[Rich Williams]

I stopped to fill up the SV's gas tank this morning. The charge came to $8.50. I gave the attendant my credit card. When he returned, the charge was for $20. I gave the unsigned receipt back to the guy and told him of the mistake. He apologized and then gave me the $11.50 difference in cash. If I hadn't noticed the mistake, would the attendant just pocket the cash himself ?

So what do you think.... did the attendant just make and honest mistake, or was he trying to earn some extra income ? Should I tell the owner of the station ?

-Rich

 

[stranger]

seems kinda hard to accidently charge $20 for an $8 fillup. maybe if it was $9.50, he could claim he fat-fingered it and accidently hit the 9 instead of the 8.

i'd mention something to the owner

 

[Muddturtle3]

He was screwing you. I've had it happen in the truck before...but that's only because they don't know what size gas tank I have. They've tried to squeeze in an extra 5 bucks every so often but if you do the math its physically impossible to fit 20 gallons into an 18 gallon tank especially when I already have 3 gallons still in there. Telling the owner most likely will do nothing.

 

[stranger]

Telling the owner most likely will do nothing.

true. if you really want to try and do something about it - call the headquarters of the station (Exxon, Hess, etc.). You could also notify the Better Business Bureau and file a complaint there

 

[kingnothing]

what a punk. Good thing you looked!

 

[JaredMcDonley]

scam...  they almost got you too.

I always pay at the pump after it happend to a friend of mine. He looked on his bank statement... bought $5 in gas due to low cash in bank... Comes to find they charged him 50. Bank slapped him with a $20 for overdraft of funds... When he went back, the gas place was like "Jake doesn't work here. He was stealing from the register" - Always pay cash or just pay at pump.

 

[67GTONUT]

seems kinda hard to accidently charge $20 for an $8 fillup. maybe if it was $9.50, he could claim he fat-fingered it and accidently hit the 9 instead of the 8.

i'd mention something to the owner

I agree......... and I would also tell the owner.

 

[Ruefus]

Thief. That's what that guy is.

You don't 'fat-finger' 20 bucks in place of 8.50. Two-zero-zero-zero on a keypad is WAY different than eight-five-zero. Dial each on a phone. Way different.

Only thing I can think of is if he was using a touch-screen system. Most if not all have keys for standard amounts. He 'could' have screwed that up - but not likely.

 

[sassichick]

yea i agree with everyone else about scamming you... i used to work in retail where we could do things like that and one of the guys i worked with got fired for the same thing... watch out with that kind of stuff. i ALWAYS check now, but if i wouldnt have worked somewhere and saw what those people can do i could have been taking MANY times.

 

[RandyO]

were there other people purchasing from other pumps?

last saturday I got $8.50 in gas, they made a mistake and charged me $5 and charged another guy $8.50 that only bought $5 for his SUV

 

[EVOSTEVO]

wait where you at the pump then gave the attendant the card? or did you go in with the card?

me and my dad own and operate the a service station and its either you pay at the pump (credit card) or you go in and pay cash or credit.

i would never give someone you dont know your credit card without you seeing what he is doing with it. he could get the numbers written down and do damage real fast to your card.

if you ever lose a credit card outside of your house get it canceld ASAP because if someone has it they are going to use it fast.

 

[JayVee]

I had that happend to me at Taco Bell, two days ago. I ordered and total was 11.31 and when I had given my card so that way I can punch in my Pin# I had seen him punch 1 to many numbers and the total was 113.31 and I was way a minute 2 combos don't cost that much. He was like go ahead put your pin in, I was like hell no your charging me 113.31 for two combos.  You always have to pay attention before you agree to any method of payments.

 

[vtwinheaven]

If you shop at the evil WalMart, always check your receipt before you leave the store, I've had cashiers double scan items more than a couple of times.

 

[svfool]

If you shop at the evil WalMart, always check your receipt before you leave the store, I've had cashiers double scan items more than a couple of times.

damn right.

 

[syntheticton]

there is a reason fast food places have those signs with your total for order these days. There were some problems with employees verbally telling the customers a higher total than order was (most don't pay attention to total cost when ordering) and making money from it because they only rang up the correct total. I knew someone personally that did this working at McD's in the 90's. They just tacked on a buck or two to most orders and felt like it was their tip. Some customers caught it and they fixed it but most didn't.

so yes... beware of this type of thing. its possible if they were busy at gas station... he might have thought you were on another pump but most likely its sounds like was going to rip you off

 

[Rich Williams]

So just to complete the story. I called the station later and asked to speak to the owner. When he came on the phone, I explained the whole situation to him, and he was VERY apologetic. I said that it could be an innocent mistake, but I just wanted him to be aware that there could be some scamming going on at his station.

He thanked me several times and said he would have a 'talk' with the pump attendant.

So moral of the story is to always check your credit card receipts!!!

-Rich

 

[theomen]

Good thing he was cool about it. You could always report it to your credit card company. That is against the rules and the station could get in trouble with the card issuer. If I remember correctly they could even have their ability to process cards pulled.
It is the same reason any refund to a card purchase must be credited to the card and not paid in cash.