Week of Suck in the Petrol Station

[wolfie]

Every single gas station I've been to here in the states always required a credit card inserted or cash paid to the station attendant before the pump even operated to prevent things like this. Is this less common in the UK?

On the diesel side, some places (like one independent truck stop I went to in Louisiana during the price spike of '07-'08) are set up so they'll start the pump, then run your Comdata card after you finish pumping. I was used to the Flying J near the company yard, where the TCH card was good for $1000 per transaction, so you'd just re-start the pump (card done at the pump, and it wouldn't start the pump unless the card was good). Pump shut off before my truck was full, they ran the card, it processed, and they re-started the pump for the remainder. Put in about $50 worth to finish the fill, went inside, and the card was rejected. Turns out Comdata was good for $1000 per CALENDAR DAY. Fortunately I was able to put the balance on my credit card. What happens if someone honestly believes their payment card is good, but due to some glitch it's rejected? When you're dealing with vehicles that can gulp down a 4-figure fuel bill at one sitting, that's not good. Also, why couldn't Comdata and TCH do what Esso did, namely have the card be good for 1200 litres per day - which wouldn't result in "cut off before full" in the event of a price spike?

In the US, only New Jersey and (IIRC) Oregon require full service by law. Every other state is self serve. You can pay at the counter in some places, not in others. It was quite flustering when I moved to a state where you HAVE to pay at the pump. North Carolina allows pay at the counter, and had issues with drive offs when the economy tanked and gas prices soared. Most of the stations have since retrofitted to pay at pump as a result.

I've heard that NJ and OR allow 2 exceptions where customers can self-serve: diesel and motorcycles. The diesel bit is to allow cardlocks (otherwise it would increase staffing requirements for truck stops), the motorcycle bit is for liability - stations pushed for it after an attendant accidentally scratched a custom airbrushed paint job on a bike's tank. On the TDI club forums, there are occasional stories about SCs who go ape (apologies to the monkeys) when they see a TDI owner being allowed to pump their own, but THEY have to wait for an attendant. As for "pay at the pump only", how do people without credit/debit cards buy their fuel? Why can't they put down a cash deposit at the counter, then come back for their change after pumping?

IOne place I went to, i tried to put in diesel as normal, but nothing happened. Its only when I went inside i was told that i had to pre-pay for a certain amount of fuel. Only ever had that at that one place.

TDI club has a LONG thread about that happening for a different reason - attendant is trying to keep the customer from ruining their engine by "misfueling" with diesel (even though the TDI is a diesel).

Also, at least in South Australia, we have a system where you can check when your rego is due to expire online. Some petrol stations have been using that function to check licence plates of drive-offs, so that they can inform the police of the car make, model, colour and if the licence plates are stolen or not. (for instance, if a white 99 Toyota Camry drives off with a licence plate for a 2004 green Holden Barina, you can bet that the Barina plates have been stolen)

Then you'll get a "creative" crook who steals (or better yet, makes phony copies, so the victim doesn't know their number has been nabbed) plates from a car of the same make/model/colour/generation (e.g. 1991-1994 Hyundai Excel - from the outside, unless you know what to look for - such as the CCTV showing a Hyundai logo immediately below the rear window on a hatchback when the plate is registered to a 1991-1993, all those model years look the same). Lookup on the plates will produce a match, so the wrong person gets blamed.

The gas stations around my parts are the standard prepay/pay-at-pump deals, but the one closest to my home now apparently won't let you prepay with cash (you can still pay at the pump with debit/credit, though). Instead, you register for this prepay card to start up the pump (they take your name, address, phone, and driver's license number), then you can pay cash inside when you're done. I haven't used that option yet, so I really don't see the benefit, other than getting info on non-credit/debit users.

One major truck stop chain has that option for their loyalty cards - after you purchase a certain volume of fuel (someone's unlikely to do several fills using cash just to set up for one drive-off), you can use your loyalty card as a pump start. I've never used that feature, just in case the payment card is rejected (fortunately, since 2 of their locations between a regular consignee in VA and a regular shipper in NC are agency locations that don't accept the T-check card my current company uses even though they take most T-check cards - and ours requires going inside to set up, so people would be tempted to use that option for convenience).

Update on this guy; the police tracked him down and arrested him and he ended up in court charged with theft. Think he got whacked with a fine and also having to pay for the fuel and costs. Ignore CCTV at your peril...

And some jurisdictions suspend your license if you're convicted of stealing fuel.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Well, it can be amusing at times, it's true. XD

The pumps at the C-Store chain I work at (and most others in the area) are pump and pay as well, with PAP and Pre-pay abilities, like CC was describing. You know, Lace,the guy could've been dumber. Had one at the C-store I started at that drove off, was caught, and went to court. Guy was stupid enough to not only have been seen by an employee, but be wearing the same clothing he'd been wearing when he'd committed the crime, AND be driving the same vehicle. Needless to say, former cw OWNED the guy in the courtroom, and C-Store got their money.

Sounds like this woman who was caught after doing two driveouts; she did one, then returned in her husband's car for the second. That time, she also entered the shop so was caught on that camera too. When the police landed on her doorstep, she denied it was her... even tho BOTH cars were outside her house and she was wearing the same clothes she'd been wearing on the day! She also had to pay for the petrol and got community service.

[downforit2008]

We should make a thread of horror stories about gas station customers so none of us try to apply for a gas station job. I'm thinking about applying at one because there's a station hiring only 2 blocks from my house, would make a great commute on foot, and I could use the extra cash for emergencies. But would it be WORTH the trouble? You guys decide!

[BrenDAnn]

The pumps at the C-Store chain I work at (and most others in the area) are pump and pay as well, with PAP and Pre-pay abilities, like CC was describing. You know, Lace,the guy could've been dumber. Had one at the C-store I started at that drove off, was caught, and went to court. Guy was stupid enough to not only have been seen by an employee, but be wearing the same clothing he'd been wearing when he'd committed the crime, AND be driving the same vehicle. Needless to say, former cw OWNED the guy in the courtroom, and C-Store got their money.

[Lace Neil Singer]

I want free fuel!

We had a drive out, where a guy filled up and didn't even try to come in and pay. It was during a busy period, where we were overwhelmed with customers for a while so he would have been able to escape unseen... were it not for the customer who came after him. Sucks to be him; she not only gave us his registration number but also a complete description of his car. We passed this on to the old bill, so it won't be long before he's tracked down and arrested. Yeah, that was really worth it, wasn't it?

Update on this guy; the police tracked him down and arrested him and he ended up in court charged with theft. Think he got whacked with a fine and also having to pay for the fuel and costs. Ignore CCTV at your peril...

[Lace Neil Singer]

I've done this accidentally before. We have to use a store card to get a discount on petrol at the one I shop at (and to actually start the pump if you're not paying in cash beforehand). I forgot to swipe my credit card after and just took off. I ended up getting a letter in the mail because the store card was attached to my account that said to call them about it. I explained what must have happened and they told me no worries, just pay at one of their locations.

We've had people do that before; they normally contact us of their own accord if they remember, or rush in mortified to pay if they don't. This guy, however, made no attempt whatsoever to come in and pay.

[thehuckster]

I had to do a double-take of the title. I initially read it as "Week of Sucking Petrol".

Vinegar Boy II: The Human Torch

[Cat Herder]

I had to do a double-take of the title. I initially read it as "Week of Sucking Petrol".

[Mystic]

We had a drive out, where a guy filled up and didn't even try to come in and pay. It was during a busy period, where we were overwhelmed with customers for a while so he would have been able to escape unseen... were it not for the customer who came after him. Sucks to be him; she not only gave us his registration number but also a complete description of his car. We passed this on to the old bill, so it won't be long before he's tracked down and arrested. Yeah, that was really worth it, wasn't it?

I've done this accidentally before. We have to use a store card to get a discount on petrol at the one I shop at (and to actually start the pump if you're not paying in cash beforehand). I forgot to swipe my credit card after and just took off. I ended up getting a letter in the mail because the store card was attached to my account that said to call them about it. I explained what must have happened and they told me no worries, just pay at one of their locations.

[Cosmart Security]

Yeah, I wish we had good CCTV at DG, our CCTV sucks, it suppossed to be digital, but it isn't and if you get a good close up of someones face you can barely make out their face, so we get a lot of HIGH SHRINK (Thefts), mostly because DG is too cheap to hire on a 3rd person unless they can figure out some rediculas additional tasks that need to be done for the slave wage we get.

No, no you can't just stand at the register, you have to stay busy, by Stay busy, I mean you have to be totally ignorant of the fact people walk out with Merchandise, while we have CCTV, probably laughing it up.

[DarkProwler]

The gas stations around my parts are the standard prepay/pay-at-pump deals, but the one closest to my home now apparently won't let you prepay with cash (you can still pay at the pump with debit/credit, though). Instead, you register for this prepay card to start up the pump (they take your name, address, phone, and driver's license number), then you can pay cash inside when you're done. I haven't used that option yet, so I really don't see the benefit, other than getting info on non-credit/debit users.

[Librarian]

Belgium here, i scan my bank card, then pump what i need. Amount pumped = amount that goess off my card.

We don't have any stations i know of that are serviced, and only the major ones at highways have attendance in a shop (that's only open during the day, don't know of any 24/7's around here) and then it's "pay after you pumped" if you prefer not to use a card, but not all allow it.

[CarcinogenCrunchies]

Most stations around here are still pump & pay, although they do have prepay and pay-at-pump capabilities. When I first started gas station work I was continually confused when people would say they wanted "$10 on pump 6," and there was no fuel already pumped there. The company I work for now doesn't even require an employee to activate the pump before fueling, which was a big surprise to me when I started. As an employee, I wish everything was prepay so I could focus on customers/side work in the store without having to keep an eye on the pumps. As a customer, I'm glad I can just fill up my tank and then pay that amount without having to either guess how much I need or go back into the store for change.

[fireheart]

Also, in AU they only started doing significant installs of pay-at-pump in the last few years (My previous job was doing some of the software for Woolworths initial offering of pay at pump. I even got to spend two weeks touring the petrol stations of Sydney for that job.)

I think the related crime rates must simply be lower outside the US, and thus they don't have as much driving them toward PAP as a theft deterent system. Alternately, the penetration of credit/debit cards may be lower, making it less useful.

Just to clarify, Woolies PAP is only for their credit cards.

Several places were putting in pre-pay options for customers 24/7, but now a majority of them only do it during certain hours.

Also, at least in South Australia, we have a system where you can check when your rego is due to expire online. Some petrol stations have been using that function to check licence plates of drive-offs, so that they can inform the police of the car make, model, colour and if the licence plates are stolen or not. (for instance, if a white 99 Toyota Camry drives off with a licence plate for a 2004 green Holden Barina, you can bet that the Barina plates have been stolen)

[Lace Neil Singer]

Yup; we have to manually switch on the pump from inside. And CCTV is a multitude in itself; your number plate will be recorded... (and you will be assimilated; only joking!)