Getting ripped off at the pump

[bmg88201]

I went to a station and got two 5 qt jugs of diesel which comes to 2.5 gallons. I paid and left but then realized I had paid way more than the sign said which was $4.79 per gallon. I paid $18.89 for 2.5 gallons. Divide 2.5 into $18.89 = $7.55 per gallon. I called the state weights and measures dept and filed a complaint. They went to the station and order them to shut the diesel pumps down. The station said that the price at the pump is set remotely and was a mistake but didn’t realize the huge increase in the price. The man from the state told me he is seeing one complaint after another about stations kicking up the price on the pump but not changing the price on their signs. The station got a $30,000 fine out of it. The man from the state told me he recommends for folks to put in 1 gallon and stop and look at the price on the pump to see if it reflects the price on the sign, if it’s correct then continue pumping. He told me most of the complaints he sees is a price difference of 30 to 40 cents between the sign and what you are really being charged. Folks are getting ripped off !!!!

 

[Bill Guenthner]

I went to a station and got two 5 qt jugs of diesel which comes to 2.5 gallons. I paid and left but then realized I had paid way more than the sign said which was $4.79 per gallon. I paid $18.89 for 2.5 gallons. Divide 2.5 into $18.89 = $7.55 per gallon. I called the state weights and measures dept and filed a complaint. They went to the station and order them to shut the diesel pumps down. The station said that the price at the pump is set remotely and was a mistake but didn’t realize the huge increase in the price. The man from the state told me he is seeing one complaint after another about stations kicking up the price on the pump but not changing the price on their signs. The station got a $30,000 fine out of it. The man from the state told me he recommends for folks to put in 1 gallon and stop and look at the price on the pump to see if it reflects the price on the sign, if it’s correct then continue pumping. He told me most of the complaints he sees is a price difference of 30 to 40 cents between the sign and what you are really being charged. Folks are getting ripped off !!!!

Did this happen at a reputable chain or some independent station? I always watch the gallons dispensed into 5 gallon cans and it’s always 5 gallons at the full mark, across multiple stations over a hundred mile radius.

 

[jyoutz]

I went to a station and got two 5 qt jugs of diesel which comes to 2.5 gallons. I paid and left but then realized I had paid way more than the sign said which was $4.79 per gallon. I paid $18.89 for 2.5 gallons. Divide 2.5 into $18.89 = $7.55 per gallon. I called the state weights and measures dept and filed a complaint. They went to the station and order them to shut the diesel pumps down. The station said that the price at the pump is set remotely and was a mistake but didn’t realize the huge increase in the price. The man from the state told me he is seeing one complaint after another about stations kicking up the price on the pump but not changing the price on their signs. The station got a $30,000 fine out of it. The man from the state told me he recommends for folks to put in 1 gallon and stop and look at the price on the pump to see if it reflects the price on the sign, if it’s correct then continue pumping. He told me most of the complaints he sees is a price difference of 30 to 40 cents between the sign and what you are really being charged. Folks are getting ripped off !!!!

Good information

 

[bmg88201]

It’s got nothing to do with the accuracy of amount of fuel being pumped but the price gouging that happened. The sign was $4.79 and the pump charged me $7.55. It was at a ConocoPhillips station in my town. The fella from the state said he made them print all the diesel tickets for the last 48 hours and some of them were $300 -$400.

 

[Bill Guenthner]

It’s got nothing to do with the accuracy of amount of fuel being pumped but the price gouging that happened. The sign was $4.79 and the pump charged me $7.55. It was at a ConocoPhillips station in my town. The fella from the state said he made them print all the diesel tickets for the last 48 hours and some of them were $300 -$400.

Oh. The price is displayed on the pump along with the amount dispensed. How did you not notice?

 

[ptsg]

Similar practices have been happening here. A bunch of pumps up North were caught doing similar stuff. Basically it would mark the price per liter even without starting pumping actual fuel into the tank.

A guy really needs to pay attention to every single thing these days. Can't trust no one.

 

[MossRoad]

I have a strange habit of counting things like stairs, seconds I wait at a stop light, how many swallows to drink a bottle of pop, how many bites to eat a sandwich, goofy stuff like that.

At the gas pumps, I have a tendency to look at the price of the fuel and when I near the first gallon, I almost always look to see if the price and 1 gallon line up. I do the same thing at 10 gallons. I've always been suspicious of gas pumps, however, I've never found one that's not accurate to the penny, unlike the OP.

Unfortunately, everyone should probably pick up my weird habit to keep the few corrupt station honest and protect yourselves from thievery.

I also have a weird habit of trying to guess how many gallons I'll take on a fill up based on the gas gauge in the vehicle before I start pumping. It's a fun game. Do a little math in my head as the digits climb.

 

[Bill Guenthner]

This sound less like a “rip off” and more like the overworked attendant punched 7.49 in when she meant to punch 4.79 in to the computer. She didn’t notice, like you, when you didn’t notice it until you got home, because you had other things on your mind.

 

[MossRoad]

This sound less like a “rip off” and more like the overworked attendant punched 7.49 in when she meant to punch 4.79 in to the computer. She didn’t notice, like you, when you didn’t notice it until you got home, because you had other things on your mind.

Ahhh. Typo Mary strikes again.

 

[Bill Guenthner]

I have a strange habit of counting things like stairs, seconds I wait at a stop light, how many swallows to drink a bottle of pop, how many bites to eat a sandwich, goofy stuff like that.

At the gas pumps, I have a tendency to look at the price of the fuel and when I near the first gallon, I almost always look to see if the price and 1 gallon line up. I do the same thing at 10 gallons. I've always been suspicious of gas pumps, however, I've never found one that's not accurate to the penny, unlike the OP.

Unfortunately, everyone should probably pick up my weird habit to keep the few corrupt station honest and protect yourselves from thievery.

I also have a weird habit of trying to guess how many gallons I'll take on a fill up based on the gas gauge in the vehicle before I start pumping. It's a fun game. Do a little math in my head as the digits climb.

Like you, I notice everything. I know where the pump should cut off if my gas gauge shows half a tank and I watch the pump count the 10ths of gallons. I would also know without consciously doing any math if the total charge wasn’t really close to correct.

 

[Bearsixty7]

Did this happen at a reputable chain or some independent station? I always watch the gallons dispensed into 5 gallon cans and it’s always 5 gallons at the full mark, across multiple stations over a hundred mile radius.

I read an article years ago that most federal testing was done by pumping 5 gallons of fuel into a precisely marked container so some stations figured a way to make it pump the correct amount up to 5 gallons then it pumped slightly less each gallon afterwards.

 

[Cycledude]

It could have been a mistake just like the station owner claimed but thanks for the reminder to pay more attention when filling up !
I definitely will start checking the price after pumping exactly one gallon to make sure it matches the advertised price.
I talked to one of those guys that goes around testing pumps for a living a couple years ago, he said it’s pretty rare to find inaccurate pumps but it does happen and it’s definitely bad news for the station owner because the news spreads very fast when they get fines.

 

[3Ts]

I read an article years ago that most federal testing was done by pumping 5 gallons of fuel into a precisely marked container so some stations figured a way to make it pump the correct amount up to 5 gallons then it pumped slightly less each gallon afterwards.

This happened in Florida many years ago as well. It was done intentionally because they had to change out the computer chip that measures the fuel. Not sure of what the fines were but one aspect was that they had to have their price per gallon lowered for about 2 months so they were the cheapest in town. I'm sure they took a big hit, but so did the other gas stations around who couldn't afford to lower their price to match the penalty.

-- unintended consequences - penalizing innocents --

 

[cjoffutt]

5qts of diesle=1.25 gallons here in the states ,not 2.5gals

However doing it twice (IE the statement of "got two 5 qt jugs of diesel") in the OP's post would equate out to 2.5 gallons as he stated.

 

[dodge man]

I saw a story yesterday about under charging people for gas for several hours. I got the idea it was suppose to be something like 4.29 a gallon and they were charging people 2.49. They bitched a little bit that no one told them.

When we were coming back from vacation last year I filled up at a large chain gas station. My F150 has a 36 gallon tank and had about a quarter tank. At some point I noticed it stopped on something like a $1.20. So got over 20 gallons for that price. I printed the receipt and showed the guy behind the counter. He didn’t seem worried about it even though I said he should at least check the pump. They probably lost $80 of fuel but seemed unconcerned.

 

[MossRoad]

You're much more likely to be a victim of card skimming than you are from tampered pumps.

 

[DaveinValdez]

I made the mistake of NOT stopping the other day. Sign said $4.44 for diesel. Someone hit the 4 instead of the $5.44 it should have been.

 

[ultrarunner]

The only delivery issue was when vapor recovery was new.

Auto Filling a 20 gallon tank took forever and was 34 gallons and counting…

Fuel was circulating back to underground tank.

I do wonder how independents can underprice the majors and keep doors open?

The beautiful Shell station off the freeway is consistently 60 to 65 cents a gallon highe than both independents within 2 blocks which always requiring jockeying to fill up because non stop they are that busy where almost never a car at the flagship Shell.

 

[Jstpssng]

I got gas at a convenience store chain a couple of years ago and the pump racked up around fifty cents before I even started pumping. I had to be someplace so got my gas but took the time to complain to the manager, who said something to the effect of "Too bad."
That night I filed a complaint with weighs and measures, who took the pump offline until it was fixed. That manager had been there for years, but was gone shortly afterwards.
He was always a anyways, so I didn't really care.

 

[4570Man]

I felt pretty ripped off at the pump although the price was correct lol.