Please share your recent gas station weirdness/malfeasance stories here.

Here's mine: The last two times I've put gas in my car, I could swear I have gotten less than the amount I paid for.

gas expands under heat and you can get up to 7% less gas

...before the heat of the day warms things up.

or in the morning.

Which is the time that I filled it both times...or rather, tried to fill it. Didn't quite get all the way there.

I think they just shorted me. I am highly suspicious of the sudden drop in price for regular gas.

and her car had been running crappy. mechanic said it seemed there was water in her gas tank.

she quit filling up there, and car is running fine.

Which are really the only two choices around here. I'm actually thinking of digging out my Costco card, driving across town and getting my gas there.

and saw that there's still no mid-grade (89 octane) available.

Ok, it's not weirdness nor malfeasance, just a little irksome (our Passat runs well on that, doesn't really need 93, but will ping on 87, so we're stuck mixing the two which is a pain... particularly when you've gotta insert not one but two cards to make the transaction.)

Thought I'd whine. Thanks for your indulgence.

We filled up my girlfriend's toyota at our local costco a few weeks back, and noticed when we left that the BP across the street was $.01 cheaper. I myself don't worry so much about it, as my Jetta daintily sips diesel of either the bio or dino variety. :D

Wasn't just recently. I went to court as a witness last Tuesday. This happened in early to mid-April. Nobody hurt, thankfully. Just money taken.
GAC

whilst working a mid day shift at a convenience store...the crazy part is, I knew the guy pointing the gun at me...

sP

I do have to use a ration card to get gas though.

Weird for some..."normal" for me

:-)

Sometime back, I went to fill up at a gas station. When I went inside to pay I overheard a conversation between a young mother (late 30s) and the station manager. I heard her telling him "...but my son didn't know the credit card didn't work..." Standing next to her was a kid about 17 who I presumed to be her son. There was more murmuring between the mother and the manager that sounded like the manager really didn't believe her story. I surmised that the son had gotten gas and left without paying (this station didn't require "prepay"). Whether of not the kid swiped his mother's credit card and thought the transaction was completed (his mother's story), or he simply drove off (the gas station's story) remains to be seen, but I really felt sorry for the mother. I sure she believed her son and perhaps he did tell her the truth, but I couldn't help but sympathize with her as she struggled to regain her family's honor.

The truth is I was kinda looking for more personal stories about gas stations, perhaps at the behest of companies, having tried to mess with us and our money...some more...but, okay.

Service stations used to offer just that: service. You would drive up and someone would pump your gas and even check your fluids and air. Usually, that person would greet you with a smile and the perception that you were important to them. Then you paid without ever getting out of your car. Now, we have a "we got the goddamn gas and you're lucky we're giving it to you so get your ass out of your car and PAY before you pump 'cause we don't trust you" mentality in these "one-stop" convenience stores. I'm just a little tired of having to go inside twice to buy the same product. I'm just a little tired of waiting in line while customers buy lottery tickets, cigarettes, high-fructose corn-syrup based soft drinks, donuts, candy, and huge containers of latte-like drink in styrofoam containers. And I'm just a little tired of talking to clerks through bullet-proof glass while passing my money through a little window. I say "please" and "thank you" during my everyday business transactions, but I've stopped doing so at gas stations. I figure I'm there to get the gas I need to live out my daily life and they're there to make sure I pay and don't rip off the corporation. The whole experience is one of cold, emotionless automatic actions. And I am constantly reminded that the oil execs never see this take place. Their existence is justified by a series of numbers on corporate reports. They are so far removed from this environment, but "it works" on paper, so they embrace it. They created a human-less existence for the rest of us to endure. That's why I related the story of the young mother and her futile attempt to restore dignity in her life. A "situation" was created by corporate execs that she will have to pay a penalty for. Regardless of whether or not her son did or didn't pay for his gas, a business environment that stressed automatic, emotionless tasks created a more complex system which is more prone to breakdown. And that's what happened to this lady...

... candy red MG as she was listening to Christina Aguilera's latest
c.d.. She looked at my 1 yr old lab pup and laughed before asking if
he wanted to stop over to her condo .....

cue the music

bah -wow chicka chicka thumpy thumpy thumpy

:rofl:

.......the tank was full but then it dawned on me that, when you use a debit card, they only pre-authorize $75 dollars. I haven't had the heart to re-start the pump so I only get 7/8 of a tank. Fortunately, I only have to do that about once a month. My office is very close to home and I only use the SUV to run supplies/tools to local jobs.........so I can still laugh. Of course, even filling up the Mini Cooper is getting costly.

I could be on fumes in my Econoline liftvan and not get to $75.

during the next Presidential election.:evilgrin:

I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I register a few voters in gas stations.

I can't be the only one who thinks she was (even more) cheated recently.

There are lots of people hanging around, coming and going all day long. loitering! Many are dark skinned, and I suspect the vehicle is recruiting terrorists. As a proud patriotic American, I felt obligated to attempt to infiltrate the operation and made my first contact by purchasing a five taco special from the vehicle. I will need to investigate this suspicious activity further. Woo-hoo, Wednesdays they serve Carnitas.

I frequented one in a body shop parking lot on Fair Oaks Blvd. in Pasadena.

one of the few things I miss about SoCali.

;)

I live in Providence where the lunch truck was invented back in 1876 and we have some wonderful street food here. Though I must admit for dining carts located at gas stations the city of Worcester Ma, kicks mucho butt.

I've pulled up to a pump here in N. Texas a half-dozen times only to discover the station was out of gas. That hasn't happened to me that many times since the oil embargoes of the '70s. What's up with that?

and I still had 1/4 of the tank left. When the gas station attendant or manager refused to discuss it with me I called the police and the Dept of Agriculture. Fortunately I had time to kill. I ended up paying for 11.5 gallons of gas and later found out the pump was indeed calibrated wrong. No telling how many people they screwed on that deal.

Some stations will set the pump so that it charges 20-30 cents before you even start pumping the gas.As soon as you squeeze the pump handle amount bought window jumps to 30 0r 30 cents.
Another thing I have had happen is the pump is saying I put several gallons more gasoline than my fuel tank holds.Last week I pumped 23 gallons into a 18 gallon tank.And I had 1/8 of a tank(3.5 gallons) when I started.
With computer controlled pumps it is easy to program in little things like this in just random enough pattern that no one notices.

lots, use (area code) 555-1212 to enter your phone number rather than using a card because some places have a lot of people using this number for their home phone. I have gotten the discount every time I've managed to be at grocery-store-gas station by doing this. Found out I bought $4928 of groceries last month too.

I was going out to the western Phoenix area to visit my dad, and she approached and asked if I could give her a ride. She was maybe in her late 20s and pretty cute but looked like she could have been homeless.

I told her the town where I was going and why, and her response was "Me too, to visit my grandmother". I then said I was in a hurry (which was partly true) and didn't have much time, and she replied "It's on the way, at a truck stop".

Well, I've taken this route maybe 100 times in my life, and I know damn well there isn't any truck stop on the way. The nearest one was way outside of town, far away from where I wanted to go.

She wanted me to give her a ride, but I had a feeling she wanted to take me for a ride.

I said "I'm sorry. There's no truck stop on the way. I don't think I can help you."

Around here, you never let a stranger get in your car. There's no telling when they will decide they want to leave.

IIRC, when inspectors test the pumps, they test at the 10 gallon mark and make sure that when you pay for 10 gallons of gas, you get 10 gallons. So if you buy exactly 10 gallons, you are more likely to get the right amount of gas. But some pumps were rigged to record less gas than pumped at 3 gallons for example, but make up for it by 10 gallons.Hope that makes sense.