[prince_pervez]

Thats strange. I filled INR 300 in my bike and asked the attendent to go 'Slow Madi'
He made me look at the lock in the dispenser pipe and locked it and the fuel guzzzled till 300. Anything between this is fishy.

[Born 2 Be Wild]

Originally Posted by Spinnerr

I have noticed this quiet a few times at the petrol bunks, during my last few fills.

They set the amount you ask for in the meter, then the hold the nozzle into the fuel tank, mid way, they let the lever slip, the fuel supply stops, but they resume after this. The amount that is set remains, and it fuel supply stops only when it reaches the set amount.

Not sure if this is saving them anything, I did not fight, because I was not sure if there was a foul play or what if it did slip by mistake. If at all if you ask, they say "Slip aayithu".

It doesnt happen at my regular pump, but it did happen at a couple of other pumps.

I am in Bangalore, and I usually refill for Rs 1000 (diesel). So yeah, if they hold it in the normal mode, it takes a bit of time, might be because of that.

This usually happens in diesel cars and happens at my pump also sometimes and customers usually are apprehensive as to why this happened,the reason is that when diesel is poured into the tank at a high speed a lot of (jhaag) foam/bubbles is formed ad hence the nozzle cuts of early, to explain my point i show them by pouring 5 lts in a alluminium bucket and they understand. so all u need to do to ensure that you dont get scammed is to check the initial ZERO and the final reading,if u check this chances of getting scammed are minimal.

However if this still irks you then always ask the attendant to set the nozzle on slow and chances of auto cut are rare, but we usually set it at high as diesel cars tend to take longer to fill. Hope this helps.

Regards
Mayank

Originally Posted by prince_pervez

Thats strange. I filled INR 300 in my bike and asked the attendent to go 'Slow Madi'
He made me look at the lock in the dispenser pipe and locked it and the fuel guzzzled till 300. Anything between this is fishy.

I didnt completely understand what you were trying to say but when the amount is fed into the machine and the nozzle locked then the fuel guzzles at speed, and then cuts off to a slow speed 20/30rs before total amount,cut off speed depends from machine to machine but the machine does always slow down before the total amount.

Regards
Mayank

[Spinnerr]

Originally Posted by Born 2 Be Wild

... when diesel is poured into the tank at a high speed a lot of (jhaag) foam/bubbles is formed ad hence the nozzle cuts of early..

Thats new 'gyan'. Thanks!

[yasw_anth]

Last week, we were cheated of 400Rs fuel in the small IOC bunk opposite to virtusa tech park,jawaharlal nehru road(near olympiad tech park). My driver had asked them to fill petrol for 1000Rs and i didnt check the reading as i was on a call (), driver was fooled by their prank and after fueling we left..Seeing the fuel gauge, half way home, near udayam theatre driver had realized we were fooled and so went back, i asked driver to park the car across the bunk such that no vehicles could enter and went shouting at the people, they accept their mistake and fueled another 1000Rs petrol, warned them and came off :-)

[prince_pervez]

Originally Posted by Born 2 Be Wild

I didnt completely understand what you were trying to say but when the amount is fed into the machine and the nozzle locked then the fuel guzzles at speed, and then cuts off to a slow speed 20/30rs before total amount,cut off speed depends from machine to machine but the machine does always slow down before the total amount.

Regards
Mayank

What I meant was sometimes when the fuel is being dispensed, some attendants will act smart by fiddling around with the locks or apply stop and start method to fill lesser quantity of fuel even though the meter keeps running. Ideally, once the meter is fed to the money limit, the attendant should start filling at slow speeds and lock the fuel pipe dispanser and forget about it. He should return once auto cut off is inititated or the fuel meter in the machine indicates that fuel worth the money has been dispensed.

[janitha]

Originally Posted by prince_pervez

What I meant was sometimes when the fuel is being dispensed, some attendants will act smart by fiddling around with the locks or apply stop and start method to fill lesser quantity of fuel even though the meter keeps running. Ideally, once the meter is fed to the money limit, the attendant should start filling at slow speeds and lock the fuel pipe dispanser and forget about it. He should return once auto cut off is inititated or the fuel meter in the machine indicates that fuel worth the money has been dispensed.

Is it applicable even when we are filling full tank? Because very often I observe their start stop method even when asked to fill only till cut off?

[prince_pervez]

^^If that is the case then you are probably being billed for fuel never dispensed. In other words you are paying more than you are getting. Remeber, if there is an auto cut off option available at the gas station, then ask the attendant to start filling, ask him to leave the fuel handle and cme back after the auto cut has cut the fuel supply. Pay what is being displayed on the meter, get the receipt and get going.

[PM - B]

I get out of the car and check the counters, both fuel and money that they are showing zero.

My car has a claimed 45 ltr tank, i also have this nasty habit of running atleast 75 - 80 kms after the low fuel/reserve light comes on.
I ask for auto cutoff and fulltank, it usually fills in ~ 43 ltrs atleast and with top up it goes to a max of another 1 - 1 1/2 litre.

There usually is surcharge on most cards, Hence I have started paying only by card these days.

I was once cheated, when paying by cash, where in the change given back was a 100 rupees less.

[janitha]

Originally Posted by prince_pervez

^^If that is the case then you are probably being billed for fuel never dispensed. In other words you are paying more than you are getting. Remeber, if there is an auto cut off option available at the gas station, then ask the attendant to start filling, ask him to leave the fuel handle and cme back after the auto cut has cut the fuel supply. Pay what is being displayed on the meter, get the receipt and get going.

But how does their trick work? Because ever since they filled Petrol into my Quadrajet, I am always near them and closely watching before they start. BTW, most of the attendants say that auto cut off is not working!

[sbraj]

Originally Posted by PM - B

I get out of the car and check the counters, both fuel and money that they are showing zero.

, whenever the fuel pump is not known to me, I get out of the car, and watch the counters for zero/sudden jumps/anything fishy while stretching myself out.

At the BP pumps on HAL Airport Road (opposite Manipal Hospital) and Jeevan Bhima Nagar Road (opposite police station), the attendants make sure you have seen the zero before starting to fuel.

[prince_pervez]

Originally Posted by janitha

But how does their trick work?

The trick works because of major play in the fuel nozzle trigger, faulty/old meters which should be looked up by the owners.
If no one is bothered to fix those issues after frequent escalations even, then people like you and me should not be bothered to fill up there in future.
Dunno about you brother, but the feeling of being cheated is worse, and that makes that extra few kms to that correctly operated fuel station that much more soothing.

EDIT: Day before, I check my zen and asked my wife about the low fuel in the car. She said she was forgetting about re-fuelling from past 2 days. The needle was almost at nil. I went to the nearest bunk, opp Sagar Apollo (Now Sagar Hospitals). I am not comfortable with that pump so I decided to fill up a very megre anount.
As I pulled into the station, I saw a biker leave, and the amount on the meter due to his fill. It showed 110 something.
Now, of all the many things that run through your mind when you enter a gas station the best struck me. If I ask for, say, 200, I always run the risk of being supplied INR 90 worth of fuel (110 + 90 un-resetted faulty meter)
I parked, pulled the fuel lid trigger and got out.
I myself took off the inner fuel lid and looked at the meter which still read INR 110 due to the previous fill. I asked for INR 100 and said "Slow Madi"

All the above gave him a feel of a well informed customer. He resetted the meter to zero.
Started filling and then applied the lock. (Lock is applied after filling starts). He did not touch the lock till the meter read INR 100. He stopped till every drop of the nozzle was inside the tank. I smiled, paid the bloke, put both lids back on my self, got in the car, clicked the seat belts and zoomed a much satisfied and uncheated customer.
My wife went to Shell the next morning (Friday morning) and topped up at Shell (I never ask her to use any other bunk than Shell) and this I type after coming from a nice early morning drive.

Good Morning fellas.

So you either give them a well informed customer feel, or fill at a morality conscious bunk.
If attendants are mobbing you un-necessarily, then, be advised, something is fishy.

Having said that, not all are bad, but some put a bad name to all, enough to look at everyone with a suspicious eye.

Happy filling.

[prince_pervez]

Originally Posted by janitha

But how does their trick work?

Answer to your question to be exact:
Like I said if the nozzle trigger is faulty, then, there is an instance (known to the attendant) during fuelling, when, when the trigger is pulled, very less or nothing will be dispensed but the meter will be running. So for a attendant who has mastered this trick, he know how much to pull that trigger for 2-3 seconds so as to create that effect. Hope that answers the question.

MODS: Sorry, 20 mins were up and it won't let me update. kindly merge.

[janitha]

Originally Posted by prince_pervez

Answer to your question to be exact:
Like I said if the nozzle trigger is faulty, then, there is an instance (known to the attendant) during fuelling, when, when the trigger is pulled, very less or nothing will be dispensed but the meter will be running. So for a attendant who has mastered this trick, he know how much to pull that trigger for 2-3 seconds so as to create that effect. Hope that answers the question.

MODS: Sorry, 20 mins were up and it won't let me update. kindly merge.

Yes, and thanks. I plan to tell them that I will do the filling.

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by sbraj

At the BP pumps on HAL Airport Road (opposite Manipal Hospital) and Jeevan Bhima Nagar Road (opposite police station), the attendants make sure you have seen the zero before starting to fuel.

My neighbourhood HP pump in Kerala has a "swipe card" system - the employee has to show a small card like thing on a sensor, only after that does the dispenser switch on. When the dispenser switches on, it automatically resets the reading to zero. I noticed a similar mechanism at another HP pump as well - looks like its a system implemented to prevent cheating.

Never saw such a thing at an IOC or BPCL pump.

[prince_pervez]

^^ Some stations have black switches made in the form of wrist watches which when show to some sensor on the meter switch on the fuel dispenser mechanism. I am not very sure whether it resets the meter to zero but I think it does not allow to dispense if the meter is not zero. Either of the 2.