Petrol Station Scam in Bang Rakam Caught on Video, Goes Viral

[connda]

Unless you're deft, you can hear the pump and the fuel entering the tank.

[connda]

22 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

They often ask you to turn off your car when pumping gas - so yo don't see the gauge increase.

Turn you car back on before leaving and check the gauge.  Anyway, I have a second set of eyes.  My wife will check the price.  I think she is half Thai and half Scotch. 

[connda]

9 hours ago, KhunBENQ said:

I am the lazy guy

Me too.  Lazy? Check!  Entitled?  Da*m right!  I'm now elderly so I've earned my "entitled" ribbons.  And I've got "She Who May Not Be Fooled," in the front seat.  The old lady is a compulsive receipt checker and meter watcher.  It would be difficult to slip a satang by her in bad faith. 

[Ralf001]

9 hours ago, JonnyF said:

The other trick is to not reset after the previous customer pays. So it starts at 600 Baht or whatever instead of zero.

 

 

 

They still have pumps that are manually reset ?

[SAFETY FIRST]

On 9/4/2024 at 5:45 PM, snoop1130 said:

 employee allegedly attempted to charge a customer without dispensing any fuel

Years ago before they got the digital bowsers, the Shell Pattaya Tai would do this, mostly not resetting the previous bike, you'd only get half a tank of petrol. 

 

It was funny at times, they'd get me most fuel stops. 😂

 

BTW, does anyone remember the Shell petrol station that was on second road, north Pattaya? 

 

Edited September 5 by SAFETY FIRST

[NanLaew]

9 hours ago, Bert got kinky said:

 

They often ask you to turn off your car when pumping gas - so yo don't see the gauge increase.

I have been driving in Thailand since 2001 and I have never been asked to turn my engine off at the pumps.

 

 

Oh dear, another one who's unique experience in Thailand is portrayed as empirical. Or maybe you just don't understand what they're asking you to do?

 

I have been driving in Thailand since 1978, and I have been asked to turn off the engine. More recently, the PTT pump crew place a placard on the bonnet/hood, right in front of the driver, requesting please turn off the engine. I have also had some pump staff who won't pump until you comply.

 

YMMV

 

TiT

Edited September 5 by NanLaew

[KannikaP]

On 9/4/2024 at 6:11 PM, richard_smith237 said:

 

They often ask you to turn off your car when pumping gas - so yo don't see the gauge increase.

 

Its only after you turn on the engine again and wait for the gauge to recognise the increase in fuel or not, that its possible to tell - by which time many have driven off and not looked.

 

One of my previous cars used to take about 60 seconds for the 'fuel needle' to start increasing.

Just turn the engine off but leave the ignition on so you can see the gauge, and still listen to the radio. 

[KannikaP]

On 9/4/2024 at 6:26 PM, Jerzy Swirski said:

If you don't get out of your car and watch the gauge go from zero to whatever you ordered then you deserve to be scammed.

 

Also always check your change.  I have been short changed twice this year.

If you always ask for Bht 500 or Bht 1000, you cannot be short changed.

[KannikaP]

On 9/4/2024 at 6:11 PM, richard_smith237 said:

One of my previous cars used to take about 60 seconds for the 'fuel needle' to start increasing.

I bet you're glad you got rid of that Morris Minor then.   5555

[Ralf001]

21 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

 

Oh dear, another one who's unique experience in Thailand is portrayed as empirical. Or maybe you just don't understand what they're asking you to do?

 

I have been driving in Thailand since 1978, and I have been asked to turn off the engine. More recently, the PTT pump crew place a placard on the bonnet/hood, right in front of the driver, requesting please turn off the engine. I have also had some pump staff who won't pump until you comply.

 

YMMV

 

TiT

 

My fuel card... is a PTT card.

 

I fuel up 3  times a week..... never been asked to turn off the engine.

[KannikaP]

9 hours ago, KhunBENQ said:

That's what I mentioned as a difficulty in a post above and earned a "confused" emoji for some reason. Often I have to twist my neck to the max 😀

If you stop at the pump so you can see the gauge on the it, the pipe is long enough to reach your filler, unless you have a 20 foot vehicle. 

Luckily for us Vigo or similar owners, the filler is halfway down the body, so easy to see the pump.

[Bert got kinky]

1 hour ago, NanLaew said:

 

Oh dear, another one who's unique experience in Thailand is portrayed as empirical. Or maybe you just don't understand what they're asking you to do?

 

I have been driving in Thailand since 1978, and I have been asked to turn off the engine. More recently, the PTT pump crew place a placard on the bonnet/hood, right in front of the driver, requesting please turn off the engine. I have also had some pump staff who won't pump until you comply.

 

YMMV

 

TiT

 

Oh dear, another one who's unique experience in Thailand is portrayed as empirical. Or maybe you just don't understand what they're asking you to do?

It doesn't matter whether I understand what they are asking or not, I stated a fact, I have never been asked to turn my engine off at the pumps.

 

I have been driving in Thailand since 1978, and I have been asked to turn off the engine. More recently, the PTT pump crew place a placard on the bonnet/hood, right in front of the driver, requesting please turn off the engine. I have also had some pump staff who won't pump until you comply.

So you have had a different experience than me, so what?

Climb down off your high horse old timer. 

 

 

 

 

[KannikaP]

12 hours ago, Ralf001 said:

 

My fuel card... is a PTT card.

 

I fuel up 3  times a week..... never been asked to turn off the engine.

An intelligent person would turn off his engine whilst refuelling without being asked. 

[NanLaew]

1 hour ago, KannikaP said:

An intelligent person would turn off his engine whilst refuelling without being asked. 

 

Nailed it.

[Ralf001]

8 hours ago, KannikaP said:

An intelligent person would turn off his engine whilst refuelling without being asked. 

 

Why ?

 

Heck sometimes I even forget to put out my ciggie !

[fredwiggy]

On 9/4/2024 at 7:03 PM, Celsius said:

This is too stupid to be a scam. I believe it is honest mistake. My wife always pays witj credit card. How could this scam possibly work? 

It's happened to me twice. After that I watch them and make sure the pump is at zero and that it ends up what I paid. They did this back in the states years ago, knowing most people don't look at their gauges after they've bought gas. It works a lot if you already had gas in the care and are just buying more. My car was at empty and when I drove off, it was still the same.Poor country, more scammers.

[jvs]

It must have been five years ago or so that most gas stations came up with the rule.

"please turn off you engine while refueling"

That lasted about two days.

A gas attended asked someone to turn off his engine and the entitled driver

decided to punch the attendant.

That was the end of that.

[KannikaP]

37 minutes ago, Ralf001 said:

 

Why ?

 

Heck sometimes I even forget to put out my ciggie !

I did say 'an intelligent person' so you are obviously not in that category.

[Ralf001]

32 minutes ago, KannikaP said:

I did say 'an intelligent person' so you are obviously not in that category.

 

Is my diesel vehicle going to explode ?

[KannikaP]

1 minute ago, Ralf001 said:

 

Is my diesel vehicle going to explode ?

I hope not, but the petrol car on the other side of the pump could cause problems if a leak occurs.

Why don't you simply be a responsible adult, turn your engine off, put your ciggie out, or even better, stop smoking. Have a nice weekend.

[atpeace]

22 hours ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

Years ago before they got the digital bowsers, the Shell Pattaya Tai would do this, mostly not resetting the previous bike, you'd only get half a tank of petrol. 

 

It was funny at times, they'd get me most fuel stops. 😂

 

BTW, does anyone remember the Shell petrol station that was on second road, north Pattaya? 

 

Happened to me there 14 years ago and almost ended in blows but the manger stepped in.  she was in on it also but after explaining we will have to call the cops and you will have to explain to them how I am being charged 175 baht for 1/4 of a tank on my scooter that doesn't even hold 175 baht.  She returned my money in total so I got 40 baht of gas  free 🙂

[KannikaP]

12 minutes ago, atpeace said:

Happened to me there 14 years ago and almost ended in blows but the manger stepped in.  she was in on it also but after explaining we will have to call the cops and you will have to explain to them how I am being charged 175 baht for 1/4 of a tank on my scooter that doesn't even hold 175 baht.  She returned my money in total so I got 40 baht of gas  free 🙂

Wow, twice in 14 years is too often.

[atpeace]

1 minute ago, KannikaP said:

Wow, twice in 14 years is too often.

Good point but just bringing up my experience 🙂

 

[richard_smith237]

On 9/5/2024 at 4:42 PM, Lacessit said:

On 9/5/2024 at 4:03 PM, richard_smith237 said:

I wanted to deal with this point separately: 

 

 

Do these heavier than air gasoline vapours miraculously miraculously disperse the moment refuelling is complete and we re-start the car / turn the ignition ?

 

Or would you suggest that all petrol station forecourts have massive fan (bug blower) to disperse any 'heavier than air' gasoline fumes that have pooled around the vehicle ?

 

 

 

 

IF the risk of ignition exists during the process of refuelling itself, surely the same risk exists seconds after refuelling is complete and the car is re-started ??....  

 

 

I want to approach this debate from a scientific aspect rather than an emotional perspective - If parking attendants ask me to turn off the car, I'm happy to do so... The reason I don't usually bother is because I dont consider keeping the engine running to present any additional risk.

 

Also consider - If there were additional risk.. then the methods we use to refuel our vehicles are quite flawed...  of course, they are not, otherwise we'd see fires all the time.

 

 

Expand  

It's quite probable the rules were evolved in a time when there was more risk. For example, cars had generators, not alternators.

 

It's a given attendants sometimes overfill vehicles. Most of the time, the vapor dissipates harmlessly.

 

The culture here seems to be one of not following some rules. Which makes the sight of Thais dutifully wearing masks, on scooters without helmets, quite comical. It took me three months of nagging to persuade my GF to wear a helmet. Now she does it automatically.

 

I am probably much more risk averse than you. That comes from working in a profession for many years, with chemicals that were so dangerous a single moment of carelessness could result in serious injury or death. I'm still here, i know several who are not.

 

Thanks for keeping the discussion intelligent... 

 

I agree - the rules are a legacy of when cars were less intrinsically safe.

I also agree, there is an element of risk with keeping the engine running, but on the balance of risks there is greater risk of another car driving into me while I'm parked at the pump.

 

I also agree, the culture here is not following rules - the mask rule highlighted what an enigma Thailand is - can't get folk to wear helmets, they face mask wearing was nearly at 100%... 

 

 

My profession too has a load of safety legislation and policy - much of it is based around he lowest common denominator... the 1 in a million chance and is driven my insurance and management ensuring anything that happens cannot come back on them.

 

I took have worked in environments where the risks are high (H2S) and carelessness can cause death - in situations where IF I take of a BA set, I'm dead within minutes... 

 

So, I'm well versed in risk analysis and aware of necessary precautions etc -  I don't see the 'leaving the engine running' a risk (not even a slight risk) and thats because I understand what is and can happen.

[daveAustin]

Only issues I've ever had have been non-PTT stations. Don't doubt it happens there, too, but is what it is. Bikes obvious, but when driving, I always get out and look at proceedings (don't act like an entitled snob) and have a chat with the attendants, who are generally good eggs and work hard. Cheats like this should be weeded out but by and large they are good guys.

[grain]

I always get out and watch them, main reason being my car is a Mitsu Triton ute but it's the benzine model not a diesel, I put E20 in it, so I'm checking they reach for E20 and not diesel, also I caught one dude once he didn't reset the pump, so it already had 100 Bt on it and I caught him out on it, he replied "tamboon", meaning I should let him get 100 Bt off me for my merit making.

[Captain Monday]

On 9/5/2024 at 2:09 PM, richard_smith237 said:

 

Really - you guys are hilarious... 

 

If refuelling of vehicles was so dangerous there would be numerous petrol station fires across the nation on an hourly basis...    

 

If refuelling of vehicles was so dangerous, we'd all have to exit the vehicle while it was being refulled by a 'trained professional' and have fire fighters on standby.

 

If refuelling of vehicles was so dangerous due to a cars operational circuit, we'd have to push it into place (with the ignition off).

 

If refuelling of vehicles was so dangerous due to a cars operational circuit, we'd have to push it away from the pump (with the ignition off).

 

 

You are really over egging the pudding with this 'putting family and others at risk' statements - If the dangers were as extreme as you suggest, things would be done very differently.

 

Think instead of buying into all the myths.

 

And yes, one of you will now post an example of a petrol station fire - but once digging, it will be found that there was another failure beyond the norm of simply filling up a car... 

 

 

 

 

 

I think you might be onto something. In US people might freak out if you were fueling with the engine running but there is no way they are turning ”cellphones” OFF and suspending their messaging.. Mostly self serve.

 

This must happen millions of times per day, no explosions

 

Planes fuel all the time, of course the electrical system could be active, on APU or ground power unit,  with passengers onboard. We could even fuel with one engine running,  That would be rare.

 

Other than jetbridges in place the only restriction is prohibiting transmitting on HF radio while fueling.

A bonding strap is always attached , to ground to earth. Why do petrol stations not use them?

 

Edited September 7 by Captain Monday

[Ralf001]

16 minutes ago, grain said:

 also I caught one dude once he didn't reset the pump, so it already had 100 Bt on it and I caught him out on it, he replied "tamboon", meaning I should let him get 100 Bt off me for my merit making.

 

Where dd this happen and how long ago ? 

[Lacessit]

1 hour ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

 

 

I took have worked in environments where the risks are high (H2S) and carelessness can cause death - in situations where IF I take of a BA set, I'm dead within minutes... 

 

So, I'm well versed in risk analysis and aware of necessary precautions etc -  I don't see the 'leaving the engine running' a risk (not even a slight risk) and thats because I understand what is and can happen.

H2S is nasty stuff, because it paralyses the olfactory nerve. One can't tell when they have had too much. It's as lethal as hydrogen cyanide.

 

For me, hydrogen fluoride is the nastiest.

 

I have never used breathing apparatus, but I always made sure the fume cupboards were in working order, and used the PPE.

[metisdead]

Inflammatory posts and replies bickering about virtue signaling have been removed.

Edited September 7 by metisdead