Volume Plus messes up again!

[gwalker Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close gwalker]

This time it was with ULP. They added too much water and couldn't deny the problem when the cars could hardly make it out the service station.

[Suzy Member Find all posts View Profile Close Suzy]

Re: Volume Plus messes up again!

I'm so glad the biodiesel station is open again.

Here's a link to the story in the Terror: Watered-down fuel causes havoc | The Daily Telegraph

[TroyH Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close TroyH]

Re: Volume Plus messes up again!

added too much water. lol. there isn't meant to be any water. looking at that photo it's about 75% water!

[Jacka Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Jacka]

Re: Volume Plus messes up again!

Glad my Rodeo is off VP fuel so for me it is either B100 or Dino when I can't get any Bio.

Nothing suprise's me about VP these days.

[Cameron Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Cameron]

Re: Volume Plus messes up again!

I don't think that Volume Plus is a real business.

I think that there is a bunch of school students who have been asked by their year 9 teacher to develop a mock business plan and associated mock business. Their assignment was to explore the worst possible way that you could run a business that might result in not only your own business becoming a pariah but that the products it sells also developing such a bad reputation that they will become completey unsalable by anybody else in the marketplace.

As an experiment they seem to be doing a great job but they must have sold a lot of lamingtons to be able to afford to lease the stations and equipment from real businesses...

... the other alternative might be that the petro companies are paying a bunch of corporate jokers to run the reputation of biodiesel into the ground by associating it with such a CRAP company.

Both of these options seem a little unlikely but how else could you explain the utter incompetance of Volume Plus? People trying to run a legitmate business couldn't possibly be this dodgy this often.

[Fitian Was here Find all posts View Profile Close Fitian]

Re: Volume Plus messes up again!

People trying to run a legitmate business couldn't possibly be this dodgy this often.

That is right. I am shocked too. I have filled my tank with bio from VB at Campbelltown, Liverpool and Guildford branches and never ever had any drama with their fuel. I have often filled clear cubees and left them for days and found nothing unusual.

Usually stations like VB find it very hard to sell Bio to start with because not many people know much about it or if it is okay to use in their cars or not. So I guess they have to be selling quality fuel to start with.

[gwalker Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close gwalker]

Re: Volume Plus messes up again!

I don't know if VP is a franchise but individual owners would always be tempted to 'water' down fuel.
Generally, diesel is more tolerant of coping with non-excise substitutes.

[Tony From West Oz Vice Chairperson of WARFA Find all posts View Profile Close Tony From West Oz]

Re: Volume Plus messes up again!

It would be very unusual for a servo to use water to dilute a petroleum fuel because it is not miscible and even if stirred, would separate rapidly. The more common "dilution agents" are engine oil, kerosine, solvents, etc.

I suggest that this was indeed a case of inadvertant water contamination.

They are offering to pay for verifiable repairs to cars where the fuel caused problems.

This is good business practice and such low level damage control is much better than a 5 minute segment in Today Tonight for 3 nights running.

Tony

[pangit Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close pangit]

Re: Volume Plus messes up again!

A similar thing happened with a couple of supermarkets in UK recently at their filling stations. It was traced back to the suppliers and was not the supermarkets' fault, but of course they got huge bad publicity and had to offer to pay for hundreds of customers' repair bills.

I'm inclined to think this is also a supplier issue. VP may be incompetent, but I can't believe they would do this knowingly.

[Guest Close David]

Re: Volume Plus messes up again!

I suggest that this was indeed a case of inadvertant water contamination.

They are offering to pay for verifiable repairs to cars where the fuel caused problems.

I agree with the water dilution. An operator would have to be a total moron to try to extend fuel with water. I live not far from the servo where this happened and we had got some decent rain round here just before and around the time the problem occoured.

That said, I also wonder if there was still not an amount of operator negelect at play in not spotting the water or taking precautions to prevent or eliminate it. THey say they just got a tanker delivery which was responsible for the water but only they know if that is fact or just spin doctoring. It would seem odd to me that if there was so much water in the fuel that no one else got it especially as I understand that few stations, particularly independent ones, ever buy a full tanker load of fuel at a time.

As for offering to pay for the repairs, This is the least they could do, really.
If the repairs are verifiyable, they would be made to pay for the damage the dodgy fuel caused if anyone took them to small claims court and I have little doubt the motorists would win not only the case, but the referee's sympathy in what they awarded as well.

I belive this was probably an accident but given VP's already well established reputation for selling junk fuel, It hardly seems surprising this should happen to one of their outlets.

[johnno Biofuels Forum Newbie Find all posts View Profile Close johnno]

Re: Volume Plus messes up again!

Well i tried $40 of their diesel stuff for the first time in almost a year at their liverpool store. The patrol wouldnt rev over 2900rpm and coughed and spluttered really bad. As i was filling i noticed what looked like grey smoke coming from the filler, so i stopped at $40.The filters were completely blocked with crap!
I know ive said it before but Never Ever Again!!!