Cheating at HP pumps

[sridharak]

Originally Posted by Samurai

I fill up at BP pump in front of IBM office on Bannerghatta road. Their petrol is supposedly good, but they have tried cheating once. The usual stop in the middle and continue again business. I said full tank, but they stopped at 26 lts. Then I said no, I want full tank. Then he put four more when it got full. I wanted the bill, which came to 34 litres. The billing guy told it was 30 & 4 more. I said no, it was 26 and 4 more. There was no more argument, the moment he saw me fighting back, he conceded it to be 30 lt.

Never sit in driver's seat while fueling up. Get down, lock the car and stand next to the fuel pump with a hawkish look. Then they don't try their usual tricks.

Exactly my type...

I always wonder why most of the car owner-drivers feel so lowly about getting down from the car and supervise the filling operation. After all it costs you...right???

Cheers
AKS

[prabuddhadg]

I am quite lucky with the BP outlet I have found near my house. They know me pretty well now from my weekly visits since the past few years ( I usually refuel from this same place daily). I just hand them my key and sit there taking notes (I record the odometer reading and the litres and amount at each refill). The attendants reset to zero and call for me to check the zero setting. In case I ignore them, they tap on my window for attention. I invariably fill to the brim and generally have a rough idea +-2 litres how much the tank will take. So, I have it much easier in that respect.
So compared to many of you guys, I am much better off.

[Dud_Dodo]

This happens at almost all pumps. Irrespective whether its a Company owned one or not. The BP pump on St. Johns Rd, Near Thoms Bakery, Bangalore. They do this all the time. Since I've caught them so many times, I was well aware & caught them red handed doing it to another senior citizen. I got so furious that I created a havoc & almost got off my bike to thrash the attendent. But they are shameless & act as if nothing went wrong. NDTV Office happens to be very close to that pump actually. Hope they can do a kinda sting operation & catch these cheaters..

Has happened to me at another BP pump near KR Puram Cable Stayed Bridge & a HP pump too. But I've almost always caught them.

Most of the times I pay by credit card, so I threaten them that I'll instruct my Bank to do a Stop payment. That trick works everywhere, not only Pumps.

[wolfinstein]

I think the problem is not HP the problem is almost any make pump..!
Infact HP service is undoubtable, Each time I fill in petrol..I'm asked to check the meter, and before the fuel filled..I get a tap to check the meter, They then take your smart card and credit card and quickly process it for you in the time it take them to clean your glass..Each and Every Time you do....And Don't forget..Good Mornings,Afternoons,Night in Hindi or English...! Never seen better service...!

[varunroy]

I happen to know the manager of a IBP petrol Pump who told me that 95% of Bangalore's Gas Stations dispense adulterated fuel. He says that the guys offered him 500 bucks each time, just to look the other way, while loading the fuel at the Companies filling plant. He says these guys are so good at it that even the density & the quantity does not change at the point of unloading. The owners don't complain because they are not short changed.

The worst bunks of Bangalore in my opinion;
1. HP M,G. Road
2. Hp Cantonment Railway station underbridge.
3. Basham Circle, Sadashivnagar.( Palace Orchards)
4. IBP Sanjay nagar main Road, near VSNL Tower.
5. BP Sanjay Nagar, next to Janata Bazaar. (Watch his meter)
6. Hp Sankey Road, next to Cauvery Theatre.

The thumb rule I follow is never to fill up at bunks that serve Govt. vehicles.

I think we need a thread " Worst Bunks of your City ". It would do great service to one and all.

So long....

[vivekiny2k]

Originally Posted by wolfinstein

I think the problem is not HP the problem is almost any make pump..!
Infact HP service is undoubtable, Each time I fill in petrol..I'm asked to check the meter, and before the fuel filled..I get a tap to check the meter, They then take your smart card and credit card and quickly process it for you in the time it take them to clean your glass..Each and Every Time you do....And Don't forget..Good Mornings,Afternoons,Night in Hindi or English...! Never seen better service...!

i agree,

i shifted to hp after getting ceated many times on IOC pumpS.(chennai)
ar least the metering and transaction are honest. not sure about the quality though. but never noticed any problems.

[Mpower]

Any chemistry experts here. If some one could go around and test fuel from various bunks, I wound'nt mind paying for that information.

Heck if we can road test cars and pass a verdict, why not the same for fuels.

Originally Posted by Samurai

Never sit in driver's seat while fueling up. Get down, lock the car and stand next to the fuel pump with a hawkish look. Then they don't try their usual tricks.

Very true, and also never unlock the fuel door while you are on the cell phone. Those guys will start filling without even asking you how much etc....

[kb100]

I ALWAYS fill from brim to brim... I ALWAYS track the milage between every filling... Hence I have an reasonably accurate guesstimate as to how much fuel the car will take...

Secondly I Always stand next to the attendant supervising the filling operation regardless of the weather.. The car doors are shut... and windows completely rolled up... so no chance of anything going missing either...

HAve had only one bad experience - this was on a highway near Mangalore...where they gave me a bill for 52 litres... where the tank capacity was 45... I kept the bill and threatened to take action. ... they dint charge me a penny!!

Quality of fuel.... well, I have always gone on reputation ... no way of really knowing is there!?! Wish there are random audits by a designated organisation with TEETH to shut the non-compliant ones down... But guess the mafia in this trade is very strong and will never allow something like that to be instituted.!

[v1p3r]

Maybe we should do a TBHP survey for good fuel.

[nitrous]

I am quite lucky with the BP outlet I have found near my house. They know me pretty well now from my weekly visits since the past few years ( I usually refuel from this same place daily). I just hand them my key and sit there taking notes (I record the odometer reading and the litres and amount at each refill). The attendants reset to zero and call for me to check the zero setting. In case I ignore them, they tap on my window for attention. I invariably fill to the brim and generally have a rough idea +-2 litres how much the tank will take. So, I have it much easier in that respect.
So compared to many of you guys, I am much better off.

Same here. My family's group gives around 5-6 lakh rupee business every month to the pump which i use.So, nobody messes with me.

[rahulthegreat]

I had a problem at a petrol pump at Peddar Road (the one with the Rolls Royce). This thing happened twice. The first time I paid up, but got a cool discount the second time. The problem was that when i told him to fill 100 bucks worth of petrol, he ended up filling 500. the second time, only a few days later, the same thing happened again, but this time i had only 430 bucks with me, so i got a cool 70 buck discount.

PS: i know the fuel is ultimately goin in my own car, but i share this car with my brother and we keep different fuel accounts.

[Wheeliej]

Originally Posted by varunroy

The worst bunks of Bangalore in my opinion;
1. HP M,G. Road
3. Basham Circle, Sadashivnagar.( Palace Orchards)
4. IBP Sanjay nagar main Road, near VSNL Tower.
5. BP Sanjay Nagar, next to Janata Bazaar. (Watch his meter)
6. Hp Sankey Road, next to Cauvery Theatre.
..

Have had bad experiences at each of these pumps. You need to be very careful; most of them have pumps where the meter starts at Rs. 100 for car owners. You not only have to keep an eye on the meter, you need to instruct the attendant to 'go very slow, i have to see the meter moving'; else in a blink of an eye, they would have delivered 1.5 litres of petrol into your tank. If they have no intention of cheating, they will comply; else they will pretend to be too busy to hear. I normally ask them to STOP the minute i think something is wrong. I dont want to be cheated any more.

At Sadashivnagar, the manager used to promptly hand me back the money extra charged each time when i confronted him with the argument that his meter had jumped from 0 to 1.5 lt in a blink. Thats the thing with these guys, when confronted, they promptly comply. The reason they do that is that they dont want a scene created. I had filed 2 written complaints in their complaints books and also written to BP, but ofcourse got no reply. The rest of the family members laughed out aloud when my aunt once commented that she got very good service at the pump - she used to be one of those who sat in the car while the attendant filled petrol.

At Cauvery Theatre, had an interesting experience once - I was going back home on my two wheeler - many, many years ago - when i noticed that the car of a friend of my aunt had stalled in front of Cauvery theater and some people were helping her to push it into the petrol pump. I decided to stop and hang around and see if her car would start after petrol was filled and if she would require a lift home. The lady was understandably flustered. The attendant had just filled 1.5 lt petrol into a moped and when the pump reached 5 lt for this aunt's car, he said, "ok, i have filled 5 lt"; i very calmly told him to fill in another 1.5 lt since he had not set the meter back to zero. True to form, he promptly filled in an extra 1.5 lt without any arguments.

I avoid filling in petrol in any of these pumps even if my petrol tank is empty; or else i fill in the minimum amount that would get me to the next station - 2 lts is enough - especially if 1 lt is going to be going down the drain

IBP pump on Sanjaynagar main road was a recent experience; where the meter jumped from Rs. 0 to Rs. 80 in a blink. The pump was empty so there was no point in creating a scene; best thing is to just not give them any business. They tried to pacify me, but i was in no mood to be pacified.

btw, the same is true of the other petrol pumps on the bellary road close to gangenahalli.

[finneyp]

The HP bunk in MG Road (near Symphony) B'lore is a sure cheat. They duped me 2 - 3 times by under-filling petrol. I was getting low-mileage all of sudden and I used to suspect some shady activity in my office parking. But when I changed over to BP Pure for Sure bunk in MG Road, my mileage was back to normal.

[autozealot]

Well, Even I was charged Rs. 100 extra by the HP dealer located in Tardeo just after crossing Bhatia Hospital signal, on the LHS going towards Mumbai Central/ Haji Ali (South Mumbai) area. I asked for ULP worth 500 but on checking with my mileage figures, i could make out that those 2 litres never went into my cars tank. They try to divert your attention by saying
"Sir oil/ paani check... bonet kholiye please" and stuff like that.

So next time, one thing at a time.

az

[yeis]

Not just cheating, sometimes they seem to misbehave too.

One incident, I went to one filler and he was about to fill then only some other guy came and said sir come to that machine. The first guy protested and then only they messed with each other. I was wondering whether I am at petrol pump or an unmanaged sabji-mandi! I was thinking of complaining to the manager but was in a great hurry.

Perhaps, HP has some incentive funda for its workers. The more you sell the more you get.