A Wawa gas station in Bucks County is accused of recently selling contaminated fuel and causing plenty of mechanical problems for customers and their cars.
On Friday, Joan Lenahan's son complained about his car malfunctioning.
"My son came home Friday afternoon and was complaining, 'Something's wrong with the car,'" Lenahan recalled.
"What do you mean something's wrong with the car?" she said.
"It's bucking, something wrong," her son replied.
After a few attempts, Lenahan's husband was able to get the 2016 Jeep started and drove it around their neighborhood. It was immediately clear something was wrong and they drove straight to Millevoi Brothers Automotive nearby.
On Monday, owner Greg Millevoi told Lenahan the issues were the result of contaminated gas and she was the third person to come in with the issue. Millevoi said repair costs range between $3,000-$4,500 depending on the damage. Repairs cost the Lenahan family $4,200.
"To correct it, we have to replace, most of the time, fuel pumps, fuel filters, ignition wires, spark plugs, ignition coils, fuel injectors, everything is getting clogged up. It's a very extensive repair," Millevoi said.
As Millevoi began getting more of the same calls and seeing the same issue, he checked in with another shop in town.
"He said, 'All my customers are saying they filled up at Wawa for gas.' I said, 'Mike, same with me!'" Millevoi recalled.
"I've had nine so far, but my phone is ringing off the hook. It's every other phone call, 'Hey I've had a problem with Wawa fuel, can I bring it in?'" Millevoi said.
All of the customers had reported filling up at the Wawa in Richboro on North Second Street Pike on July 17 or 18.
Right now, Lenahan is going through a claims process with Wawa and hopes to be reimbursed for the cost of repairs.
Earlier this week, she reached out online to see if anyone else was in the same predicament. She said at last check, she'd received 76 messages in her inbox from people asking her for help.
The Bucks County mother was among the first to experience the issue, so she was able to get her son's car repaired fairly quickly. However, according to Millevoi, some customers are now having to wait a few days due to the availability of parts.
A Wawa spokesperson issued the following statement on Wednesday:
"Wawa is aware of an issue with the fuel equipment on one tank at our Richboro PA store. Once aware of the issue, and the potential impact to fuel, we took immediate steps to correct it and we are working with our fuel equipment manufacturer to investigate and understand the issue including the timing of any potential impact. At this time, we believe that this was an isolated incident that may have affected a very limited number of customers.
We apologize for any inconvenience this issue may have caused. At Wawa, we have a quality fuel guarantee, and if any customer's vehicle had a mechanical problem caused by our fuel, we encourage them to visit our fuel guarantee page , to submit a claim."
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