AURORA, Ill.-- A dispenser at a station in Aurora, Ill., was mistakenly set to charge $3.94 a gallon for regular unleaded fuel instead of the advertised $2.94 per gallon price. Motorist Michael Flores, a regular customer at the BP location, noticed the problem and demanded a refund right away and alerted eight or 10 other customers of the mistake, reported The Beacon News.
"Some of these people were ready to leave, but I was knocking on their car windows saying, 'You better check your pump'," he told the newspaper.
The group of [image-nocss] drivers entered the station to get their refunds from a clerk who was not too helpful at first, Flores said. The clerk told customers the station would "not give a refund," he said. "One lady had said, 'I filled up my tank and I want my money back. I'm not leaving until I get something'," Flores said.
The clerk eventually helped the overcharged drivers after they signed refund forms. Most customers, like Flores, continued to pump gasoline and received the proper amount of fuel at the price of $2.94, the report said.
Scott Dean, a BP spokesperson in Naperville, Ill., confirmed that the mixup was BP's fault. An assistant manager was "changing out prices in the back" and accidentally plugged in the price of $3.94 on a computer, Dean told the paper. Station workers at BP review the price of gasoline at least once a day, and not at any specific time, Dean said. "It was an error on our part and we corrected it quickly. We are certainly happy to make sure any customer who paid the wrong amount gets credited for the right price."
He added that anyone else who was overcharged could get a refund from the station with a receipt or credit card statement.
Dean estimated that the $1 overcharge happened for 15 to 20 minutes.
Flores isn't so sure. "Who knows how many people got ripped off that day," Flores said. He will continue to buy gas at the station, but "will look at the pump every time," he said.
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