Short Fueling Tricks At Petrol Stations

[supremeBaleno]

Originally Posted by Steeroid

I agree - we're all going around crucifying petrol pump attendents for some reason without really understanding how stopping in between reduces the total quantity dispensed.

Steer, what is it that we stand to gain by crucifying some guys at petrol bunks ? I admit that how it works is not clear to me, but I am sure they benefit. Reason being the fact that if there is no reason, why should they break the flow of petrol and restart again ? And that too more than once. Also when the pump is already set to auto-cutoff. And inspite of your saying not to touch it.

I am not sure whether you have enough experience at Chennai pumps - they are the worst crooks. Though there is quite some improvement from say 5 years ago.

Originally Posted by Steeroid

Can anyone check this claim out with a Jerry can of a fixed quantity?

This will not work because in this case a visual examination is possible (unlike a petrol tank which is like a black hole) and thus they will not try any tricks. Maybe we can try this with a bike. Drain all petrol from bike. Fill some 5litres (higher the quantity, more they try this), remove the filled fuel into a 5 litre can and check whether it is correct or not.

BTW, the same incident that happened to Zappo's friend happened to my friend too just 2 weeks ago. And it again was a Pulsar. Result being we had to push the bike to the nearest pump 1km away. Having read earlier on the forum about what iraghava posted (asking for complaint book), I asked him to do the same next day. Not sure whether he did or if so what was the result. Will try to check with him if it worked.

[benbsb29]

Do they have something against Pulsars' in general? I believe i was fooled and short-charged at the IOC pump beside Golconda hotel in Hyd.

[Steeroid]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

Reason being the fact that if there is no reason, why should they break the flow of petrol and restart again ? And that too more than once. Also when the pump is already set to auto-cutoff. And inspite of your saying not to touch it.

Does not matter - let us be clear as to how this works before we start downloading our frustrations.

Nobody likes petrol stations or their attendants, but lets talk about facts and not about what we feel is going wrong. I am not sure how a stop-and-go fuelling operation would give a litre less than one done at a stretch - if it is proven I'm more than willing to buy the arguement as everyone knows these guys are out to cheat you.

Maybe they're doing this to bring more variety into their otherwise mundane jobs.

[headers]

Originally Posted by panky12345

Good write up! But, how can you actually curb the bursts/stopping of fuel?

You will have to fill up the fuel yourself.. This is what I do in case the chap at the fuel station does not listen to me.. What we are talking here is that the short bursts of fuel while the lever cuts off is not the correct quantity..We can check it by fillin in their measured jars which are kept for public to check Q & Q - Quantity and Quality..

Also, the trick is to do a short burst and take the pipe immediately thereby you will have around 100-200 ml of fuel in the pipes..This can be avoided if you retain the pipe for around 10 seconds inside the tank after the meter has stopped..

Cheers

[speedonline]

Originally Posted by iraghava

The best tip a close friend who owns a petrol pump gave me was that if you ever have a problem with the pump insist on making an entry into their Complaint book! This is regularly inspected by company officials & the owners greatly fear any adverse entry.

99 times out of 100 they'll not give you the book & try & sort out your problem at their end only. So give it a shot, might help you someday.

Hey was that tip given by little boy black ?

[Lukeskywalker]

Originally Posted by IMP

While i tank up my optra, the auto-stop always comes in atleast 10 - 12 litres before actually the tank gets full. So every time the attendant, has to start the nozzle by pressing the lever to fill up completely, the auto-stop normally gets activated 4 times till the car gets full. I expereince this on every fill up. If i dont continue filling up, the fuel guage only shows 80-85% full.

I also remember Rudraji mentioning about this somewhere, is it a characteristic of the optra, or is something wrong with my car? Is it that i am being short fuelled every time?

I think it is something to do with the car's fuel inlet pipe, even my optra which i top up on a regular basis takes in about 10 to 10.5 lts after the auto cut off.

[sreenivass]

Originally Posted by benbsb29

Do they have something against Pulsars' in general? I believe i was fooled and short-charged at the IOC pump beside Golconda hotel in Hyd.

That pump should be avoided like plague, never filled there. My friend told me you'd get like 800-850 ml per litre there. It seems like he had bad experiences there. Its a HP pump I think.

[iraghava]

Originally Posted by speedonline

Hey was that tip given by little boy black ?

Aur kya who else!! .

[vivekiny2k]

on the old mahbalipuram road we had an IOC pump who cheated me and many others. we made sure every IT company on OMR knew about their malpractices. my company alone employed more than 3000 ppl. that was 2 yrs ago.

I found HP pumps cmparatively honest in the same area.

I think the trick is to take your time in examinig each step. see zero, make sure after that all fuel clearly goes in ur tank, see the amount, pay properly. don't let them rush you into it.

[benbsb29]

Originally Posted by sreenivass

That pump should be avoided like plague, never filled there. My friend told me you'd get like 800-850 ml per litre there. It seems like he had bad experiences there. Its a HP pump I think.

If my memory is right, its an IOC. I used to live in the Masab Tank area, and this was kinda like the nearest. These people also try to coax you into buying these little sachets of additives.. saying they are good, and so on. Post using this for one time, my bike started shooting like bullets in between !! After this, started filling up at the bunk at Lakdi-Ka-Pul. They appeared more honest.

[srishiva]

One other common thing they do if we do not top off the tank is this. You can ask for 20 litres. They will set the meter to 5 or 10 (like they didn't hear you well), then after its done, you remind them its 20 that you asked. Then they dispense the remaining amount either by continuing it or by resetting the meter to zero.

Somehow doing this, I had less fuel in my tank as indicated by my gauge. I called the supervisor and asked them to give a bill for what they thought they dispensed and I will complain. By this time the guy who dispensed had disappeared and filled up the remaining (I dont remember the exact details since it was while ago). They had have done something since they filled up again.

[Sankar]

I wish they made transparent fuel dispensing hoses...

[supremeBaleno]

Originally Posted by srishiva

One other common thing they do if we do not top off the tank is this. You can ask for 20 litres. They will set the meter to 5 or 10 (like they didn't hear you well), then after its done, you remind them its 20 that you asked. Then they dispense the remaining amount either by continuing it or by resetting the meter to zero.

Yes, this is another variant of the same trick used by them. Another way of doing the stop-start without any reason. I have seen this also.

[WhiteKnight]

Originally Posted by srishiva

One other common thing they do if we do not top off the tank is this. You can ask for 20 litres. They will set the meter to 5 or 10 (like they didn't hear you well), then after its done, you remind them its 20 that you asked. Then they dispense the remaining amount either by continuing it or by resetting the meter to zero..

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

Yes, this is another variant of the same trick used by them. Another way of doing the stop-start without any reason. I have seen this also.

Okay, I don't think this has anything to to with stop-start trick. It is plain cheating!!

This is how it works- for those in Bangalore, the incident happend at the IOC pump next to SAP in whitefield

I asked for 500 Rs fill. The guy stopped at 100Rs and went on to place the dispenser back in the holder. At that moment I called him and said I wanted for 500Rs. The guy filled for 400Rs in the counter and stopped. When I questioned, he said he had filled for 500Rs. his logic being 100Rs filled initially and 400 later. But, unlucky for him, I was damn sure he didn't reset the pump. When I raised my voice, he duly filled another 100rs worth petrol, without a word, proving that I was damn right

Got the drift? I am sort of vary of petrol pump attendants and make it a point to stand and watch when they refill. Still this chap tried to trick me. I am sure most of the cases he would have got away.

[benbsb29]

Originally Posted by WhiteKnight

This is how it works- for those in Bangalore, the incident happend at the IOC pump next to SAP in whitefield

Since u bothered to fill from this IOC, may i recommend the Shell bunk hardly a km away from this bunk? Being treated like a king is something i am beginning to get used to here.