Is this Illegal? Being forced to purchase gas/no change? Threatened to have police called on me...

[Midlander]

I would have said, "Go ahead and call the cops." I don't think he would have and you'd have had witnesses if he did.

 

[Raduque]

I'll agree with everybody saying the cashier was being an a-hole, but I'm willing to bet the gas systems probably don't allow for preauthorization on credit/debit at the registers.. Post pay, Pay at the Pump only, or prepay with an amount, like our systems at Sheetz were. It's been a couple years since I worked there, but I'm pretty sure our systems allowed for change on an unused prepay amount. So yea, the guy was out of line. I'd talk to the manager, but not just the shift manager, the store manager.

 

[PingSpike]

I would have just left and made a mental note to never go to that gas station ever again.

 

[amdhunter]

Originally posted by: AnonymouseUser

Originally posted by: daveymark

Originally posted by: dartworth

Originally posted by: amdhunter

Originally posted by: snoturtle
I probably would have to told him to go ahead and call the cops

I can't see how it would be legal
sounds like a bunch of crap trying to rip people off

Possibly from the lowlife minimum-wage worker acting all high and mighty. :|

This was taken from another thread.

Originally posted by: Injury

I love it how when a teenager is a member of the working community they are just a "punkass kid making minimum wage". People like you who say that piss me off. Since when does how much money you make determine how hard you work? It's insulting enough that an able-bodied teenager is doing crappy work because no professional company would give them a job until they are out of school, but the fact that dicks like you rub it in their face astounds me. Would it be better if they sat around at home watching MTV and playing video games while mommy and daddy paid their way through life? You think they WANT to be making minimum wage? You think they WANT to be working a job that won't take them too far? Is it so glorifying to you to hold something like that over them because your job is so damn amazing and you've somehow earned the right to tell people that they aren't good enough to make a sh!tty wage? Go fvck yourself.

believe it or not, there are some minimum wage making teenagers who act like scum.

Nowhere in the rant did amdhunter mention the age of the attendant in question. Why would anyone assume he was a teenager?

It was actually an older spanish gentleman who was less than friendly.

 

[Corporate Thug]

i dont see how this is illegal. A private business can choose to take payments in any way, shape, or form they please. think of a taxi: they carry very little change so if you give the driver a 50 dollar bill, you're screwed

 

[Turkish]

You got robbed buddy. A similar thing happened to me a few years back. I was driving from Blacksburg, VA to Erie, PA and had to stop by at this gas station in a West Virginia town (can't remember the name). Anyways, so I insert and remove my card and it said something similar to "Cannot read card". After a few tries, I gave up and went inside to see if the POS (that's really what they are called) inside can read it. Anyways, we gave it a try and it read it, so the guy asked me how much I wanted. I told him I didn't know, I just wanted to fill up the whole tank as my drive was still another 5-6 hours. He told me I had to pay in $10 increments and I had to give him a number first. I was confused, but I thought maybe he is doing this because he thinks I am going to driveoff as I am a foreigner (and mind you, I have a perfect English accent, he must have looked at my name on the card). So I told him I want $30 (gas was much cheaper those days, lol). As I was proceeding towards the door, he told me to make sure my tank can hold $30 cause he cannot give me change. I stopped there, turned around, looked at him, and asked him "You cannot give me change?" He said "No, its our policy". So I asked to see his supervisor (this was a kid at most 18 years old, so there had to be someone supervising him). He told me he was the only one in there and I should either tell him how much I want to charge on the card or leave before he calls the cops. So I pulled my bullsh!t card on him and said, "Go ahead and call the cops, as you do, I am calling my father, who is an attorney for the blah blah consumer foundation". That got him in line He put the phone down and told me to fill up my tank and he will charge the exact amount after I am done So I did fill it up, got charged the exact amount, told that kid to not pull this crap on anyone else, and left. I watched my card for a month or two though, to see whether he fvcked with it or not. Fortunately, nothing happened with the card. Anyways, in other words, he tried to pocket the money. You should have told him to call the cops or pretend you're calling your attorney. You wouldn't believe how effective the attorney line is, cause people think "If this guy is so crazy as to call his attorney for $30, I rather not deal with him".... cheers!

 

[EvilYoda]

Yeah, if I had the time, I would've called his bluff and see if the police got involved...worst they could do is actually show up and say "yeah, you're screwed", but I doubt that the station manager would want the police crawling all over his business scaring away customers.

That sucks man.

 

[Turkish]

Originally posted by: Corporate Thug
i dont see how this is illegal. A private business can choose to take payments in any way, shape, or form they please. think of a taxi: they carry very little change so if you give the driver a 50 dollar bill, you're screwed

The problem is, do you really think a business will be willing to lose revenues with such payment structure? No. As I explained in my example below your post, most likely the kid wanted to pocket the money.

 

[Brainonska511]

Originally posted by: Corporate Thug
i dont see how this is illegal. A private business can choose to take payments in any way, shape, or form they please. think of a taxi: they carry very little change so if you give the driver a 50 dollar bill, you're screwed

Taxis are a little different. Usually they have sings in them that state drivers do not have to take bills larger than $20. They should have to give you change if you don't use the full prepay amount. Putting $30 down, and you only can fill up the tank with $25, you'll be out $5 if you can't get change, essentially making you pay more than the advertised price/gallon.

 

[Whoozyerdaddy]

Originally posted by: Corporate Thug
i dont see how this is illegal. A private business can choose to take payments in any way, shape, or form they please. think of a taxi: they carry very little change so if you give the driver a 50 dollar bill, you're screwed

Gas stations are not cabs.

The attendant should have held the card (and his ID if that is store policy) and activated the pump. When he was done filling his tank the attendant should have charged the proper amount.

I'd report him.

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: Corporate Thug
i dont see how this is illegal. A private business can choose to take payments in any way, shape, or form they please. think of a taxi: they carry very little change so if you give the driver a 50 dollar bill, you're screwed

How fitting for someone with nickname as you have.

So when you go to the grocery store with the munchies and buy a bag $3 bag of potato chips with a $20 bill and they have no change, it's Ok by you if they keep it?

 

[Schadenfroh]

They did this in my area at the gas stations after Katrina hit.

 

[xospec1alk]

Originally posted by: dmcowen674

Originally posted by: Corporate Thug
i dont see how this is illegal. A private business can choose to take payments in any way, shape, or form they please. think of a taxi: they carry very little change so if you give the driver a 50 dollar bill, you're screwed

How fitting for someone with nickname as you have.

So when you go to the grocery store with the munchies and buy a bag $3 bag of potato chips with a $20 bill and they have no change, it's Ok by you if they keep it?

its not exactly the same thing. he can still choose to buy less gas for 10 or 20 dollars. OP insisted on filling up.

its more like chips are a dollar, he can choose to buy 4 bags of chips with a $20 or just buy 4 bags of chips.

oh, and its not like the attendant didn't make him aware of the situation before he got the gas...

 

[jamesbond007]

Can someone explain to me why you'd pre-pay when you pay at the pump? Either way, your card is inserted before you can pump the gas - exact numbers shouldn't be a problem since everything is electronic.

Here in ND, there's no such thing I've seen...or in MN for that matter.

 

[xospec1alk]

Originally posted by: jamesbond007
Can someone explain to me why you'd pre-pay when you pay at the pump? Either way, your card is inserted before you can pump the gas - exact numbers shouldn't be a problem since everything is electronic.

Here in ND, there's no such thing I've seen...or in MN for that matter.

OP said the debit card was denied at the pump, therefore he had to go inside...

 

[middlehead]

Originally posted by: jamesbond007
Can someone explain to me why you'd pre-pay when you pay at the pump? Either way, your card is inserted before you can pump the gas - exact numbers shouldn't be a problem since everything is electronic.

They asked him to pre-pay because he couldn't pay at the pump, his card had been denied.

Here in ND, there's no such thing I've seen...or in MN for that matter.

Same thing, I'm in ND and I've never been asked to prepay. I choose not to pay at the pump because I usually get something to drink at the same time; I've got to go inside anyway, might as well pay for both at once.

 

[JoPh]

Originally posted by: arcenite
NJ FTW!

We pay after we get our gas

plus we dont even have to pump it!

 

[Eeezee]

Why don't you just put in $30?

/thread

 

[axelfox]

How were you forced to purchase gas? You ended up leaving?

 

[amdhunter]

Originally posted by: axelfox
How were you forced to purchase gas? You ended up leaving?

I just got pissed and went to another station. I will probably never go to that station again.

 

[JasonE4]

Originally posted by: JoPh

Originally posted by: arcenite
NJ FTW!

We pay after we get our gas

plus we get to wait in long lines all the time because we can't pump it ourselves!

fixed

 

[Injury]

Originally posted by: Corporate Thug
i dont see how this is illegal. A private business can choose to take payments in any way, shape, or form they please. think of a taxi: they carry very little change so if you give the driver a 50 dollar bill, you're screwed

Not having change is different from refusing to give change. Yeah, they can take payments in any way they want, but the problem here is that the attendant/station is making people pay for goods or services that were not rendered.

I understand that it was entirely a matter of the way their computer systems work... You probably have to put enter in the amount sold and make a sale before the gas can be pumped (thus he probably didn't have access to issue a refund on a sale once it's done), but there is always a way to bypass that.

You should have just gone and got a fat stack of $1 bills and prepaid a dollar at a time until you are filled up. I'd bet that after a few times the guy would agree to give you change.

 

[Injury]

Originally posted by: JasonE4

Originally posted by: JoPh

Originally posted by: arcenite
NJ FTW!

We pay after we get our gas

plus we get to wait in long lines all the time while some greaser tops it off and spills gas all over the side of your car so he make it a nice round number and not have to go get change because we are apparently too stupid to pump it ourselves!

fixed

times 2

(based on my 2 experiences of buying gas in New Jersey.)

 

[JasonE4]

Originally posted by: Injury

Originally posted by: Corporate Thug
i dont see how this is illegal. A private business can choose to take payments in any way, shape, or form they please. think of a taxi: they carry very little change so if you give the driver a 50 dollar bill, you're screwed

Not having change is different from refusing to give change. Yeah, they can take payments in any way they want, but the problem here is that the attendant/station is making people pay for goods or services that were not rendered.

I understand that it was entirely a matter of the way their computer systems work... You probably have to put enter in the amount sold and make a sale before the gas can be pumped (thus he probably didn't have access to issue a refund on a sale once it's done), but there is always a way to bypass that.

You should have just gone and got a fat stack of $1 bills and prepaid a dollar at a time until you are filled up. I'd bet that after a few times the guy would agree to give you change.

Not true. No one is being forced to purchase anything.

 

[jchu14]

Originally posted by: Raduque
I'll agree with everybody saying the cashier was being an a-hole, but I'm willing to bet the gas systems probably don't allow for preauthorization on credit/debit at the registers.. Post pay, Pay at the Pump only, or prepay with an amount, like our systems at Sheetz were. It's been a couple years since I worked there, but I'm pretty sure our systems allowed for change on an unused prepay amount. So yea, the guy was out of line. I'd talk to the manager, but not just the shift manager, the store manager.

I agree that I think it's a limit on the system. From what I tell, you can either pay at pump (via credit/debit), prepay with cash/debit/credit with a certain amount, or pay after. My guess is that the station had too many non-paying customers so they took away the pay after option. It could be open to abuse as well, what's stopping someone from charging 300 dollars on the credit card, then only pump 5 bucks expecting 295 in change. The gas station become a free ATM.

If it's suppose to scam people out money, they're the sweeset con artists ever, they even warn you that they wont' give you change before you charge the money!