By Joe Yerardi and Yang Wang
Source: Chron.com
State inspectors have found hundreds of gas stations in the greater Houston area – 350 or more – that likely stiffed motorists because of poorly performing pumps.
Data from the Texas Department of Agriculture shows about one in five inspected stores or stations had least one pump, sometimes more, that failed to meet standards, according to analysis by the Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express-News. In the greater San Antonio area, 99 of 509 inspected stores were operating at least one malfunctioning pump.
The cost to consumers may be nominal, as little as 3 cents, or as much as $3 per fill-up – depending on the problems.
Last month, Majic Islam filed a complaint with the state about Love’s gas station on Patton Street near Interstate 45 in Houston after he noticed the pump always registered 30 cents before it started pumping. The store owner reimbursed him each time, but the problem persisted.
“Imagine they sell gas, thousands of gallons a day, that’s a lot,” Islam said.
Among the most common complaints from consumers to inspectors are incidents of “pump jumping,” when the pump starts charging before its starts dispensing. Indeed, a state inspector dispatched to Love’s found half the pumps had “pump jumping” problems and one pump shorted customers by 18 cubic inches for every 5 gallons they pumped.
Love’s spokesperson said they fixed the problems immediately.
John Keller, vice president of Petroleum Solutions, a company certified by the Department of Agriculture to perform repairs on defective pumps, said that as gasoline loses pressure over time, pockets of air enter the space before the dispenser’s nozzle. The longer a pump sits unused, the more likely it could affect a given quantity of fuel.
“It’s normal wear-and-tear maintenance,” Keller said.
Pumps are inspected at least once every four years. Inspections are also triggered when new pumps are activated, when a motorist complains about a pump and when a station fails to reapply for its permit in a timely manner.
Hundreds fail
The Chronicle reviewed complaints and records for the time between May 2011 and April 2012 for Harris and surrounding counties. The data showed 721 pumps measured short, 209 of which were short by more than 6 cubic inch per five gallons, and another 127 were short by more than 12 cubic inches per 5 gallons.
Records indicate that during inspections, 366 Houston-area pumps failed for pump jumping.
Another Houston customer, Bryan Stuart, complained that a Shell station on Washington Avenue near Studemont showed 19.8 gallons was pumped when his gas tank can hold only 19 gallons.
The same thing happened to loan officer David Fernandez when he pulled into a San Antonio Valero last December, estimating he had about half a gallon of fuel left.
“I have a 20-gallon tank so, realistically, I figure I probably should have put in 19-and-a-half,” he said.
Instead?
“I pumped in over 22 gallons.”
Fernandez filed a complaint with the Department of Agriculture. When inspectors showed up the next day, they failed 50 of the station’s 73 inspected pumps for potentially shortchanging motorists.
Bill Day, chief spokesman for Valero, disputed the inspectors’ findings, saying that inspectors dispatched by Valero that same day could not replicate the errors.
Inspectors also snag pumps that are calibrated improperly – providing less gasoline to the customer than indicated on the pump. When determining whether a pump is short of its measure, inspectors give station owners some room for error. A pump can be off by as many as 6 cubic inches per 5 gallons tested. There are about 231 cubic inches per gallon.
In Houston, about 10 percent of failed pumps were found to be off by more than double the allowed amount, and treated as a separate offense by inspectors.
Stations also are cited when at least 60 percent of their pumps are improperly calibrated. Such pumps are tagged as “improperly maintained” and account for half of the area’s motorist-shorting pumps.
Attorney general suit
In the end, though, the errors have the same result: charging consumers for gas they never got.
Timewise, a convenience store chain and gasoline wholesaler, has had three of its Houston-area stations cited for more than 20 violations.
“If the pump miscalibrated, it would be either your favor or my favor,” said Keith VanMarter, who’s in charge of fuel sales at Timewise.
The office of Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has responsibility for suing gas station owners who intentionally defraud motorists. Over the past five years, the Attorney General’s Office has filed one such lawsuit.
That case followed inspections of Sunmart gas stations in July 2008. The investigation revealed that 58 percent of the company’s Texas gas pumps were shortchanging customers.
The Attorney General’s Office sued Sunmart’s owner, Petroleum Wholesale LP, and a Harris County jury ordered the company to pay $30 million in restitution to customers, penalties and fees to the state. The verdict was later thrown out on a procedural issue. Court records indicate the case is on appeal.
At least 900 Houston-area customers complained to the state during the one-year period. Stuart, the man who stopped at the Shell station near Washington and Studemont, was one of them, prompted by his surprise the day his Jeep Grand Cherokee took nearly 20 gallons of gas.
“The station told me I put more gas than my tank holds, and knowing I already had fuel in my tank, there’s no way that’s possible,” he said.
The station corrected the problem after a complaint prompted a state inspection.
San Antonio public school teacher Sylvia Robinson also complained to the state after filling up at a San Antonio station in March. She said she lifted her pump’s release and was charged 34 cents before she had time to put gas into her Mini Cooper.
An inspection two days after she complained indicated one of the pumps was pump jumping, though inspectors did not record by how much.
“We all expect to get what we pay for. … At least I do,” Robinson said.