To not transfer money at petrol station

[Phugs]

Yesterday I put fuel in the car and went in to the petrol station to pay. There were a couple of people in front of me in the queue. When I got to the front I said pump 7 please and the cashier informed me that someone had already paid for pump 7.

The man who had paid was just getting back in his car so the cashier gestured for him to come back in from his car and said he had paid for the wrong pump. Immediately he turned aggressive and started shouting at me to pay him the money back by bank transfer.

I refused, I wasn’t going to transfer money to a random person in the petrol station and it immediately felt like a scam.

I requested the cashier just refund the man his money so that I could pay my bill and he refused and started pressuring me to just “pay the man what I owe him”. The customer who had paid my fuel then started calling me a fucking bitch, saying I wasn’t fucking leaving with out paying him his money and he would “do me in” if I tried to leave. He had clearly been drinking, and his friend, who was originally a passenger drove the car away from the petrol station. At this point another customer stepped in and called the police.

The customer then got really aggressive with the man on the phone to the police and started pushing him around, it escalated really quickly and I was asking the cashier again and again to just refund the man his money so that I could pay for my fuel. I asked him to bring a manager out and he said he was manning the station on his own and there was no one else to assist.

Two female police officers arrived and the man was increasingly aggressive with them, calling them both fucking bitches and insulting their appearances. Eventually he was arrested, the cashier then could magically create me another bill and I paid.

When I was leaving the cashier told me I could have avoided the altercation if I’d just paid the man what I owed him and when I’ve tried to lodge a complaint with the petrol station manager, she’s said the same and that it was between me and the other customer to sort out, that the cashier had done nothing wrong by refusing the customer a refund.

Im fairly certain I’m not in the wrong here, would anyone transfer money to a random stranger in a petrol station and walk away without any proof of payment?

That was a great comeback from you! 🤣

And the key word in your argument is "assuming". OP's told us that her bill was £55, but she has no idea what shouty man's was and given his aggressive, sweary and threatening behaviour towards her, straight out of the blocks, I doubt she was inclined to ask. Anyway, the problem was caused by either shouty man giving the wrong pump number or the cashier mishearing him, so it wasn't OP's problem to solve - it was theirs. It had damn-all to do with her.

I work for a big chain petrol station it literally takes 2 mins to refund or do a manual
fuel correction, the problem is franchised stations seem to follow there own rules, this wouldn’t have happened in a company owned station we have way to many times around this. I would put in a massive complaint to shell so they can have a proper look into what’s going on.

OP wasn't asking for a refund for herself. She was simply explaining to the idiot cashier what he needed to do to correct the error that either he or shouty man had made, so that she could pay for her fuel.

Shells round here dodgy too. I dont know how they get away it tbh. DP always says if he opened a garage and did that he would in jail by the end of the week. Yet it’s a perpetual problem and nothing happens.

I know shop lifting is a problem for all retailers, but it seems particularly problematic for a petrol station to suggest a solution that provides no paper trail properly linking the purchaser to the sale.

I can understand one member of staff being untrained, but the manager's behaviour was very odd.

Utterly shocking and disgraceful of the petrol station. Please let us know how you get on. You did the right thing op

Why would a credit note be necessary? The dozy cashier simply had to refund shouty man and take payment from him for the correct pump. If shouty man doesn't live locally or routinely fill up at that fuel station, what good would a credit note be to him?

You are not in the wrong at all.
Totally between PS and the man.
So who paid for the man's correct pump?,
Was it the same amount on both pumps?
Very frightening for you all.the same.

All the while his passenger has driven his car off with a tank of unpaid fuel.

It absolutely sounds like a scam, there is no way competent cashiers (and you said the manager got involved) would deal with this situation like that.

Can someone explain if she did bank transfer how could they scam her i don't understand thanks

I'm in awe that despite the adrenalin you were able to construct and deliver the 'looks like it's you who's going to be someone's bitch tonight' line 💪

Although obviously it's wrong on every level

@Mh67 - OP’s debt was to the garage. If OP had paid the other customer, she would have no evidence that she had paid for her petrol. She could then be pressured into paying for her petrol again because that would be much easier and quicker than having to deal with criminal charges for having allegedly stolen the petrol. The other customer and the petrol station attendant would probably just lie about what had happened.

Whether or not it was a scam, it would never have been right for OP to pay this gut. The petrol station attendant should just have rung up a refund for the incorrect payment but it sounds like they were happy to try and bully a woman driving alone.

Hi I work in a petrol station and people paying for the wrong pumps happens at lot, especially when it’s busy and they give us the wrong pump number and we didn’t see what pump they came from. You were 100% right in not transferring him the money. Where I work we can’t issue refunds for fuel but we work out what you should have paid and work out what he has paid and do it on the till that way, it’s hard to explain. Was it a small private garage or a big chain? I would definitely put in a complaint as it’s so wrong that this happened to you.

You were absolutely in the right. Sorry you had to go through this!

You shouldn't have to explain yourself whatsoever, but if this situation ever happened I'd just say I didn't have online banking, job done.

OR, no, because you need it to come up as a petrol purchase on your bank statement (I would, actually, for business expenses).

God, OP. What a horrible situation. You were totally in the right.

You were in the right. I don't even have banking on my mobile phone, I have no need for it, I do it at home on my iPad, a lot of people don't have mobile banking. It does sound a bit scammy and weird as well like it may have been deliberate as he would have known that you were at that pump.

I see it was Shell, surely a company like that has the capability to refund someone, I thought at first it was a small independent.

That petrol station cashier and the manager need sacking. How crap of Shell!!! Thought you were going to say it was a random, independent petrol station! Definitely get on to the CEO inbox immediately, I’m fuming for you, how incredibly dangerous, you could have been assaulted in there.

I’ve also made this mistake, more than once - no drama involved, just an apology on my part and a quick refund/rebill by the cashier.

I would assume scam, possibly to get bank details, possibly a fiddle on the part of the station staff. If the manager backed them up I’d assume they were in on any scam.

The staff should have been the first to call the police if one customer was threatening others, not backing up the threatening customer and leaving it to other customers to call. If they were honest that is.

Sounds a bit dodgy. Anyway who paid for the petrol at the pump he was at? Say he was on pump 9 and filled up and he paid for your fuel.

Also what was the amounts for yourself and him? I am guessing yours was a lot less - about £20 less than his.

Sounds like the cashier and manager maybe in on a scam? Make sure you put in your complaint to head office that the other guy did not pay for his petrol.

Agree with others - you did not purchase goods or services from Angry Man, therefore you did not owe any money to him. Petrol station & Angry Man must BOTH be at fault - PS for not charging correctly / issuing a refund when the mistake was identified - AM for not realising he had been overcharged! (Unless AM did not pay for his own fuel, effectively, in which case, it was even bigger fuck up by the PS…

How awful 😞.

There is no way on this planet would I have transferred the money - to then find out three weeks later a massive fine for driving off without paying for my fuel!!!!!! You did the right thing