BP's chapter of mistakes

[Rodge]

This really happened to me today and is totally bizarre.

For a while I've been running my daily on Shell 95 because I get a small discount with a fuel card I have. Hosted a
BBQ recently and because I spent over $200 at the local supermarket I got a 25 cents a litre discount to the BP
service station as part of a promotion they were running, so I thought that's great I'll try a tank of BP98 Ultimate and
see if my car goes better on that.

So on 23 November when the tank was nearly empty I went and put just over 60 litres of BP98 in the SC beast, (it
was actually exactly 61 litres now that I've been given the right information), went in and paid by normal signed
credit card and claimed the discount. The attendant remarked that I'd saved over $15. Went and pumped up my tyres
afterwards and washed my hands due to the brake dust. All told I was probably on the forecourt for over 10 minutes,
counting waiting in their queue.

Nothing surprising there right, well today I got a letter from the petrol, station which read as follows
Dear Roger,
I am writing to apologise for a mistake that was made at BP Connect Junction on 23 November. Unfortunately the
staff member that served you declined approval of your credit card signature accidentally when you made you credit
card payment. We are extremly sorry for this error.

Our records show that you received 65.76 litres of Unleaded 91 at a total of $134.75. We still require payment for
this fuel e.t.c. e.t.c....bank account details for where to send funds were included in the letter.
I know there now way in the wide world I would have put 91 Octane in my SC car let alone run it so close to empty,
as we all know they only hold 68 litres and I know I'm always disinclined to run the car on fumes so it didn't look
right at all.

So I wasted nearly an hour looking for the receipt, in my wallet, the car, in my office...to no avail.
So then I thought, this isn't right, the octane isn't right, the fuel quantity isn't right, there's no mention of the discount
coupon e.t.c. So after wasting an hour I wasted even more time and sent them off an e.mail asking basically WTF's
going on ?

Less than an hour later I get an e mail back with the correct fuel quantity, the correct octane, the correct fuel
discount, everything is right asking for $115 something now, sorry can't remember the cents.
Questions remain, how could a company send out a written communication that was so fundamentally wrong in so
many respects when they clearly had all the correct information so readily available in their system ? I smell a rat, is
this a deliberate attempt to extract more money than they're due to receive ?

So I fired them back another e.mail, please explain. A while later the store manager phones me, this staff member
was new, the acting manager was new, this that and the other excuse for their fiasco of errors. Why didn't your
customer service staff member fix up the inadvertent error while I was on the forecourt, he had a reasonable
explanation for that, how could a letter that was wrong in so many respects have been sent out, he had no reasonable
explanation for that. Is this a deliberate attempt to extract more funds than you're due, oh no sir, we wouldn't do that,
really, I wouldn't put it past them especially with the track record of BP who lets face it from an environmental point
of view haven't exactly covered themselves in glory around the world, in fact anything but, much of it motivated by
maximising profit at the expense of the environment I would suggest...but I digress.

So I've explained to him how much time of mine's he's wasted and he apologises again.
BUT is a simple apology good enough in the circumstances. Should I get some compensation for all the time their
repeated errors have cost me ? The moral of the story is just because a company writes to you saying you owe them
money doesn't necessarily mean they're right.

[trentski]

Was the credit you paid with charged? I would have thought there was a record of the transaction with the bank regardless of whether or not it had been declined.
If you haven't paid then pay it, a gesture of good will on their part would go someway to compensating you for your time. Perhaps you are justified in invoicing them for the time spent in correcting their error, it would be interesting to know the legalities of that.

Regardless I am pretty sure that legally you are required to pay for the fuel so maybe you don't have a leg to stand on anyway.

[Rodge]

I'm not 100% certain as I havn't had the credit card statement yet, its not due till about 18th of December and honestly I'm disinclined to be spending even more time specially chasing up my bank to see if my credit card has been charged. I can't see any logical reason why I should waste more of my time fixing their **** up's. In my book if you seriously **** it up, you fix it up.

I know its a BP company owned station. There's a very important commercial principle involved here. A company that has made a mistake has made several more mistakes in the letter they've sent out trying to fix their mistake and as a result of all their mistakes its cost me serious time and effort and now they want me to spend even more of my time chasing up my bank to check the credit card hasn't been billed and then even more of my time paying the bill. Further they can't even give me a reasonable explanation for the grossly misleading letter they sent out requesting, (and I would suggest deliberatly), more money than they were actually due. How is it pausible that they send out a letter requesting payment noting the wrong fuel type, wrong quantity, wrong price and no mention of the fuel docket discount, when within such a short period of time after me raising a query on the matter they suddenly have ALL the correct information so readily available in their system ?

In my view given the way fuel companies price gouge us, there's no room for this level of gross incompetence. Anyway this forum is good, i've had a damm good bleat about it and feel much better now

[Mr Hardware]

Rodge, given BP's track record in stooging everyone but their own bottom line, I wouldn't give em a red cent.

[mytgxl]

Send them another email stating that you understand their mistake,but you also run a buisness & you had to take a total time of 2hrs off work plus x amount of phone calls at a cost of bla bla to check on their mistake! so deducted from their bill is x amount, see what they say then!

[Jim Goose]

I once managed to put in 76liters of fuel in a 68lt tank... not to mention that I estimated i still had 10lt of fuel left when i filled it up. (I had filled up the previous time to 65lts when nozzle clicked and made sure it was pretty much full).
When I told the cashier i think there is something wrong with your meter on the pump she came back with "oh its the heat, fuel expands!"
Uh huh....

Made a complaint to the ACCC who sent me letter later telling me the pump was tested blah blah blah and it was all good!

Next time I filled up again the tank took around 65lts... different servo

[SteveJH]

Originally Posted by Rodge

I'm not 100% certain as I havn't had the credit card statement yet, its not due till about 18th of December and honestly I'm disinclined to be spending even more time specially chasing up my bank to see if my credit card has been charged. I can't see any logical reason why I should waste more of my time fixing their **** up's. In my book if you seriously **** it up, you fix it up.

Rodge, You don't have online banking in New Zealand?

When I log onto mine it lists transactions that have gone though, plus ones that are pending (why does it take a couple of days for credit card transactions to be processed??).

[Rodge]

Yeap, online banking but not in regard to that particular credit card.

The odd exceptional time i've ever had to look into credit card anomilies before it seems to take several business days for the details to come up.

I really don't see why I should have to continue to waste time to fix their monumental mistakes, especially seeing as I've wasted even more time on here bleating about it and getting it off my cheast

Jim you were "well goosed" with that one.

Okay look... I'll let the cat out of the bag, what I did because I was so ****ed-off about it was e.mail the station manager and ask for the name and contact details of the N.Z. manager of operations for BP so I can lodge a formal complaint with head office and ask for compensation for my time and serious inconvienience.

Now I reckon its almost certain they will write it off at the station level rather than giving me those details to complain. Is that justice ?, maybe a little harsh, but hey, I'm not the one who made all the ****-up's.

[GT-E]

I would like to know how they found you. Personally I do not think they deserve anything, however failure to pay could lead to charges from the Police.

However, I would put into writing that you have spent x amount of time on this issue @$xx.xx per hour = They will owe you.

I have done this a few times when being jerked around and it is funny how quickly people retreat when they realise that you are serious and they have caused you an grief and that they now owe you.
Time = Money and big companies need to realise this and they do generally pay small invoices without question in these circumstances when you are being stuffed around

[Rodge]

They have a good camera system on the forecourt mate and they must have gone off the registration plate. The station manager advised me that it was a new operator and he was surprised at the size of the fuel discount and inadvertantly pressed the wrong button on the computer, (signature approved, Yes / No). When asked why the operator didn't follow me up while I was at the forecourt pumping my tyres up he said, the operator made a mistake,m you purchase is then put back into the general operator queue for payment and there's no alert for about 10 minutes if someone hasn't paid for their fuel from the bowser, so by the time the monkey realised his mistake, despite me spending a further 5 minutes on the forecourt I'd gone. No explanation was offerred for the apparent deliberate attempt to obtain more money than they were entitled too with the letter they sent me, that's deeply concerning.

And yeap, its well north of an hour, not counting my time venting my spleen on this forum, (which is always fun), and at normal commercial rates that's more than the cost of the fuel. All those years the fuel companies have charged me what they like for fuel and now I have a small chance to stick it to them. What mortal man could resist

[MITCHAY]

I'd just pay what I owe and be done with it. Really why waste more effort and time.

Wrong correspondence goes out all the time from every company mate, **** happens lol

[Rodge]

Shall I run a poll To pay or tell them to get stuffed ?

[SteveJH]

Originally Posted by Rodge

Shall I run a poll To pay or tell them to get stuffed ?

Nah, your name isnt flappist.

If it was me i'd probably pay it, ask for full invoicing and still put the complaint through their head office, especially since you arent a regular BP customer and this has probably reduced your chances of ever going back......

Refusing to pay until its sorted could put you in a bad way with the local law enforcement if the company decide to play hard ball?

[Mickxr8]

I`d let the payment go through ( one little "mistake" on there behalf again will screw your credit reference for a while ) ,
Then chase it up and Rain a world full of hate on em , might get a refund, explanation then ? , ( I like playing games with big greedy corps )

[Road Games]

Good luck with it ...

[xisled]

It just seems like a simple admin error to me. Maybe it happened more than once on that day and they sent the wrong info to you. Just pay for the petrol and move on.

[Rodge]

Originally Posted by SteveJH

Nah, your name isnt flappist.

If it was me i'd probably pay it, ask for full invoicing and still put the complaint through their head office, especially since you arent a regular BP customer and this has probably reduced your chances of ever going back......

Refusing to pay until its sorted could put you in a bad way with the local law enforcement if the company decide to play hard ball?

(sorry Flappist)
I've thought carefully about the police thing and whilst in my circles I don't know anyone who fills their car and does a runner i understand that they can report people to the police for clear cases of theft. For this reason I specially made mention in my last e.mail to them that I consider the matter is now "in commercial dispute" pending correspondence to head office.

Given the degree of gross incompetence in this matter I think its extremly unlikely the manager of a local BP company owned station is going to want to provide me with the contact details of the manager of BP's N.Z. operations.

The tricky aspect to all this is they're the only station within a reasonable distance to my home/office that sells BP98 fuel and my GT-P seems to run really well on it. I guess things could be pretty awkward next time I visit.

Anyway I've ranted more than enough, the spleen is now completly vented

[BFZF8]

Originally Posted by xisled

It just seems like a simple admin error to me. Maybe it happened more than once on that day and they sent the wrong info to you. Just pay for the petrol and move on.

That's what I was going to say. If the operator did it more than once that day, I can see how someone else's details might have got mixed up with yours.

I run a retail business and I've done what that operator did once but I saw what I did straight away and was able to rectify it on the spot. It only takes one wrong button push to do it. Not trying to defend the servo in question but the story is definitely plausible.

[new2ford]

I'd spin it out till I got my credit card statement. I wouldn't trust them. You might end up finding you got charged twice, then it will take 12 months to get it back.

[Rodge]

Originally Posted by new2ford

I'd spin it out till I got my credit card statement. I wouldn't trust them. You might end up finding you got charged twice, then it will take 12 months to get it back that's if you get it back at all.

Good advice, hope you don't mind that I took the opportunity to refine it further. I accept retailers make mistakes and i'm also aware that there's any number of double billing mistakes that go on, (in many cases undetected) too.
Cheers.

[Ben73]

$134 for 65 litres. Over $2 a litre WTF?

[Rodge]

I'm in New Zealand Ben.
91 $2.049
95 $2.129
98 $2.209
Diesel 1.599

Most stations are within 1 or 2 cents of those prices ALL the time, there's no variation during the day or the week like you guys often are so lucky to get. There's no question in my mind that oil company greed is rampant in this part of the world and for that matter many others.
Any wonder why I'm inclined towards taking this especially greedy corporate on !!

[FPV GTHO]

You should be able to find contact information for making the complaint online. By all means do that, but i dont see why the time its taken you to sort anything out, or chasing up the credit details, is any of their concern.

[FPVGT500]

Just tell them what fuel? Dont know what your talking about................ lol

[zdcol71]

"I wouldn't put it past them especially with the track record of BP who lets face it from an environmental point
of view haven't exactly covered themselves in glory around the world, in fact anything but, much of it motivated by
maximising profit at the expense of the environment I would suggest...but I digress."
hey Rodge...no axe to grind maybe? In (almost) every post you have mentioned the company name, you also mention, without a hint of backup, that it's a "company owned station" (do you kow how may stations BP actually own, as opposed to lease or franchise). Don't really know how you can tag an admin error at a (possible) third party dealership with.....see comment above!
Sheeesh! BP upstream exploration is so much a world away from BP downstream refining and marketing to make your conection tennuous at the least, let alone throw in the possibility that some kid has made a mistake at a bowser and it happened involve someone who is potentially going to crucify him over a couple of bucks??

[Falc'man]

I'll be waiting to hear the outcome of this intense situation.

We should make this a sticky.

[Incontro]

Originally Posted by FPVGT500

Just tell them what fuel? Dont know what your talking about................ lol

He got captured on the station CCTV, so did his rego.

I would do what new2ford mentioned, and wait it out until your statement comes. If the cops ever call up on you, you can tell them that you are complying with their investigation, and that you are going to pay up once you see your statement? They are unlikely to take you to court though.

Is there any chance you can visit your local bank branch and view your statements, or do it over the phone or something?

[Rodge]

With the benefit of a good nights sleep one has to be able to laugh at one's actions from time to time.
I guess the fact that I know the matter could easily result in the police being involved adds fuel to the fire of
discontent and raises stress and hubris levels and one perhaps given the opportunity to tee-off at what one perceives
to be a greedy corporate sometimes takes their number one titanium driver out of the golf bag and so to speak, and
does exactly that.

Maybe it was a cheap shot at BP, lets face it all the petrol companies stick it to us don't they ? As soon as the price
of oil in the middle east goes up on the stockmarket overnight, suddenly that fuel that takes many, many weeks to be
shipped down under and refined turns up at your local petrol station as if by miracle and its reflected at the pump
price at the speed of lightening, usually the same day or the next one whereas on the other hand when oil prices
decline they bring the price down at the pace of a 100 year old turtle don't they ?, its almost as if they've got to wash
all the more expensive oil completely out of their supply chain, (and make 200% sure its absolutely completely
cleansed) before they pass on the cheaper stuff. I guess 35 years of paying for what I perceive as expensive petrol...
that poor bugger was on the receiving end of a little bit of pent up frustration.

As mentioned yesterday I'm 99% sure the manager won't want their hopelessly inept customer service being the
subject of a complaint to BP's head office so he's highly likely to just sweep this under the carpet, and yes I know
maybe is was a cheeky shot to snooker him like that, but do the fuel companies play fair in the first place, an open
question and I guess we'll never really know the answer to that one. I won't rub salt into the wound and complain to
the oil companies head office and put that guy in it, I know I could easily get the contact details but that doesn't feel
right, unless of course he chooses to provide them to me.

I'll let you guys know how it plays out but in the meantime regardless of what you think of the way I've played this it
doesn't really answer the real question which is, are customers who have been on the receiving end of really very,
very poor service and as a direct result of that have incurred significant downtime and inconvenience in their
business entitled to reasonable compensation ? I think its a somewhat interesting question, so perhaps there is some
purpose to this thread after all I don't at present know the answer to that, my gut feel is yes, buts what's reasonable
compensation ? As soon as I get some spare time I'll have a look and see if the Consumer Guarantees Act has much
to say about the matter, if not I'll try and catch up with my old lawyer mate for lunch sometime before Christmas and
see if he knows.

In the meantime, seeing as I've already vented my spleen 110% I'd love to hear your story. If you've been on the
receiving end of some really bad customer service and it seriously put you out, perhaps you even incurred direct
costs as a result I'd like to hear about it, how did it play out, did they offer you any compensation for the serious time
and inconvenience you suffered, did you feel the outcome was fair ?

[desGT]

Like all of us, people make mistakes. That's life. In this case, it was not BIG BP but someone working at a service station, probably trying to make a living like the rest of us.

You got a service/goods that have not been paid for.

Why not just suggest you will check your account statement when it comes out, and if it is not there, just pay it?

That or some other reasonable approach may have saved you a couple of hours?

[aussie muscle]

Originally Posted by FPVGT500

Just tell them what fuel? Dont know what your talking about................ lol

except they've got proof he was there in the form of a credit card swipe and video