In February this year I purchased £40 of diesel from Tesco Newton Aycliffe and my car broke down within 3 miles. A lengthy investigation by the repair garage and a diesel engine specialist eventually diagnosed that all 4 diesel injectors had been contaminated. The garage retained samples of the fuel, the fuel filter and produced a written report.
My repair bill was £1000.
I contacted Tesco Customer Services who dismissed my complaint out of hand. I replied asking them to investigate properly and with an offer to supply them with a sample of the suspect fuel, the fuel filter and the specialists report.
Tesco have sent 2 further letters dismissing my complaint on the grounds that no-one else has complained, “so it can’t be their fault”. They refuse to investigate the matter and ignore my evidence and questions. Incredibly the most recent letter ends by stating that they hope I will continue to shop with them.
I feel sure that their refusal to take my complaint seriously, is because they do not want to encourage others to think a complaint about fuel quality could be successful.
Now that I am aware that other customers have also experienced the same problem and received similarly dismissive treatment from Tesco, I feel that the customers of Tesco should be made aware of the risk of purchasing fuel from this outlet.
I’m also wondering whether there is any way that those of us who have been affected by this can find a route to achieve redress from Tesco.
If this incident is of any interest to you, I would be happy to provide any further information you require.
Patrick Montgomery
0797 4742679
