[Red Liner]

Originally Posted by aviator1101

What about Shell?
How do they score in honesty and quality parameters?

Good in honesty but it seems like their additives play havoc with most engines. Atleast that has been my relative experience. Plus the extra price charged doesn't make sense.

[atnyia]

Originally Posted by PrideRed

Just a habit I have been following- most of the time especially in a new station, I get out of the car, stand in front of dispenser and then let the attendant know how much to fill..

A side effect of owning CNG cars maybe, stepping out of car for refueling is the second nature for me.

Three instructions to the attendant - Diesel, full tank and auto cut.

A glance at the meter before starting the nozzle. I am yet to go through this type of ordeal.

[narayans80]

While on home turf, I stick to the same pump repetitively.

Knowing your car's tank based on DTE and fuel gauge helps you sense such malpractices

Originally Posted by PrideRed

Just a habit I have been following- most of the time especially in a new station, I get out of the car, stand in front of dispenser and then let the attendant know how much to fill.

Plus open the fuel lid only after you get out.

I haven't seen a spill when fueling a car though. Do you topup to the brim?

How does density help. Curious to know. Although have seen regularly, never paid close attention to it.

[el lobo 6061]

Originally Posted by aviator1101

What about Shell?
How do they score in honesty and quality parameters?

Cannot say. Never used till date due to following reasons.
1. Lack of availability.
2. Shell diesel is known to cause issue like excess smoke.
3. Higher price than PSU.

So inadvertently always avoided. But their outlet looks really upmarket.

[Red Liner]

Originally Posted by el lobo 6061

Cannot say. Never used till date due to following reasons.
1. Lack of availability.
2. Shell diesel is known to cause issue like excess smoke.
3. Higher price than PSU.

So inadvertently always avoided. But their outlet looks really upmarket.

I stop over to use their facilities, in-shop, and the black coffee

[PrideRed]

Originally Posted by narayans80

I haven't seen a spill when fueling a car though. Do you topup to the brim?

How does density help. Curious to know. Although have seen regularly, never paid close attention to it.

Yes, I usually fill to the brim. Density ensures volume and low density might impact performance/efficiency (not an expert hence don't have finer details). Have seen the density is slightly lower during summer noon. Dealers may have other means too which can reduce density thereby increasing the volume in tank.

[sudeepg]

Originally Posted by Revvatron

I immediately countered them by saying 500 only no full tank and gave 500 note and proceeded to leave. The looks on their faces were priceless. The guy with scanner tried saying "No sir, I heard full tank sir, you said full tank sir". I said nope 500 only

I am not sure why you are playing this testing game. A printed receipt should tell how much was dispensed and that is real proof. Never forget to ask for bills printed from the machine.

Also this is a serious offence for which the dealership will lose their license if you escalate it to pgportal.gov.in or BPCL itself.

First thing you should do under such circumstances is to ask for their complaint book. then see how they react. I've done this in the past and they literally begged me to withdraw the complaint. Apparently the complaint book needs to be reviewed by companies and actions taken.

Please be careful next time and ask for the complaint book if you suspect foul play.

[jaysheth]

Originally Posted by Revvatron

I just have one question, I always thought since it is online transaction how would the attendants skim the extra amount. But as per the record it is charged 3069 but card swipe was 3569. At point do they interfere during this process, I thought online transactions would directly go to the account.

Thanks Revvatron for the useful write up. While I am not fully answering this question, but sharing some relevant information. Some background first:

I have been scammed twice at well known Mauli Petrolpump, Baner Road, Pune (BPCL). The first scam was of INR 500 exactly similar to what you went through. I too realized after driving for 4-5 kms that what I paid was indeed beyond car petrol carrying capacity. I didn't know what to do, so blamed myself for not being cautious and carried on. Next was exactly similarly with INR 200 (scam) in my bike, same petrol pump, where the total amount showed INR nine hundred something (bike already had 30-35% fuel, so I knew it cannot be so much). This time I refused to pay anything and asked them to show me the CCTV footage there and then. Their staff members got together and said they are checking. After a while they said I was right, and asked me to pay only INR 700-something. That annoyed me and I said I am not paying anything until you take action on such cheatings. Hearing that, some colleague of the attendant slapped him in my front, and both of them apologized requesting me to pay, failing which, they said, the attendant would have to pay from his already low salary. I didn't want him to suffer that way, so I paid and left.

Coming to your question (again not answering that!) what I have observed at several petrol pumps (including the one referred to above) is that their staff is getting the payment transferred to their personal accounts (they simply present the QR code which we scan for payment). I realized that the name shown was not of the petrol pump, but of the attendant, and upon enquiring they said it is their personal number!!! They further said the petrol pump scanner machine will take time to boot up!! They said they settle the amount with their employer each day. Wow!!

Finally I took out my debit card and paid using that.

[vnabhi]

Originally Posted by Revvatron

. I said "tank full" and as expected the guy stopped at 500. I didn't utter a single word and was pretending to look at phone and few seconds passed by. So the guy proceeded to remove the pump meanwhile the partner in crime "the distractor" who was standing nearby said 'full tank na sir'. I nodded my head and he pretended to shout at the guy "full tank ra 500 kadu, full tank" and immediately turned towards me asking whether I wanted to scan the QR code or card. I immediately countered them by saying 500 only no full tank and gave 500 note and proceeded to leave. Cheering:

Originally Posted by furyrider

I too started doing this after I fell for a similar scam at the ICOL pump beside Miyapur metro station. If they stop filling, I pay up and leave. They magically remember the correct amount the moment you pull up your wallet to pay. As you said, the look on their faces does leave one grinning ear to ear. No arguments, no dramas. The fuel station which tried to pull this off on me will remain in my blacklist forever!

.

In both cases, did you guys pay 500 bucks for nothing? It looks like the first 500 rupees that he filled was not fuel, going by earlier threads.

[Revvatron]

Originally Posted by vnabhi

In both cases, did you guys pay 500 bucks for nothing? It looks like the first 500 rupees that he filled was not fuel, going by earlier threads.

They did fill fuel worth of 500 at the first instance. It is only after they resume they do not reset the meter. Since I did not give them the opportunity to further continue, I had 500 worth of fuel.

Originally Posted by r24x7

While I am glad that things are going positive, I seriously think that their pants are on fire and that they are in a firefighting mode now.

For instance, I was going through their Google reviews and I see a lot of fake-positive, very similar reviews talking about how their company owned transport vehicles are regular here and they don't have any sort of scam or cheating happening here.

I am skeptical about it. As per the reviews this has been happening from long back and it is still happening based on fresh reviews. I think BPCL also has turned blind eye on them. Surely there would have been multiple complaints before too. Only difference might be that nobody would have dropped a complaint on the website and instead would have settled this directly on spot.

[dass]

A process I have followed for 15+ years, irrespective of which fuel station I visit.

1. Stop the car and get out.
2. Stand next to the fuel lid, with a direct line of sight into the dispensing pump meter and only then have them open the lid.
3. Tell the attender Diesel, full tank and top up.
4. When the attender says 'sir 0', I do not acknowledge unless I see 0 on the machine and then I say ok.
5. No cross talk, nothing. I just look at the meter and nothing else. Once done, I pull out my card and pay and move out.

[furyrider]

Originally Posted by vnabhi

In both cases, did you guys pay 500 bucks for nothing? It looks like the first 500 rupees that he filled was not fuel, going by earlier threads.

At least in my case, the attendant asked me to ensure the meter was reset to zero. In essence, I ended up with approx. 5 litres of fuel instead of a full tank.

[SumanPal]

Originally Posted by Old_Salt

Everyone has their own ways/tactics of dealing with this situation.
I have been using the closed loop communication method.
Stop the car, get out, stand next to him and tell him tank full.
Then before he starts I ask him, kitna ( how much) ? Only when he responds tank full, I let him proceed.
It’s a simple strategy but has worked every time. Once the filling starts I take out my card and literally tell him to leave the filling nozzle and get the card machine.
Instead of he distracting me, I distract him.

It is important to take the effort of stepping out of your car when filling in fuel. You make sure type of fuel, quantity and even the speed of dispensing. No specific logic - but I prefer dispensing at the least possible speed at the nozzle. And I open and close the fuel cap myself.

[Neversaygbye]

Since I always do full tank to full tank with auto-cut, I can immediately catch it when any pump tries something fishy. My car is also very predictable in terms of mileage within the city and that helps. In Calcutta or elsewhere I have never had the 500 bucks issue or anything similar, but I have had an experience with one dodgy pump (I think the dispenser was fixed there) in Calcutta and never went back there again. For those who want to know, this is the IOC petrol pump on AJC Bose Road just after Entally market while going towards Park Street. Typically I get between 12 to 13 kmpl in the city, but in this pump the mileage went down to 10 suddenly, with no change in driving style or other conditions. Mileage again went back to the regular numbers on the next fill up at another pump. That was the first and last time I filled up at this particular pump.

[NiInJa]

I know this trick has been going on for ages, yet my father was about to fall for this trap, but I managed to handle it this time.

Place: Khopoli Bus Stop HP Petrol Pump
Time: Sometime in May this year, we were heading to Alibaug to see the progress of our house under construction.
Dad was driving and I was sitting next to him. Dad (and many old people) has this weird habit of waving currency notes to instruct somebody to do something

Here is how it unfolded:
- Dad waves a 2000 Rupee Note to the attendant without getting out of the car
- Attendant understands and asks us to look at the meter for 0
- Starts filling up, then some others gang up near the pump's front side obscuring the reader/control panel
- Click sound comes, the meter stops at 500 Rs.
- Dad says 2000 again, the guy with two other attendant apologize and start casually conversing with dad while one nonchalantly heads towards the pump's control panel to reset the meter to 0
- I have my eyes locked onto the meter, it does not reset to 0, is still reading 500
- My dad is about to hand the note to the attendant while they fill it up till 1500, I pull his arm back, tell the attendant rather tersely to fill the petrol till it reaches 2000. 'Tu aadhi 2000 parynt ne, mi baher yeun calculation saangto' "You just take it to 2000 Rs first, then will explain the calculation once I get out (of the car)"
- Mom sitting in the back senses something is wrong as I usually don't get that aggressive.
- The gang starts looking at each other, they have understood they are about to get caught. One of them smiles at me, the car is filled upto 2000 Rs, the smiling guy takes the 2000 Rupee note from my dad and they disperse.

Spresso has a small tank but the resolution of fuel gauge is good (has lots of bars), so a few liters of less petrol shows up immediately. Sadly, for them, this was not the case.

I explained the entire process of this scam to my parents on the way and that triggered a verbal fight between my mom and dad as always