E-X-P-O-S-E-D: Dirty Tricks Petrol Stations, Attendants Use To Cheat And Rip Off Customers

                                   

it is no news that everyone in Nigeria have been or is currently a victim of dirty tricks petrol Stations attendants use to cheat and rip off customers

 

In case you once bought fuel from a filling station and it seemed like nothing was added to your fuel tank after you have left, or you felt what was sold to you wasn’t commensurate with what you paid for or expected, you may have been cheated under your close watch even with your eyes wide open.

Saturday PUNCH had a revealing chat with fuel attendants of some popular filling stations in Lagos and they explained how they make quick but huge cash from unsuspecting customers.

One of them who identified himself simply as Owolabi John, said there are many ways fuel attendants cheat customers who have come to buy fuel, which many people are not aware of.

Devouring a massive plate of hot and spicy pepper soup and a bottle of chilled beer our correspondent bought for him, John readily exposed all the tricks on how they make money.

By the way, John earns N10,000 as a fuel attendant. He wants to pursue a university education. There is no other help from anywhere else, as such John admitted leaving no stone unturned to take advantage of gullible customers to make some money from what he described as “the customers’ carelessness.”

“Ideally, when we resume, we take the reading on the meter on the fuel dispenser, which we call the opening meter, and when we close, we take the reading, which we also call the closing meter. Then, we multiply the difference in the readings by the cost per litre, which is the amount we deliver to the manager. If there is any surplus, it belongs to the attendant, and if there is loss, the attendant will look for money to make it up. If the shortage is a lot of money, the manager may allow that the money be deducted from the person’s salary if the person is not sacked,” he explained.

However, that surplus money may not have been a miracle or manna from heaven; it could simply be a product of manipulation by the attendants.

According to John, there are different types of fuel dispensers, such as Marathon, Sanki, Eagle Star, etc, and each machine has its peculiar way of being adjusted. “On the keyboard of some of them, where we enter the number of litres or amount, which is either in front or on the side, there is usually a button labelled ‘Recall, TIM/CAL’ or any other label, depending on the machine. The essence of the button is to enable the attendant to see the past sales. If you want to see your last ten sales, you just press Recall, then the number you want to see etc, depending on the number you want, and it shows you the amount. Beyond seeing our past sales, we use it to make money.

“If I sell N2,000 worth of fuel to a customer, and the next customer also wants to buy N2,000. If I observe that the second customer Isn’t paying attention, I will sell some quantity, maybe N1,500 and press Stop or Cancel, depending on the machine press Recall, 1, then press Ok. With that, N2,000 will appear on the screen and that is what the customer will see on the meter, believing the sale is complete. This can be done in less than one second. That is one of the ways, and at the close of business I remove mine which is the excess of the actual litre sales.

“Imagine if I do that for about ten customers in a day, with varying gain from each case, which depends largely on the amount of fuel the customer is buying and how sensitive the person is. I could make up to N10, 000 in one day,” he explained.

According to him, attendants could go to the extent of writing out some past sales on a paper where they can easily have a glance to know which number to recall when a customer is distracted or looks away, since many people prefer to buy based on price and not litre.

“When customers come, we observe them and see if they are tired or we try to distract them, sometimes with the help of our colleagues by engaging them in a chat or doing things that could easily distract them. As soon as they look away, if the seller has made an appreciable sale, he/she would have mastered or checked his paper to see the last time he sold that particular amount, as soon as it is possible, he will press it, and press OK. Before the customer looks back, the sale will appear complete,” John explained.

John’s revelation explained one of the ways Ayeni might have been cheated. Another fuel attendant, who simply identified himself as Owode Kabir, told our correspondent that the use of Recall or TIM button is the easiest way to make quick money because the customers would think the machine was fast, so they wouldn’t always suspect anything, even though some come back to complain.

However, Kabir stressed that not all attendants are involved in the act, but that many of them do it as long as there is opportunity and that in some cases, they settle the station manager at the close of work if they are able to make some money, which they do everyday anyway.

But ‘Recall or TIM/CAL’ button is not the only way to make money from customers, Kabir would tell our correspondent. There is yet another way!

Even though many people know that when the nozzle is hanged on the pump, the readings revert to zero, he said they (fuel attendants) have also found a way to manoeuvre it to make some money.

“What we do is to gently place the nozzle, such that it won’t click to rub off the old sales and revert to zero, so, we fake it, which means the dispenser is still running, so if anyone comes, we simply continue from where we stop and that is why sometimes it seems like we are rushing the customers. It is easier when the last sale is a small quantity.