Gas Station Scammed Me in NYC!
 

I pulled up to a BP Gas Station in Astoria, Queens and I told the attendant to fill it up with $20 Premium. (I really hate full service, I really do). I proceeded to hand him my credit card, but then he says "No, no I give you cash price". I thought he was being nice, so I didn't think anything of it.

After he fills up, I hand him my credit card in which he charged $20.00. He then hands me the receipt, and it said I received 4.762 gallons of gas at a price of $4.20 per gallon, when the actual price at the gas station was $4.00 per gallon (this was the credit price) at the time!

So, if I wanted $20 of gas at a price of $4 per gallon, my receipt should say I received 5 gallons of gas. But it said I received 4.762 gallons of gas at a price of $4.20 per gallon = around $20 worth of gas as well.

But what this fool did was play around with the pump and tried to pull something then make me believe I really got my money's worth of gas! The first red flag I should've seen was that he didn't ask for my credit card upfront, but I never had this happen to me before.

This is rather infuriating. Thoughts??

Cool!


sorry

I don't understand what you mean by this. Can you please elaborate?

Well I guess my question is what should I do?

I actually did go back to the guy and yell at him and he gave me $5 bucks worth of free gas after all my complaining. lol

Should I file a complaint with the BBB or Department of Consumer Affairs or something? Even though it's a small amount of gas, there's some shadiness going on at that gas station. The guy did rig the pump.

Oh, and it's the BP near Astoria Blvd and 31st St. Right near the entrance to the Grand Central Parkway. AVOID at all costs if you're in Astoria.

Sorry, I was being silly. I'm sorry to hear what happened. Can't give you any advice.

I would report it to the local county or city weights and measures?. That dept makes sure pumps and public scales and such are calibrated and will fine crooks like this gas station owner if they find their fixing the pumps. You would be surprised how much money they make doing that.

wow.....attendents at pumps??? only place ive seen that is in korea......none of that in ga. that sucks to hear that happened. i say report it. especially when gas is important to every consumers.

CT has them all over the place, especially down in southern CT around Bridgeport, new haven.

They actually have a very sad job, but I guess you get what you can get. :rolleyes:

Dude, that sucks.. I'd go to a different place for gas.

Wait, im confused. He said he would charge you cash price for using your credit card, but realized you payed credit card price for using your credit card, and you're saying you got ripped off? plus full service is usually like 10 to 20 cents more then self service.... How exactly did you get ripped off tho?

No, he is saying he got charged 20c a gallon over the credit price for the so called "cash discount". All I can think of is that there was some confusion over the price of the various grades.

Gas stations are free to charge what they want and can charge a different price for credit card transactions, but this is the first time I've heard of the cash price being higher than the credit price. Not illegal if the price was advertised, if it was charged differently than advertised then you have a justifiable complaint to the BBB (does little) and the department of consumer affairs. He did make amends to you so no further action will be taken on your behalf but the information can be used collectively if he is investigated.

lol, I was just at this station the other day. I payed cash though.

OP, I would go fill up the same exact way and see if it happens again. I really hate the cash & credit price difference to begin with. It's starting to be really common now, which sucks because I pay credit/debit most of the time. Amazing how much trouble these guys go through to steal a buck.

:twocents::twocents:The first mistake was going to BP. I still haven't gone back there since the Gulf disaster...he'll, I still haven't gone back to Exxon since the Valdez. Sunoco all the way...for now, anyway!

A lot of gas statons do that. They will have a diffferent price for cash and another for credit, however is not advertise Is not a scam because they will have it posted somewhere in small letters so they will trick you.

I'm not sure if this is still the case, but according to Visa, vendors are not allowed to charge a different price for credit purchases.

If they do, visa will remove them from their network and they won't be allowed to process any visa cards.