I got ripped off at a gas pump Monday

[thewayne]

I was really tired heading home Monday night. I was also really low on gas. I didn't have the low fuel light on yet, but I knew that it would be on before I got to the top of the mountain (14 miles) and I'd have to put gas in it in Cloudcroft, which would require the +$0.10/gallon mountain tax (an exaggeration, there is no mountain tax except that everything in Cloudcroft is a little bit more expensive). So I stop at the Chevron at the base of the mountain and fill it up. It takes longer than usual, but maybe my time sense was screwed up because of my tiredness.

Pump shuts off and I look at the display and my receipt. It says that I pumped 12.507 gallons. Slight problem. My gas tank is an 11.something tank.

I didn't have my owner's manual in the car, it was at home as I'd looked something up in it and hadn't put it back in the car. So I check, and sure enough, I have an 11.9 gallon tank. The regular Toyota Matrix has a 13.2 gallon tank, but I have the 4WD version which requires a smaller tank for the additional transmission components.

In short, I've been slightly robbed. And no, I didn't spill a half gallon of gas all over the side of my car and on the concrete of the station. I just reviewed my notebook where I log all of my gas purchases, and found that we were similarly rippped on our trip to BlingFest, most likely in a town in New Mexico whose name eludes me for the moment, they're on I-40 not too far from the Texas border. Russet filled that tank and didn't notice it, and it's probably too late to do much about it.

Tuesday AM I stop at the store and tell the clerk what happened. He seemed fairly uninterested, said he couldn't do anything about it, and gave me the manager's phone number. I called and left a message, it's now been almost 36 hours without a reply.

Tomorrow I call the New Mexico equivalent of Weights & Measures, the bureau that certifies gas pumps and other measuring devices. I have the receipt, I have my notebook. I'm probably out $3-5, I would like to have that money back, but I definitely want the station whacked if they're pulling this on a routine basis.

I have since found out that this gas station is rather infamous for overcharging people like this. If they get called on it, they refund money, otherwise they just go on quietly ripping-off people.

Lovely.

Comments

[monkeygirldiva.livejournal.com]

dang! that's the sort of thing you'd expect to happen here. how the hell did they think they were going to get away with it???

go gettum tiger. :)

[magic-rat.livejournal.com]

You'd think the usual "something bad happened in the Mid-East so let's jack up the gasoline prices by ten cents per gallon" would be enough of a rip-off, but I guess some people just have to be greedy.

I could understand how bad news in the Mid-East could affect gas prices after a week or so, but the gasoline at the stations when the news breaks has already been paid for so the price shouldn't be affected immediately.

And it's absolutely amazing how gas prices never drop as quickly when the situation is resolved.

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

I've given up on being surprised by anything that happens at the gas pump. We have about a $0.30 swing in town, so I've changed my fueling practices and will never gas up at that place again. I've got to remember to also complain to Chevron corporate about that.

I spend about $30 a week on fuel, so that adds up to a bit of business. And I have another way of making my displeasure known coming soon....

[thedragonweaver.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you mentioned the Weights & Measures [equivalent] because I wouldn't have the slightest idea what to do in such a circumstance. I think we would notice such a thing instantly ince we tend to do an instant mileage calculation when we fill up the car (check the trip meter and divide by tank; if it's out of line with recent fillups then double-check.)

See, we just know not to fill up in Weed. The "mountain tax" certainly applies 95% of the time.

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

Jeez, you know Weed?! It's funny, I slowly started expanding my flist and found some people from El Paso who had a cabin near Cloudcroft. In fact, their mother is coming up to her cabin in a couple of weeks and I'll be meeting her at a coffee shop in Cloudcroft.

I had another interesting coincidence. I sent and received an email from a friend whom I've had zero direct contact with for probably four years or so. He moved up to Idaho, and whenever they go to see his M-I-L, he passes through Cloudcroft! So hopefully I'll see him and his family in the not-overly-too-long future.

Oh, BTW, gas pumps have to be certified annually. Well, anything that weighs and dispenses and produces a charge usually has to be certified at least annually. There's a sticker that usually has the phone number of the Weights & Measures dept, in the case of NM it's run through Dept of Agriculture.