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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Or is the petrol station owner?

279 replies

Cloudstasteofmash · 23/04/2016 14:21

About four weeks ago I called in to my local PS to put some petrol in my car, I rarely use this PS as it's very expensive. I normally fill up at my local Asda.

I bought £10 worth of petrol - just to see me through till I could get to my normal filling up place. I also bought a packet of crisps.

Came up to £10.39, I paid on my card.

The following day I went in to asda and half filled the tank up.

My Dh used the car and didn't bother to replace the petrol so one week later when I got in the car it was basically running off fumes so I called in local PS and put another £10 in. When I went in to the PS shop the owner went in to the back and came out with a receipt of my last transaction. He said that last time I was in the card machine was broke for one hour and did not register the petrol amount/cost and I only paid for the crisps. The recept he had shown 0.39p he was quite relaxed and said he was just showing me. I offered to pay it back. I only had £10 note on me so said I will Bob in soon and pay it. He never once asked for it. Seemed relaxed about it.

Went home checked my online banking - yep the 39p from the PS was there.

I totally forgot to go to the PS the next day or for the rest of the week. It's not in the direction I normally go and I'd been asda and put petrol in so I didn't need to go local PS.

Anyway - today I went in as me and Dh have been sharing again and not replaced so had to call in local PS to put a little in just to get me out of the village. When I went to the pump it wasn't working. I went in to the PS shop and Bobbed my head in and said ' is the pump not working?'

The owner said 'I turned it off as you owe me £10'

I said ' oh god yes, I'll pay it now'
He said ' yes but you let me down. You said you would pay next day' (I never)

I said ' Ok, I forgot, but will pay now'

He carried on saying "yes but let me down, where was my money'

I said " hang on, I tried paying buy your machine was broke, I never stole it, like I said I'll pay now'

He said ' but you let me down, you said you would pay ...

At which point I walked out of the shop.

There were people in the shop and I felt he was trying to act as if I had purposely stole petrol or tried to get out of paying.

Not sure what to do know tbh.

Should I expect the police to come? Blush

OP posts:
Sounddofsilence · 23/04/2016 17:41

OP you could've checked on your receipt re petrol and being charged for it.

Well in hindsight yeah, but that's hardly the OP's fault.

I rarely check my receipt.

Sparklingbrook · 23/04/2016 17:44

I tick off receipts to my bank account daily. Check I haven't been overcharged or charged twice for anything. Halo

PuppyMonkey · 23/04/2016 17:47

"I think first time mistake on his side but most likely card company fault eg the machine. Second time he quite reasonably expects her to pay and does not make a scene. In my mind this is where OP is BU because she should have paid second time round and not assumed on the owner being quiet that he was ok to wait. If he'd told her "no bother I will wait for the payment" or even offered him £10 she had on her as part payment that would rectify things somewhat. But she didn't do this."

I do worry that comprehension isn't a strong point on MN sometimes. Grin

fascicle · 23/04/2016 18:01

Cloudstasteofmash
fas it's not the same. You seem to think I did this on purpose to get out of paying for petrol. I didn't. I paid. He didn't do it correctly. I genuinly forgot to go back in, when I did I offerd three times. He just wanted me to grovel. That wasn't going to happen. I did not fuck up - he did.

I think it's a relevant way to look at it. Few people would be happy to wait indefinitely for an overpayment to be corrected. I'm not sure where you get the idea that I think you were trying to get out of paying - not what I think at all. I think you left it/did not prioritise it/forgot about it.

No fas it was two weeks (just under actually) but your so intent on making me out to have tried to swindle him your now making your own stuff up.

I said approx 3 weeks based on the timelines you gave in your first post.

IAmNotAMindReader · 23/04/2016 18:03

YABU and very lucky the guidelines on bilking changed in the summer or he could have had the police at your door, as happened to us a couple of years ago (new attendant put through a load of transactions without adding the fuel on and the customers were unaware). They gave us an hour to go in and pay or they'd have returned and arrested.

leelu66 · 23/04/2016 18:05

I'm not sure sparkling but I have a face that could frighten children so maybe it's that.

YANBU for this comment alone OP Grin

Ignore the sanctimonious fools here, the PS owner got on his high horse.

IAmNotAMindReader · 23/04/2016 18:05

*this was less than 24 hours after the initial incident which was entirely the attendants fault albeit due to inexperience.

roundaboutthetown · 23/04/2016 18:06

I can't believe so many people accept card transactions without checking the amount they are accepting. You lot are seriously weird. Grin

merrymouse · 23/04/2016 18:07

All you can do in the future is avoid the petrol station OP.

It's always stupid to rant at a customer, whatever your business.

Sparklingbrook · 23/04/2016 18:14

True round you normally check the screen on the chip and pin machine before you enter your PIN. Some retailers instruct you to.

kaitlinktm · 23/04/2016 18:19

I would be inclined to enclose the payment (preferably a cheque as it will inconvenience him) with a letter sent recorded delivery in which you state that, as the original error was his not yours, you resent him implying in front of other customers that you had somehow either asked for credit or evaded payment or tried to swindle him.

I would also ask for a receipt.

catkind · 23/04/2016 18:28

They gave us an hour to go in and pay or they'd have returned and arrested.
Huh? Really? What if you'd been in the middle of something or someone had been out with the car or the kids were in bed or any of a hundred reasons you couldn't just drop everything and go round to the petrol station to correct someone else's error? The police really said that?

Sparklingbrook · 23/04/2016 18:29

If she asks for a receipt she will need to give her address. Not wise. Recorded Delivery is quite expensive and we are talking about £10 here.

NeedACLeverNN · 23/04/2016 18:32

YANBU OP

You offered to pay. He was being a dick.

roundaboutthetown · 23/04/2016 18:36

I guess his reaction meant he was happy not to see the OP's custom again. It is upsetting when people think you have been dishonest when you haven't, but from his behaviour, he clearly did believe the OP to be dishonest.

eternalopt · 23/04/2016 18:37

I'm going to go against the flow here - YANBU. It was his machine that didn't work and he waited until you came back to mention it instead of filling in forms to find you, so he didn't really convey any sense of massive urgency himself. I think going back within a week is pretty "soon", and to put petrol in first before going in and telling him to take the extra tenner at the same time isn't beyond the realms of possibility. All well and good for him to turn off pump to check with you that you have the extra £10 with you before you fill up. Beyond that, PS owner was being a bit of a knob. Perhaps he was having a bad day and if his machine was broken for an hour, he's probably lost quite a bit.

IAmNotAMindReader · 23/04/2016 18:39

catkind they would have returned as now we had been informed about the initial mistake to not have returned would have turned it into an offence. Since when do police have to wait on someone elses convenience?
The whole incident was probably a pain in their arse and they wanted it cleared up quickly. It was a Shell garage so there's no way they were just going to let it drop and they would have been very insistent the police act. They in turn passed some of the pressure they must have been feeling on to us and all the other customers involved.

Orda1 · 23/04/2016 18:41

The facts are it was him that typed the amount in wrong, the machine didn't just magically charge for the crisps only.

His mistake.

I cannot believe he actually asked you for the tenner. Let alone berated you for forgetting. I'd complain about him if it was a chain, but sounds like it isn't. It's not about the ten quid, it's about customer service.

fascicle · 23/04/2016 18:48

roundaboutthetown
It is upsetting when people think you have been dishonest when you haven't, but from his behaviour, he clearly did believe the OP to be dishonest.

The owners words suggest that he was disappointed that she hadn't followed up on her promise to pay him soon:

but you let me down, you said you would pay

Not the same as believing OP to be dishonest.

roundaboutthetown · 23/04/2016 18:59

Well, I would feel let down, too, if I gave someone the benefit of the doubt and they proved to have been dishonest after all... So exactly what he said, even if accurately reported, does not mean he thinks the OP is honest, fascicle. The machine being broken thing may well have been that normally the amount recorded at the pump transfers automatically to the card reader, but for an hour, it didn't. This could cause huge problems to a small PS and would be no more his fault for not immediately noticing than that of the customers who are also too stupid or dishonest to check what they are paying for before they accept it.

Original poster
Cloudstasteofmash · 23/04/2016 19:08

round what did he have to give me benefit of the doubt for? So now I'm stupid and in trustworthy - wow. You really know me that much? Do you also do tarot cards??

OP posts:
Original poster
Cloudstasteofmash · 23/04/2016 19:11

*Dishonest

OP posts:
roundaboutthetown · 23/04/2016 19:26

I didn't say I think you are dishonest - I just think you are stupid if you don't check amounts before you accept transactions onto you card. Grin If you bother to keep your receipts, you will find one for 39p at home...

As for dishonest, I said he clearly thinks you are dishonest, as you had agreed that you had taken £10 worth of petrol for which you had not paid, promised to rectify this, then failed to do so prior to being confronted. I think he was an idiot, but clearly one who no longer particularly wants to do business with you,mwhic has wouldn't be the case if he thought you were just a bit forgetful!

emotionsecho · 23/04/2016 19:27

To all those saying it is not the OPs fault, it is quite right the initial fault wasn't hers and had she never returned to the PS then no doubt it would have been written off and forgotten about. However, once the mistake was pointed out to the OP and she agreed there was a mistake and accepted the debt then the onus is on her to pay up within a reasonable time frame. In the PS owner's view the OP did not pay up within a reasonable time frame.

Original poster
Cloudstasteofmash · 23/04/2016 19:29

i think your getting a bit nasty Grin

OP posts: