Getting bad gas from a gas station can be a nightmare. Best case, your car doesn’t run quite right, maybe you have to siphon it out. Worst case, you could end up with thousands of dollars in damage to your vehicle. This is the situation drivers in Atlanta, Georgia are currently dealing with. Atlanta’s WSB-TV reports that drivers in the area have been claiming that they’re getting bad gas from Costco’s gas stations.
WSB started looking into things last week. Michelle Robinovitz claimed that a day after getting gas at Costco, she suffered engine damage; her local VW dealer told her she’d have to part with $700 for the fix. Worse yet, she claims Costco isn’t doing anything to help her. “So, I went straight to Costco thinking that they would stand behind their product and they did not,” she told WSB-TV.
Now, a week later, more people have come forward saying they have engine damage from getting bad fuel at Costco stations. This includes a woman who went to the same station location as Robinovitz and was also hit with a $700 repair bill for her car.
Rachel Bernstein reached out to Channel 2 Action News after watching Robinovitz’s story. Bernstein’s gas came from the Brookhaven location. Both women ended up with $700 mechanic bills to flush out the bad gas.
“I thought I was watching about myself. It was an almost identical situation that I went through,” Bernstein said. “When I brought (my car) in, they informed me that they had suspected bad gas. And once they tested it, it was confirmed.
WSB reached out directly to the store’s CEO Ron Vachris. In an email, they showed Vachris proof, from the repair bill from the dealer to video evidence showing how bad the engine was running that was provided by a dealer tech. He denied Costco had anything to do with it. “We have inspected our gas station and shown no signs of water in our gas tanks. I am not sure who informed you that your vehicle’s problems are from Costco gasoline. We are confident that is not the case,” the email read.
One man who had $1,400 in damage to his car, told WSB that Costco sent him a check for the cost of his membership. “They did send me a check for my membership, “So I do respect that. But obviously, the $60 or $55 is not the same as $1,400, right?”
Later, Costco reached back out to Robinovitz saying they would take care of her repair bill. WSB is advising drivers in the area to contact Georgia’s Fuel and Measures Department if they suspect a gas station of selling bad fuel.