Complaint Review: Citgo

I am a chemist by trade, I'm well aware that static electricity can discharge and spark gasoline. However using a cell phone is not static electricity. The cell phone has nothing to do with the equation EXCEPT for distracting the driver. In your example of someone building up a charge getting in and out of their vehicle, that could happen with or without the cell phone. There's not evidence that a using a cell phone will ignite gasoline in any way.

My point was to debunk the myth that cell phones can ignite gasoline. However, static discharge is definately something to worry about.

"A cell phone will not spark to cause a gas explosion. "

   Perhaps not, but the most common cause of gas station fires is something that the OP did while using his phone.   Leaving the pump running and getting back into your car is the most dangerous thing you can do at the gas pump.   When you do so, your body builds up a static charge from sliding in and out,  which discharges when you grab the pump handle.   The volume of vapor pouring out of the filler neck is easily ignited.  I've seen several of these on video and one in person.

Here's one lady that was very lucky :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuZxFL9cGkI

  If the link doesn't come through, go to YouTube and search for static pump fire.  There are dozens of examples.

Have you considered calling the Citgo customer service? I would do that and see what they say and while you are there say that you feel this guy may be scamming (whether he is or not) and see what they have to say. another group of people that may be interested in this knowledge is the environmentalists in the area. they would like to know that gallons and gallons of gas are spilling onto the ground without the proper clean up.

These are just ideas and i hope that it all works out good for you.

All of you need to see the *2* episodes of the show dedicated to igniting gas pumps. A cell phone will not spark to cause a gas explosion.

http://www.snopes.com/autos/hazards/gasvapor.asp

It is very much an urban legend.

Also, as for cigarettes, the lighter used to light the cigarette could ignite the gasoline. The burning cigarette cannot, its simply not hot enough. So all the movies you see where someone flicks a burning cigarette in to gas to get it to burn are false. The gas will simply extinguish the cigarette. This was also discussed on the same 2 episodes of mythbusters.  There is a greater chance of a freak accident happening while smoking, but nothing is very likely to occur.

http://mythbustersresults.com/special7

I have had the sensors (or what ever the heck stops the pump) fail a few times over the years.  But, since I am always standing  by the nozzle (yes, even in the rain) I have never lost more that a splash.

I have always just notified the people inside in case they didn't know and left smiling.  

Nothing like that can be relied on 100%.

Shouldn't be a big deal, just a minor inconvenience.

I absolutely do not believe it's a conspiracy.  If it is, it's a pretty stupid one. As pointed out, the station could burn down and or blow up, hardly worth a few dollars and all the mess.

You said "every person will overflow by at least a gallon", I doubt that!  It would not happen to me.  I don't leave the pump and even if only for a second, I never take my eyes off the nozzle.
I hope you do try to elevate this because violating a federal regulation will get you more ridicule if not a stern lecture from a judge.  People like you is the reason all locks may get removed from gas nozzles.  Some people should not be left unattended.
STUPID..STUPID..STUPID

  Robert is pretty close to the mark on the potential profit to be made by customers spilling a gallon of gas.   The main problem with this theory is that if every customer spilled a gallon, the pump area would be ankle deep in gasoline and subsequently burned to the ground by lunchtime.    It just isn't plausable.

 So after it actually began to overflow, my aloofness in texting a friend allowed it to continue to do so for nearly 1 gallon (which I wouldn't call a lake by any means, I wouldn't even call it gallons and gallons like our friend Robert has, I would simply call it one gallon).
In your original report you said.. It filled up about 2 gallons more than my tank can hold.  So it's gone from about 2 gallons to only 1 gallon.  Just how much did you want the station to reimburse you for?  Was the almost 2 gallons an exaggeration to make your report sound better or were you really trying to rip-off the station owner for an extra gallon?  Right here is why they didn't reimburse you..because you don't know how much gas actually overflowed.

.....But at least in my mind, and perhaps I'm an anomaly, I think the owner purposefully leaves 90% of the pumps untagged so that people overflow a bit.
- Embellishment number two.  From your original report...In this day and age, gas is so expensive that every person that goes there will have overflowed their car pump by at least a gallon,
- You stated that EVERY person overflowed by at least a gallon.  Obviously if that was the case wouldn't you see gas running all over the ground?  Of course, hence the "gallons and gallons" comment noted above.  So when you realized this you changed it from "every person" and "at least a gallon" to you may be an "anomaly" and "a bit". 

Now I wouldn't be surprised if Robert himself runs a gas station and thus personally gets irritated when people have complaints about them, due to his incessant responses to other gas station complaints that I've read prior to writing my post
- It's pretty standard on this site that if someone doesn't like what is said they accuse them of being an employee.  Usually that is done when they don't really have anything to defend what was said.  My guess is that the other posts probably involved the same thing.  Someone leaves the pump unattended and want the Gas Station to take responsibility for their lack of attention.  Well just so you know I don't work or own any gas stations. 

Although each individual only takes a small economic hit, all those small hits add up to a lot of extra profits for the gas station.
- Embellishment number 3 or just lack of knowledge?  Based on your original report even if we take the .1 gallons that would be about $.30-$.60(instead of $3-$6) per customer.  Okay if you really think that the amount they charge is 100% profit you need to take a few business classes.  If you do I am sure you will learn about things such as the Cost of Goods Sold.  Where you would find that the station owners don't get their gas for free and aren't just making up the price they sell it for out of the blue.   Then go take a look at the amount of taxes that make up that gallon of gas you buy.  In the end they may make a few cents per gallon.

So let's take that they actually "make" $.10 a gallon(which is probably on the high side).  That would mean that every customer that overfills their tank by a bit they would profit an extra $0.01-$0.02.  If they have 1000 customers a day they have made an extra $10-$20 a day.  So $20 vs. Increased Danger, $20 vs. Possible Fines in the 10's of thousands of dollars(because if this was in fact a pervasive problem they may get fined for environmental pollution).

So you can either think this is some huge conspiracy to make more "profit" or you can take responsibility for your actions..That is something you need to decide.

Just go back and damage some pumps.

Then he really will have to put signs on them.

but although the potential is there, if you refer to the article I posted, you'd see that in a world of nearly 7 billion people, there have only been 2 reported cases of a cell phone actually causing harm in a gas station, and both came from non-trustworthy internet sources.  Although I agree the potential is there, many things e.g. flying in an airplane has the potential for harm, yet it's so small that people disregard it.  The dangerous potential of cell phone use in a gas station is far smaller than even that.

Regardless of cell phone use, my point was simply to put a sign on every faulty gas pump.  I hate that most of this post has strayed so far from that topic, even after I've accepted my share of responsibility.  Thus, I'm done with this thread, good day to you all.

Rod,

Anything that transmits a radio signal (such as a cell phone) generates RF (Radio Frequency) waves. Those waves can cause a spark when generated near gas fumes. A cell phone generates RF in text mode too.

"as it's been on and off thunderstorms for the last 3 months.  Speaking of common sense, dunno how you guys use your cell phones in Minnesota but I don't need to be inside of a car in order to use my phone, I can easily do that outside, that just happened to be what I was doing while in my car."

So wow you admit to talking on your cell phone.

Just because it is not a common occurence does not mean it cannot happen. 

But what can you expect from an idiot who is to lazy to pump his own gas. 

Not when you're texting.  Furthermore, there have only been 2 cases where a cell phone actually caused any sort of harm at a gas station, both of which weren't proven and came from faulty sources, and neither of which were in the United States.  Refer to http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/weekly/aa062399.htm

You must be one of those guys who hears about SARS and the West Nile Virus and thinks the whole world is doomed and needs to prepare for the next plague.  Get off your high horse and do your homework, Steven

In case some of you clueless folks didn't know using your cell phone while filling up your gas tank is about as stupid as smoking a cigarette while filling up your tank.

as it's been on and off thunderstorms for the last 3 months.  Speaking of common sense, dunno how you guys use your cell phones in Minnesota but I don't need to be inside of a car in order to use my phone, I can easily do that outside, that just happened to be what I was doing while in my car. 

I've already addressed where I was at fault, so I don't understand the redundancy of your comment about common sense and responsibility rather than addressing what my bottom line is, so just to get this straight, scam or no scam, whether it was done on purpose or on accident, please stop wasting my time and answer this: do you disagree with me when I say that all faulty pumps should have a tag?

Or if you could answer this, why would one pump have a tag and not the other 7?  What if the one tagged pump was being used, how would someone who was using one of the other pumps know what to expect?  Even if said person was right next to the pump waiting, but used the lock because that's what he is used to doing at a gas station, if he didn't expect its locking mechanism to mis-function, yet was standing 1 cm away from the pump, thus not leaving it unattended, some gas would drip on the ground would it not?  

By the way sweetheart, that was a rhetorical question.  One that your 'common sense' should lead you to say 'why yes, even if someone was manning the pump, and was using the lock because, well, its there for crying out loud, gas would drip to the ground.  I agree with you Rod, for the sake of safety, my common sense tells me that all faulty pumps should be tagged!!!!!!!!!!'

You need to take responsibility for your own actions.  You left the pump unattended while you played on your phone.  If that was your child outside your car and he vanished because you left him unattended - what would be the difference between leaving a dangerous, flammable product flowing freely into the direction you WANT it to flow, or ignoring your child thus leaving him to be kidnapped?  That is not in any way a ludicrous comparison.  These stupid phones garner far more attention than children do already for the phone addicts.

In Minnesota in the winter, yes, I sure as heck would start the pump and get in the car until the removal of the pump locks came into existence.  But that is MINNESOTA IN THE WINTER.  If it was raining hard in Gainesville, I would be inclined to get in the car as well, but it sounds like you were in the car to text.  If it wasn't even raining, I can't even offer up that sorry excuse as a reason that might justify getting back in the car for the whole 4 or 5 minutes the gas fill might take.

I am surprised to hear the Citgo pumps have handle locks, just for the record.  I never find any that do in several different states and I do live in Florida.

I would think that the Citgo management will see the error of their ways and take off any signage regarding ''might stick'' or anything else.  If the note hadn't been there, you wouldn't have wasted any time with this report.  It's not a scam, it's common sense, and not Citgo's fault you didn't exercise yours or expect others to help you not need to exercise it.

I understand that I'm not entirely guilt-free in this instance as well.  There are signs that say not to leave your tanks unattended, which I clearly didn't follow by sitting inside my car.  Yet, I'm also confident that some of you, in some circumstances in your lives, have not been saints regarding leaving your pump unattended.  Perhaps, even after setting aside ample time, for whatever reason you needed to use the restroom in a hurry on the way to work and didn't have time to wait to fill up first.  I'm also confident some of you, if not all of you, have in some instance used your cell phones in a gas station (which although there is speculation that it may be harmful, so far there has been no incontrovertible proof, hence why it has yet to be 'unlawful').  I'm not saying it's right, I'm just saying it's safe to assume that some of us have done it so let's step back into our imperfect reality for a second instead of this utopia some of you believe you're in before considering how to address my complaint.

Here's the problem and here is where the attendant is to blame:
he did not put tags on all of the pumps.

Now, being originally from Irvine myself, I know there are Roberts out there who enjoy spending their weekends in some way or another calling everyone who posts on ripoff report a clueless moron.  That city is full of people who aspire to bring down others to help cope with their own boring, uneventful lives.  Yet, I'm sure even superman Robert, himself, has been to a gas station where one pump has caution tags on it because it doesn't work properly, yet the other untagged pumps don't have such caution tags, and thus, miraculously work!!!  Could it be, that having gone through this myself, I assumed the untagged pumps to work properly?  Perhaps St. Robert can see an ounce of logic in that?  Knowing his type of person, I suspect he'll continue to disagree and convince himself that I am a moron for having thought that, but such is life.  

Now believe it or not, for a car that has a listed capacity (in my case of 17.5 gallons), it still takes up to a gallon extra before it physically begins to overflow, due to filling up emergency reserve tanks prior.  So after it actually began to overflow, my aloofness in texting a friend allowed it to continue to do so for nearly 1 gallon (which I wouldn't call a lake by any means, I wouldn't even call it gallons and gallons like our friend Robert has, I would simply call it one gallon).  Yet, even if I had the reflexes of a cat, and stopped the tank 0.1 gallons after it began to overflow, that 0.1 gallons for every single car that fills up at that Citgo adds up to major $$$.  Although each individual only takes a small economic hit, all those small hits add up to a lot of extra profits for the gas station.  If the owner didn't think so, he would put warning signs on EVERY SINGLE PUMP that had the overflow issue (sorry Robert, but it's true).

I'm to blame for being 3 feet away from the pump in my car seat, and thus the extra gallon of overflowing is a sunk cost that I'm entirely responsible for incurring.  But at least in my mind, and perhaps I'm an anomaly, I think the owner purposefully leaves 90% of the pumps untagged so that people overflow a bit.  It's true that the overflowed gas is a cost to himself, but the gas is priced so that he makes a profit on every drop of gas.  And although it's true that gas dripping on the ground is a hazard, pumps typically drop a couple drops anyway, and while that's not comparable to a gallon on the ground, which logically leads us to believe that it's not nearly as dangerous, the fact is if anyone dropped a match in any gas station pump, even one that didn't have a gallon pour on the ground, the place would go up in flames, and thus, any gas station in the world has the same relative hazards.  Furthermore, the gas attendant was probably more knowledgable on this subject than me, and if he (unlike me) believed an overflowing pump produces far greater hazards than a normally functioning one, THAT'S EVEN MORE REASON FOR HIM TO TAG EVERY SINGLE PUMP THAT HAD A MIS-FUNCTIONING LOCKING MECHANISM INSTEAD OF JUST ONE!!!  FOR THE SAKE OF HIS CUSTOMER'S SAFETY!!!

Now I wouldn't be surprised if Robert himself runs a gas station and thus personally gets irritated when people have complaints about them, due to his incessant responses to other gas station complaints that I've read prior to writing my post.  In my eyes, however, the bottom line is:  When a gas pump doesn't work properly, they should all be tagged, not just 1 out of 8.  That's just silly, that's why I believe the owner purposefully left other mis-functioning pumps untagged, and that's why I believe it was a scam.  Anyways sorry for such a wordy response, and Robert, I hope some day we can be good friends.  Have a nice day!

Never leave the pump unattended.

Never get back in the car while refueling (due to the buildup of static electricity).

Never use a cell phone while refueling. Someday this may become unlawful.

It is not intentional because the station owner would be putting himself, his employees and his business in danger due to the increased chance of fire by the accumulation of gas on the pavement.

this is the first time I've heard of one causing a pump to overflow a tank and run "gallons" of gas on the ground, creating a fire hazard and requiring a wash down.  



What a clever scam, I honestly, would NEVER have thought it.

Then it dawned on me:  this was all a scam......gas is so expensive that every person that goes there will have overflowed their car pump by at least a gallon,
- So just how deep was the lake of gas caused by gallons and gallons of gas overflowing out of all of the other gas tanks.

I mean hell, he could've at least said 'ALL PUMPS HAVE THIS PROBLEM' on the one tag that he did end up putting on one of his 8 pumps, but he didn't.
- Well he** you could have thought "Umm one pump has this problem, perhaps I should pay attention instead of texting my friend". 

By the way I can't speak for FL or that gas station, but every gas station I have ever gone to always has a warning about leaving the pump unattended.  And for it to overflow by 2 gallons you were not paying attention and did leave it unattended.