My #1 Service Station Gripe!

[Mad_Hatter]

Originally Posted by JLTD

I would rather have a driver or two mad at me for leaving my vehicle there, then have the police called on me for attempting a drive-off.

There's no crime of "attempted drive off" as far as I'm aware. You either did or didn't. (if you haven't left the premises, no crime has technically been committed)...And fwiw, drive offs are low priority calls akin to a dine and dash, they don't issue APB's..at best the officer responsible for that area will do what's called an "area check"..but it's not an assigned call unless the victim, in this case the service station, requests for contact. The incident "report" is normally just taken over the phone. I know this because I regularly listen to police channels in my shop...

 

[PimTac]

Too many addicts and panhandlers hanging out these days. Having cash just attracts the flies.

 

[Mad_Hatter]

Originally Posted by PimTac

Too many addicts and panhandlers hanging out these days. Having cash just attracts the flies.

At least 90% of my fuel ups are done at the same, family owned 76 station w/store. I've been going there literally for 20+yrs so the owner and I have seen each other's kids grow up etc. Aside from a couple of employees, the station is ran by only family so they take great pride in running off the riff raff and pay attention to the little stuff like making sure there's always CLEAN bathrooms, gloves/paper towels at the pumps or the trash cans aren't overflowing. I can send the kids inside for snacks and refreshments while I gas up and not have to worry about them. They cost more than the ARCO down the road and is about the same as the Chevron (~.5c/gl) in the opposite direction, but sometimes saving a few pennies isn't everything....

 

[bdcardinal]

What is this drive-off everyone talks about? Here the pumps won't do anything until you swipe your card and it clears.

 

[Mad_Hatter]

Originally Posted by bdcardinal

What is this drive-off everyone talks about? Here the pumps won't do anything until you swipe your card and it clears.

Ditto for mine...

 

[PimTac]

Originally Posted by Mad_Hatter

Originally Posted by PimTac

Too many addicts and panhandlers hanging out these days. Having cash just attracts the flies.

At least 90% of my fuel ups are done at the same, family owned 76 station w/store. I've been going there literally for 20+yrs so the owner and I have seen each other's kids grow up etc. Aside from a couple of employees, the station is ran by only family so they take great pride in running off the riff raff and pay attention to the little stuff like making sure there's always CLEAN bathrooms, gloves/paper towels at the pumps or the trash cans aren't overflowing. I can send the kids inside for snacks and refreshments while I gas up and not have to worry about them. They cost more than the ARCO down the road and is about the same as the Chevron (~.5c/gl) in the opposite direction, but sometimes saving a few pennies isn't everything....

It all depends on where you live here and the individual gas station. Some neighborhoods I just don't venture through and I get my gas at a couple of particular stations around home. Filling up at 8pm on the Tacoma Hilltop is not smart, nor is it on Capitol Hill in Seattle with the toe tappers. The dread zones are known. Outside of the metro it's generally good. As for the drive off issue, the card has to be scanned or cash prepaid first at most stations.

 

[Dave9]

Yes today any station I go to requires pre-pay but years ago I worked at one that didn't, and we had this gal that drove off practically every other day. She got away with it several times because she lived in a condo complex behind the station so we were always watching for her to pull out of the lot onto the main road while she took a little path through the back of the lot. Eventually I saw her do that and the police came, found her vehicle pretty quickly, asked me to come identify her and presented her mother, the owner of the vehicle and I said no that's not her, then they figured out who did it. The kicker was this girl.... her sister worked at that gas station too. Heh if it'd been my sibling I would have told them to at least steal gas somewhere else if you're going to do it at all. The girl's sister HAD to have seen her come in, recognized her and their mother's car, and get gas so many times without paying. Anyway about parking at the pump, depends on how the station is set up. The one I go to most frequently has most people parking at the pump. There are a couple spots in front of the store, parallel to it, and a row of spots along the side, but half the time those are just as crowded as the pumps because many people go there for non-fueling reasons. You can't even pull from the pumps into half those spots without waiting for them to open up and making an extra half lap around the lot which may be a path that's blocked. As a result, practically everyone parks at the pumps to go inside. My biggest gripe is when the manager gets stingy with # of employees on duty, especially with certain cashiers that are dog-slow so what should have been the cashier keeping up with the flow of people coming to the register, turns into a several minute wait. It's also annoying when they try to push-sell impulse items by piling so many things at the register counter that you can barely even set anything on the counter or have your stuff bagged.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

This is why NJ's self-serve ban isn't so bad, and all costs considered, probably ends up costing mo more than self serve

 

[donnyj08]

My company vehicle is a Diesel, I HATE when people take the only diesel pump in their gas vehicle when there are other pumps available. I realize people don't even have a clue, but it's annoying as all...

 

[mk378]

Stealing any quantity of gasoline is a felony in my state.

 

[MNgopher]

Funny how things are in different places. There are not a lot of stations here (minnesota) that require prepaying. Was surprised when I went elsewhere where that was more the norm. Our passive aggressiveness here means we will hold a gripe forever at a station that doesn't trust us And we will take our business elsewhere. And yes, leaving the pump before paying will get the employees attention - even just moving to a parking spot. One station here doesn't authorize a pay inside pump until you acknowledge you are paying inside. As far as going in and leaving the car at the pump, if the pumps aren't full, who cares?

 

[KD0AXS]

My wife learned why not to park at the pump when you're not getting gas when the police showed up at our door. Turned out that the person who had previously been at the pump left without paying for their gas, but they had written down her license plate number. She had to go back to the store and have them review video to show that she hadn't pumped any gas.

 

[blupupher]

Parking at the pump, no. Leaving my car at the pump after I have filled it to go inside and get something, I do it all the time. Station I fill at is rarely full when I am there, so no issue as far as I am concerned. This topic is not even in the top 100 of things that people do that bother me.

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted by blupupher

Parking at the pump, no. Leaving my car at the pump after I have filled it to go inside and get something, I do it all the time. Station I fill at is rarely full when I am there, so no issue as far as I am concerned. This topic is not even in the top 100 of things that people do that bother me.

Yeah, I've never really noticed this. The pumps I go to are usually high volume and there's no going inside, all you can do is go up to the cashier. The ones where you can go inside to buy other stuff usually aren't that busy so no one is just taking up a spot at the pump. Whenever I leave the car at the pump, that's always been a store where the pumps are never full.

 

[dlundblad]

I'm not a fan of the person who has to open their lottery tickets in line.

 

[Fawteen]

It doesn't bother me in the slightest.

 

[opus1]

My big peeve is when the printer at the pump is out of paper or just not working. Kind of negates the whole pay-at-the-pump thing if you still have to go in to get the receipt; and I insist on getting the receipt in case anyone ever tries to accuse me of running off without paying or to have proof of purchase in case there's a problem with the gas. I started doing that after the BP refinery in Whiting, IN, shipped out bad gas in 2012. If all goes well and I get my receipt, and I decide I want to go inside to buy something else, I will absolutely move my car from the pump. If I have to go in to get the receipt, the car stays put and I will take my sweet time getting back to it.

 

[wag123]

My #1 Service Station Gripe? 99% of the gas pumps don't have chip readers. We have a BIG problem with credit/debit card skimmers around here, and the service stations (oil companies) are doing nothing about it as they are not being held accountable for the theft of credit/debit card information and subsequent PITA that it causes the customers. This has happened to me. The biggest offender? Seven-Eleven/Exxon locations. The pumps they are using must be very easy to break into and hack. I do NOT purchase fuel at their locations (are you listening Exxon?). An easy and relatively inexpensive interim fix would be to install alarms on the pumps that go off when they are opened. The first oil company that installs chip readers in ALL of their gas pumps nationwide would have an excellent advertising/promotional tool and will get 100% of my business! My #2 Service Station Gripe? Services stations that prominently advertise their gas price on the required sign at the street that is for gas purchased on THEIR oil company credit card. The higher cash and other credit card price is advertised on the sign below it and smaller (not as prominent). The biggest offender? Some (but not all) Shell stations. This is a pet peeve of mine so I don't give the stations that do this my business either.

 

[PimTac]

Originally Posted by opus1

My big peeve is when the printer at the pump is out of paper or just not working. Kind of negates the whole pay-at-the-pump thing if you still have to go in to get the receipt; and I insist on getting the receipt in case anyone ever tries to accuse me of running off without paying or to have proof of purchase in case there's a problem with the gas. I started doing that after the BP refinery in Whiting, IN, shipped out bad gas in 2012. If all goes well and I get my receipt, and I decide I want to go inside to buy something else, I will absolutely move my car from the pump. If I have to go in to get the receipt, the car stays put and I will take my sweet time getting back to it.

My Apple Card posts the transaction right on my iPhone. Smarter credit cards are doing this now.

 

[blupupher]

Originally Posted by wag123

My #1 Service Station Gripe? 99% of the gas pumps don't have chip readers. ...

I don't understand that either. I hate the chip, slows down my purchases, but on a card reader outside that has such a high tamper rate, it should be mandated. I have 1 credit card that is used just for fuel purchases due to the skimming problem. So if it does happen to me, it is only that card affected, and since I get immediate text alerts when it is used, easy to spot it. I have also started buying store cards (Sunoco/Stripes and Walmart gift cards mostly) for my daughter to use to fill up with. Saves $0.03/gallon and no worry about scammers.