Avoid Las Vegas New Mexico

cholladay · #1 12-07-2010, 12:02 PM

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

Mike S · #2 12-07-2010, 12:04 PM

Ouch.

You can call your credit card co., and dispute the charge.

cholladay · #3 12-07-2010, 12:23 PM

I thought about that. I will call them and talk to them about it.

Mike S · #4 12-07-2010, 12:30 PM

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,

Bavafa · #5 12-07-2010, 12:46 PM

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

Sig600 · #6 12-07-2010, 02:10 PM

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.

9GT · #7 12-07-2010, 02:18 PM

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.

allbee · #8 12-07-2010, 02:22 PM

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.

Sig600 · #9 12-07-2010, 02:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 9GT

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.

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.

Jerry Cochran · #10 12-07-2010, 02:31 PM

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...