Which is worse?
Moms View Message Board: The Kitchen Table (Debating Board): Which is worse?
People taking advantage of gas stations who make errors in pricing at the pump (Ex: $0.33 for premium) or the gas stations who go back later and make "unauthorized" charges for the difference on these people's credit cards that they have on file from the initial purchase?
(This was a debate on a local message board I browse but when the average age is 20, there's not much logic to the debate. LOL So I figured it would be fun to ask here.)
I personally, think that both are ridiculous and wrong.
First of all a price of .33 a gallon, would never be anything but a mistake, and I personally wouldn't be sitting in a line to gouge the gas station. Like I have seen on the news, long lines of cars, nuts... Gas will never drop from nearly 4 dollars to .33 cents, and it wouldn't be worth it to me to "deal" with what getting that amount entails. Besides that I am of the mind, two wrongs don't make a right.. A clerks error, doesn't make it right for me to go in and "take" the gas.
Second of all, I am budgeting so tight at this point, that if I pumped a certain dollar amount into my car I would be deducting that amount from my account. If they went in and changed that dollar amount, they would run the risk of over drawing my account.. If I enter my pin for a debit or sign for a charge, I am agreeing to pay the dollar amount on the receipt. Not whatever they decide to change it to later.. If the gas station can do this, who will be next?? The electric company? Or maybe the local grocery store? At .33 cents a gallon, I surely would be bouncing checks/debits all over town.. They should not be aloud to do anything in my account that they do not have prior authorization to do...
I did a quick google and, lo and behold, it actually happened in December 2007 - the low price, that is. I don't know about the charge back to the "correct" price. price
On the second item, the gas station going back and "editing" the charge - that is probably illegal. If it were my account, I'd be screaming to the heavens about it. Whether the original price was an error or not, a transaction was completed and one of the parties does not have the right to go back and alter/amend the transaction to correct that party's error.
As for the first question, there is nothing illegal about taking advantage of the error. I find I am of mixed feelings about the moral issues. I'll have to think about this.
Personally, I don't know how anybody could, with good conscience, take advantage of such an obvious error like that. Thirty three cents a gallon is obviously not the correct price, and if you know about it, you have an obligation to inform the station owner. That owner is a business person and an error like that could sink him/her. Also, the poor employee who made what is just human error, is more likely to lose their job if the owner's loss is substantial.
I saw a station owner on TV that said that it used to cost him about $3400.00 for a shipment of gasoline. Now, the same size shipment costs him $18,000.00! We would be the first ones to complain if someone deprived us or OUR livelihood. In my opinion, it is just morally, if not legally wrong to take advantage of such an error.
I was in our local neighbourhood general store/meat market the other day. They had marinated sirloin steak in the case and it said $1.29 a pound. It was supposed to be $12.99 a pound. I informed the butcher so that he could change it. I remember when sirloin WAS $1.29 per pound, but I think that was 1970! LOL!
And, no, I do not think that the merchant has the right to alter the amount of the sale, either. They should notify the purchaser and give them the chance to make it right.
I tend to bring it up, when something is rung up wrong. I don't know if I could even take advantage of a gas station error like that.
I guess my question is... how can there be lines and lines of cars getting gas and that not tip off the employees that there is an error some place? Don't they have computers IN the store that show what is going on at the pumps? They have to or how do they know how much your bill is when you go in to pay?
Apparently the store itself was closed for the night, with the clerk making the error in setting the new price on the computer controlling the pumps, in the link article I posted. Because the store was closed, the gas pumps would work only with credit or debit cards. When police noticed the crowd they called the manager - at that point 586 gallons of gas had been sold - at a $2.97 price differential, or $1740.
Yikes. I just couldn't do that. Those people had to have known they were cheating the gas station owner.
I think it is illegal for them to adjust my purchase amount. If that happened to me, I would contact my lawyer. It is a punishable offense.
However, I also think morally it is stealing to do what those people did. Now what if I was the first one to pump gas in my car. By luck I got the 33 cent gas. What would I do? Hmmm as much as I would like to say in the morning I would go and talk to them, honestly I probably wouldn't. It is just too much hassle. If they were open then I would go double check, but if it meant a second trip I am just not that organized. I would not get in line to cheat someone though.
So I think the gas station should send out letters, stating on this day there was an error at the pump. Your cc was only charged x amount and it should of been x amount. And then attach a bill with an option to pay.
As sad as it is, when people make mistakes sometimes they cost big bucks. I mean no one ever intends to wreck their car, or put the wrong ingredients in baking, etc. But it happens. My husband works in manafacturing and it happens a lot, million dollar mistakes.
I am not sure what I would do if I was billed (and i would never be the person intentionally inline). I guess I just keep going back to the fact that if this company has a legal right to fix their mistake, what keeps mcdonalds from recharging your card, or billing you extra.
I am in a similar situation with my dr right now. I got a bill last week. Turns out they have been doing out of office billing and decided to do it in house. Well they are behind. So my bill spans from 2006-2008. It is only 56 dollars. All things supposedly my insurance didn't cover. Now things that are over a year old I cannot dispute with my insurance company. Several of the charges are thing I would have turned down if I knew there was a fee. She apparently charges 10 dollars for a second copy of a physical. Well I could have just made the copies at home if I had known that. So my point is, I didn't really agree to the service terms. There is at least one charge that I don't think we had done. But I do not keep papers for longer than a year. So I haven't really decided what the right choice is. I personal feel that it is an unreasonable bill, without me being able to prove the charges were completed. Also there are some things with my insurance that you have to send a letter to have them reevaluate (like they don't pay for all the immunizations that tx requires, because they are out of state). But with an appeal letter they always cover it. Well, honestly I just had no idea what wasn't covered, because I didn't look that close. That is why I pay a 10 dollar admin fee for imunizations, for them upkeep charts and refile (at least that is what they told me).
Anyway, long story off topic. But the point...where does it stop? You can't make people not take advantage of people. But you can't give free reign to businesses, because they too can take advantage of people. I know it was nearly a 2k loss. But for a convience store, that really isn't a huge amount. We are really only talking about less than 30 people, more likely 20.
$1740 seems a VERY small amount for a gas station to lose....and it seems a VERY small amount to bother charging people AFTER the fact. I can't believe they would bother wading into that tricky territory over that amount of money. I guess I think charging after the fact is definitely wrong. I can't say I think the people who took advantage of the price were wrong...if that's what the pump says and is charging, THEY made the error. I've had many times where I've taken something to the register of a store and it rings up higher than the sticker price and I always get the sticker price because it was THEIR error and THEY have to stand by what the price on the item says. If the price on the pump says 33 cents they need to stand by it.
There is nothing in the news article to indicate that the gas station went back and changed the charges to peoples credit or debit cards. I don't know whether any gas station (or other vendor) has ever done that. It is just part of the question raised by Mrs. B. in her opening post on this thread. I do think it would be illegal for a vendor to do that.
On the one hand, Kate, $1740 seems like a small amount. But, I would guess that their profit ratio is something between 10% to 15% of their costs (cost of goods sold & transportation for merchandise, labor, taxes, benefits, utilities, maintenance, etc.). So it would take a lot of sales to make up for that loss.
There are recent cases in the last few years about this subject. Also, there have been 4 instances in the last year alone here on this base. (I didn't know about it until recently.) In nearly all the cases I read, the gas stations went back and charged the customers for the difference on the credit/debit card they used. I think a handful of the people disputed the charge with their bank or credit card company and were refunded because it was unauthorized. It just seems like a shaky line for these companies to walk on by charging customer accounts without their prior consent/approval. To be honest, I would wonder what would happen if a person contacted a lawyer to press charges. Would that make the companies think twice? I know it morally wrong in the first place but I would hate to see the day that companies get away with charging unauthorized charges.
Ooops, didn't realize the case of $1740 did NOT pursue charges afterward. I guess I got rather mixed up when reading all the posts at once! :o)
|
Members
