[Resolved] Hindustan Petroleum / Petrol — Pump attendants team up to skim petrol by distracting car owners

adityars

from Bengaluru, Karnataka

Address:

Bangalore, Karnataka

At 9:30 AM today (6 August 2012), I visited the HP petrol pump near Sony World Junction - Kormangala (SRI SATHYA SSAI FUELS).

I requested the attendant to fill Rs 2,000 worth of fuel. The attendant started the meter showed me a zero and started pumping.

After a few seconds, the attendant took my card and went to swipe it on the machine. During this time a second attendant came next to the pump.

When the original attendant returned, the pump had filled close to Rs. 1,200 worth of petrol. At this time the attendant came to the driver side to get the card signed and started trying to keep me distracted so I couldn't look at the pump meter.

I heard the click from the pump, and the other attendant said the petrol was filled and he CLOSED THE FUEL CAP. I noticed that the petrol amount was BLINKING and the liters filled screen did not show any numbers.

I told the attendant to show me the liters filled at which time they seemed to get a little worried. A third smooth talking attendant (who was collecting the money) explained to me the power had gone out (apparently only on my pump, and magically just around the time the petrol had almost filled).

I demanded that the petrol pump be switched on and that I see the liters filled. Sure enough, when the pump was switched back on, only Rs 1,700 had been filled in. The third attendant tried to brush off the situation as a mistake and explained that they were waiting for the power to come back and would then fill the remaining petrol.

The only problem is they had ALREADY CLOSED my FUEL CAP. If I had not caught them, they would have let me go away after stealing Rs 300 from me.

I took a photograph of the pump meter at this point and have it with me. I also collected the receipt for the Rs. 1,700 so far from them.

They then reopened my petrol cap and filled the remaining Rs 300 worth of petrol. I collected the receipt for this as well.

At this point I was fairly furious and parked on the side so I could lodge a formal complaint. By this point, the attendant was in panic and was apologizing profusely. He promised this would never happen again.

I then called the managers complaints phone number printed on the wall. ([protected]). After I spoke to him, he asked to speak to the three attendants. He then told me that since I had been eventually given my entire petrol, there was nothing to worry about. He apologized one last time and then hung up.

I am shocked that even the manager seems to be apparently ok with brushing this whole incident away, especially in the face of overwhelming proof (I have pictures and receipts). If a company like HP allows this to happen, then there is nothing left to say.

I would like to take this to court so that HP is actually expected to step up and take some action.

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Aug 13, 2020

Complaint marked as Resolved

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Comments

jayvirmehta

from Pune, Maharashtra

I had experienced exactly the same thing at the petrol pump opposite the old furor studio. There were two attendants on either side of my bike, one filling the petrol and the other collecting money. I ordered for petrol worth Rs.500/- to be filled in my bike. He filled petrol worth only Rs.100/- and said its done. I told him I had asked for petrol worth 500/-. At which point the other guy said, "Yes Sir, you're right" and scolded the other guy for not filling the correct amount. And then out of the blue, he started praising my bike, causing my attention to get diverted as I looked at him in surprise. Just then, the petrol-filling attendant stopped the meter-clock at Rs.400/- saying he has filled up the remaining Rs.400/- worth of petrol. I told him he had not reset the meter to zero before resuming to fill the petrol. They both in unison said rather strongly that they HAD reset it to zero. I said, "Alright, if that's the case, my bike's fuel meter should go up further than the half-way mark", which it obviously didn't. They said there must be some problem in my bike's meter. This is when I lost my patience and threatened them to lodge a complaint. Hearing that, they started throwing filmy dialogues saying "No need to complain - for us ethics and our image is more important, so we will fill petrol of Rs.100/- more for you"!!! I almost burst out laughing and simply called up the complaint number after he had filled the remaining petrol. Unfortunately, there was no response on that number and I did not follow it up thereon.

nipin

from Chennai, Tamil Nadu

Well I and many others in Bangalore must have gone thru this problem problem also and many would have fell for this trick...I have seen girls/older people usually fall this trick...sad how u dont get what you pay for :(

kamalgaur

from Bengaluru, Karnataka

This happened to me about 2 years ago... there's a petrol pump on the way towards Nandi Hills. I was going there in the morning - must have been 5am something - and I remember thinking that I don't have enough petrol to last me all the way and back. I stop there, get INR 500 worth of petrol, only to drive away and notice that the petrol gauge was still on empty. Throughout the trip, I remember dreading that it'd run out anytime - I was furious so I used JustDial to get the phone number of the owner of the petrol pump - and called her up sometime around 10 am just before heading back.

She was apologetic and agreed to fill up my petrol without any questions/proof required - I remember asking her why she didn't want any proof - she said the fact that I had very clearly gone to lengths to get her number and track her down was proof enough, she didn't need any more.

I always make it a point to look for the zero - coz you can't trust half these guys with being honest.