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Well I have been scammed too multiple times but I have observed that Reliance Petrol pumps are very good in this regard.
They fill the petrol and only when the dispensing is complete they can charge. I tried few times to pay ahead and everytime was refused with the same reason. Their fuel is also better.

How much is the premium? I think apart from BP hp and Indian oil, all the others come at a premium fee.

Price difference is somewhat 3.4 - ~4. I usually fill XP95 but if I find any Reliance ones I get it filled from there. XP95 has become some 6 INR costly :Shockked:

Has anyone filled from the Indian Oil in Jeevan Bhima Nagar, Bangalore? I stay near CV Raman Nagar and there is no other bunk which provides XP95 nearby and I travel here to get the same.
However, every single time you say full tank, almost all the guys will fill for 200 or 300 and stop, and when you say you said full tank, they again start from there where I wont open the lid until they reset their machine. I wonder how many people have they cheated like this.

The next scam is one guy will say the power is gone when filled for Rs.500/600 and will sent another guy to ON generator. That guy roams around, comes back doing nothing and says generator is ON. Now he continues filling till 2000 and says total 2000+500 filled before the power cut. I gave an earful and they stopped acting. But this is annoying when it happens every single time. I went to write a review on google, but the same is quoted there multiple times already.

So, how exactly does this scam work? The attendant fills a smaller amount and then tries to distract you while he continues from the same point instead of restarting from zero?

I am not sure if I have ever experienced this. I may have. I wasn't very vigilant while filling up before. Now, for past year or so, I keep my eyes on the meter all the time fuel is getting filled. I also keep a check on the pump to check if attendant is manually fiddling with the trigger. Most of them put it in, start the fuel and leave it. I mostly stand next to the attendant while he is filling. If I do not get out the car, I still keep looking at the meter while checking the fuel gun in side ORVM. Oftentimes I have seen other guys coming up asking me if they can clean the windshield or check oil and water. I always refuse.

As for bill, what I have noticed is that these days, they print the bill from the same POS machine where you swipe your card. They don't take the receipt from the pump machine itself. guess I should insist on the receipt from that machine from now on.

The problem is that most people do not know how to operate the machine. I'm sure many members of this forum will figure it out quickly but think about the average uncle / aunty who struggle to use an ATM and take 3x the time it requires for a simple balance check. I too, would be happier to just let someone fill up my car and just keep a close look on the meter than than have to get out and sweat in this heat.

I absolutely detest this place. I used them a couple of times to fill up XP95 for GT TSI and Interceptor. Barring one or two times, when I go early in the morning or late at night to fill they always say they are out of XP95 or something is wrong with the pump. Most unreliable IOCL pump, even though it's a COCO.

Nowadays, I generally end up filling up XP95 on the IOCL pump just past Perungudi since I drive/ride to work via OMR. They are far more reliable and up front.

Good you insisted on getting the bill from the machine instead of a hand written one. Well played.

I'd also recommend avoiding the BP bunk near Guindy. They have been known to pull similar stunts like the one you encountered.

That's right. He filled 2L, pretended to reset and filled upto 8L; and told me total fuel filled was 10L instead of actual 8L.

As I said earlier, to each his own. In a country with more attendants than customers in most shops or malls on a weekday afternoon, its foolhardy to expect ALL pumps to switch to self-service.

However, some enterprising franchise or COCO should run an experiment, and give customers a choice. Right now, there is none.
On top of this, if they give even a token discount for self-service, we will see how many 'aunties' will hold out. :)

This came out sounding a little too entitled, have to say. If you find working outdoors to be oppressive, you shouldn't be expecting others to wait on you in the same heat 24*7.

Nothing wrong with working outdoors, I do it quite often for the farm. But imagine you are dressed up in formals going somewhere (normally is the case with me taking the car) and you need to go from the chilly AC inside your car to the hot humid Kerala weather for even a short period of time it takes to fill up, it will lead to you sweating and getting all sticky. I wouldn't mind if I were in casual clothes or even if it was someplace less humid.


No, there should be absolutely no discounts or monetary incentives at all. The whole point of having a self serve pump is for people who would rather do it themselves because they care about their car/not getting fleeced. That should be the only incentive or every tom, dick and harry will be crowding over the lone self service pump just for the meagre discounts and messing things up for everybody.

I avoid unknown IOCL pumps like they're the plague (or Covid!), after two attempts of cheating in Madras (Adyar, both the COCO opp. Telephone Exchange and the Adyar Signal).

Looks like this is a trend in most IOC pumps across different states :Frustrati

That said, my usual go-to in Coimbatore is an IOC pump (SSS -Singanallur), renowned to be a honest establishment - the attenders refuse tips when you fill air, politely tell you that they are paid adequately.

Completely agree. As a start, they can start with one self operated point in a multipoint bunk.

No need to depend on honesty at all; the technology is already there. Here in Sweden, you first have to swipe the card. Debit cards are not allowed, only credit cards, as the billing amount is only calculated after the filling is completed. A basic check on the card happens automatically, to ensure its not blocked or blacklisted. The costumer then chooses the pump number and fuel type, and that terminal is then activated. You can then proceed to fill yourself, to full tank or whatever level you want (there is some minimum, like one liter or something). When complete, just replace the fuel gun, and the charge is made to the card. If you reinsert the card and remove it, you get a printout of the bill, not otherwise.

I go to BPCL nowadays. They have UFILL, you scan and pay. You get 0.4% instant Fuel credit. You get a SMS message with coupon, the attendant scans from his machine and that’s it. The dispenser is tagged to their scanner machine, so you get the coupon worth fuels. You can even scan from home and go ready with the Message.

Agreed.


The discount is a simple cost of business thing. Self-service will lower cost of operations for the petrol station owner. That, and as a marketing gimmick to sell the concept. Once there is fair adoption, the 'discount' can actually be removed, and the petrol station can pocket the difference :).

Not sure why an attendant cannot do the same tricks here - scan, show a bogus fill, and then give you partial fill. Till the time there is a 'man in the middle', and that man can be corrupted and the customer can be distracted, this problem doesn't go away - is what I feel.

Sorry if wrong, but is it not advisable to turn off the engine while fuel is being filled up? As my father used to say, go near the pump, switch off car, open fuel lid, get down, inform type of fuel and quantity, check zero and stay there till process is completed.

Old habits die hard i guess...