Arco AM/PM Mancher, Store manager Employee blocking the gas lane causing my children unnecessary heat exposure La Mesa, California
On June 15, 2011 at 1212pm, My car was literally blocked in by an occupied vehicle that happened to be an employee talking to her assistant manager in a red truck F150 with license plate CA 7F45229. Meanwhile, I could not move my vehicle out since other cars would move in behind my car.
My 16 year old cousin had to sit with my two little girls for approximately 10-15 minutes when I had to go into the store three times. 1st time to find out who was blocking the drive to move her car, 2nd time because she had still not moved her car (just in line waiting to pay her gas now after we had been waiting still), 3rd time because she admitted she was employee & her manager had not told her to move.
I called the store manager, Mancher, who originally said there was nothing he could do since she was off duty & to contact Arco corporation & he refused to give me the owner's name to contact him. The next morning, I saw the employee who originally created the problem with her inconsideration & Mancher in person. Mancher finally gave me his owner's name Kevin Parabia & said he was out of the country, but gave me a 858-454-2710 number which is LOCAL. Mancher was less than helpful regarding disclosure of the assistant manager who had an EXCELLENT view of the entire incident & with his intervention this matter would have been resolved then & there. All I got was the assistant manager vehicle plate number as listed above.
Calling Customer service for ARCO was a waste of time since everything out of their mouths was "I can't tell you for security reasons or I'm following protocol." They put me an such an extended hold that their automated system tried to kick me off while they made numerous calls without explaining what they were doing.
BP is a publicly traded company so you have legal access to the board of directors, CEO & contact information, but you will have to get it on your own. They will not provide a correct address for their offices, just look them up on BP website. Needless to say, It's very OBVIOUS. Arco or BP affiliates do not care regarding child safety in hot vehicles when studies have show it can only take MINUTES for injury to occur. Nor do they care about treating consumers with RESPECT, instead they treat consumers by being patronizing or argumental.
9 Updates & Rebuttals
Mike
LAKESIDE,California,
U.S.A.
shove it
#10Consumer Comment
Tue, July 05, 2011
put your car in gear and shove them out of the way, see how fast they come out of the store then.
Flynrider
Phoenix,Arizona,
USA
Sheesh!
#10Consumer Comment
Thu, June 30, 2011
"Second, my windows were opened all the way & studies have shown it doesn't make that much of difference. "
You can always tell when someone is trying to puff up their lame story when you hear "studies have shown". Translation : I just made this up, but you might believe me.
I've lived in the desert all my life. If there's one thing that makes any difference at all it's closed windows.
I think you're desperately trying to make something out of nothing. Your story just does not seem plausable as written.
BTW, throwing up 7 hrs. after the fact is NOT a sign of heat exhaustion
voiceofreason
North Carolina,United States of America
Still don't understand how you were wedged in so tight
#10General Comment
Wed, June 29, 2011
Did you have no wiggle room in front of you to allow you to exit out of the line? If so, assuming again no side barriers preventing such action, that would mean YOU were too close to the car in front of you. I've suffered heat prostration and it did me in for over 2 days, so I understand all about that. And if the lane in front of you was being held up like that, ESPECIALLY if by employees, for any reason, then you were totally justified in leaving your car for the moment and taking your children into the store to cool off, letting the car in back of you know why (whether they liked it or not) and for the manager or clerk to let you know when the line started moving again. You chose not to do any of that, so YOU caused your kids' heat issues. Again, assuming some kind of side barriers were not trapping all of you in the car.
Robert
Irvine,California,
U.S.A.
Still
#10Consumer Comment
Wed, June 29, 2011
This appears like a very minor incident that you had a huge overreaction to. You don't know if I have kids and what medical conditions I have had or had not to treat.
Fourth, my youngest child did in fact vomit that night indicating some heat exhaustion suffered.
- Okay this happened at 12:12PM and your youngest vomited because of the heat exhaustion in the evening. That is several hours later, and I am sure that since you are in the "medical profession" you know that if the symptoms of heat exhaustion last for more than an hour or so that you should IMMEDIATELY seek medical attention, especially with a young child. So when you took them to the ER in the evening did the doctor confirm the diagnosis of heat exhaustion?
You are not supposed to have your car running at the pump for safety reasons.
- Where the heck did you get that idea from. You are not supposed to have it running while you are pumping your gas, but after you are done it is no problem.
My concern is that their lack of concern for my children with adult
being in the car would obviously mean THEY DON'T CARE IF YOU LEAVE
YOUR CHILD IN THE CAR WHILE YOU GO INTO PAY FOR GAS OR OTHERWISE.
FYI, it's illegal in the State of California to leave your child
unattended in the vehicle at any time.
- Talk about a leap. So because someone took a few extra minutes to pump their gas. Unless you still want to go with the manager had nothing better to do than use their employees to intentionally block in customers, you do not know for 100% sure what the reason was. They all of the sudden don't care if you leave your kids in the car? I don't think jumping over the Grand Canyon would be a bigger leap than that line of thought.
Gas station courtesy (meaning, pay for your gas & move if you have other business since all stations have some parking) is obviously not common if their own workers don't exhibit them and maybe you don't either if you don't understand my complaint.
- No I totally understand your complaint. But lack of courtesy does not make it a RipOff. And in this case it appears as if you are being a huge Drama Queen.
chaosflamespirit
USAOnce you finish pumping your gas...
#10Consumer Comment
Wed, June 29, 2011
...and put the pump back in the holster, you can turn your car back on. You only need to have it off while the gas is pumping.
Shelley
Chula Vista,California,
U.S.A.
Gas station child safety & courtesy
#10Author of original report
Wed, June 29, 2011
First of all the car blocking the lane was UNOCCUPIED, the "occupied" word was a typo. Second, my windows were opened all the way & studies have shown it doesn't make that much of difference. Third, here are the references I listed were regarding Hyperthermia deaths of children in vehicles (www.webmd.com "Danger: kids left in Hot Cars"; http://ggweather.com/heat/ "Hyperthermia deaths of children in vehicles", which is a documented study done by Department of Geoscience, San Francisco State University). The study done by Department of Geoscience shows that car temperatures can in fact rise 19 degrees in TEN MINUTES where the ambient temperature is relatively mild (70-92 degrees).
Fourth, my youngest child did in fact vomit that night indicating some heat exhaustion suffered. Fifth, YOU obviously have never had to care for a child who SUFFERED HEAT EXHAUSTION where I have had to (being in the medical field) so YES I'm passionate about children's safety especially that of MY OWN. Maternal instincts kick in when you believe your child in danger, which I did.
You are not supposed to have your car running at the pump for safety reasons. As soon as I was able to move, I did. Leaving my vehicle unoccupied as well would have compounded the problem. Would you have been happy with a person blocking you in even without children? Gas station courtesy (meaning, pay for your gas & move if you have other business since all stations have some parking) is obviously not common if their own workers don't exhibit them and maybe you don't either if you don't understand my complaint.
My concern is that their lack of concern for my children with adult being in the car would obviously mean THEY DON'T CARE IF YOU LEAVE YOUR CHILD IN THE CAR WHILE YOU GO INTO PAY FOR GAS OR OTHERWISE. FYI, it's illegal in the State of California to leave your child unattended in the vehicle at any time.
IF you don't have children, you would never understand or appreciate my concerns. So, your opinion is is just YOUR OPINION. Thanks for sharing.
Ken
Greeley,Colorado,
USA
You really handled this well.
#10Consumer Comment
Tue, June 28, 2011
I don't see how this could possibly endanger your children if you'd been smart enough to roll down the windows in the car. That apparently wasn't the case.
Have you been a drama queen long?
voiceofreason
North Carolina,United States of America
Where is common sense?
#10General Comment
Tue, June 28, 2011
Why didn't you just have the kids exit the car and wait in the store until you finished whatever you had to do? Maybe this person was dawdling. I see it plenty of times at gas stations. That's life. Were you wedged in somehow so your doors couldn't open to let them out, like some drive thru lanes have narrow curbs or barriers? Maybe she was waiting for card authorization or the receipt. I've had to stand at a pump many times waiting for this. Maybe she had sent someone in to the store to report the receipt was jammed or something. Maybe she was STALLED? What exactly were you looking for from them? Her name, rank and serial number?
Robert
Irvine,California,
U.S.A.
Doesn't make sense
#10Consumer Comment
Tue, June 28, 2011
Okay at best this looks like an overreaction by you, and I would bet that that 10-15 minutes orignally started out as 1-2 minutes and in a few more months you will have been stuck there for an hour or two.
First of all you state that this vehicle was blocking you, yet you couldn't move because others were behind you. So why are you singleing out THIS one?
As to your story you state that you went into the store 3 times.
The first time to find out who was blocking you. Well per your previous statement the vehicle was OCCUPIED. So why did you have to go INTO the store to find out?
The second time was because she was in line paying for her gas. So that means that she would have been at a pump. Exactly how was she "blocking" you in, and is this a case of really blocking someone in or just a case of you having to wait until the people in front of you finish pumping their gas so you can leave?
Then the 3rd time because she told you that her manager told her not to move. So you are saying that the manager, for no other reason than for their own personal enjoyment, decides to use one of their employees to intentionally block in a customers car?
As to the kids, if you were that concerned about the health of your kids and you really were stuck there for a long time have you ever heard of getting them out of the car? How about opening the windows? Or even the novel idea of turning on your car so you can have the A/C running. If you don't think you should have to pay for the wasted gas then when you leave go charge them the few cents it would have cost to have your car running the A/C for a few minutes. But then again what is a few cents compared to the health of your kids.
This just seems as if there is an entire other side to the story that you are not saying. By the way exactly what do you want them to do about this?