PrePay SUCKS! Name and shame the gas stations.

[idleidolidyll]

my suggestion is to only put enough fuel into your tank to get you to the next full service place.ie don't worry about filling it untill you need to.

that's just plain silly.

given that my fuel consumption can vary between 10-25 km per litre, I have no accurate way to know how far I will get on any given trip. I DON'T want to stop at every gas station just because gas stations refuse to listen to their customers and offer them a reasonable service.
I want to be able to fill up my bike whenever I can without the double entry bullshit of prepay.

[Ixion]

..As they are legally obliged to give you change, just like they are from any transaction, I'd have written a snotty letter to head office, though no doubt it would get filled in the round filing cabinet like all the other snotty letters.

..

That is not correct. There is no legal requirement for any seller to give change. Legally, if you do not have the right money that is your problem. And if you have contracted (albeit against your will ) to buy $20 of petrol, then find that you cannot fit it all into your tank the seller is under no legal obligation to make any refund.

It is very common for pre-pay servos to refuse to refund any over payment or at least to argue hard about it. Usually suggesting that you should "buy something else" to "use up" the excess. I have pumped $3 odd of petrol into the windscreen wash water container on the forecourt when it was apparent I was not going to get the balance of my $20 pre pay back.

The problem is far worse if one wishes to pay by credit card. The gentleman who warns against card skimming is quite correct, and I certainly will not leave my card with the attendants for them to help themselves. After all, if they don't trust me, why should I trust them? And, their agreement with the card company will include a clause forbidding them to repay a card refund in cash. And they will refuse to refund the excess to the card because they claim that they do not have the necessary "store card". In my experience one will usually have great trouble getting any overpayment refunded.

And as to why "bikes should be treated different to cars"? They shouldn't, it is wrong for cars too. But it is a bigger problem for bikes. If I am obliged to buy a round dollar amount for a car, and thereby leave say 5 litres of the tank empty, that is not such a big deal in a 60 litre tank. But 5 litres in a bike tank means only half full. And since the fuel companys have closed down most of the petrol stations in the country, there are now many areas where the distance between petrol stations is greater than the tank range of a bike. If bikes are always to be condemned to half tanks then that problem becomes great indeed. (And the reason why the market does not supply the obvious remedy, a new fuel seller opening up midway, is that the fuel companys use their oligopolistic position to prevent this. They artificially prevent competition).

The homonymic gentleman is correct. Pre pay is just an excuse for multiple rip offs down the line. The argument about fuel theft is ingenuous at best. Supermarkets suffer equally from shop theft, and their margins are even smaller. Yet we are not expected to pay for our groceries when we enter the store, before we have selected them, or put down a $200 deposit on entry.

And if the margin on fuel is small, that is simply because the fuel companies are creaming it for themselves. THEIR margin is huge. Fuel resellers should be questioning the oligopolistic situation that makes such gouging possible.

EDIT: Does anyone know the names of suitable people at the fuel companies? If they can post or PM them, I will put my BRONZ hat on and formally complain.

[janno]

There is no legal requirement for any seller to give change. Legally, if you do not have the right money that is your problem.

Wow! That's interesting if it's true. I always fill my bike during the day so haven't come across pre-pay in Taranaki.

The oil companies are on borrowed time here, I'd say. I think it'll be one of those things which they can only push so far before they get a mass protest. I'm not talking about the pre-pay as such, but the refusal to give change. I'd hope so, anyway.

[Grahameeboy]

That's another bonus of earplugs.

I've never even seen a pre-pay.

I usually fill up only when I've hit reserve which means nowdays it's about $34 or so.

Didn't you mean pre-prayer??

[Mr Merde]

....The oil companies are on borrowed time here, I'd say. I think it'll be one of those things which they can only push so far before they get a mass protest. .......

Mass Protest in NZ.

Only in mustering season so those bovids who masqueade as NZ citizens can follow the Judas goat.

[Grahameeboy]

there's plenty left to enjoy and that is the point: by saying or doing nothing the corporations and governments will continue to fuck up what we have

We look forward to a thread from you about the joys of life in due course then.........

[Tank]

as long as scumbags try to drive off without paying ,bussiness owners will find ways to try and combat theft and if prepay is the way,so be it.
I am a fuel reseller and believe me there is NO profit in petrol ,especially in rural areas. I pay more for my fuel(wholesale) than i can get it for(retail) 30kms down the road in whitianga. so it is a precious commodity for me.
I can understand the frustration of not knowing how much fuel you need. my suggestion is to only put enough fuel into your tank to get you to the next full service place.ie don't worry about filling it untill you need to.

of course that's gonna be your line.

however, the fact is that prepay is more about cutting wage costs and improving junk sales than preventing drive offs.

It's bullshit and a pain in the arse. If you are one of those stations that use it, please identify yourself so other bikers can avoid you on their bikes and in their cars.

Typical - here is a guy who knows facts about how it impacts independent owners of small stations.

However III gets on his high horse and says its bullshit because it doesnt fit with his views and ask for him to identify himself so he can be boycotted.

What a fuckwit. Maybe when you have a business that's impacted by pricks stealing your product then you may have some empathy for others in the same boat.

[hellnback]

Mass Protest in NZ.

Ahhh, don't you mean Auckland?? No pre-pay down this way!!

"Oops forgot my card, I'll come back after work...."
"No worries"

[Usarka]

Ahhh, don't you mean Auckland?? No pre-pay down this way!!

"Oops forgot my card, I'll come back after work...."
"No worries"

Well people do tend to trust their cousins....

[idleidolidyll]

I've never even seen a pre-pay.

You guys and gals living outside areas with prepay are very lucky but don't for a minute think you're not going to get it.

Think about the tone of the thread here and how most riders despise prepay and try to prevent the odious system making life more difficult for you.

[idleidolidyll]

Typical - here is a guy who knows facts about how it impacts independent owners of small stations.

However III gets on his high horse and says its bullshit because it doesnt fit with his views and ask for him to identify himself so he can be boycotted.

What a fuckwit. Maybe when you have a business that's impacted by pricks stealing your product then you may have some empathy for others in the same boat.

Nope. I get my facts from someone in the business of developing the very systems we are discussing. This person, recently departed from the industry, explained in no uncertain terms that the 'theft' reason is mainly a snow job and that the real reasons for prepay are as described: to have motorists spend more time (and money) in the shop buying crap.
For the same reason, acco4rding to him, most gas stations refuse to install or use pay at pump (eftpos at pump).

My posts are not just opinion; they are fact based.

As for identifying the particular gas station: Yes, I make no excuses. THAT is the point after all; to identify which stations are bike friendly and which are not and to use the pressure of our purchasing power to vote with our feet away from poor service and towards good service.

If you don't care, that's fine but don't expect the rest of us to sit back and be fucked over just so companies can make more profit on the back of worse service.

[idleidolidyll]

Ahhh, don't you mean Auckland?? No pre-pay down this way!!

"Oops forgot my card, I'll come back after work...."
"No worries"

if you haven't got it yet you should join the protest because without people speaking out, it's inevitable that you WILL get it.

[mstriumph]

sheesh ---- i certainly hope THIS doesn't reach us out in the far-flung reaches of West Aus ......... sounds like prepay raises a lot of problems

i don't even get asked to take my helmet off over here - let alone prepay for fuel ............ in fact, on one occassion when i forgot my card one petrol station allowed me to leave an IOU and pay them on my way past the following day

then again - i'm not wearing a hoodie or anything and am reasonably polite to people ......[most of the time]

[hellnback]

Well people do tend to trust their cousins....

[Jantar]

I have pumped $3 odd of petrol into the windscreen wash water container on the forecourt when it was apparent I was not going to get the balance of my $20 pre pay back..

I love it. Next time I am faced with pre-pay (only ever happens in the North island) I shall purposely over estimate the amount, and use the xtra in their washer water, in their rubbish bins, and anywhere else inconvenient.