Andrew Shannon had to pay for gas he says he didn't get and couldn't believe it
PETOSKEY, MI -- A trip to fill up his gas tank left one Northern Michigan man stunned.
He thought he was pumping gas but when he took a closer look there was no gas coming out and he was still being charged.
Andrew Shannon said he was running on fumes and when he went to fill up, all he was getting was fumes.
He went inside to tell the attendant and was surprised to hear he had to pay a $1.17 for air.
"We’re already paying $3.65 for gas, we're already paying that much, and on top of this, they're, you know, charging me for gas I'm not getting," said Shannon.
Andrew Shannon said it was just a routine fill-up. He pulled into the BP Station north of Petoskey.
“After a while, I looked and it only said $1.10. I knew something wasn't right," said Shannon.
He said he pulled the nozzle out just enough where he could see if gas was coming out. He squeezed the trigger and he got nothing but air, but at the same time, his price tag went up. The display read $1.17, so he went inside.
“It was pushing out air pretty much into my tank, and I got charged for it," said Shannon.
The station ran out of gas, but the attendant said Shannon had pumped the $1.17 worth. He couldn't believe it. He contacted the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.
“We are dispatching an inspector to that area to take a look at these new pumps to make sure they meet state standards, and to follow up with a complaint we received from the consumer," said Spokesperson for the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Jennifer Holton.
I contacted the station. The manager told me the pumps were new, only two weeks old, but did admit mistakes happened. He contacted the company that installed the pumps and was told air passing through shouldn't raise the price, but it could. The station has since refunded and compensated Shannon with a $20 gift certificate, but Shannon says regardless of what station, buyer beware.
“Pay attention more closely to the pumps," said Shannon.
The station said with high gas prices, gas stations are keeping tight control of the gas storage tanks in an effort to get the best price on gas.
He said in the morning, the station faxes an inventory sheet to the gas supplier and then the gas supplier will determine if a gas delivery needs to be made. In this case, the truck was 30 minutes away from the station when the station ran out of gas.
If you have a problem at the pump, the Michigan Department of Agriculture wants to know about it.
Stations could be fined if found out of compliance.
Contact the Michigan Department of Agriculture by calling 1-800-MDA-FUEL.
Here are some statistics the Department of Agriculture supplied 7&4 with dealing with compliance issues:
- There are approximately 110,000 fuel pumps in the state of Michigan.
- The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has 22 inspectors covering all types of weights and measures transactions.
- In Fiscal Year (FY) 2010, 30,646 gas and diesel fuel meter inspections were performed at more than 2,500 unique locations. The meter inspection total is the second most since 1996.
- Overall meter compliance at gas stations has increased 15 percent from 2004 to more than 94 percent.
- Only 0.5 percent of the approximately 9,200 meters inspected as a result of a consumer complaint were found to be delivering less than the quantity represented. However, 10.8 percent of gasoline quality complaints were substantiated.
- In FY10, MDARD received 1,226 complaints against gas stations.
- In FY10, more than 1,180 enforcement actions (stop sales, warning letters and fines) were initiated against 744 retail establishments for operating without a license or selling substandard and short measure fuels to Michigan consumers. 22 actions were initiated against distributors for providing gasoline to unlicensed locations or distributing substandard fuels.
- $68,420 in fines were issued as a result of MDARD’s gasoline enforcement actions in FY10.
