Watch your gas pumps

I was filling up my car last night (not my regular station) and noticed the screen on the pump registered $0.10 even before I pulled the trigger to start filling. I approached the attendant and he claimed that they had problems with this pump before. I asked if they ever had it fixed? He said yes, several times. He passed the issue off as though it was nothing. That raised a flag. What would it take to shut down pump number 4 until this issue is resolved, to protect the station's innocence/integrity?

$0.10 is nothing, but if this is a scam, multiply this situation by several pumps, with several users, over several days, weeks or months and we have what could be scam and a tidy little profit on top of our already extreme high prices.

This could very well NOT be a scam but simply a defective pump.

I advise members to watch when they fill up to see if this happens and if it does report it to the attendant.
Or, go online to the oil company and report it, stating station location, date etc., which I did last night. The Department Weights and Measure would love to hear about stuff like this, whether it's a scam or a simple defect. For the sake of possible innocence, the brand and location will not be mentioned.

This is not one of these emails that we all get warning of things, later to be proven Ture or False by Snopes.

Integrity? At a gas station? I doubt the station manager even considers it a problem. Every customer at that pump gets ripped off for a dime.

In his eyes, it's just a dime. At the end of a work-week, it adds up for the station. If a customer notices, just tell him it's going to be fixed again. Simple mechanical or electronic problem. They don't care.

BriteIdea said:

I was filling up my car last night (not my regular station) and noticed the screen on the pump registered $0.10 even before I pulled the trigger to start filling. I approached the attendant and he claimed that they had problems with this pump before. I asked if they ever had it fixed? He said yes, several times. He passed the issue off as though it was nothing. That raised a flag. What would it take to shut down pump number 4 until this issue is resolved, to protect the station's innocence/integrity?

$0.10 is nothing, but if this is a scam, multiply this situation by several pumps, with several users, over several days, weeks or months and we have what could be scam and a tidy little profit on top of our already extreme high prices.

This could very well NOT be a scam but simply a defective pump.

I advise members to watch when they fill up to see if this happens and if it does report it to the attendant.
Or, go online to the oil company and report it, stating station location, date etc., which I did last night. The Department Weights and Measure would love to hear about stuff like this, whether it's a scam or a simple defect. For the sake of possible innocence, the brand and location will not be mentioned.

This is not one of these emails that we all get warning of things, later to be proven Ture or False by Snopes.

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Notify the County Auditor's office. They're the agency that's supposed to be regulating these things. And drop a note to the gas stations' corporate parent. And if a local news department just happened to learn of it also...

As mentioned. I gave the station attendant a chance to make his peace whether he's the owner/manager or just an employee.
"hey thanks for bring that to our attention. I'll shut the pump down(out of order) until it's fixed"...did not take place.
But I did send an email to the oil company (major brand name) and being Easter weekend we'll have to wait for next week.

The station should have the integrity as should the oil company. Rising gas prices has no bearing on this issue, That's all based on OPEC and "Futures" within the stock market.
I know zero about these pumps but if I hear a preset can be made prior toa pump's actualy operation, I'll let y'all know.

Here in Canada we have the Minisitry of Weights and Measures and also a Consumer Protection Agency.

I truly hope that this is proven to be nothing short of a defective pump and if so, then this issue is a non-issue. However, a $0.10 real-fault, untreated, can still be construed as a ripoff.

Next time any of you guys fill up at a newer digital gas pump, just take note as to its operation before you squeeze that trigger. Before I point fingers I prefer to give benefit of the doubt

Thanks BriteIdea. My apologies for assuming that you were located in the U.S.

I am going to watch out for this myself now.

We just had a news story last week near me in NYC of a customer in the middle of pumping his gas and the pump shuts off, resets the price per gallon and restarts with the total of the gas already pumped changing to reflect the new price. Lets just say the dept of weight and measures was very interested in this added feature in the pumps software. this guy just happened to catch it i wonder how many dont probably most

I used to go to a station regularly, then noticed that one of the pumps jumped a few cents after the nozzle was hung up. Told the attendant, whose response was to insist I pay the extra few cents. I don't go there anymore.

Come to think of it- with the situation in Canada, I literally don't go anywhere anymore- prices have jumped dramatically in the last week, even as the world price and world demand both go down. They think we should pay Euro-prices, apparently.

I went to buy gas today and I noticed the price listed on their big sign outside said $4.39 for Premium. I pull in, swipe my credit card and the price that showed up on the pump was $4.49, a full $0.10 more. I asked the attendant and he said it's a credit card fee. I went back and looked at the pump, and sure enough the little display said something along the lines of "credit price or cash?"

Not sure if this is in line with the OP, but I thought it was really sneaky of them to NOT list a credit price next to a cash price on the sign as advertised.

dudemar said:

Not sure if this is in line with the OP, but I thought it was really sneaky of them to NOT list a credit price next to a cash price on the sign as advertised.

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In some jurisdictions it's actually illegal to charge more if a customer pays with a credit card vs. cash. And not just at gas stations.

Yeah gas stations here in CA usually (this word should be taken with a pound of salt) separately list credit and cash prices on the big signs outside. This was started just a couple months ago and I think it's stupid. Some companies like Arco don't accept CC's straight away, but will charge $0.50 (could be $0.75 now, can't remember) to use a debit card. For the record I bought my gas at Valero, the cheapest place I could buy gas with a CC- until now. I might as well go to Shell or Chevron now (most expensive gas).

Whatever the case I'm paying cash from now on. Gas companies have it good, no reason to line their pockets even more.

The general sentiment I get from these companies is "no one's looking, so who cares?" lol.

We have a Chevron around here that also advertises "cash prices" outside. They're located in a more remote location, so their "regular price" is still cheaper than the ones I usually go to. I don't use cash, and too many people take advantage of the cash price, so it takes a long time to fill up and I don't go there anymore.

To be honest, is it even worth your time to argue about a couple cents? Besides, it's also highly unlikely that you'll be able to change anything...

Those couple cents add up over time.

$0.10/gal, I buy 14 gallons/fill up, I fill up about twice a month, so that's about $34 a year. Let's just say a million people fill the same amount with a CC every year. That one company makes $34 million on top of $4/gal gas. Obviously more than a million people/annum use their CCs to make gas purchases, so the profit will be much higher.

Put together all the companies and that $0.10 profit is conservatively in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Not bad for a CEO's nest egg, more like a stocking stuffer though, lol. These are rough calculations, but you get the idea.

I pulled into the station closest to my house one day down about 3/4 of a tank (this estimate based on my fuel gage and number of miles driven (I record all that crap every time I fill up and it's pretty consistent)) and after filling, the pump claimed to have put 14.5 gallons in my 13.2 gallon tank. At best, it put 11.

I called the number on the certification stamp affixed to the pump (don't remember what local authority it ended up being) and a week later or so the station had a new manager. I don't know that there's a connection, but I like to think there is.

--flatline

rather than hunt greedy corporate boogeymen, could that 10 cents be for what passed through the valve to pressurize the line?

doktorziplok said:

rather than hunt greedy corporate boogeymen, could that 10 cents be for what passed through the valve to pressurize the line?

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If it is, then the station should eat that cost. Not the customers' responsibility to make sure the pumps get properly pressurized.

Reminds me of a certain large Nissan dealership that insists customers put a down-payment on a test-drive. Maybe it's all of the dealerships that sell Nissan models. Out of place. When a customer test drives a new car, he's using up gas and putting mileage on it. The dealership eats the slight depreciation and fuel costs. Just part of doing business. Not every customer who drives is going to buy.

If certain gas stations are passing on the cost to the customers, those customers will likely fuel up elsewhere when they notice. Great job. Station manager passed along a 10 cent cost to the customer, who now won't come back and thus the station loses out on much more than 10 cents a fill-up.

dudemar said:

Those couple cents add up over time.

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The problem is complaining or reporting about it isn't likely to do anything. Might as well go to another station or factor the costs in if another station is too far or has higher prices.

...but it would be the consumer's issue to pay for the gas that goes in his vehicle.

i'm thinking the hose rests with fuel in it, but with no pressure. that keeps the gas from spraying if the nozzle is yanked off or being pumped without authorization. when the pump is turned on, a small amount of gas is forced through the valve and into the hose.

Robin24k said:

The problem is complaining or reporting about it isn't likely to do anything. Might as well go to another station or factor the costs in if another station is too far or has higher prices.

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You're absolutely right. My point was more about greed, is $4.50 a gallon not enough?

doktorziplok said:

i'm thinking the hose rests with fuel in it, but with no pressure. that keeps the gas from spraying if the nozzle is yanked off or being pumped without authorization. when the pump is turned on, a small amount of gas is forced through the valve and into the hose.

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Maybe that 10¢ was the cost of refilling the hose.

I have not tried this, but I saw it on TV one evening. It was just a newscast reporting on the price of gas. They were only showing people filling their tanks and I doubt this was meant as a tip or anything as they said nothing about it.

It was a man filling his tank and when the pump kicked off, he pulled the trigger again and reached back and lifted the hose starting at the pump and raised it in order to drain what was in the hose into his tank. This hose, did not exit from near the top of the pump like some do. Not sure if this works or not to get that little bit extra for your money, but it might cost the next customer 10¢ to fill that hose again.

flatline said:

I pulled into the station closest to my house one day down about 3/4 of a tank (this estimate based on my fuel gage and number of miles driven (I record all that crap every time I fill up and it's pretty consistent)) and after filling, the pump claimed to have put 14.5 gallons in my 13.2 gallon tank. At best, it put 11.

I called the number on the certification stamp affixed to the pump (don't remember what local authority it ended up being) and a week later or so the station had a new manager. I don't know that there's a connection, but I like to think there is.

--flatline

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Just to follow up: I finally heard back from the oil company's call center. I had to send yet another email to ask "what was found and what was done?" They explained that the issue was dealt with internally. They also said if I need to know more I'd have to contact the individual station (yea right, like that's gonna happen. Do you guys see the target on my back?). No one tends to take ownership any more. It was my main contention from the beginning, that:
one: there was either a defective pump, since mechanical failure does happen
or
two: there was some funky business taking place
My guess, based on their answer is the second