A Tricky Situation?

Scuttler

Hey there,
Thought this might interest you and of course :rolleyes: I'm wondering what steps to take next. Here is my story:

I bought petrol from an unnamed garage. My tank was almost empty so I got the car filled. I drove around the corner, parked and went into a shop then jumped back in my car and headed off to work for the day.
A mile down the road my car broke down I thought the worst so rang my boss to say I would be late then got my car transported to my mechanic.
After three hours of his expensive time he drained the petrol tank and discovered that there was almost two litres of water in my petrol tank, My engine was flooded with water and it had just been caught in time by my ignition system.
In his opinion (and he is an excellent mechanic) I had been given bad fuel.
I got a sample and brought it back to the garage and got a receipt for it.
I was told it would be analysed and I would get the results shortly.
Four months later, I never heard a word from the garage so I hand delivered a letter of complaint to which I got a lovely letter back basically telling me that I was the only person to complain so hard luck.
My mechanic and his helper (who is a 75yr old retired mechanic) is willing to give me a statement saying it had to be bad fuel and there was no other explanation for it.
I applied to the small claims registrar but was told it was a civil case as I was seeking compensation and to seek legal advice, I don't know if I should get solicitors involved seeing as it only cost me €400 but I'm just annoyed with them for not contacting me for four months, Then treating me so flippantly when my mechanic was certain it was their fault so I have taken it personally now.
I'm at a loss here, Should I send them another firm letter threatening legal action? See a solicitor? Forget about it?
Any help or ideas would be a great help thanks.
Ps I did read the charter and I understand any replies are opinion only and any action i take is my own decision.

Maximilian

You say one thing, the garage says another. The only real option for compensation you have is to see your solicitor and sue them. But for €400? If it were me, I would forget about it.

The only other thing I can think of is perhaps write a letter to eg. Texaco head office or whoever. Let them investigate it. The last Petrol Station/supplier agreement I read had penalty provisions for such situations. Alternatively, you could perhaps call the National Consumer Agency and see if there is anything they can do.

Scuttler

Thanks for the advice, I think I'll give the NCA a bell and see what they recommend.
Its just the principle of it though, I know it would be too costly to get solicitors involved.

CantGetNoSleep

A fairly similar thing happened to my friend, must ask him if he ever did anything about it