storage terminals has been tested, meets BP's rigorous quality standards and is authorized for sale, the company said.
Calls into BP's dedicated claims center are trending lower than last week, it added.
Of the 8,600 claims currently being processed, 64% are from Indiana residents. Illinois residents have filed 28% of the claims, and Wisconsin residents have filed 5% of the claims. An additional 3% of claimants are believed to have travelled through the three-state region when the off-spec fuel was in circulation.
The company has also started a print and radio advertising campaign in an effort to reach as many potentially impacted consumers as possible.
BP has begun paying claims and expects payments to accelerate throughout the week as claimant receipts begin arriving by mail. To speed up the payment process, BP is accepting sales receipts, credit/debit card records and repair bills electronically. The company now has 159 call center operators and 140 claims adjusters in place to serve consumers.
The company is urging any consumer who purchased off-specification fuel to file a claim to call (800) 599-9040 to speak with a claims representative. It said that they can also access information and submit an online inquiry at www.bpresponse.com.
BP sells more than 50 million gallons of quality gasoline in the United States every day. "We guarantee every gallon we sell," it said. "We are committed to working with every affected BP consumer to make good on our guarantee."
Meanwhile, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said that as part of an ongoing investigation, her office will meet with BP officials Friday about the recent recall of contaminated gasoline supplied to Chicago area retailers.
While it is now widely known that BP gas stations sold contaminated gasoline, Madigan said she remained concerned that consumers who purchased gasoline at other retailers, such as Speedway, Thorntons, Road Ranger, CITGO, Sam's Club or Meijer stores may not be aware that those retailers were also selling the contaminated BP-supplied fuel.
"From what we've learned, this problem was not isolated to just BP gas stations. Other retailers that receive gasoline from BP's supply chain also potentially sold the contaminated gas to their customers," Madigan said. "My office is meeting with BP officials on Friday to get to the bottom of this situation so that we can ensure that all Illinois consumers are appropriately reimbursed for any damage done to their cars after having bought BP's bad gas."
UPDATE 5, August 27, 2012 --BP reported on Monday that it is processing more than 6,500 claims under its gasoline guarantee for consumers who purchased off-specification fuel in Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin during the past two weeks.
The 6,500 claims are the result of 19,000 inquiries BP has received to date--most of which did not result in claims.
To date, Indiana residents represent 62% of the claims. Illinois residents have filed 30% of the claims and Wisconsin residents have filed 5% of the claims. An additional 3% of claimants are believed to have travelled through the three-state region when the off-specification fuel was in circulation.
All gasoline now shipped from the BP Whiting Refinery and its network of storage terminals has been tested, meets quality specifications and is authorized for sale.
As a precaution, the company is continuing to test and confirm the quality of shipments made to retail sites in the three states. Any site thought to have received off-specification fuel has been instructed not to sell the fuel until it is tested or replaced.
BP has already begun paying claims and expects payments to accelerate as claimant receipts begin arriving by mail this week. To speed up the payment process, BP is also accepting sales receipts, credit/debit card records and repair bills electronically. The company now has 159 call center operators and 140 claims adjusters in place to serve consumers.
UPDATE 4, August 24, 2012 -- BP officials are now saying more than 10,000 motorists have complained to the company this week about car problems they believe were caused by gasoline recalled on Aug. 20.
About 2.1 million gallons of the tainted gasoline was delivered to 220-plus gas stations in Northwest Indiana, Chicago and Milwaukee. The gasoline was sold between Aug. 13 and 21.
UPDATE 3, August 23, 2012 --Thursday afternoon, BP announced that it has traced the source of the off-specification fuel to problems related to the alkylation unit at the company’s Whiting, Ind. refinery. The refinery has made changes to operations at the plant to fix the problem and return fuels produced there back within normal specifications.
The company has confirmed that regular gasoline supplied to gas stations in Northwest Indiana, Chicago and Milwaukee is back within normal specifications.
With regards to premium and midgrade sales, which make up less than 20% of the company’s sales volume in the region, the company reported that fuel sold from the Milwaukee terminal is also back within normal specifications. As a precaution, the company has temporally halted distribution and sale of premium and midgrade gasoline in the Chicago area pending further testing.
UPDATE 2, August 23, 2012 -- Indiana attorney general Greg Zoeller announced Wednesday that his office has opened an investigation into Monday's BP gasoline recall to make sure consumers’ rights are protected.
Motorists who purchased regular grade gasoline in Northwest Indiana at BP and other retail outlets, including Luke Oil, Thornton’s and others have reported car problems as a result of tainted gasoline, according to Zoeller's office.
“Our office opened an investigation regarding the BP gasoline recall in order to protect the significant number of consumers impacted," Zoeller said. “We are closely monitoring the response by BP and will be reviewing their claims and reimbursement processes.”
Initial complaints received by Zoeller's office were primarily about extend hold times on the 800 number designated by BP to report vehicle complaints, according to an Associated Press report. BP has since designated a second toll-free phone number and added more customer service representatives to deal with the volume, according to the company.
UPDATE 1, August 22, 2012 --As many as 7,000 consumers have contacted BP--and more are expected--to report engine issues in their cars following Monday’s gasoline recall in Northwest Indiana, a recall that has since expanded to include parts of the Chicago and Milwaukee markets.
BP said it believes about 200 retail outlets in Northwest Indiana and the Chicago area were supplied with off-specification regular-grade gasoline over the last seven days, along with 20 additional retail sites in the Milwaukee area that received off-specification premium gasoline.
Houston-based BP has set up a dedicated website--www.bpresponse.com--to handle inquiries from consumers who may have been affected by the fuel quality issue in the Chicago, Milwaukee and Northwest Indiana areas.
“We are receiving a high volume of calls and have significantly increased our call center staffing to handle these important calls,” the website states. “We realize that many of our customers have been inconvenienced, and we want to assure you we will make things right. We are adding staff to improve our response time to your calls and will be in touch shortly.”
BP said it is identifying any retailers in Northwest Indiana, Southeast Chicago or Milwaukee who may have received the off-specification fuel. “We have asked them to suspend all sales of this product,” it stated on the wedsite. “We are now actively recovering gas from those affected service stations.”
WHITING, Ind. -- A 50,000-barrel batch of gasoline contaminated with too much polymeric residue required BP to recall the fuel and several BP gasoline stations in Northwest Indiana to shut their doors Monday night.
The issue surfaced Monday as dealerships and service shops throughout the region were inundated with motorists having difficulty starting their vehicles.
Tony James, owner of Northwest Indiana Auto Supply in Merrillville, Ind., said calls from dealerships and customers began rolling in Monday morning about cars having trouble starting, according to a report in the Chicago Sun-Times. James said an area Buick GMC dealer in Merrillville had 30 service inquiries Monday morning and a Chevrolet dealer had eight vehicles towed in by noon.
“That’s pretty unheard of. It’s pretty widespread,” James told the newspaper.
BP believes the batch of regular-grade gasoline blended at BP’s Whiting, Ind., gasoline storage terminal between Aug. 13 and 17 contained a higher than normal level of polymeric residue, causing hard starting, stalling and other drivability issues for motorists who filled their cars with the fuel.
“We had bad gas at two locations over four or five days,” one Midwest retailer told CSP Daily News on the condition of anonymity. “Our phones were ringing off the hook; people can’t drive their cars.”
Upon learning about the problem, BP promptly issued the recall and extended an apology to retailers and consumers.
“The company is going through its shipping records and contacting Northwest Indiana customers who may have loaded tanker trucks at the storage terminal during this period and is replacing the contaminated fuel with fresh product,” BP said in a statement yesterday. “We would like to apologize for the inconvenience this has caused some of our customers.”
Houston-based BP encouraged consumers whose vehicles are experiencing symptoms to contact BP’s customer hotline at (800) 333-3991 or bpconsum@bp.com. It also is leading consumers to BP’s gasoline guarantee website at http://mybpstation.com/fuels/bp-fuels-guarantee.
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