When Naina (name changed on request), a 30 -year-old techie went to fill petrol at a Indian Oil petrol bunk in Hyderabad's Madhapur area at around 7 pm on Monday, little did she realize that she would have to spend more time at the bunk than expected.
She asked the attender to fill petrol for Rs 200 but she noticed the meter stop at Rs 50. When confronted, the attender claimed that he had misheard her and insisted that he will continue from Rs 50 and the amount of petrol would be the same.
Suspecting that the man had not filled petrol worth Rs 50, Naina demanded that the petrol be filled from zero and followed it up with a heated argument.
She then asked for a bill, stating the full amount and registered a complaint note about the incident before leaving the place.
She also lodged a complaint with against the dealer with the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC). “I am glad that I got response from them, asking for more details," she adds.
Taking to Facebook to talk about the incident, she posted the receipt and the complaint copy of the note and wrote:
“These acts happen, as the owners aren't scared of punishment as they know that there won't be any action from higher authorities. The bunk dealers advice us to ensure the display start form zero and that's what they put up on boards on bunks too, but they can't advice or punish their employees about being honesty.(sic)”
However Naina is not the only victim. There are many similar situations where Hyderabad residents felt cheated at petrol bunks.
Harish Ganeshan, a 25-year- old resident from Manikonda also faced a similar situation at a bunk in Tolichowki.
Harish explains, ''I regularly used to fill petrol at this bunk in Tolichowki and realized that my bike was suddenly giving very less mileage. I decided to check out what the problem was and when I visited that petrol station again, I noticed some irregularity. On being questioned, the employees started arguing with me and I just left it at that.''
Harish came to know later that many others had also been victims to this fraud at the same petrol bunk. "There are many other petrol bunks doing this to unassuming customers," he adds.
A similar situation happened with a JG Ravi, a 55-year-old businessman who resides in Himayatnagar.
"Having used vehicles for very long, we generally have an estimation of how far the petrol indicator will go after filling for a particular amount and I constantly noticed that my estimation was going wrong. Also, petrol bunks in general tell you to observe the ‘0’ before filling the tank but some people start filling even before you are ready," he says.
He adds that after a series of such experiences, he gave up going to a particular petrol bunk. “Confrontation is also of no help there as these people just have no respect for customers,” he said.