Stupid Renault drivers p1ssing me off today

Kalashnikov_Kid

Im working behind the till at a filling station for the summer and today in the space of a few hours I got my head ate off me by 2 middle-aged female Renault drivers (04 Laguna and 05 Megane Coupé) claiming they got petrol filled but somehow none of it got in the petrol tank as their gauge still reads empty :rolleyes:

Now I was really trying to be polite by just suggesting that maybe there is a fault with the fuel gauge but Jesus did they flip! Woman A even had her husband fill it for her and still wouldn't budge. The other one was giving it 'ive been driving 20yrs and this is never happened to me' - Yes but is this your first Renault? What annoyed me with her was that she was honestly expecting us to give her another free tenners worth without batting an eyelid and then having a go at the Polish forecourt worker which was really bad form.

I couldn't believe their 'no this is a new car that wouldn't be a problem' kinda attitude that you see everywhere now, and then blindly taking this out on other people rather than being anyway understandable to the fact that age does not always correlate to reliability. It was disgusting behaviour - I was being treated like a fool and should have just said 'well thats what you get for buying a fcuking Renault'. It just shows you how little some people know about what their buying into. Jesus they must have been sold a good line or two at the Renault forecourt.

And dont get me started about those mk1 Meganes you know the ones that indicate and the circus lights go on then ya dont know where the hell theyre goin!

skibum

Were their engines running while they filled up?
Recently happened to my missus (also in a renault ) filled the car up, but the gauge hadn't moved, after about 5 minutes it slowly moved to the full mark.

Still dosen't allow for the snotty attitude some people take.

Wishbone Ash

*looks around for junkyard*

:D

Kalashnikov_Kid

Was inside when they were filled so dont know if engine was running or not. Aswell as the snottiness it was this attitude of 'my car is only x years old how dare you suggest theres anything wrong with it'. Its a common Renault fuel gauge fault.

Guy:Incognito

Well for one I would hope the engine wouldnt be running whiel they were filling up.

Secondly, were they saying this while paying for said petrol? ie they most likely wouldnt have turned the engine on yet, even if they had it was probably on for a few secs and might not register straight away.

If she filled the tank, why was she lookign for a fre tenner as a "pay off"? surely if you fill you tank and didnt get any petrol you wouldnt accept anything less than another fill up?

If it was a tenner she bought, we're probably talkign about 60ish litre tanks here so 7 or 8 litres isnt going to make a huge difference visually.

Kalashnikov_Kid

Yes she only bought a tenners worth at 117.9 (~8 litres)! Whats worse was that she took a trip into town (Dundalk - only a couple of miles) then came back complaining that the amber light is on! How stupid is that! And yes we tried to tell her she only bought 8 litres but she was having none of it and got talkin to the manager! Now this was classic...the manager, knowing what he was dealing with, in a very deadpan manner suggested to her could you not buy another €10 or even €2 and then she came up with this: 'I dont have enough money, I need to head into town and do more shopping!' Riiiight

So in this situation the amber light could have flashed again without there being much fault with the fuel gauge. The other case was inexcusable - picture me trying to keep a straight face when someone's trying to tell me she got €33 filled into her Laguna but somehow after turning the engine on none of it entered the tank, whilst holding the receipt!!!

Guy:Incognito

Shes a tool. Theres a good chance if you go round a corner with only 8 litres (or less depending on how long she was driving before it happened) in the tank, the light could come on.
My Safrane has an 80 litre tank. If I let it go very low and drive a few 10 or 15 miles after the guy tells me my fuel level is low, a tenner wouldnt take it out of the red at all. Dependign on how low (well into the reserve) she was it may well not have come out of the red for more than a mile or two.

Plus, being a woman she probably never gets above 2nd gear no matter what speed she's doing and burnt off half the fuel.:D I kid, I kid.

Kalashnikov_Kid wrote:

So in this situation the amber light could have flashed again without there being much fault with the fuel gauge. The other case was inexcusable - picture me trying to keep a straight face when someone's trying to tell me she got €33 filled into her Laguna but somehow after turning the engine on none of it entered the tank, whilst holding the receipt!!!

Is there a chance she actually thought it would fill the tank with €33 (27ish litres) and again is an idiot? Thats less than half a tank. €33 seems an odd amount to put in unless she was filling back up with over half a tank of petrol in the car. My guess is it backed up a little when she was filling and the pump clicked, then she thought " super, it's full".


Women are great with cars. I was getting petrol a couple of months ago and noticed a woman at the pump behind me looking confused. She was standing outside her Laguna (05 iirc) and couldnt figure out why the fuel tank wouldnt open. It took me a couple of seconds to realise she had locked the car when she got out (product of the famous urban myth about someone getting into the back of your car when filling up?) and the petrol flap locked with the central locking. She unlocked the car, got in to rummage about then got out, locked it and tried the flap again. For some reason I started giggling, so I thought I'd go in, pay for my petrol and explain when I came out, after I had composed myself enough not to laugh in her face. By the time I came back out she was gone. I'm guessing she went to another petrol station to repeat the process. I hope someone told her what the deal was before she ran out of petrol going from station to station.:D

Kalashnikov_Kid

[HTML]Shes a tool.[/HTML]

No other word for her. The pretentious bint had an attitude that her Megane Coupe was somehow special.

The Laguna driver had a northern accent and im tryin to remember if it had northern or southern plates. So it could have been a case of filling as much as ya can for the cheap prices before headin over the border, and tryin to push your luck while your at it.

im not havin a go but whenever I see a woman pull up that I suspect is taking the hubby's car for the day, the alarm bells ring, it has cost us alot...

Is that petrol or diesel?
Petrol
5 seconds later
No, diesel!

There are tell-tale signs: Parking it @rseways at the wrong end of the pump or conveniently between petrol and diesel and also winding down all the electric mirrors and opening the boot when trying to look for the fuel latch!

Another good one was 2 young women tryin to figure out how to open the tank of a C Class they got off Mammy for the day (thats what they told me!). They had tried everything until I showed them some magic...press the latch inwards and hey presto its open!

(sorry double post please delete)

prospect

Same thing happened to me, I put €50 (i tihink, it was a while back) of Diesel in my 147 and when I started the car the needle didn't move, which was unusual as it was normally immediate. In fact, the low fuel warning 'beep' and message went off. I waited a minute or two and nothing.
I hadn't moved the car, so I returned to the counter and the guys were quite aggressive telling me it was impossible for the pump to dispense air. I ended up having to drive the car to the nearest Fiat/Alfa dealer, where they opened the tank and rang the filling station to confirm that it was indeed empty.

Them boyos sure felt like sh1t when I returned to get my diesel, gobsh1tes.

unkel

prospect wrote:

Same thing happened to me, I put €50 (i tihink, it was a while back) of Diesel in my 147 and when I started the car the needle didn't move, which was unusual as it was normally immediate. In fact, the low fuel warning 'beep' and message went off. I waited a minute or two and nothing.
I hadn't moved the car, so I returned to the counter and the guys were quite aggressive telling me it was impossible for the pump to dispense air. I ended up having to drive the car to the nearest Fiat/Alfa dealer, where they opened the tank and rang the filling station to confirm that it was indeed empty.

Them boyos sure felt like sh1t when I returned to get my diesel, gobsh1tes.

When one is holding the nozzle and the meter is running, surely one feels the fuel going through the hoze? If you didn't feel this, did you not think something was wrong?

BrianD3

Renault fuel gauges? What about the bloody pumps themselves. I have long suspected that many pumps are very inaccurate and I'm not just talking about them underdispensing either.

There are certain garages where I will not buy fuel as everytime I do I consistently get less than at other garages. It has happened enough times with various makes of cars that I don't believe it to be car related or a random error or coincidence.

Also if someone does put "8 litres" in and the pump grossly underdispenses and the low fuel warning light was on at the time, the light may still be on after the "8 litres" are put in.

event

BrianD3 wrote:

Renault fuel gauges? What about the bloody pumps themselves. I have long suspected that many pumps are very inaccurate and I'm not just talking about them underdispensing either.

There are certain garages where I will not buy fuel as everytime I do I consistently get less than at other garages. It has happened enough times with various makes of cars that I don't believe it to be car related or a random error or coincidence.

Also if someone does put "8 litres" in and the pump grossly underdispenses and the low fuel warning light was on at the time, the light may still be on after the "8 litres" are put in.

most pumps are checked independently for calibration

they will have stickers on them saying when they are last checked

prospect

unkel wrote:

When one is holding the nozzle and the meter is running, surely one feels the fuel going through the hoze? If you didn't feel this, did you not think something was wrong?

There was movement in the pipe, but probably vibrations from the pump. TBH my mind was elsewhere that day and I wasn't fully concentrating on the job, otherwise I probably would have copped that it didn't feel right. Only for the audible and visual fuel warnings when I started the car, I probably would have drove off oblivious, and I wouldn;t have a leg to stand on then.

Either way, I had the opposite problem to the OP, the garage guys immediately became aggressive and did not want anything to do with me. I had to argue with them just to get them to agree to let me drive to the garage and have the tank checked, they actually just expected me to drive away and accept it !!! The garage in question is very close to my job, and as a result of their attitude no one here goes there anymore for fuel.

Fey!

OP; don't you just love working in the service industry, where every ignorant sod assumes that you're as thick as bottle s***e?

Henry Ford III

prospect wrote:

There was movement in the pipe, but probably vibrations from the pump. TBH my mind was elsewhere that day and I wasn't fully concentrating on the job, otherwise I probably would have copped that it didn't feel right. Only for the audible and visual fuel warnings when I started the car, I probably would have drove off oblivious, and I wouldn;t have a leg to stand on then.

Either way, I had the opposite problem to the OP, the garage guys immediately became aggressive and did not want anything to do with me. I had to argue with them just to get them to agree to let me drive to the garage and have the tank checked, they actually just expected me to drive away and accept it !!! The garage in question is very close to my job, and as a result of their attitude no one here goes there anymore for fuel.

Did your shoes, socks, and pants smell of fuel?

jayok

My parents had a filling station when I was a kid and rest assured the Weights and Measures crowd would spring checks on us about twice a year. No notice or anything (rightly so) they would simply go to the pump with a special can and pump 1 litre of fuel and measure the reading with the supposed deliverable. Any discrepency wouldn't be tolerated.

Additionally, I can tell you that the fuel pumps would not pump air. It seldom happened that a tank would run ltoo low just before switchover to the reserve tank took place. When then even happened as you were pumping fuel the gauge would stop mid-pump and sit there until switchover was complete, once done the pump would then take off again. This was not any cutting edge technology but a pump from the early 80's. Fuel pumps have a "mileage" or usage on them are are normally replaced every 5-7 years. But probably sooner on high-output Service Stations. So it's hard to believe that they would pump air.

As Henry said, were your feet wet?

prospect

jayok wrote:

Additionally, I can tell you that the fuel pumps would not pump air.

Well, I can tell you you are absoloutely incorrect.

The pump pumped, the litres and price dials increased as normal, and when the cars fuel tank was opened and inspected by a mechanic, it was completely empty.
I don't how, or why, but that is exactly what happened.

jayok wrote:

So it's hard to believe that they would pump air.

Hard to believe, or not, it happened.

Kalashnikov_Kid

prospect, I dont know how that could have happened either. Sounds very strange indeed I suppose just keep avoiding the place. One thing I'd say is be wary of where you buy your diesel, not so much because of faulty pumps, but what kind of diesel theyre putting in the tank! From talking to a guy who has fixed these pumps, the acids from unmarked diesel erodes the filters and shortens the pump's lifespan so watch out!

Fey! wrote:

OP; don't you just love working in the service industry, where every ignorant sod assumes that you're as thick as bottle s***e?

Yeah its great! On a daily basis I also have to deal with an off-license, knackers, gypsies, travellers, heroin addicts and grumpy northern borderhoppers! Headin to work at 3 so wonder what I'll be accused of today

jayok

prospect wrote:

Well, I can tell you you are absoloutely incorrect.

The pump pumped, the litres and price dials increased as normal, and when the cars fuel tank was opened and inspected by a mechanic, it was completely empty.
I don't how, or why, but that is exactly what happened.


Hard to believe, or not, it happened.

I certainly don't doubt that you got a tank of air - as suggest maybe the pump was broken. But the meter reading in the tank is based on actual fuel flow, air doesn't have the same rate or difficulty to pump. Maybe the newer pumps are less effective for this sort of stuff than in the 80's? My understanding though was pumps had to be manufaturered to register only the flow of liquid.

prospect

jayok wrote:

I certainly don't doubt that you got a tank of air - as suggest maybe the pump was broken. But the meter reading in the tank is based on actual fuel flow, air doesn't have the same rate or difficulty to pump. Maybe the newer pumps are less effective for this sort of stuff than in the 80's? My understanding though was pumps had to be manufaturered to register only the flow of liquid.

I hope it was broken, because if it was deliberate I would be making louder noises about the garage in question.

I have no problem with a broken pump, a genuine mistake, but the attitude I got pizzed me off so much I am avoiding the garage for that reason alone.

skyhighflyer

Worked in a petrol station since I was about 14 until quite recently. I have no reason to doubt prospect's post, but I can say that I've never experienced or heard of a pump dispensing air :eek:

As regards whether a garage can rig the pump, let me tell you they could, but they wouldn't be long in being found out as the weights and measures commissioners visit every garage at least twice a year with no notice whatsoever.

Also, since then I always try to be nice to people working in petrol stations. It's strange that I always found middle class people driving new but unremarkable cars (like the Laguna / Megane in this case) to be the rudest customers. People driving high end cars such as Porsches, S Classes etc were always a much more agreeable bunch. Same goes for the people driving 15 year old wrecks of cars.

Since I began working there seven years ago to when I left I noticed a serious change in clientele attitudes towards shop assistants. Rudeness, condescending attitudes and sheer agression have increased dramatically in the last couple of years, to such an extent that I would never work in the service industry again. It wasn't such a problem for me as I usually gave as good as I got with pushy customers, but a lot of thre girls I worked with were reduced to tears on occasion by some ignorant tosser who thought he was better than them because he drove an 8 year old BMW 316 that he probably mortaged his granny to own :rolleyes:

</rant>

Victor Meldrew

skyhighflyer wrote:

It's strange that I always found middle class people driving new but unremarkable cars (like the Laguna / Megane in this case) to be the rudest customers. People driving high end cars such as Porsches, S Classes etc were always a much more agreeable bunch. Same goes for the people driving 15 year old wrecks of cars.

</rant>

No rant, just a fair, accurate observation. Especially 50 - 70 year old Women in south dublin shopping centres (Rathfarnham, Blackrock, Stillorgan), Mrs Meldrew calls them G.W.A.s (Grannies with attitude problems). it's all down to chips on shoulders.... and delusions of grandeure (sic) There have been so many times that i've wanted to tell them "if i did that you'd say i was "dragged up" or a "young pup"!". that said I'm old enough now to have perfected an effectivethe contemptious sneer at such behaviour. :rolleyes:

P.S., I drive a Renault, don't trust any of the gauges, and am polite,,,