It pays to double check!!!

[isuzurover]

Fuel price on the bowser that is...

Was down in Albany (WA) last monday, and went to the Caltex on York street to fill up. Advertised diesel price was 134.9, started filling, looked at the bowser, and the price was 142.9!!!

Long story short - got 14L of diesel for free (amount I had filled before I noticed). But 2 people filled up before me who I am sure must have paid the higher price without noticing (the price, cpl and litres from one of the two were still on the pump when I was filling - so they at least were ripped off).

The servo attendant claimed the error must have been due to a "power surge", and that I would have definitely been the only one affected.

So check the price on the bowser!!!

And if you are in Albany - ask your mates if they filled up (with diesel) at the servo before 9:15am on Monday 18 June. I think that one vehicle was a hilux, the other may have been an F-truck.

EDIT - also - the servo charged a 55c credit card fee - I'm sure there were no signs up about this - is that legal?

[incisor]

the credit card fee is legal..

[CraigE]

But is supposed to be advertised. Probablly is behind the counter, on the floor in invisible ink.:mad:

[River]

usually caltex have the cc fee on the pump

[Nat130]

Interesting that... a power surge I very much doubt.

I spend every day designing/testing computer systems for petrol stations.

By law if the petrol price is increasing they have to change the price on the board before they change the price on the pump.

Good to hear that they gave you 14Lt free but as you say, what about the ones that didn't notice.

Need to get back to work....got to work out how to get my test pumps to dispense real fuel :D wouldn't that be nice, think I will makes today's price 6cpl :)

[mcrover]

It's funny, we were just talking about this last night, when I worked at a servo years ago, if the price was going up we put the signs out 15 mins before changing the pumps and if it was going down we would change the pumps first and the signs as quick as possible but not until all the pumps were changed.

This was to stop this from happening as in if you saw the price was cheaper on the pump than on the sign, nobody cares and makes them happier normally so then no agro at the pumps.

[isuzurover]

I sent an email to fuelwatch (wa govt thing). They emailed me back to say they will be investigating it as a possible breach of "regulation 3 of the petroleum pricing regulations".

They also said that in WA all servos have to notify fuelwatch of their prices before 6am each day and keep that price for 24 hrs.

So - if you notice a WA servo changing their prices in the middle of the day - that is also illegal!!!

[mcrover]

I wish that happened in Vic, I have seen the price change 3 times in 1 day at one of the local servo's and of course it went up each time.

If there isnt colusion between fuel companies, how come they sell to each other all the time and when 1 changes it's prices on one side of the road the other on the other side will do the same with only no more than .1c difference in price.

It doesnt bother me so much anymore but it used to when I was out on the road for a living.

[CraigE]

What annoys me is that when fuel goes down in price, they have to empty current stocks before reducing the price to accommodate losses, but as soon as it goes up, no waiting for stocks to reduce.
This came straight from servo attendants on several occassions.:mad:

[George130]

The one that bothers me is the gas tank in the ford. 80 litre tank so 72 litres usable but you can fill it from between 75 and 85 litres!

[RR5L]

The one that bothers me is the gas tank in the ford. 80 litre tank so 72 litres usable but you can fill it from between 75 and 85 litres!

You have to wonder how often by law they must get the pumps calibrated and when was the last time they did.

[Blknight.aus]

I sent an email to fuelwatch (wa govt thing). They emailed me back to say they will be investigating it as a possible breach of "regulation 3 of the petroleum pricing regulations".

They also said that in WA all servos have to notify fuelwatch of their prices before 6am each day and keep that price for 24 hrs.

So - if you notice a WA servo changing their prices in the middle of the day - that is also illegal!!!

nope its not...

If they tell fuelwatch their price for today (at 0555) will be 123.4cpl but they are at 123.3cpl they dont have to change thier signage/price before 6am... from the time they change their prices they must not rise above that price for 24 hours but may lower it.


What they cant do is notify at 0555 that they will sell fuel at 123.4cpl when they are at 123.5cpl and not have that price in effect before 6am nor can they raise there price above what they tell pricewatch.

Ive raised this question with dads neighbours before and the way its explained makes sense to me and if it was ever enforced correctly seems to be the right way to go.

[Nat130]

You have to wonder how often by law they must get the pumps calibrated and when was the last time they did.

At some of our sites that we support overseas (think it is malaysia) the customers can demand a pump test at any time.

This means that they get the attendant to pump out say 10 litres of fuel into a measuring device and prove to the customer that it is infact 10 litres.

The sites here do perform these tests but I am unsure about the legal side of it in terms of how often.

[abaddonxi]

The local independent servo where I buy biodiesel told me that it takes about six weeks for a rep from the one company that takes care of all of the pumps to come out and fix them.

Cheers
Simon

[Ace]

As mentioned above, if the price of fuel goes up they have to change it on the board then the pump, if the price is coming down they do the bowser first then the sign. Well this is how it was done when i worked at the servo over xmas a couple of years ago.

My guess is the price has had a rise and they have been to busy to change the sign so they simply changed the bowser thinking no one would notice, i would have filled the car up before i went in to complain.

[mns488]

is that the way it works, if its wrong you get it for free? i would have thought you get the lower?

eitherway nice pickup.

i'll keep an eye on the dodgy b@stards.;)

[Nat130]

They give it to you for the lower price, be it the price on the price board or the bowser.

It is the same as in a shop for example. If the shelf price is lower than what it comes up on the POS then you are entitled to get it for the lower shelf price.

Some companies have the 'get it free' policy such as supermarkets. The other night I bought something that had a ticketed shelf price of $3.90, the operator couldn't scan the item so looked it up and manually typed in $4.90.

I pointed out that it was incorrect, she got rather agressive about it and in the end sent someone to check. I was correct and she gave it to me for free. Wouldn't she have been better off taking my word for the price and only giving me a $1 off?

[scrambler]

Pricing, and what it means, is one of those grey areas. The price on the shelf, bowser, sign etc is not a fixed thing - it's an offer, like the price of a car in a dealer's yard. You are free to make a different offer, they are at liberty to raise or lower their offer.

With the sensitivity of petrol pricing this may be different in some States, but AFAIK the legalities in Qld are the same as any other purchase, which is as I say above. In short - they can charge either higher or lower than the advertised price, you can offer more or less than the advertised price, they don't have to sell to you.

As sale is a negotiation, though mostly people just pay what's on offer.

It is bad business, though, to charge more than the advertised price, and I think that having filled up in the reasonable belief of a particular price you would have a case if they charged something different. The trouble is that they did have the correct price on the bowser. As was initially said, check!

[isuzurover]

nope its not...

If they tell fuelwatch their price for today (at 0555) will be 123.4cpl but they are at 123.3cpl they dont have to change thier signage/price before 6am... from the time they change their prices they must not rise above that price for 24 hours but may lower it.


What they cant do is notify at 0555 that they will sell fuel at 123.4cpl when they are at 123.5cpl and not have that price in effect before 6am nor can they raise there price above what they tell pricewatch.

Ive raised this question with dads neighbours before and the way its explained makes sense to me and if it was ever enforced correctly seems to be the right way to go.

Sorry Dave - but the email I got from Fuelwatch says you are WRONG.

Regulation 3 of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulations 2000 provides that a retailer must notify the Prices Commissioner of the price for the following day, and cannot sell at any other price, other than that which was notified. Changes are to be made at 6:00am or if the site opens later that 6:00am the change is to be made at the opening time and the price is to be held for 24 hours.