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http://www.badgasinlakebluff.pxxq.com/chronology.htm
Saturday, March 29, 2008:
My
wife put $66 of 87 octane gasoline in our new Ford Explorer.
After
driving a few miles, the “check engine” light came on.
Sunday, March 30:
The
Explorer was hard to start.
We
left it parked in the garage.
Monday, March 31:
The
Explorer was unusually difficult to start,
but
I managed to drive it to Sessler Ford.
The
mechanic worked for three hours
but
could not find a cause for the errors.
I
telephoned the gas station and asked about the gas.
A
person named Val said they didn’t know anything but
that
I could call
That
number was Tech Support for the point-of-sale equipment.
The
Sessler Ford Service Manager suspected bad gasoline.
He
said he could flush it or we could simply drive it dry
and
perhaps the errors would end with the next tank of gas.
Tuesday, April 1:
Drove
the Explorer once this day.
It
was getting more difficult to start.
I
noticed that the gas station had taped notes to the
87
octane buttons saying that that grade was not available.
Wednesday, April 2:
Morning:
I
saw that the gas station is still not selling the 87 octane grade.
I
walked there and spoke to Val to ask why.
She said the gas is fine.
I
asked why they weren’t selling it if it is fine.
Val
said that it is being tested but that it is fine.
Then
followed a series of questions to which she responded with
various
versions of, “You are my customer and I will take care of you.”
What
is being tested?
What
are you testing for?
Who
is doing the testing?
Who
ordered the testing?
Are
other stations being tested?
Having
received not a single answer, I walked home.
I
telephoned Marathon in
They
referred me to Mr.
cell
phone number: 708 533 0650
office
(unlisted): 847 360 0888
He
advised me to have the gasoline drained immediately.
Afternoon:
I
walked back to the gas station and saw that a tanker-truck
was
parked and pumping and that is had printed on its side:
“Licensed Special Waste Hauler”
I
went inside and told Val what the
I
asked her how I might be reimbursed for my expense.
She
told me that I am her customer and that she would take care of me.
I
asked if she were the manager. I asked
who her supervisor was.
She
declined to answer those questions and told me that there is nothing wrong
with
the gas and that I should come back next week after it had been tested.
I
noted that the underground storage tank was being pumped-out as we spoke.
She
denied that. The truck was ten feet away
and making a loud pumping noise.
She
said they would contact me. I asked for
a paper and pen and wrote my name,
address
and phone number for them to have. I
left to get my camera.
I
promptly returned and photographed
the truck that Val said wasn’t there.
The
counter clerk Alex came outside to tell me that it was against the law
to
take pictures and that Val was calling the police. I walked home.
Thursday, April 3:
Made
an appointment to remove the bad gas.
We
did not use the Explorer at all this day.
Friday, April 4:
Returned
to Sessler for remediation.
It
took all morning and cost $904.
When
the dealer drained the gas tank, they captured a sample in
a glass jar.
At
rest it stratifies into a 0.5 inch light-colored layer floating on a 2.5 inch
darker layer.
The State Fire Marshall, Division of Petroleum
and Chemical Safety had received recent complaints about the gasoline sold
at this station and sent Mr. Bob Kowalski to inspect the station because they
had received a number of similar complaints two months earlier.
Monday, April 7:
At
3:00 I walk into the store. Val is
walking toward me.
“Val?”
I ask.
She
looked at me and then she started to walk away.
“Val?”
I ask again, a little louder even though she clearly heard and saw me the first
time.
She
continues to walk away without looking back.
“Val?”
one last time.
She
walks out of the room. Alex, behind the
counter, said, “Can I help you?”
“Was
that Val?” I asked. All further
responses by Alex are in italics.
“Can I help you?”
“Yes. Was that Val?”
“Can I help you?”
“I
wanted to talk to Val.”
“Well, I’m helping you now.”
“Fine. Last week you told me to come back ‘next
week’ to make a claim. So I was
wondering if there is someone I could talk to about that.”
“No.
The attorneys and the lawyers are still talking.”
“What
attorneys and lawyers?”
“I can’t tell you. That’s disclosed information.”
“Geez. You’re not being very helpful. I have suffered damages and I need to talk to
someone about it.”
“Look, all I can tell you is that the
attorneys and lawyers and the distributer are working on it. If I told you anything else, I would get in
trouble with my employer and my supervisor.”
“And
you can’t tell me who your employer or your supervisor is because that’s
disclosed information too, right?”
“It’s disclosed information.”
“Right. Well, can you give your employer a message
for me?”
Alex
shrugs.
“Tell
him I have incurred about two thousand dollars of damages. Tell him that I am going to order an analysis
of the sample that was drained from my gas tank because I have to protect
myself and no one is talking to me. That
will be more expense that must be reimbursed.
Can you tell him that?”
Alex
shrugs.
“You
still have my name and address and phone number, right?”
“Yes.
We do.”
I
leave.
At
4:00 I called Mr. Gayus again. I kept
brief my conversation with him last Wednesday because I thought the people at
the gas station would be responsive.
Since the gas station has a
When
he understood that I was frustrated, he was very helpful. He explained that this specific gas station
was not one that he deals with directly, but that I should talk to Mr. Bill
Morris in
At
4:25, Mr. Morris called. He told me that
the Knollwood retailer is a one-station operator. Their fuel is supplied by Combined Oil which
Mr. Morris characterized as a good outfit.
He too said that Ms. Heckathorn is the key person for me to talk
to. He said that his email address is
At
6:30 I sent them both emails with links to this website.
At
8:40, Bill Morris acknowledged my email by email.
Tuesday, April 8:
9:40
email from Helen Heckathorn saying that Customer Relations Representative
Rebecca Dennis “has been handling all
10:40
email from Rebecca Dennis. It appears to be largely boilerplate, but it
is polite and optimistic.
The State Fire Marshall sent another
inspector to follow-up. She reports that
the station was not selling gas the previous two days because of additional
complaints about the gasoline. She also
reports that the owner is blaming the fuel wholesaler.
Tuesday, April 15:
8:47
email from Rebecca Dennis. She send a “follow up” message saying that
the station owner has been notified of me and has contacted his insurer. She asserts that there was water in the fuel. She adds, “Due to the processing of paperwork
and turnover to the insurance company it may take an additional 3 - 4 weeks to
receive the resolution.”
Thursday, April 24:
8:53
email to Rebecca Dennis Considering the amount of time since the
incident and the amount of time she has told me to further wait, I decide to
request further information. I request
contacts for distributor, station owner and insurance company. Since she claimed to know that there was
water in the gas, I ask for the basis of that conclusion. I write:
“If you have a chemical analysis, please send that immediately.”
9:44
email from Rebecca Dennis provides insurance
company contact, though she misspells the contacts name. She fails to provide station owner or
distributor contacts saying, “I am not at liberty to disclose other
contact information.”
She adds, “The insurance company should
be the only contact needed.”
She says that the insurer is conducting
an investigation.
10:04
email to Rebecca Dennis in which I ask again why
she thinks there was water in the fuel.
Wednesday, April 30:
8:45
I telephone Mr. Larson. He tells me:
The
insurer had been first notified of this matter on April 21st.
His
insured is the station owner.
There
are about 30 other claimants, each with damages from $200 to $1700.
They
have hired an engineering company to establish liability of the station owner.
He
will forward the engineer’s report to me.
Friday, May 2:
10:53
email from Mr. Larson:
Don, our engineering inspection
established water contamination was the problem. Tank had a worn O-Ring
seal in cover that with the excessive snow melting runoff caused the
accumulation. You will be receiving reimbursement as we get checks
processed. We can only thank you for the frustrations but appreciate your
patience while we worked through to resolve the problems.
Paul
Monday, May 5:
12:33
email from Mr. Larson that includes the Engineer’s
Report dated April 25th.
Tuesday, May 6:
12:29
email from Rebecca Dennis:
Hello
again,
The
Thank
you for your patience and cooperation.
Wednesday, May 7:
Insurance
check came today. It is 39 days since I
purchased the bad gas. The advice reads,
“settlement in full and final payment contaminated fuel”
The
amount is $904.05 which is the amount for the second visit to Sessler
Ford. There was no compensation for a
half day of my time at the dealer on both Monday and Friday following the
Saturday purchase of the gasoline.
It
is 35 days since I left my name, address and phone number with the people at
the gas station. No one from the gas
station has contacted me yet.
Note: The entries made
in BLACK were posted to this website on or before May 7, 2008.
The entries made in
BLUE were posted to this website on or after October 7, 2008.
Sunday, May 11:
Linda Hinde and her husband
The smell of gas was so strong that evening, and I was sitting in
my car. My son had run into the gas station for something and
The Lake Forest Police referred the matter to the Lake County
Sheriff. At 9:00 p.m. a Sheriff’s Deputy witnessed power cords that led from a utility
room door of the gas station to sump pumps in two of the underground storage
tanks (UST) and garden hoses extending from those two USTs to the edge of the
property. At that location he found a
puddle of a water/gasoline mix that was drained by “two man-made
ditches/channels” away from his property and onto his neighbor’s property.
The deputy notified the Lake County Emergency Management Agency and
the Knollwood Fire Department. Fire
Chief
The deputy next interviewed Sunny and Val Cherian who said “they
were not aware they were committing any violations.”
Three criminal misdemeanor citations
were issued.
From another deputy’s report:
While speaking with an employee, Cherian (Sonny T 02-23-1966), he
initially stated he had no ownership in the business, that George Kuruvilla and
George Uthup were the owners. Upon
further questioning, Cherian changed his statement and admitted he is a
co-owner with Kuruvilla and Uthup.
Monday, May 12:
The Illinois EPA called the Illinois State Fire Marshall, Division
of Petroleum and Chemical Safety before 9:00 in the morning on this day. Sue Dwyer, a State Tank Safety Specialist
(STSS) was immediately dispatched to the gas station. (ATG is Automatic Tank Gauge.) She reports:
The ATG wasn’t working. I
could not get any current information printed out of it, such as inventory
amounts, inches of water in the tanks, ATG testing reports or sensor
reports. The system was displaying an alarm
for every function where there is an alarm…I also noted the leak test reports
& lack of a current impressed current system test & monthly monitoring
log.
STSS Dwyer determined that she would issue a Notice of Violation
(NOV) to Sonny Cherian, told him so, and left
at 1:00 p.m.
NOV E00000020081470 was written that
same afternoon which included five deficiencies requiring correction: (1) repair or replace automatic tank gauge,
(2) secure annual line test & leak detector functionality test by an
outside source due to complaints of water in gasoline, (3) discontinue
pumping…with sump pumps and garden hose…to the environment, (4) secure annual
test of impressed current system functionality and (5) have a site assessment
performed.
Friday, June 6:
A NOV is the equivalent of capitol punishment for a gas
station. It empowers the Division of
Petroleum and Chemical Safety to prevent any further delivery of gasoline,
instantly putting the gas station out of business. It can then refer the matter to the Illinois
Attorney General for prosecution resulting in fines and the removal of the
tank.
In this instance, the gas station did not react within a few hours,
or even a few days. After twenty-five
days the gas station had still not addressed the deficiencies when the Division
issued the NOV it issued a “Timely Compliance Opportunity” letter. It said, “You are
allowed a one-time, 60-day, window to come into compliance effective from
the date of this letter.”
Thursday, July 17:
From talking to neighbors I became aware of the three misdemeanor
citations issued on May 11th.
(I was unaware of the NOV issued on May 12th.) I sent an email to the
Sunday, August 3:
The 60 days pass without NOV compliance.
Monday, August 25:
The gas station reaches NOV compliance.
Friday, September 12:
I receive a subpoena to testify in case 08CM00002868
the People of the State of
Monday, September 22:
I receive a phone call from the
Tuesday, September 23:
The guilty plea is entered.
Conclusion:
The Marathon station in
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