[Shubz]

The BP petrol bunk just before Ejipura signal:

I was driving my friends ANHC which was already showing the fuel indicator (Yellow light) for about 40 kms.

Asked the attendant to fill the tank up. My mistake being I was with a lady friend and preferred to sit inside and not get out. Opened the tank lid and the super smart attendant filled for Rs. 500 and said - Aithu sir. I said - Boss, I wanted a tank full not 200. He abuses the other guy and says - Oye - Sir said tank full, fill it up. Meter is set to zero again and this time it runs till it auto stops. Around 45+ on the reading. And he comes calmly with two bills. The total came up to more than the cars tank capacity. I get off the car and make a ruckus. (My advantage being my friend being with me). Immediately the "supervisor" comes around asking - what happened. I show him both the bills and tell him - Boss - Take off all the fuel - And if it is as much as you have billed me, I will pay twice as much and leave quietly. If not, you are going to refuel me free for the next 1 month. We work for the media and I am going to get this printed as I have evidence. That deflated all 3 of them who were arguing that they are right. Then the manager comes in and says - Sorry sir - yells a few expletives at the attendant and says - Parvagilla sir - pay next time. I said No - i don't want free fuel. I want to pay for what I have bought.

The next time, we went to fill in there, reminded him of the last incident at the same bunk, sheepish grin - made sure the meter reads "0.000", gets a confirmation from us a few times before starting the pump.

Similar incident in HP bunk just before Cauvery theatre - Time around 3 am. the attendant sweet talks me about scratches on windshield after hearing me say full tank and then says - Done - after 300 rs worth of fuel and when I correct him, yells at the filling guy and fills up again without resetting to zero. and this was on my i20 and I was very sure of how many liters would go in. Once he filled and presented the bill, I quietly asked for the owners name, attendants name. asked for a complaint form and quietly explained why I am asking for the same. He quietly bills me for what I ask him to bill for. 38 something liters.

The reason for us to visit the bunk again - the ANHC gives a better mileage when filled there.

Okay now for the good guys -

The HP bunk opposite Manipal center.
The HP bunk just before St. Johns Hospital.
All Shell bunks.

And many more I am sure. Am stating just out of my exp.

This is a racket among the bunks - pretend to hear it as 300 or 500 when the owner says full tank. and then pretend to yell at the other guy and then fill the tank.

[ghodlur]

In Mumbai/Thane, the attendants are overjoyed when they hear the word "tank full". You can see an immediate change in the behaviour when some one asks them to fill in ltrs. They instantly suggest you to a round figure cost in Rupees as an alternative since the ltrs billing would end in some paise amount too.

One time when I had filled petrol and the balance payable to me was Rs 2, the attendant cooly said to get the tyres refilled at the adjacent air filling station. Such cheekiness, although I agreed for that.

[haria]

Originally Posted by Shubz

The BP petrol bunk just before Ejipura signal:

This is a racket among the bunks - pretend to hear it as 300 or 500 when the owner says full tank. and then pretend to yell at the other guy and then fill the tank.

uuuh ? how does this work ? I mean, even when you are getting the bill, you will get a consolidated bill for the 1st filling + the second round of filling - This should be correct, right ? (unless, the meter was not set to zero during the first fill) how are they cheating with this ?

[raihan]

Am sure 90% of the people posting here would have faced short fueling. I've had my fair share of incidents at B'lore, but 1 incident stands out in my memory. Around 2 yrs ago at a bunk on RT nagar main road an attendant just 14-15 yrs old tried to distract me while refueling. Although I caught the idiot but it left me disgusted given his age.

I've started to fill only at Shell even if it means traveling that extra 2-3 kms & spending that extra 1 rupee/ltr... it's worth it. No short fueling & no adulteration

[Shubz]

Originally Posted by haria

uuuh ? how does this work ? I mean, even when you are getting the bill, you will get a consolidated bill for the 1st filling + the second round of filling - This should be correct, right ? (unless, the meter was not set to zero during the first fill) how are they cheating with this ?

1) The meter need not be set to zero.
2) The bill they produced is not a machine bill but a handwritten manual bill.
3) The consolidated bill - in terms of liters shows more than the actual tank capacity.
4) I did not go to the pump with an empty tank.

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by haria

uuuh ? how does this work ? I mean, even when you are getting the bill, you will get a consolidated bill for the 1st filling + the second round of filling - This should be correct, right ? (unless, the meter was not set to zero during the first fill) how are they cheating with this ?

They never reset the meter after the first filling, but insist they did. So the second bill is correct, but the first one contributes to their pocket money.

P.S. You would be surprised to know how many common folk don't know their vehicles' tank capacity. They're sitting ducks to such slick maneuvers.

[drpullockaran]

This happened a few years ago when I had a lpg fueled GTX. I had a toroid tank which had max capacity of 36 liters of liquid lpg.
This meant that 80% of it could be used for filling and which worked out to about 28.8 liters for a full tank. I happened to run short of LPG while traveling to Thrissur. Filled up the tank at a pump about 6 kilometers after Angamaly towards Thrissur. The thief managed to fill in 38 liters of Liquid LPG. Do note I had about 2 to 3 liters left in the tank too which means he could only have filled in a max of 25 liters of liquid lpg. I payed him for 28.8 liter after showing him the full capacity and creating a ruckus and later forwarded a complaint to Reliance. Fat chance that Reliance of all companies would have taken any action on the cheats but guess what the bunk closed down in a few months. Nothing to do with my letter I presume but probably the populace in the vicinity came to know of their means of making a fast buck and shunned them.

[vijaycool]

My fair share in Bangalore and chennai.
In Bangalore I asked to fill for Rs 100. This happens mainly in rush hour. I payed 500 bucks note. The cash collector counts 4x100 in front of you. You made to assume he is giving 400 Rs in return. But he stops the last hundred and give 300 Rs. Fortunately I have the habit of counting before taking the cash. Later he will give 2X50 rupees note. It happened almost 4 times to me. Tried the same trick to my wife. I told her little loudly to count the note. She got horrified when she knew only Rs 300 was given.

In chennai next to halda I feel cheated for the first time. I was distracted being late to office and the lcd display is very dull. Even you are 1 feet across the display you cant read the numbers must been cheated for 50 bucks.
In Pondy when i asked to fill for Rs500 he started from the previous reading 49.75. I promptly said reset the meter and enter the amount. The guy frustrated and left the place and another attender filled the petrol with hands off from the nozzle.

[download2live]

One query:
I often go for Autocut way of fueling. Now when they fill they leave the nozzle in and go about their business. Once the fuel machine turns itself off then the attendant comes and removes the nozzle.

Problem: The fuel pipe in this case slags and touches the ground. After autocut, if you straighten that fuel pipe I am sure atleast a liter more will come out.

Question: Have I been charged for that liter or whatever was in the fuel line? Or is the machine calibrated to charge only for the volume which comes out of nozzle.

[KarthikK]

Originally Posted by raihan

I've started to fill only at Shell even if it means traveling that extra 2-3 kms & spending that extra 1 rupee/ltr... it's worth it. No short fueling & no adulteration

+1 - I tank up at Shell too. They are very decent and don't attempt to distract the customer while filling. I just hope it stays that way

[Born 2 Be Wild]

Originally Posted by download2live

Problem: The fuel pipe in this case slags and touches the ground. After autocut, if you straighten that fuel pipe I am sure atleast a liter more will come out.

Question: Have I been charged for that liter or whatever was in the fuel line? Or is the machine calibrated to charge only for the volume which comes out of nozzle.

The volume of fuel dispensed is calculated not at the Nozzle it is done at the point of the Head assembly of each machine where the pipe line from the tank is connected to the Dispenser.

As a consumer when you go to refuel the entire line is Loaded till the nozzle hence whatever fuel passes through the head assembly ticks the metre over , all the theories of Atleast 2 litres in the hosepipe an all of that is Baloney. Whatever the meter reads is what has actually gone into your car.

[Gansan]

Originally Posted by Born 2 Be Wild

The volume of fuel dispensed is calculated not at the Nozzle it is done at the point of the Head assembly of each machine where the pipe line from the tank is connected to the Dispenser.

As a consumer when you go to refuel the entire line is Loaded till the nozzle hence whatever fuel passes through the head assembly ticks the metre over , all the theories of Atleast 2 litres in the hosepipe an all of that is Baloney. Whatever the meter reads is what has actually gone into your car.

What happens to the first customer who fills after the pump has run dry and fresh load is received? What will happen to the petrol in the hose in such a case? Will the hose be primed before filling?

[bblost]

Originally Posted by Gansan

What happens to the first customer who fills after the pump has run dry and fresh load is received? What will happen to the petrol in the hose in such a case? Will the hose be primed before filling?

If the petrol sump had indeed gone dry and the first customer was filling immediately after fresh stock is added, he has bigger problems than less fuel.

A petrol would not be allowed to go dry as the bottom will contain sedimented impurities.
In fact the intake pipe is on a floating setup so it take fuel from the top rather than bottom of the petrol tank.

[Born 2 Be Wild]

Originally Posted by Gansan

What happens to the first customer who fills after the pump has run dry and fresh load is received? What will happen to the petrol in the hose in such a case? Will the hose be primed before filling?

First of all no Pump runs dry technically! Its a serious thing and the dealership is terminated on 3 such occurences. If it does for whatever reason run Dry then the line is empty and hence when the Nozzle is depressed to release fuel none will come out and neither would the meter tick over, When the pipe line does go dry the Filter in the Head assembly has to be opened and Fuel has to be added to the line manually till the line is loaded till the tank which is a cumbercome process and takes atleast half an hour! After which once the line is full the filter is scrwed back on and dispensing can continue.

Originally Posted by bblost

If the petrol sump had indeed gone dry and the first customer was filling immediately after fresh stock is added, he has bigger problems than less fuel.

A petrol would not be allowed to go dry as the bottom will contain sedimented impurities.
In fact the intake pipe is on a floating setup so it take fuel from the top rather than bottom of the petrol tank.

The floating setup is the first that i have heard of! The tank always has a pipeline connected to a motor in the Dispensing unit and in the newer Dispensing units its a submersible motor in the tank itself so the Units are noise free.

[Gansan]

@ Born 2 Be Wild

Thanks for that interesting info. So at what level of the sump do they display "out of stock" boards at fuel stations?