What's new
Van's Air Force

Don't miss anything! Register now for full access to the definitive RV support community.

Avoid Las Vegas New Mexico

C

cholladay

Well Known Member
Flying From Grand Junction Co. to Texas I had to make an unscheduled stop for my passenger. Closest airport was Las Vegas NM. I make it a rule to never pass up gas and even though it was more expensive than at my destination I filled up. I gave the guy the card and signed the receipt not paying attention when he told me the amount. Back at my plane I looked at my receipt and it indicated he put 26.7 gallons in. Shocked of the amount, I fired up my AFS and sure enough the computer indicated 18 gallons used. I checked the fuel drains and both were not leaking and never have. In 3 years the fuel computer has never been wrong. I explained the mistake to the attendant and he blamed me stating my tanks were not full when I left Grand Junction. They were most definitely full. I did a complete preflight as most do when they will be flying over the mountains. To burn 26.7 gallons in 1.75hrs I would have been burning over 15.5 gallons/hour. At 13,500ft in a fuel injected 0-360, I do not think it is even possible. After explaining this to him he remained convinced that I was trying to rip him off. I bet the person who filled up before me got exactly the amount of fuel that I wrongly paid for. In Las Vegas NM the customer is never right and the airport manager will not return my phone call:mad:
 
Dont be surprised if they will not cancel only a part of the charge, but insist on canceling it all. They will tell you to have the vendor re-submit a corrected charge.

Then, this puts the monkey on the back of the airport manager to contact you, and settle on an agreed charge.

Been there and done that time, but not avgas.

Good luck,
 
I suffer from the same syndrome as you?.not checking the amount on the receipt and trusting them to be correct.

This has happened to me twice so far but each time they agreed they made the mistake. The interesting part is that they never make the mistake to my benefit, only theirs. Last time they were charging me for more fuel then my tanks hold?so it was an easy dispute :)
 
I would think if need be you could recontruct your last refueling, with data from your engine monitor to prove your point. But the faster method is probably to just call your credit card.
 
I would also file a complaint with that states Department of Weights and Measures and file an official complaint requesting an investigation,,,,,,then follow up on it so they don't blow you off.
 
I had the same thing this last weekend at CDA airport idaho. It was throwing a bunch of air when fueling. I to found that I put in an extra 1.5 gallons of fuel, my Dynon is always within .3 gal on fill up. I vowed to just go somewhere else. The next fill up was at St. maries and it was right on.
 
9GT said:
I would also file a complaint with that states Department of Weights and Measures and file an official complaint requesting an investigation,,,,,,then follow up on it so they don't blow you off.
Click to expand...

This is great advice, can't believe I didn't think of it. I was a refueling monkey years ago and the managers were always terrified when they came out to validate our equipment. They could get HUGE fines if it was found to be off by even a little.
 
Trust but verify

I like to stand next to the plane when being fueled just to verify 100LL not JetA is being put in and also to verify pump reading. And more so now that I've read this...
 
Mistakes are made

Signing a fuel bill I noticed about 5 gallons less than expected. Then I notice the tail number on the bill was not mine. They said the other guy must have paid my bill and let me pay the lesser amount. Another time I ordered only 20 gallons of fuel. Couple of days later paid the bill and tie down. After starting and taxiing across the ramp I noticed the Bonanza's fuel gauges not where they should be. Turned out they gassed someone else's plane. It just goes to show there are all kinds of things that can happen.
 
a reputation....

This same thing happened to my Dad at KLVS awhile back.

They tried to charge him for about 60 gal of fuel for his rented C-177.

I don't think its a coincident sorry to say...:(

Dave
-9A flying
 
not in a RV but...

just this past Saturday, we ordered 100 gal. Jet A in company plane and they put in 300 gal. Thankfully we had several hours of layover as maintenance had to come defuel 200 gal. We would have been way over weight on T.O. and on the next landing. Gotta watch 'em.
 
reueling

Having spent some considerable time refueling corporate aircraft, I never ask for a fill-up. I know how much my tanks will hold and that's what I ask for. Solves many problems.................
 
years ago i was self fueling at spruce creek when something didn't feel right. well all that was coming out of the hose was air and the dial was spinning. they credited my card and i had to go somewhere else. you never know.

i would call the credit card company for sure. keep us posted.
 
Down load the data logs for the last 2 hours and you will be able to verify that you set the fuel computer at your last stop and your fuel burn.


Call me if you need help...

Rob Hickman
Advanced Flight Systems Inc.
 
Hind Sight is 20/20

Well,

It is, Hind Sight is 20/20.

I have the andair locking fuel caps, so I always fuel myself, usually I'll look to be sure the fuel meter is "Zero'd out" but we all make mistakes and overlook things.

I've fueled up at KLVS several times flying back and forth to KSDL and I've never had any problems. I have pictues of a rattle snake on the runway, cool, but not at the truck!

Rob might have the best solution, but really, you took on fuel, you're safe,, little foul, but really no harm. I took on fuel at Sedona, KSEZ and filled it up, paid over $7.50 a gallon,, I'm very happy that I had the fuel and the FBO had my money!!

Best to all.

Kenny Gene
294TC RV7a AWC 9-5-07 602 hrs
484TC RV10 AWC 10-30-10 2.5 hrs
 
yow, some of you guys are easier to get along with

than i am. paying 7.50 a gallon for gasoline would make me grumpy under the best of circumstances. any business ought to be careful when it's charging its customers, and should be just as finicky about an error one way as another. errors to their benefit ultimately serve to discourage customers from coming back, and result in posts just like this one: "Avoid Las Vegas, NM!" i bet i am not alone in deciding that i will do just that.
 
What GrayHawk said: use self-serve. You will know what (fuel type) you got, where it went, how much went into the tanks, and what it (should) cost. If there's no self-serve, I will stand there and assure myself that I'm getting what I pay for in all of the above categories.

greg
 
GrayHawk said:
Just another reason why I like SelfServe.
Click to expand...

I had the same issue on my way home from AirVenture last year. I filled up and watched the fill up. It agreed with my fuel totalizator. I reached my home field and filled up at the Self Serve. I took 10 gallons more than my totalizator said I should. I do not believe the pump and spoke with my friend the fuel manager. (Yes he is a friend of mine.) There is a possibility that the other aircraft fueling at the other pump created some kind of interference and I paid for some of his fuel. I just paid the bill when it came from my credit card company.

That one fill up was the largest fuel totalizator error that I have seen in 13-years and yes I do have written records of the fuel going into my airplane. It was not worth losing a friend to save the money.

I have stopped at Las Vegas NM several times for fuel. I typically route where AirNav tells me the less expensive fuel is. I do not mind paying 5 or 10 cents a gallon more but when there are $1 or more a difference per gallon, I route to save the $20 or more on a fill up.
 
N401RH said:
Down load the data logs for the last 2 hours and you will be able to verify that you set the fuel computer at your last stop and your fuel burn.


Call me if you need help...

Rob Hickman
Advanced Flight Systems Inc.
Click to expand...
Rob
You have the unit at your place for up grade. After I got the two 4500s for the RV10 I couldn't resist and had to up grade the one for the RV-8. It was the first leg of the flight on 11/27/2010
 
lcnmrv8r said:
Another thing to watch out for is the fuel in the hose. If you start pumping and get nothing then the hose has to fill first. I have seen where the hose was empty the first fill up of the day a few times and it was found that a line guy was coming out after hours and taking the fuel from the hose. Was about 6 gallons each time then the first guy to get fuel got shorted.

I was actually guilty of this once myself. I was getting fuel at a self serve and the pump quit but fuel kept coming. So I added a little more. A friend of mine was behind me and he got shorted about 3 gallons. He still complains about it.

Another thing to watch for.
Click to expand...

Went out to check the truck before I left and it was leaking very badly. I wonder if it had leaked all the gas out of the pump and hose prior to me filling up.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top