Originally Posted By: NHHEMI
......
and was ready for me to start pumping it suddenly showed a 3 cent balance and a tiny fraction of fuel pumped???
Now I realize it is just 3 cents but it is the point of the whole thing. I hadn't pumped anything yet( the nozzle was still in my hand out in the open )but it already had me owing money.
So, I went in fully planning to give them the benefit of the doubt that the pump may be malfunctioning. The clerk at the register that I spoke with tried to tell me it was impossible and argued with me about it. That set me off right there and I started getting mad and said maybe I should call the Police and then the State and let them know you are ripping people off. .....
Good grief, this seems like a lot of turmoil for three cents.
The customer ahead of you drained the hose after the pump shut off.
End of story.
Why people do this, I don't know, but I watched them do it when gas was $0.21 cent / gallon, and they still do it when it's $2.69/gallon. Of course, the higher the price, the more perceptible this becomes to the next guy at the pump.
Why hose drainers do it has always been a mystery to me. Maybe they think they paid for that gas (they didn't - it belongs to the facility owner). Maybe they're tightwads or cheapskates. Maybe they think they're sticking it to the man in some small way. Who knows. But some people just do it - always have and always will.
Sure, it could be some grand conspiracy. A stupid one, but possible, I guess. A pump would have to shut on and off a thousand times a day to make a measly thirty bucks. Doing that a thousand times a day would guarantee some type of intervention by the regulators in short order, as well it should. So not only would it be stupid, it's a terrifically inefficient way of making thirty bucks compared to selling people stuff like beer, wine, cigs, pop, hot dogs, candy, etc., that actually generate profit. Maybe there are people that drop the price of a new Baron or two in a C-Store and then do these kind of stupid things to destroy their investment, but I doubt the world is awash in them.
The best way to handle this is to give you the three cents and apologize for something someone else actually did, because you should get the gas you paid for. That's what I would have done. I don't know why they would argue with you about it, that's a poor technique with customers. Unless this was their first day pumping gas, they would have to know that some people are hose drainers.
I don't know what it is about gasoline pricing that makes people go bat guano crazy in this country. I wish people would get this mad at the government over it - it makes all the money off the sale of it.
......
and was ready for me to start pumping it suddenly showed a 3 cent balance and a tiny fraction of fuel pumped???
Now I realize it is just 3 cents but it is the point of the whole thing. I hadn't pumped anything yet( the nozzle was still in my hand out in the open )but it already had me owing money.
Good grief, this seems like a lot of turmoil for three cents.
The customer ahead of you drained the hose after the pump shut off.
End of story.
Why people do this, I don't know, but I watched them do it when gas was $0.21 cent / gallon, and they still do it when it's $2.69/gallon. Of course, the higher the price, the more perceptible this becomes to the next guy at the pump.
Why hose drainers do it has always been a mystery to me. Maybe they think they paid for that gas (they didn't - it belongs to the facility owner). Maybe they're tightwads or cheapskates. Maybe they think they're sticking it to the man in some small way. Who knows. But some people just do it - always have and always will.
Sure, it could be some grand conspiracy. A stupid one, but possible, I guess. A pump would have to shut on and off a thousand times a day to make a measly thirty bucks. Doing that a thousand times a day would guarantee some type of intervention by the regulators in short order, as well it should. So not only would it be stupid, it's a terrifically inefficient way of making thirty bucks compared to selling people stuff like beer, wine, cigs, pop, hot dogs, candy, etc., that actually generate profit. Maybe there are people that drop the price of a new Baron or two in a C-Store and then do these kind of stupid things to destroy their investment, but I doubt the world is awash in them.
The best way to handle this is to give you the three cents and apologize for something someone else actually did, because you should get the gas you paid for. That's what I would have done. I don't know why they would argue with you about it, that's a poor technique with customers. Unless this was their first day pumping gas, they would have to know that some people are hose drainers.
I don't know what it is about gasoline pricing that makes people go bat guano crazy in this country. I wish people would get this mad at the government over it - it makes all the money off the sale of it.
