Melbourne Motorist Refused Petrol due to Unregistered Plates

[kcodezd]

Originally Posted by Iggle Piggle

Was that at the Golden Fleece, or Ampol?

Phillips 66?

[nstg8a]

I had them turn the pumps off on me when I had first registered my van, had the plates sitting beside me on the seat. I got to about $20 of fuel before they shut down the pump.

Young dude came out (who I swear must work 24/7) and got halfway to me before he recognised me and was all apologetic.
One advantage of always using the same servo. Couple of weeks ago I filled and left my wallet at home, he was good, just asked not to take too long coming back with my wallet haha.

[arronm]

If servos gave me sh_t I would just get my fuel some place else. I have never had an issue.

[b0son]

I'd get a Tesla just to not have to use servos anymore .... slow-4rse pumps, cant pay at pump, long queues inside....

[Junkyard-Dog]

Originally Posted by nstg8a

I had them turn the pumps off on me when I had first registered my van, had the plates sitting beside me on the seat. I got to about $20 of fuel before they shut down the pump.

Young dude came out (who I swear must work 24/7) and got halfway to me before he recognised me and was all apologetic.
One advantage of always using the same servo. Couple of weeks ago I filled and left my wallet at home, he was good, just asked not to take too long coming back with my wallet haha.

That is another good part of working at a servo - you get to know the locals. People appreciate it when you see them coming so you get their coffee started and know which smokes they want or whatever. Also helps in situations like that.

[baboon]

Originally Posted by b0son

I'd get a Tesla just to not have to use servos anymore .... slow-4rse pumps, cant pay at pump, long queues inside....

If a petrol pump took 20mins to fill up I would complain! Tesla only takes 1 hour to charge!

[b0son]

Originally Posted by baboon

If a petrol pump took 20mins to fill up I would complain! Tesla only takes 1 hour to charge!

You can charge at home....

[mik]

i wouldnt blame any servo operator for refusing service to an unplated car .
earlier this year i filling up at my local servo , and i noticed the burgundy VE commy in front of me had no rear number plate , the thought occurred to me is this young dude up to no good ? i thought nah he probably just lost his plate .
Any way after he drove off without paying . ........... the thought occurred to me he didnt make eye contact , he looked away the whole time , on the dark side of the servo , and he just put the pump away and casually drove off very matter off fact .

i questioned my console operator mate inside if the dude was a drive off , .....yep he replied .
they really need more cameras on these places .

[Gee-dog]

Originally Posted by Iggle Piggle

Was that at the Golden Fleece, or Ampol?

No - Esso - "Put a tiger in your tank"

[mik]

Originally Posted by Gee-dog

No - Esso - "Put a tiger in your tank"

showing your age mate .

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by PaulXR50

How would prepaid work if you don't know how much left to fill the tank, lot of times i fill maybe as eg.$32.57 or something odd.

I just give em my wallet (the stuff in there is worth more then a tank of fuel) and fill the tank. Never been a problem. Mind you now the owner knows me so he (or his wife) just lets me fill regardless of the time.

Funny enough there is a wall of driveoffs at a big servo near my work. Ive noticed its mainly jacked up utes (with trade stuff in the back) and cars that people cant afford to run after buying them (expensive suvs and euro cars).

[SSVPom]

Originally Posted by JG66ME

What happens when you are fueling up a vehicle on a permit with no plates?

I had to show ID and the paper permit Steve (happened the day I got the wagon registered, before I screwed the plates on back at home)

[foxtrot3]

Originally Posted by Gee-dog

Not sure how old you are, but I can assure that getting petrol 50 years ago was a lot different to now - then they cleaned your windscreen, checked your oil, and put the petrol in for you.

Hi. and when the price of petrol changed it only went up 1 or 2 cents a gallon about every 6 months. I remember a Shell "spokesman" saying that they would never be able to change the price of petrol like that when they went to the metric system as 1 or 2 cents per litre would be like 4 1/2 to 9 cents per gallon and they would never get away with that. Cheers MD

[JAJH]

Originally Posted by NTF6

When I was in Italy there were heaps of servos that didn't even have a person in attendance. A bank of pums, swipe credit card, pump unlocks and gives you fuel, then sucks the amount off your card, no pin required. Easy.

I can see us heading the same way. I understand servos want you in the shop to upsell you, but it's got to be about cost v profit. How much would it cost to keep a shop fully stocked, wages for employees, security systems and all the other associated extras to run the store. Whereas having an unmanned store, no wages, security, etc, ect has to be a cheaper option for the servo. I wouldn't bother me going to a servo, not going into the store and having to pay at the pump. It would be even better if the price of fuel came down because of it.

[lucas2]

These operators should spend some time in a major supermarket if they want to see theft. It's getting progressively worse.

[malazn mafia]

Originally Posted by mik

i wouldnt blame any servo operator for refusing service to an unplated car .
earlier this year i filling up at my local servo , and i noticed the burgundy VE commy in front of me had no rear number plate , the thought occurred to me is this young dude up to no good ? i thought nah he probably just lost his plate .
Any way after he drove off without paying . ........... the thought occurred to me he didnt make eye contact , he looked away the whole time , on the dark side of the servo , and he just put the pump away and casually drove off very matter off fact .

i questioned my console operator mate inside if the dude was a drive off , .....yep he replied .
they really need more cameras on these places .

Would it be a crime to serve vigilante justice in this situation?

[Fairlane 500]

Originally Posted by Big Damo

Because they want you to spend $5 in store to save $2.50 on fuel

I used to like the pay at the pump Mobil service stations 10 years ago.

Now you have to walk in there & wait to pay while the attendant is making

coffees, selling cakes, condoms or all sorts of other crap to a long line up of people!

I recently noticed I had a blown parker globe on my Commodore one evening

& had to go to 4 of these garbage stations to fine one that sold standard fitting stop/tail light globes!


They are certainly not "service" stations anymore!

[malazn mafia]

Originally Posted by JAJH

I can see us heading the same way. I understand servos want you in the shop to upsell you, but it's got to be about cost v profit. How much would it cost to keep a shop fully stocked, wages for employees, security systems and all the other associated extras to run the store. Whereas having an unmanned store, no wages, security, etc, ect has to be a cheaper option for the servo. I wouldn't bother me going to a servo, not going into the store and having to pay at the pump. It would be even better if the price of fuel came down because of it.

In the States, every single servo was prepay only regardless of what time it was. I guess they had the same problem at one stage ?

[malazn mafia]

Originally Posted by fairlane50

I used to like the pay at the pump Mobil service stations 10 years ago.

Now you have to walk in there & wait to pay while the attendant is making

coffees, selling cakes, condoms or all sorts of other crap to a long line up of people!

I recently noticed I had a blown parker globe on my Commodore one evening

& had to go to 4 of these garbage stations to fine one that sold standard fitting stop/tail light globes!


They are certainly not "service" stations anymore!

Finding a jumper leads, good engine coolant , automotive lubricant
, garage remote battery or even a light bulb is near impossible, while you can find every brand of condom and lubricant imaginable at a servo. Most servos have become a joke, guess they worked out what sells rather than what a servo should stock

[mik]

Originally Posted by malazn mafia

Finding a jumper leads, good engine coolant , automotive lubricant
, garage remote battery or even a light bulb is near impossible, while you can find every brand of condom and lubricant imaginable at a servo. Most servos have become a joke, guess they worked out what sells rather than what a servo should stock

Indeed "service" station means something different these days, the nearest three servo's to me , not one of them has a working air hose, one of them feel into disrepair and they never bothered fixing it years ago , the others I suspect had the air fittings pinched and they chose not do something about it.
A pretty sad state of affairs really.

Sent from Galaxy Note 4

[castellan]

Originally Posted by Junkyard-Dog

Best part about being a servo attendant is telling people off via the loudspeaker.

I remember one night a bunch of P platers in a ~99 Hyundai excel pulled up. Four guys and one girl. They ALL got out to put fuel in but none of them came in the store yet. One of the lads (looked about 17-18, I was only 20 myself) got out and started playing with a lighter about 2 meters MAXIMUM away from the pump WHICH WAS PUMPING FUEL!!!

I stopped the pump and got on the mic straight away. "You with the lighter! If you do that again, I will not only stop the fuel but I will call the police. You have been warned." His mates all looked at him and I could tell they were calling him a DH for it even though most of them had been laughing when he did it. I don't know if they realised how many THOUSANDS of liters of fuel were beneath their feet. It sure made me question their thought process.

It was funny af when they all came in the store, the driver and the girl apologised to me but the bloke with the lighter didn't say a word and wouldn't look me in the eye. I was quite angry and I didn't hide that fact. It was even funnier because his mates wanted coffee, hot food and slushies so he was stuck in the store with me berating him for at least 5 minutes. My boss watched the tape and almost fell off the chair laughing. I thought I'd get in trouble but it was the opposite.

Incidents like that made servo life interesting. I always did the nightshifts on Thurs, Fri, Sat and Sunday. 11.30pm - 8 or 9am so I saw some pretty funny and crazy stuff.

One of the best was when a drive off happened not even 1 minute after the cops just left with free coffee. We got ripped off that much that I used to have a few of the local officers phone numbers so I just called the bloke I had given free coffee to and told them it was a blue/silver VN calais headed south. The cops came back an hour or so later to get my report

Honestly not a bad job working at the servo and I met so many cool people from different cultural backgrounds. /rant complete.

Boy I sure would not want to tell someone off on the loud speaker with some people you get that are around some places I have been, one could end up dealing with some nut that will be waiting around to bash or knife ya or kick your car in and the cops can't do a thing about them type of people at all, as they don't care about going back into jail.

Boy I just came out the front door of my mums old peoples home and had some say 30 yo death adder looking nut case walk by looking at me as if he was going to kill me, I thought, ok he is obviously mental ! another moron on crack or something.
I am sick of that type trying to be walking about lording it over others around the place, as if they were king s--t !
I don't know if when they see me they fear me directly and try to put a brave face on.

[devilcv8]

Originally Posted by The Yeti

You must have very honest people in your servo my family owned a servo in the 80's-90's we we're getting more than 1 - 2 a fortnight back then, and talking with people we still know in the industry its gotten much much worse over the years the OP has more current knowlege than me but I'd wager it would be more like 1 - 2 a day

My wife used to work for an "Express" servo chain in Canberra and averaged 1 drive off a month (usually 2 or 3 in a week then nothing for months). The area manager deemed that was too many and implemented a 15 second policy which pretty much no one adhered to. It was very funny listening to both the store manager and the area manager argue why the 15 second policy was in place at the unfair dismissal case. End result was a big win and maximum payout allowed.

[2011G6E]

I wondered about how the "pre-paying" for fuel worked when we were in Vegas...how do you know how much you're going to need??
Turned out to be easy...the servos we went to were simple. Put your ATM card in, then your pin, and the machine unlocks and you fill up as much as you want. Once finished and you hung the nozzle up again, it spat your card out. Of course you could preset the amount you wanted as well if you weren't filling up.

[Junkyard-Dog]

Originally Posted by malazn mafia

Finding a jumper leads, good engine coolant , automotive lubricant
, garage remote battery or even a light bulb is near impossible, while you can find every brand of condom and lubricant imaginable at a servo. Most servos have become a joke, guess they worked out what sells rather than what a servo should stock

Let's put it this way, we had competitions to see who could sell the most red bull (2 for $5) and the person who sold the most in the state received a bonus from bp and some kind of prize from red bull (can't remember details). I don't know who won but I sold hundreds and hundreds of cans that month. Might have sold one bottle of oil in that time - to a girl that had run her engine bone dry

I don't remember light bulb manufacturers or even oil companies giving us these types of incentives. Heinz even sent a rep into the store one night at around 2am (a very attractive young lady) to set up shop and give free samples of baked bean pasties and sausage rolls to customers.

Junk food companies and general producers of crap provide more incentives to the fuel companies. There would have to be a much larger margin of profit per unit too.

[stevethepom]

Ok if these cameras are linked into Vic Roads to check if a car is registered before letting a customer fill up what happens with cars registered in another state ?

[Iggle Piggle]

Seems most of the Caltex servos here in SA have pay-at-pump facilities again.

When I had toddlers (late 2000's) I used to only use servos that had pay-at-pump - was much easier than getting the kids out to go in and pay, and most servos had them back then - but then they all vanished a few years back.

Good to see them coming back again, and glad the servo doing them is not BP as I boycott OTRs.

And on the nostalgic side of the discussion - remember when pretty much every servo had a small mechanic workshop attached?

[calais]

Never been to an American servo that wasnt prepaid. Seems to work there, and to stop the rampant thievery it should work here too.

[Falcon SXR8]

Originally Posted by Mercury Bullet

Wow, none of this camera stuff in the bush.

I get all my diesel farm delivered but buy petrol from the truck stop.

We have an RTAA next door so lots of trucks fuelling at all hours.
The servo isn't linked to the roadhouse, it's run remotely.

It used to be insert your credit card and the pump would switch on and off you go and fill up, then the cc would be debited a few days later.

Now for some reason that's been stopped and now you have to select an amount. I just enter $100 and usually the total is $60-$80. The whole $100 gets debited but then a week or so later they credit the account with the leftover. So if I only take $60 worth of fuel they credit me back the extra $40.

Not sure why they moved to this method. Most trucks are putting in $2000+

It wasn't done because of drive offs, the roadhouse didn't want to serve fuel 24/7 anymore, so Dunnings came in to do it remotely.

I noticed some do this too really ticks me off. I wonder if they earn a little bit of interest on your money before it comes back to you ?????

[malazn mafia]

Originally Posted by stevethepom

Ok if these cameras are linked into Vic Roads to check if a car is registered before letting a customer fill up what happens with cars registered in another state ?

Probably explains why some lowlife decided to grab the rear numberplate from the back of my interstate registered car, and left all the others alone.

[Patty]

Originally Posted by Loud_Noises

Let me see, servo owner spends thousands on cameras and subscription costs to stop one, maybe two petrol rips a fortnight. Time to recoup the costs of the cameras, many years.

Implement 24/7 prepay, costs nothing to implement. Time to recoup costs, instant.

Besides, they can still do the "spend $5 to save $2.50" spiel

If any station in my area started asking for prepayments 24/7 they would lose about 30-50% of their business. Unless it was universal which wouldn't happen...

The costs would be huge to implement your idea over the cameras. Trust me, my company toyed with the idea of coming up with a product that would link your rego plate with your bank account and therefore filling up with petrol would be as simple as getting out, filling up, waiting for the green tick on the petrol pump to say funds approved and you can drive off. But the costs are huge with little benefit.