THE WOODLANDS, Texas -- Petroleum Wholesale LP—which has been quiet since the Texas Department of Agriculture went public with its "Operation Spotlight" investigation into what it said is cheating at the pump, and since Texas attorney general Gregg Abbott filed charges against the company—has issued a statement denying the allegations.
The Woodlands, Texas-based Petroleum Wholesale, which operates Sunmart Travel Centers & Convenience Stores in 10 states, is charged with violating the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA) by maintaining fuel pumps that were improperly [image-nocss] calibrated in a manner that benefited the company financially. (Click here to view previous CSP Daily News coverage.)
From July 18 to July 20, Agriculture Department inspectors conducted Operation Spotlight. The investigation claimed that 990 of Sunmart's 1,704 fuel pumps cheated consumers, 47 Sunmart stations cheated customers on more than half of their pumps and 15 of those 47 stations had every single pump cheating drivers.(Click here to view coverage.)
"We adamantly deny that [Petroleum Wholesale] has intentionally cheated consumers. Nevertheless, because of the misinformation put out by the Agricultural Commission last week, we expected the filing of this lawsuit," company officials said in a prepared statement cited by The Houston Chronicle. "We are additionally concerned that some of the testing methods utilized by [state inspectors] do not comply with the testing protocol set forth by applicable statutes designed to ensure test result accuracy."
The company declined to respond to specific allegations, saying in its statement: "We have provided documents to the Department of Agriculture, have responded to every request for information and will continue to offer our assistance in the process."
The company had not responded previously to general or trade media requests for a statement.In June, the AG's office also charged Petroleum Wholesale with exposing its customers to identity theft. According to the state's enforcement action, Petroleum Wholesale improperly discarded customer records. Investigators discovered that the company improperly discarded hundreds of customer records in a publicly accessible trash container outside its former headquarters. According to investigators, the records included sales receipts with customers' names and full credit or debit card numbers with expiration dates. The records also included returned checks, along with forms listing customers' names, banking routing numbers, driver's license and Social Security numbers. The defendant is charged with violating the 2005 Identity Theft Enforcement & Protection Act. (Click here for coverage.)Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.