Short Fueling Tricks At Petrol Stations

[Dr.Sav]

Originally Posted by Born 2 Be Wild

Thats Incorrect Information, each and every Dispenser at the Pump has to be Calibrated every 12 months By the Weights & Measures Deptt and without Calibration no dispenser can be operational.

I'm sorry if I'm incorrect, my apologies, but that's exactly what I found out some years ago in my interactions with attendants of pumps in my vicinity.

Before my post (#477), I spoke to a former attendant (now driver) whom I chanced upon at the garage I frequent and he hinted that things had not changed much.

In fact the one closest to my place has a bad history of 2 owners committing suicide at that very pump in a span of 5 years due to being heavily fined in raids by the authorities.

I may be wrong 'cause I've not personally interacted with the pump owners (because they may lie) in this regard, and if the calibration rules/regulations/methods have changed now.

[Gansan]

^^Then how do we get short quantity at many fuel stations? Is it possible to tamper the meter after the calibration, without disturbing the seal? Perhaps the guys who calibrate can be "taken care of" to leave a specified difference?

[Wall-e]

Originally Posted by Shubz

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.

Pardon my ignorance.but what will happen if the counter is not reset to zero??

[Shubz]

Originally Posted by Wall-e

Pardon my ignorance.but what will happen if the counter is not reset to zero??

Elementary my dear Watson - You will end up paying Rs 300 for nothing. The trick likes in the fact that the meter isn't set to zero but set to 300 and while your attention is diverted, he'd say "saar, filled for 300 saar".

[Born 2 Be Wild]

Originally Posted by Dr.Sav

Before my post (#477), I spoke to a former attendant (now driver) whom I chanced upon at the garage I frequent and he hinted that things had not changed much.

In fact the one closest to my place has a bad history of 2 owners committing suicide at that very pump in a span of 5 years due to being heavily fined in raids by the authorities.

I may be wrong 'cause I've not personally interacted with the pump owners (because they may lie) in this regard, and if the calibration rules/regulations/methods have changed now.

The Regulations have always been the same all the Dispensers have to be calibrated once in 12 months and they cannot be operated without a valid calbration certificate and the seals have to be intact.

Originally Posted by Gansan

^^Then how do we get short quantity at many fuel stations? Is it possible to tamper the meter after the calibration, without disturbing the seal? Perhaps the guys who calibrate can be "taken care of" to leave a specified difference?

90% of the times short quantity is the Handiwork of the attendants, the other 10% is when the owner tampers the Meter by setting a parallel circuit inside the motherboard of the dispenser. which is remote operated, but its easily detectable to the naked eye when the dispenser is opened hence the chances of someone doing this is remote but its still done in places, This is done by the guys who Have the AMC for the machines and are usually from the Company that manufactures the dispensers. This is usually done in semi urban cities and along highways in a place like Delhi its 99% impossible.

[u_chill]

Originally Posted by u_chill

Today I got shortchanged by the BP Petrol Bunk on Hosur Road, near Brigade Road end. Typical attention diversion tactic. I asked for Rs 1500 of fuel, the supervisor fellow asked some dumb questions about credit card (do you have a PIN Saar? How much to charge?) before heading off to swipe the card. Meanwhile pump attendant (fellow named Shankar) stopped counter at Rs 300, murmured something about lever getting stuck and swiped token to refuel for Rs 1200.

I let him complete the transaction and headed into the Manager's cabin. Was told that Manager is away at the Bank and the same supervisor fellow went in to confirm that Rs 1201 worth of petrol was filled. After acting busy for couple of mins, he said it was a mistake and asked me to reverse the car to fill in balance Rs 300.

He said that he would fine the attendant (likely story since it was he-the supervisor who diverted my attention in the first place)! Rather than take the offer up for a refill, I chose to walk out with my receipts and now will take up the issue with BPCL and a Central Govt. link that showed up on the BPCL website: http://pgportal.gov.in/Grievance.aspx. Any other links where I can raise the complaint?

Check out the supporting documentary evidence attached. Cheers!

Update: I filed a complaint with BPCL on following Vigilance link: Bharat Petroleum | Corporate Info | Vigilance. Two weeks passed and last Saturday got two calls from Territory Manager and Regional Manager with profuse apologies. They informed me that both supervisor and attendant have been asked to leave service.

Wish they had been smarter than trying to scam Rs 300, well now they learn it the hard way. The RM also informed that they conduct frequent training/sensitization courses for attendants and try keeping check. Since these little scams are managed locally and go unreported in most cases, attendants feel encouraged to try their luck with more unsuspecting motorists.

In summary, I am glad that I followed up and that BPCL responded with appropriate action taken.

[drk_411]

Don't know if it has been posted earlier by some friend, but one of my friends who was in this business told me that "Z" shaped pumps were particularly manageable for short measuring and advised to go for the newest and latest computerized ones. I simply drive off when I find a "Z" machine, more so in far flung areas.

[dkhatau]

Just was going through this thread and one query from my side. I have ford ikon and i usually fill up my tank up to the cap levels as after auto shut off another 10 litres goes with stop and fill technique. So in this technique of fill and stop am i losing out on the actual quantity being filled? or am being given one litre or so short ?

[trtraj]

The most used trick as of my knowledge is the person showing himself as deaf and filling only for less money

i myself got into this in Parrys corner,chennai I asked him to fill petrol for 300 rs and he stopped after 100 rs, He said sir you told 100rs only right ?

Then i told him for 300, without resetting the meter he filled the petrol and stopped @ Rs 200,

Told me its 100 first and 200 now, Eventually i was cheated, even though i knew that i could not fight with him.

Beware of these such people.

[Gansan]

Originally Posted by dkhatau

Just was going through this thread and one query from my side. I have ford ikon and i usually fill up my tank up to the cap levels as after auto shut off another 10 litres goes with stop and fill technique. So in this technique of fill and stop am i losing out on the actual quantity being filled? or am being given one litre or so short ?

10 litres after auto cut-off?

I too fill my Alto to the brim after auto cut-off at Shell and the difference is always between 0.75 - 1.5 litres. Mine is a 35 litre tank. Even assuming the Ikon has a larger tank, the difference of 10 litres is too much.

[Kimified]

Originally Posted by trtraj

The most used trick as of my knowledge is the person showing himself as deaf and filling only for less money

i myself got into this in Parrys corner,chennai I asked him to fill petrol for 300 rs and he stopped after 100 rs, He said sir you told 100rs only right ?

Then i told him for 300, without resetting the meter he filled the petrol and stopped @ Rs 200,

Told me its 100 first and 200 now, Eventually i was cheated, even though i knew that i could not fight with him.

Beware of these such people.

This is a very very common trick. If you did get to know that you were being cheated, i wonder why you didn't fight back. I have seen people doing this a couple of times, all i do is ask them to call there Manager (In the right tone). They get to know what i am up to and promptly fill up what was remaining. They even beg you not to report it to there managers coz they will lose there job ! Try it the next time something similar happens, at least they will think twice before pulling off the same old trick on someone else.

I have noticed that this trick has reduced a lot these days. I guess people got aware of it

[Latheesh]

Originally Posted by Gansan

10 litres after auto cut-off?

I too fill my Alto to the brim after auto cut-off at Shell and the difference is always between 0.75 - 1.5 litres. Mine is a 35 litre tank. Even assuming the Ikon has a larger tank, the difference of 10 litres is too much.

My Spark takes another 5-7 litres after the auto cut-off.

[sachinj12]

Originally Posted by trtraj

The most used trick as of my knowledge is the person showing himself as deaf and filling only for less money

i myself got into this in Parrys corner,chennai I asked him to fill petrol for 300 rs and he stopped after 100 rs, He said sir you told 100rs only right ?

Then i told him for 300, without resetting the meter he filled the petrol and stopped @ Rs 200,

Told me its 100 first and 200 now, Eventually i was cheated, even though i knew that i could not fight with him.

Beware of these such people.

Experienced this many times. What I do if I encounter such a situation is pay 100 bucks and move out for a different pump. If I am in need of more fuel, I pay and ask him to fill it again. Once got into a fight with the attendant for asking him to fill again after making the payment. Told him flatly I knew what his intentions are and I would tell it to people in the queue what he just did. He filled without another word.

[Shubz]

Originally Posted by Kimified

This is a very very common trick. If you did get to know that you were being cheated, i wonder why you didn't fight back. I have seen people doing this a couple of times, all i do is ask them to call there Manager (In the right tone). They get to know what i am up to and promptly fill up what was remaining. They even beg you not to report it to there managers coz they will lose there job ! Try it the next time something similar happens, at least they will think twice before pulling off the same old trick on someone else.

I have noticed that this trick has reduced a lot these days. I guess people got aware of it

You are right. It has reduced a lot. This used to be very common trick particularly to the one's who do not get off the drivers seat and just mention the quantity from within the car.

I had mentioned this in one of my posts earlier. One of the petrol bunks on Inner ring road Koramangala tried this. I knew how much of fuel was left in the tank after the yellow light came up. This fellow tried filling 10 liters and when I said I wanted a tank full, filled it up - another 40+ liters.

I got off the car asked for the manager saying something wrong with my tank as it has taken 50+ liters of petrol (plus what was in the tank already)

He knew his game was up. So quietly billed me for that 40+. I still insisted on talking to the manager to which he said, sir you are holding up people. I said, Ok, let me ask them to leave this bunk for what you tried on me for which their supervisor came in, started abusing the attendant (pretense) and kinda consolingly asked me to leave (saying sorry sir, sorry sir)

[trtraj]

I had tried all possible escalations, I meant "i could not fight with him" literally which i didn't want to do.