The Petroleum Quality Institute of America (PQIA) recently issued a Consumer Alert on Bullet 5w30 products which failed to meet the claimed product specifications. RelaDyne, a distributor of the Bullet brand, took immediate action to identify the affected products and remove them from the marketplace.
Oil Distributing Company, RelaDyne’s Cincinnati, Ohio valley branch, has been marketing Bullet branded oils for more than ten years. Bullet, a product sold in the Midwest area C-store market, does not claim current API certification. It is sold and positioned in the market at customer request as an entry level, lowest price point product for convenience stores.
After being unhappy with the labeling and packaging aspects of the current supplier of Bullet products, RelaDyne switched suppliers in the fall of 2012. When PQIA issued the Consumer Alert in late March 2013, RelaDyne took immediate action and found the product affected originated from the previous supplier, who used red caps on the Bullet packaging.
RelaDyne executed an aggressive recall of Bullet 5W30, 5W20, and 10W30 oils and took additional actions to proactively replace Type A ATF and ND30 products as well. Approximately 163 cases in the market have been identified and are being collected. Larry Stoddard, CEO of RelaDyne, gave the following statement to PQIA:
“The particular manufacturer of this recalled product is no longer in business and we purchased product from them only for a brief time. We have identified all of the products that were sold and to what customers. We have contacted each customer and instructed them to pull the product from the shelves, and we are currently in the process of replacing it with product that meets the specifications as claimed on the packaging.”
RelaDyne continues to maintain its position in the marketplace for technology leadership, branding excellence and product integrity. “We market the products and perform the services in the industry that exceed the highest performance specifications. RelaDyne was very disappointed in the manufacturing of the Bullet brand as it failed to meet our specifications,” says Dan Oehler, VP of Sales and Marketing at RelaDyne. “We service all of our customer needs and requirements that are permissible by industry regulations. If the regulations change, then we will support those advancements similar to the [American Petroleum Institute’s] Motor Oil Matters Program.”