Petrol Station , dodgy pump counters

witnessmenow

Tin foil hatish thread but anyways:

There is a petrol station in Raheen that I frequent on my way home from the industrial estate and there seems to be something strange going on their pumps.

I noticed before that I found it hard to land on €30 exactly and often ended up with €30.01 or something, but I was putting it down to me being trigger happy.

Then a couple of weeks ago I landed on €29.99, and literally tapped the nossele as gently as I could press it and bam, straight to €30.01. Again I thought maybe that just that pump or whatever.

Then about a week ago I landed on €29.90 or something and gently tapped my way up, it every 3-4 taps it would skip a digit but I got to €29.99 and straight to €30.01. This was a different pump to the last one.

Ok so your probably thinking, this guy is crazy, and I'm a little bit guilty of that but hear me out.

TBH I think its on purpose:

1) Its possibly phycological, I have often thought "Ill get to €30 and leave it" but once I go anywhere over go "crap, sure I'll go to €35"

2) They are possibly distributing less petrol than they are counting. As i said in the second example every 3rd of 4th digit was skipping so if they were giving you 90c worth of petrol but counting €1 they would not be long fleecing you, add that to everyone that visits and you your making a nice tidy killing.

Anyone else notice a petrol station in the area behaving similarly?

puntosporting

When it hits 30.01 stop and pay the 30 its normal enough!

Olaf

Why don't you bring a petrol container with you the next time and fill it up?

Don't buy the container at the same place though. They might sell you a 5 litre container which actually only holds 4.

Casperbhoy

yea, try the container

osarusan

try to stop at 29.99 next time.

MarkR

Should be some form of cert on each pump from a weights and measurement test.

source

Jesus OP, When I saw the thread title I thought the petrol station was over charging by a huge amount.

Almost every pump I've ever used will do something like this, and I think I can count on 2 fingers the amount of times I've been charged for 1c worth of petrol.

If it bothers you that much, try to find another petrol station that this doesn't happen in.

Liam Byrne

If it stops at €29.90, why not go into the shop and pay €29.90 ?

It's not like they're going to charge you the round-up difference.

Or do the more sensible thing and fill it with a certain number of litres so that you know where you stand re prices and mileage.

Sam Kade

Most garages have that covered already by charging a few cent extra before any petrol comes out of the pump. I found that out as I was using a pump that was broke when I pulled the trigger the meter read 9 cent and no petrol came out. When I brought it to the attention of the shop assistant she said no we don't charge 9 cent extra for every fill at the same time her face reddened up :rolleyes:

Jofspring

Sam Kade wrote: »

Most garages have that covered already by charging a few cent extra before any petrol comes out of the pump. I found that out as I was using a pump that was broke when I pulled the trigger the meter read 9 cent and no petrol came out. When I brought it to the attention of the shop assistant she said no we don't charge 9 cent extra for every fill at the same time her face reddened up :rolleyes:

I know someone who had something similar like this happen. He put the pump into the car and before he even pressed on the pump it had already notched up a few cents. It may be only a few cents but when you are buying petrol for lets say 129.8 per litre you want to make sure you get it at that price and not more or its false advertising.

I hope that petrol station the OP is talking about isn't the one near the Regional. They are charging mad prices in there 139.8 or something like that at the moment as far as i know. You'd want to be crazy to buy petrol in there. It's 10 cent cheaper in most places.

concussion

How do you know for sure that the pump has not delivered the 2 cents that it has registered? The jump in price can easily be associated with a jump in volume delivered. The pump is very accurately calibrated (and certified) to correlate volume with price but the relationship between trigger pressure and volume delivered does not have to be so tight.

Wetbench4

Yep i know exactly which station you are talking about because the same always happens to me. I was only thinking the exact same thing myself the other day. Its very noticeable if you've gotten petrol there a few times.
I only get petrol there when im stuck anyway because its overpriced and never get more than a tenner anyway but its def dodgy setup. The way i see it, its the principle of it more than the 1cent.

Edit: Its not topaz i'm speaking about, they're usually around 10cent more than anywhere else and i still see people buying petrol from them for some reason.

Gneez

Please tell me what station so I can avoid it and become 1 cent richer

langdang

I had finished my fill, finger off the trigger, 20.01 on the clock.
Went to put the nozzle back on the holder - as I clicked it in another phantom 2c added itself on.
They got €20.00

And it's not Topaz - but who actually gets petrol there? Crazy prices!

Itsdacraic

langdang wrote: »

I had finished my fill, finger off the trigger, 20.01 on the clock.
Went to put the nozzle back on the holder - as I clicked it in another phantom 2c added itself on.
They got €20.00

Right on brother. Stick it to the man.

mikemac

OP, these stations are examined by Weights and Measures which come under the Metrology dept
http://www.nsai.ie/About-NSAI/Departments/LMS.aspx

Give them a call and they will send somebody around to test and audit this station
They have the tools, the knowledge and the standards.
Let them sort it out rather then you worrying over it

It's quite serious to tamper with pumps, the owner will be up in court if something is amiss

langdang

Itsdacraic wrote: »

Right on brother. Stick it to the man.

It was a bit audacious alright, I'm counting on my diplomatic immunity to protect me from prosecution;)

Twin-go

langdang wrote: »

And it's not Topaz - but who actually gets petrol there? Crazy prices!

Some people will have fuel cards and
a; don't care how much the petrol costs as their company pay for it, and b; have a card that gives them a set price per liter below whats indicated on the pumps.

Other than this yea people that buy their petrol at that high a price are mad or have too much money.

langdang

Twin-go wrote: »

Some people will have fuel cards and
a; don't care how much the petrol costs as their company pay for it, and b; have a card that gives them a set price per liter below whats indicated on the pumps.

Ah, so they're not necessarily all candidates for Nigerian-type scams. There goes another get-rich-quick scheme..

Do you think they'd be interested in some of these

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.52013

Kess73

langdang wrote: »

I had finished my fill, finger off the trigger, 20.01 on the clock.
Went to put the nozzle back on the holder - as I clicked it in another phantom 2c added itself on.
They got €20.00

And it's not Topaz - but who actually gets petrol there? Crazy prices!

Damn right. 139.9 for a litre of Unleaded in the Topaz service station beside the Regional Hospital, yet the service station on the Ballyneety road can sell unleaded at 128.9 per litre.


People need their heads checked if they buy fuel at that Topaz when it is so much cheaper only a few miles away.

And if people don't want to drive the few miles or are not getting a fill, then just drive a few hundred yards up the road to the Maxol and pay 5 cent a litre less than at the Topaz.

The only way the expensive stations will ever drop their price is when people stop buying fuel at them.

keane2097

People scoffing at the 1c extra you would be caught for if this were true are plainly missing the point.

The 1cs, if taken from every vehicle that uses the station in a year, would add up very quickly.

This ignores the psychological idea mentioned by the OP of "sure I might as well round up to €35", as well as it being just plain wrong regardless of actual the magnitude of the loss.

source

keane2097 wrote: »

People scoffing at the 1c extra you would be caught for if this were true are plainly missing the point.

The 1cs, if taken from every vehicle that uses the station in a year, would add up very quickly.

This ignores the psychological idea mentioned by the OP of "sure I might as well round up to €35", as well as it being just plain wrong regardless of actual the magnitude of the loss.

But Keane the thing is that petrol stations don't charge for the 1c, If the price goes to €30.01 then they don't charge the 1c.....as i said earlier i can count on 2 fingers the amount of times that a shop has insisted on the 1c being paid.

keane2097

foinse wrote: »

But Keane the thing is that petrol stations don't charge for the 1c, If the price goes to €30.01 then they don't charge the 1c.....as i said earlier i can count on 2 fingers the amount of times that a shop has insisted on the 1c being paid.

They do if you pay by card...

langdang

keane2097 wrote: »

They do if you pay by card...

ya or if you buy something else aswell - 30.01 petrol + 90c mars bar = 30.91

osarusan

I don't think the OP was suggesting that the petrol station is charging for 1c more petrol than the customer actually put in their car.

I think it was more the psychological effect that persuades customers to fill up to 35.00 after they hit 30.01.

gbee

MarkR wrote: »

Should be some form of cert on each pump from a weights and measurement test.

Absolutely there is. There are surprise tests, mandatory tests and tests after costumer complaints.

When I was a station manager our pumps drifted out as bit, we were always giving out too much petrol. That's grand as there are claim procedures to but if the other way around there were penalties and possible criminal charges to be faced.

Whilst modern pumps should be 'tamper proof' some of the older one were not.

donutheadhomer

osarusan wrote: »

I don't think the OP was suggesting that the petrol station is charging for 1c more petrol than the customer actually put in their car.

I think it was more the psychological effect that persuades customers to fill up to 35.00 after they hit 30.01.

my issue with fuel is why is the price always odd. like why is it 129.9c per litre when there is no such currency item as .9c. It is not possible to pay .9c for something then why are they allowed advertise this as the price.

concussion

keane2097 wrote: »

This ignores the psychological idea mentioned by the OP of "sure I might as well round up to €35", as well as it being just plain wrong regardless of actual the magnitude of the loss.

So feckin what? The customer is going to get €35 worth of petrol if they do.



NSAI certify pumps to between -0.5% to +1%. If the pump reads 10 litres it will deliver between 9.95 and 10.1 litres for your €13 (@ 130 c/litre). On a 50 litre fill you may get up to 250 mls less petrol than displayed, or you may get half a litre of free petrol. Statistically of course it will be much closer to the median.

Another thing to bear in mind is that every cents worth of petrol is about 7 mls, roughly a fifth of a shot, a tiny amount of fluid. Starting and stopping the pump by trying to deliver one cent at a time is going to be much less accurate than having the pump running continuously. You'd be better off just starting it once and cutting it close to the required amount.

EurasianBadger wrote: »

my issue with fuel is why is the price always odd. like why is it 129.9c per litre when there is no such currency item as .9c. It is not possible to pay .9c for something then why are they allowed advertise this as the price.

1 Euro currently equals 0.849263 GBP
CRH shares today were worth €14.845

The whole world works on several decimal points.

zuroph

Back when I paid for my own petrol, I'd always hit .02 over the round number. then just pay the round number. every fifty fills, free euro of petrol


mean bastard I am.

concussion

A bit more subtle than filling up and driving off, like you do now.

concussion

keane2097 wrote: »

They do if you pay by card...

Missed this earlier - if you pay by card the bank is going to charge you also, unless you have a student account.

Mc Love

Why are you buying any fuel in Raheen?? Its ludicrously expensive!! And I hope you arent going to the Topaz - if you are - you deserve to get ripped off.

I still cant believe cars pull in there to fill up

witnessmenow

concussion wrote: »

Missed this earlier - if you pay by card the bank is going to charge you also, unless you have a student account.

Im pretty sure they dont with a laser card?

Im not arguing that if I went in to pay for €30.01 petrol with cash that they wouldnt accept €30. But it has been correctly pointed out, add a mars bar or pay by card you will be charged.

And maybe its only me that's a bit anal about hitting a round number on the pump, but it could be argued that it taps into a similar psychology as pricing something at €9.99, its only a cent but it does provide an illusion of being cheaper on some level.

Im not going to name the petrol station, or am I going to say what its not as there isnt many petrol stations in Raheen.

concussion

AIB charge 20 cent per account transaction (which includes Laser debit) while BOI charge 28 cent, or €11.40 per quarter for up to 90 transactions. There are some methods of availing of free transactions, Student Accounts being one.

Mc Love

There are two and both of them are rip-offs! Havent filled up in either for months (one even charges for air ffs!!)

zuroph

or just doing two bits of banking online cancels out all fees

keane2097

As an aside, Limerick is ridiculously expensive for petrol in general.

aspasp1

I wonder why they dont invest in technology. It sucks all the time to control those handle at price you want. you hardly end up at the point you want. I know it does not matter few cents up/down. I am from asia and back home, you key in the amount you want let say €50, put the yoke in the petrol tank, go to counter pay €50 come back to your car put the yoke back in place. off you go...saves time and saves hassle ....and this is somewhere in 2001-2 ..another thing annoys me on traffic lights is no countdown timers (except few). we have every traffic lights with the countdown timers from as long as I can remeber..so you know how long exactly you are gonna get stuck....and then we talk about green green green ..public transport another joke...list is too long...

aspasp1

concussion

That's the way to be doing things. An improvement on that is that when you prepay for your petrol you get a PIN - you can then drive up to the pump only when you want to fill, rather than filling and abandoning the car at the pump while you pay.