DO NOT go to the Shell gas station on the corner of Tamiami Trail and Blackburn Point Road in Osprey, FL! And especially do not use pump 8.
I went to get gas this morning from this gas station with a little less than a quarter of a tank in my car--I have a 2006 Pontiac Vibe which holds 11.9 gallons of gas (lets call it 12, its easier), so I had 2-3 gallons left in my car. I Rolled up to pump 8, paid by card, inserted the nozzle into my car, and put down the little bar made to keep the gas flowing while I cleaned my windshield. This is what I was doing when I heard the pump handle click back into place, followed by the sound of gushing water. I turned around and there was this geyser of gas GUSHING out of my car, spraying all around the handle. The little nap had gotten stuck and hadn't released when the handle returned to it's off position, leaving the gas flowing into (and out of) my car. I tried to release the bar but it was stuck. I ran inside and told someone at the counter what was happening. She says "pump 8?" and I say yes, and another employee in the background says "Oh yeah I've had that happen to me with that pump before...". She turns off the pump and goes to get the owner. He comes in and, after asking if the pump has been shut off, looks at me and says abruptly " Well why are you in here?" I respond that there is gas coming out of my car; he says "Why didn't you turn it off?", I'm flustered, having already explained this once and reply "Its stuck".
We go out to the car--the gas has already been turned off and there is a very large wet spot around and running away from my car. He fiddles with the nozzle and unsticks it (now that there is no pressure from gas pumping through it) and tells me I can leave. He goes to get material to put on the leaked gas, and I look at the gauge and see that it has charged me for 16.033 gallons of gas, $36.86. When the owner comes back I tell him that I was only getting 10 gallons of gas to fill up my car and it has charged me for 16. He replies that there wasn't that much gas lost. I say "Look, my car can only PHYSICALLY HOLD 12 gallons of gas and you have charged me for 16 because of your faulty pump!" He gestures to the very large damp spot spreading away from my car and says "this isn't 4 gallons worth of gas" (It definitely was). We went back and forth a few times, me saying that my car physically cannot hold 16 gallons of gas, him saying the large wet spot couldn't be more than half a gallon, and wasn't 4 gallons. I said "Really? If you took 4 gallons of milk and spilled it on the ground, it wouldn't look like this?" He said "No, if you spilled 4 gallons of gas, this entire parking lot would be covered." Think about that for a minute, this Shell station has at least 4 pump stations so a rather large lot, and he is claiming that 4 gallons would be covering its entirety. He then says aggressively "You're supposed to stay here. You're supposed to be here while pumping gas!" I say "I WAS" and he responds "Why are you yelling at me? Don't get mad with me, I don't have to deal with this bullshit. I could just walk away. It's not my problem." I tell him it's because he doesn't believe me and I'm paying for something that was their pump's fault and he says he'll refund me for half a gallon. HALF A GALLON. There had to be at LEAST 4 gallons on the ground that they were charging me for-- 16 gallons of gas could not physically fit inside my 12 gallon tank. I walked inside and he gave me one dollar and fifteen cents and said "Have a good day," I didn't say anything, and as I walked away I heard him say snarkily "Thanks, you too!"
I walked back to my car, over the wet patch of $13 I had just lost, and got into my car, obviously shaken and furious, and also covered in gas. I was also now late to work. It was not a good start to my morning, and I would really not recommend going there. Plus, their gas is expensive AF. Now I gotta go wash my shoes. read more
