Incident at the gas station

[mmbongo]

 

[DiabolusInMusic]

I'm not sure if everyone understands how self serve gas works in New York City. I know it's different upstate and I know it's different out of state. Prepay first. Whether cash or credit. You pay twenty in cash before and twenty is what you get. The pump stops pumping at twenty. He screwed that up.

I'm not discounting the possibility that there may be repercussions for my actions.

You are in the right. There is no grey area here, the attendant is responsible for the $7. While things may be different in NYC you wouldn't be on the hook up here. I wouldn't suggest going back to the same gas station though.

 

[Sgt. Rock]

Even if the cashier made a mistake, he still pumped more gas than he paid for.

Do you get how prepay works?

You pay $20 at the register. You turn the pump on and either hold or lock it open. It shuts off *automatically* at $20. You *can't* pump more than you paid. Unless the person at the register screws up. And if they do, they own it.

 

[Febs]

Do you get how prepay works?

Yes

You pay $20 at the register. You turn the pump on and either hold or lock it open. It shuts off *automatically* at $20. You *can't* pump more than you paid. Unless the person at the register screws up. And if they do, they own it.

Let's say you pre-pay $20. You are holding the pump open. You see it hit $19.50. It doesn't slow down. It hits $20. It doesn't stop. You keep watching the gauge as it passes $21, $22, $23, $24, $25, $26, knowing that you only paid for $20. The pump finally shuts off when the tank is full at $27. Is it still the responsibility of the person at the register?

 

[smeet]

All gas stations now have a locking mechanism where the gas keeps pumping until it shuts off automatically. They expect you to use that mechanism. If you do, it will stop where the cashier told it to stop (or your tank is full). Since they provide a way for you to not look at the gauge, I don't think it's your responsibility to check that the cashier didn't enter more than the amount you gave them.

 

[Icemanaroonie]

Yes


Let's say you pre-pay $20. You are holding the pump open. You see it hit $19.50. It doesn't slow down. It hits $20. It doesn't stop. You keep watching the gauge as it passes $21, $22, $23, $24, $25, $26, knowing that you only paid for $20. The pump finally shuts off when the tank is full at $27. Is it still the responsibility of the person at the register?

Wait, you watch the pump as you're pumping gas?

 

[Sgt. Rock]

Yes


Let's say you pre-pay $20. You are holding the pump open. You see it hit $19.50. It doesn't slow down. It hits $20. It doesn't stop. You keep watching the gauge as it passes $21, $22, $23, $24, $25, $26, knowing that you only paid for $20. The pump finally shuts off when the tank is full at $27. Is it still the responsibility of the person at the register?

Ultimately, yes.

 

[Tom Bomb]

BOWZA, BOWZA, BOWZA !

 

[samson3382]

 

[Sgt. Rock]

All gas stations now have a locking mechanism where the gas keeps pumping until it shuts off automatically. They expect you to use that mechanism. If you do, it will stop where the cashier told it to stop (or your tank is full). Since they provide a way for you to not look at the gauge, I don't think it's your responsibility to check that the cashier didn't enter more than the amount you gave them.

Actually on most of the pumps in NY that feature is disabled. Probably liability. However, when I have prepaid and held the pump open, it *still* shuts off automatically when it hits the price set by the attendant.

 

[Biggbass]

Queens NY...you gotta love it!

 

[jmverdugo]

It's a tough situation made worse by unnecessary rudeness in the clerk side.

You knew you had pumped more than you paid for, from the ethics point of view you should had paid or return the gas .... Problem is you cant return the gas which is inside your tank, so you then you are forced to come up with the money...

I wouldn't have paid to be honest, because the clerk is forcing me to buy more of his product by his mistake, one could even argue he does this to get more sales...

 

[Dr. Cheese]

Hey I'm not from Queens but I am from the N.E. and know the personality type. He screws up and knows he has to account for 7 bucks out of his pocket. Instead of being cool about it, he denies guilt and tries to intimidate customer, gets the wrong guy and comes up short. Every day occurrence.
Some of you guys are waaaaay overthinking this. He's probably going to get a slap in the back of the head by Uncle Sal for being a gavone and inviting trouble. Case closed.

Dude, I live in Detroit. Try to find a pump that's NOT pre-pay.

That's how they do you in the hood. Heck, I remember on the east side of Cleveland and in Elaine, Arkansas, not being able to use a legit Citgo card at a Citgo station.

 

[placedesjardins]

This was a weird day. I'm at the gas station. I almost never carry cash but I had a twenty in my pocket so I go inside and give it to the guy. I go pump my gas. Doesn't work. I knock on the window to where the guy is and point to the car. He does something on the register and gives me the thumbs up. I pump my gas. I'm not paying attention to the amount. There's no reason to. It should stop at twenty.

Suddenly the guy runs out and tells me to stop. It's at $27. I say "Oh look at that. Should've stopped at twenty right?" He tells me I owe him seven bucks. I tell him I don't have seven bucks and I don't owe him anything. He messed up. If he had asked nicely I probably would've gone inside and paid seven with my debit card. But he was being a douche.

He says to me "you're gonna give me seven bucks or we're gonna have a problem." Kinda took me by surprise. It's broad daylight. There are other cars and a bunch of people around. This is Queens New York on a sunny summer Sunday. Not exactly the middle of no where.

I chuckled and asked if he was serious. This kind of thing doesn't happen to me. In the middle of the day? People everywhere? And a little man a foot shorter and a hundred pounds lighter is threatening me. I put the pump back, close up my tank and get in the car.

He says "drive away and see what happens". I turn on the engine. He grabs the door handle. I ask what he's doing. He tells me I owe him seven dollars or we're gonna have problems. I pull on the door. He's pulling on the door. I let go of the door. The edge of it hits him squarely in the testicles and down he goes.

I get out of the car and ask if he's okay. He's down. Clutching. I say "you should get up man. You're gonna get run over". I get in my car and drive away. Strange day.

I read all the replies.
I guess the only thing to do now is return to that gas station regularly for $20 of gas.

 

[Dougie44]

No rationalization is necessary. He prepaid with cash. The attendant is responsible for the cutoff. He is responsible.

You may be right, you may be wrong

 

[neo 7]

 

[Marial]

You may be right, you may be wrong

 

[Downunderwonder]

I'll respond to this more delicately than I already did. I got $27 worth of fuel even though I paid $20 because the attendant made a mistake. You say I owed him $7. So did he not make a mistake? Is he not responsible for that mistake?

responsible to whom? If this had happened to me I would have told him to settle down and paid for the petrol.

 

[neckdive]

IMO, in this case, the OP contracted to purchase exactly $20 worth of fuel by prepaying and with the explicit intent or promise to purchase not a penny more. The sales attendant was legally obligated to provide $20 worth of fuel and not a penny less.

The unique nature of a fuel purchase is that every drop dispensed is non-refundable. Since the OP's 'intent' (which matters A LOT when it comes these types of legal matters) was not to put a down payment on the purchase of fuel with the promise of purchasing the product afterwards, but a prepurchase of a minimum of fuel, $20 worth.

If a person uses a pump that does not require prepay, that customer implicitly promises to pay the amount shown on the pump for the fuel after they are finished dispensing it. This would be akin to going to a sit down restaurant, ordering $27 worth of food but insisting you will only pay $20 at the end of the meal.

That's not what happened to the OP. He figuratively drove up to a fast food place, ordered and prepaid $20 at the first window expecting them to serve him 3 combo meals (for example) at window 2. When the food arrives at window 2, the OP finds to his surprise that there are 4 combo meals worth of food in his bags. It's not reasonable to expect to pay for the extra food that was not ordered.

 

[BAG]

Here's a hypothetical that I haven't read in the thread yet.......

Gorn paid $20 for his fuel. Cashier makes a mistake. Gorn isn't looking at the meter while pumping fuel and it goes over to $27 of fuel. Cashier (who made a mistake) is not polite about the over-pumping of fuel (which was his mistake anyway) and demands the $7. Gorn replies, sorry mate, I only had $20, which I gave you for $20 of fuel. I don't have any more money on me. I don't carry credit or debit cards on me......I only had $20.

For those saying he should have just paid the $7, in this hypothetical, he couldn't have done so anyway. Now how should it have been handled?