[ramzsys]

Was returning through NH209 to Bangalore and decided to fill diesel from HP bunk at Kollegal. And managed to avoid getting short fueled.

It would be better if they allowed us to fill in and let they stand beside to collect the cash alone.

[Karan1981]

I'm personally fed up of going through this several times while travelling and hence go to a trusted few only. Glad there is a helpline, will surely make use of it.

Thane has just about 2 or 3 pumps near by out of which one is extremely shoddy that I've had this experience with!

[grazd]

thanks for the info. I have been having problems with this and might follow up. How does one find out which are the COCO outlets in a given city? IS there a list of such pump that we can access or anywhere else on the forum? ALso is it true that these outlets have a higher chance of being reliable?

[kailashnj]

In fact many few petrol pumps are good and don't and cheat the customers. I mulund out of the many petrol pumps that we have I use only one opp Balrejashwar Mandir on LbS marg, but I still prefer the Vikhroli Godrej bunk for most of my fuel needs.

Seriously there needs to be some change in the functionality of the pumps and there should be pumps which are automatic and where in we can fill in petrol on our own.

[sa_kiran]

I've been filling petrol at Bhawani Auto at Powai regularly. I had plans of going to Pune during 17-20 of this month and hence decided to fill petrol on Expressway rather than Mumbai (petrol is cheaper by 2/- per liter). Hence, I decided to fill petrol for 500/- on 15th (I've been filling petrol for 2,000/- on all my visits). It was peak time in the morning, I told the attendant to fill for 500/-, he asked me to look for zero reading, I gave my card, another guy came back with the charge slip, I signed and drive away. I reached office (2 km away) and noticed that range has not increased at all! It should have increased by at least 85 km (I had a similar experience earlier at BP pump in Majiwada, Thane and never visited that shoddy looking pump). I went to the pump the next day and gave my peace of mind to the attendant and told him to call the manager. When the manager came, I told him that I've been a regular customer and your people cheat such customers, it is very bad. He started arguing that they don't discriminate any customer, blah blah blah. Then he told the attendant to fill petrol for 250/- (the argument did not last for even 2 min). I feel that this is an acknowledgement of cheating. I was thinking what I could do to ensure that I'm not cheated again. When the attendant was filling for 250/-, I noticed that the pipe was moving. I thought that petrol should be moving through the pipe into the bank, otherwise it will not move.

After this incident, I decided that filling the tank to full is a better way to overcome this cheating of not filling petrol. I also get down from the car and stand next to the attendant. I read in other threads about some tips and I'll tell the attendant to keep his hands of the pump when it is filling.

This is the only pump that I come across from my place to office (Thane to Powai). I’ve to live with this. I don’t want to fill petrol in Thane, because it costs 2/- more per liter than Mumbai.

[Fiest@DuraTec]

Deleted on purpose. Mods: please delete the post, thanks.

[ad3952n]

Dear Mates, today i was on the verge of being cheated by a petrol pump until better sense prevailed in me and pump supervisor. I took my City Ivtec to a Petrol pump (Royal Filing Station) near Dallupura (Border of Noida and Delhi). From yesterday night the new price for petrol i.e INR 72.40/Ltr in Delhi was to be charged. Instead what the attendant did he without telling me that they were not having the normal petrol filled 93 Octane petrol in my car of INR 500 and then on asking them i was told that since the normal one is not there so we have put this 93 Octane which INR 75.11/Ltr. I took the matter immediately to the supervisor and he readily shouted at the attendant and the Senior Attendant. I too gave them a sound piece of thought. Ultimately as the supervisor there had helped me so did not go into much of argument and paid my bill. But all those who use that petrol pump please be aware of this type of flaws.

[asit.kulkarni93]

I always go to Shell Warje since i have shifted to Kothrud and it is convinient for me as it is just opposite to my college. In the last week while returning back from college i came via the highway, usually i came via karve road. As soon as i reached the mcdonalds in bhusari colony,I realised that the bike is low on fuel. I immediately went to the petrol pump near shivtirth nagar. I usually follow the tankful to tankful method to keep a check on the FE but that day i thought of filling only for Rs.500. The attendant came and asked me to look at the 0. I saw and then this other attendant comes and gives me the bill. He takes my card and is trying to ask something about my bike. When i was about to sign the slip i was shocked to see the reading at 0 again. This conversation was in marathi
Me- what is this? how did it come back to 0 again?
Attendant- Your Rs.500 over, now waiting for next customer.
Me- That is not possible as i did not see you resetting and so it should be on 500 if at all you have filled for Rs.500.
Attendant(he calls the other guy)- Sir this is our system, it is different.
Me- Show me the last transaction.

He showed me that and it was Rs.378. When i came the lady in front of me had filled for Rs.100. I was like what is this?
The other guy started giving me all possible stupid reasons. I made him fill till 500 and told him that these kind of errors are not mechanical but because of cheats like you. I was in no mood to fight just told him that i will see to it no one in my circle comes here ever again. PLEASE DO NOT VISIT THE PETROL PUMP ON PAUD ROAD (after krishna hospital).

[IndianGuardian]

On Thursday, January 23, we were travelling from Hyderabad to Bangalore. The previous day I had filled up a full tank (with auto stop) in my VW Vento (Diesel, MT). I maintain a meticulous log of my vehicle's fuel efficiency and till date my vehicle's fuel efficiency has never gone below 14.05km/l and this includes driving in peak city traffic in Hyderabad in the evening from Hi-Tech City to Begumpet. I always fill my vehicle to a full tank with auto-stop to maintain consistency and accuracy.

Having filled up a full tank (with auto stop) and only 1 km travelled post filling from the station to home, we headed out to Bangalore. After travelling 216 km approx., we halted at the filing station mentioned in the subject line (more details of the station below). I asked for a full tank of diesel to be filled with auto-stop. I cross-checked that the meter was set to 0. It must be noted that my vehicles's current journey fuel efficiency meter was showing to be 17.2 km/l. To my surprise, when the tank got filled, the fuel display showed that the attendant had filled up 22.73 litres. This means for a distance of 216 km, my vehicle has consumed 22.73l giving an average of 9.54 km/l which is impossible as within the city I have never gone below 14.05km/l and here I started out on a full tank at 5:15 in the morning with a current fuel efficiency of 17.2 km/l and stopped at this filling station at around 8:10 AM.

I smelled something fishy as clearly there is manipulation in the meter. I told the same to the attendant and asked for the manager. I was informed that the manager will be available only after 10 AM. I then asked for the complaint book. I was refused access to the same with the excuse that the manager has the keys to the draw in which the same is located. I then called the IOC helpline at 18002333555 but got the message that the number is busy.

I then insisted on an original bill which was provided.

I request you to avoid this filling station as there is clear manipulation going on. The filling station details (per the bill received) are:

Sai Sravanthi Filing Station
Owned and Operated by Indian Oil Corporation Ltd.
S. No. 280 and (P) 281/3 (P), NH7, Panchalingala (V), Kurnool (Dist.) A.P.

They are cheating customers in broad daylight. Assuming an extremely conservative estimate of my car giving 14 km/l (ideally more), my car would have consumed 15.43l and the station showed 22.73l. Their machine is overcharging by 47.31%!

I have also now filed a complaint with the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas via pgportal.gov.in I understand that they take 2-3 months to respond and will update this thread if I hear back from them. Will also re-try the IOC helpline.

Is there any other place where I can lodge a complaint?

[vnabhi]

Sad to know this. It's good that you're following up with agencies for redressing your case.

By the way, where exactly is this? Is it between Kurnool and Gooty? Or between Pebbair and Kurnool?

[IndianGuardian]

Originally Posted by vnabhi

Sad to know this. It's good that you're following up with agencies for redressing your case.

By the way, where exactly is this? Is it between Kurnool and Gooty? Or between Pebbair and Kurnool?

This pump is slightly before/after/around Kurnool but definitely before Gooty. It is directly adjacent to a Bharat Petroleum pump (both side by side, IOC comes first). The BP pump was however shut.

[mints21]

Is there any other place where I can lodge a complaint?

You can put an online complaint. Your issue is genuine, but they will not be able to help you now. It will be tough to prove your point. You could have gone for the quantity check then and there and should have insisted on calling the manager. Since, it is a company owned company operated pump their accountability is even more.

However, I can assure you that once you put an online complaint the regional manager of Indian Oil Corporation who handles the area will certainly get back to you in 3-4 days and will give you a hearing.

I had somewhat similar situation sometime back in Delhi, where my car was filled with 46 litres of Petrol. I knew the mischief and asked them for a bill mentioning my car number and paid them using my credit card and asked him to mention the car number on the charge slip which was the merchant copy. After reaching office,I filed an online complaint stating that the car manufacturers guidelines which mentioned 43 lts as tank capacity.

IOC replied and the regional manager met me. The company conducted a complete investigation and using the CCTV footage found out that one of their attendant had actually tempered with the machine.They asked me the exact details and timings of payment mentioned on charge slip, which helped them track the sequence of events.

They wrote back informing me about the action that has been taken against the erring attendant.

[idea]

it is difficult to understand what exactly gone wrong. It will be interesting to know what fuel efficiency you get in next 2 cycles just to ensure there is no decreased fuel efficiency due to any technical snag.

it is surprising how easy it to temper machines at petrol pumps?

There should be ways to catch this to be incorporated in cars.. like

1. Exact Glass Gauge with calibrated markings showing liters of fuel in tank
2. May be indicator showing equivalent weight of fuel by using Liter to KG conversion etc. it is complex but not impossible for sure considering temp/density change etc.

[sajusherief]

It could be a problem with the auto stop fuel station too. Did you check whether they really filled a full tank. If they have cheated you by not giving you a full tank, the same fuel efficiency issue can come

[mayankk]

Did you confirm that nothing went in after auto stop?
Since you didn't go from empty to full, the extra 4-5 liters are more than enough to bring down your fuel efficiency by the amount mentioned.