Be careful when filling up

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craigba

craigba

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Hey everyone,

Just something I have recently noticed at Petrol stations - Engen being the main culprit.

Their rounding on their slips is very one-sided (in their favour).

I have stopped going there and am hoping other people (after being made aware of it) do the same.

I normally used to prefer Engen - driving a bit further at risk of running out of fuel to get to an Engen instead of another Garage... But this doesn't sit well with me. And after speaking to the actual owners of the stations, I am told, "Our pumps were calibrated and are okay.". Basically, I am told to deal with it.

Here is one example:

I filled up with 32.36 Litres. At R13.79 per litre
Any reasonable calculation gets: R446.2444
Engen calculates this at R446.25

Granted this is 1 cent and shouldn't make a difference, but it's a) the principle and b) do that to enough people everyday and you get an extra profit for nothing (after already paying employees nothing for long hours)...

There was another instance of 2 cents and 4 cents (so the amounts do vary)...

Next time you fill up / put petrol in, try the calculation, maybe it won't work out either...

This is just so that people are aware. Whether you heed my advise or not, is up to you...
 
The machine might display 2 decimals, but what's to say that the calculator on those machines is not using 4 decimals? In that instance, the amount would have been 32.3604 litres.
 
Fair enough. I thought the same thing, but was actually using the value from the pump (32.3600) litres...
 
I understand you may think I am being petty. but if 1 million people put in fuel daily at all Engen's across South Africa (considering the busy ones next to the highways) and the fact that there's an Engen around almost every corner - Edenvale is saturated with them - this is not too far-fetched)

1000,000 * 1c = R10,000 per day.
R10,000 * 365 days in a year = R3,650,000

This is extra money for nothing...
 
Just as a btw, its not a full extra cent, since they're rounding up... so your maths is off.
 
@ToxicBunny - in most cases it is over a cent (previously referred to as 2 cents) - it would be 1.4 cents for example. So qualifies as a cent...

Regardless of the amount, it's the principle...
 
It is half a cent but I see where you are going and it is a bit of a shark move... in principal I agree but I think there things they make more money on as someone said how do you know the 30L is 30L and not 29.5 then they make much more than the 0.5 or 1c
 
craigba said:
What do you mean, Ffs!
Click to expand...

I think he means that if you're happy to spend even 10c more fuel to fill up so that you don't get screwed by 1c, then you're still losing 9c, or 900% more than if you'd just filled up where you would normally. And 10c of fuel isn't going to get you very far at all.
 
And you're missing another thing.... it's not exactly "R13.79". It's actually "R13.7925" or whatever.
 
@Colin62 I won't be spending 10c more, because the fuel is cheaper elsewhere (not the same as driving further to Store A because they're cheaper than store B)... it won't get you far at all, agreed, but that is not their money...

@herbertk I agree, they make (could make) money elsewhere - I mean look at their ridiculous margins for the items in their stores (but that's all garages and you kind need to expect that at a "convenience" store). being jacked for 0.5 cent is what I don't expect...
 
It upsets you that maybe they are making 0.0022% more money than they should... ya ok... Go fill up during the day when its hot, go check how much petrol escapes as fumes - you're losing far more money there. Or better yet, ask if they have vapour recovery systems. Now ask yourself do you fill to the brim (ie past the first click)? If yes, well done, you've just paid them to put petrol back into their tanks
 
Your time must be worth very little to argue about less than a cent.

Dont worry you recover it at pick and pay when they round down.
 
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