Complaint Review: shell gas station - statesville North Carolina

maybe not. I know that once either one of my tanks reaches 600 gallons I shut them off from the inside. If I run out of reg I am unable to sell reg or midgrade because midgrade is a mix of reg and premium. I use to run out often. so I only had premium gas. if the delivery was close i would only sell premium. if not I'd change prem price to reg. I wouldnt go pumping one of the other grades of gas unless you are certain they are just pretending to be out. there is a reason i shut mine off at 600 gallons. even though there are filters for the gas there is a lot of sediment on the bottom of the tanks and we dont want that getting into cars. no one is forcing you to buy prem. you know what they do, go somewhere else. simple.

I know exactly how gas stations do that. In Texas, many of the stations do that exact same thing. I befriended an employee there, and he told me that they just put up the tape on the 87 and 89 to make people buy the 93. He said all you have to do is push the other two buttons and it will dispense. So, I completely belive that they are doing the same thing where you live

If Shell is out of "regular" and you don't wanna pay for mid or high test then just go to another fuel station. there is a local Marathon station everytime i go in it the gentleman working there has an "attitude." So I quit going there now i admit i drive farther but I don't deal with him anymore.  

It's still premature for you to think this gas station is lying about running out of gas.

You said that the owner also owns one "across the bridge".  It could be possible that the location is such that it costs more to run.  You didn't even mention if it was a different brand of gas or not. 

You said that the other station never runs out of gas.  But you also said that they close the station at 10PM at night.  Perhaps that is why they don't run out of gas.

There are just too many variables to prove what you are saying yet.  If you truly think that they are lying then the next time this gas station is "out of gas", stay there all night and see if they take off the signs before a truck comes.  Then be sure to post what you found here.

But as has been suggested before.  If you don't like what you have to pay there, don't let your gas level get into a situation where you MUST use them when every other station is closed.

the owner of the shell station also ownes a gas station across the bridge from this one , he sells gas there 10 cents cheaper, and also supplies gas to the auto auction next door and they never run out of regular gas, and he closes this station at 10 at night to force you to use the other station with the high priced gas

I pulled into a shell with signs on the pumps saying "sorry premium only". Well as others were driving off, i just pulled up and hit the midgrade button.  I pumped my gas, and paid the midgrade price.

Sounds like they were trying to gouge travelers.

Unless you have actually sat at the gas station all night and verified that no fuel truck came to refill the tanks your claims are premature.

Also, just because you get charged more doesn't mean that the gas station makes any more off of the higher grades than it does for regular gas so there is probably no incentive for them to do this.

But there is an easy way to fix this situation.  Get your gas at a different time when they are not out of "regular", or other gas stations are open. 

I can't say for sure that this is a ripoff.  On the surface it sounds like it could a ripoff, but is also possible that they are out of these octanes and that sometime during the night the pumps are refueled.  You don't fill up everyday, and it is possible that since this is the only station in the area that they are quite busy.

Be that as it may, there is a simple solution to this problem.  Plan ahead.  Never let your tank go below half, and fill up after 7:00 am.  Then you shouldn't have a problem.

They are really out of the regular unleaded and other grade until the truck comes by in the middle of the night and refills the tanks.

About the only way you can prove this is to sit in front of that station all night and see if a fuel truck comes by and fills the tank.

Since the price is lower it is possible that people would tend to buy the lower cost gasoline meaning that all they have is the premium.