I noticed that 87 octane gas was selling for a low $2.15 at the local Exxon gas station. This looked like a great deal given the high price for gas in the area. So I pulled up and found a spot. I pressed the 87 octane button. Then I entered my credit card. The pump screen asked me to choose the fuel type. Even though I already had done so, I pressed the 87 octane button again. Then I was able to pump the gas.The strange thing was that the gas price was not displaying over the 87 octane button. I looked around the gas pump and found that a $2.63 price was highlighted above the 93 octane button. So I immediately stopped filling my gas tank. I had filled about half my tank with the high octane gas. I tried to enter my credit card again. I wanted to fill the rest of my tank with 87 octane gas. The machine said I needed to see the attendant.
At this point I just left. The gas station overcharged me by selling me the higher priced gas. Then it was about to waste my time by having me go talk with an attendant. This defeats the purpose of paying at the pump. Furthermore I do not like the new gas pumps. They dispense three types of gas from the same nozzle. It sounds nice in theory. But it is no good if they are going to trick me into buying the high priced gas.
Normally in these types of situations I vote with my feet. That means I would get gas from another location. In theory, if enough people did this, the places with bad services would go out of business. Since this gas station is close to my home, I might give them one more chance. However today I went to another gas station. I am not punishing Exxon as a whole. I went to another Exxon today that had separate gas nozzles for different octane levels. The price was a little higher. But at least there was less chance of getting ripped off.
Things are getting tighter in this economy. Now more than ever you need to provide good customer service. Otherwise you are going to lose customers like me. You will not only lose me if you provide bad service, I will also tell my friends. And there is another effect. I will write about you on my blog. Nobody wants bad PR like that.
