The cost of filling up

[Xenos]

Theway gas pricing works is such BS. I live in Abbotsford, about 60km from Vancouver. We are not part of the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD) and are not serviced by Translink or any other GVRD based services. The GVRD are taxed 7% for Translink costs among other GVRD road costs. We have, at this point, no additional taxes for roads or transit and yet, I see our gas prices half the time are either matched to Vancouver prices or HIGHER!!! Yet we don't seem to get any of that tax back to put into road maintenance...

It also amazes me how you can drive past a gas station and it's posted at $.997 per liter tehn you drive past again 15 minutes later and it's $1.089 per litre THEN you drive by later that afternoon and it's $1.043 per liter. It's ridiculous.

Here in BC we have prepay before fuelling because some jackass dragged a kid to his death a few yrs stealing $10 of gas because the owner of the station had threatened his employees that they would have to pay for gas runs, ILLEGAL, stupid prick. Anyway, with fluctuations, in a larger vehicle, you don't know if a tank is going to $100 OR $120... It needs to be regulated in one form or another.

[Michaelaw]

Well I kicked of round one this morning by phoning my preferred gas supplier Chevron Canada. Before talking to a representative of the company, I was informed by a machine that my call could be monitored or recorded...OK. I was patched through to a girl who asked my name right off the bat, I gave her my name to which she responded, "could you spell your last name for me?" I replied "No, that's not important!" I then proceeded to ask why gas prices are raised and lowered between between four and five cents a liter between sun up and sun down. I was asked which gas station I was referring to, to which I replied "All of them....Every single station in the GVRD!" "Sir that has nothing to do with us...We do not set the pricing, that is up to the individual retailer" Funny...I have spoken with many chevron station owners with regards to this problem and they all tell me the same thing, they are told by Chevron Canada what the price of gas will be! One of the two groups is telling fibs! I asked the girl how is was that all the gas stations put their prices up in the morning to exactly the same amounts, was she suggesting some owners network where they all met at midnight to decide on the next days pricing? She claimed to have no idea but stated once again that it had nothing to do with head office. I informed her that the owners of the stations had told me the opposite, that in fact it was Chevron that dictated the prices. She assured me that was simply not the case. "Well clearly one of you is lying" I said, "And I fully intend to find out if it's you or them!" So now it's back onto the street to ask the owners what they think about my conversation with the mothership!

[Greg_Nuspel]

So she was saying the independent station owners are guilty of price fixing?

[Mad Aussie]

Maybe it you Michael who should have been doing the recording?

[Michaelaw]

Update....So in the time passed since my last post on this issue, I and other associates of mine have spent time filling up and asking store managers and employees "Who sets the price at the pump?" Across the board the answer has been the same....Chevron head office sets the price. One guy even pulled out his pager for me and showed me the price update data!

This morning it was back to Chevron head office. I was greeted again with "Hello Chevron Canada this is so and so, may I please have your full name?" "It doesn't really matter what my name is does it?" I retort. "No sir...Fine" I begin to ask once again who sets the price at the pump, Chevron or the local retailers. The girl I was speaking to claimed not to know, said it was an interesting question and one she'd not heard before. Could she put me on hold while she looked up the answer? I was on hold with horrible music for nine minutes. When she returned I was informed that "Technical support people" did all the pricing. Fine I'm thinking, at least we have admitted it comes from the mother ship! I then asked why the disparity between day and evening prices. I was placed on hold again while she looked this up...This time for sixteen minutes. Another woman came on the line, this time barely audible "Can you turn yourself up?" I asked "yes" "You were inquiring about the difference in pricing between day and evening pricing?" "Yes" "I will put you through to our retail pricing department" Again on hold though just for a moment. Another woman came on the line and said she couldn't here me. I literally started to yell into the phone "CAN YOU HERE ME NOW?" That issue semi resolved, I began to ask about the pricing difference between night and day fuel pricing but in the end this person couldn't help as she only handled commercial pricing and not retail....I was sent back to square one where I started my question again and asked to be connected with the retail pricing department. I was placed on hold for close to ten minutes before a machine picked up saying " please key in your code now and we will get back to you as soon as possible" I have no option left but to hang up! After spending half an hour on the phone with a simple question I got the distinct impression I was railroaded into nowhere land and that those crafty women are all sitting in a cafeteria in the bowels of the building having a good old laugh! I'm going back into the maze later today But this time I'm going with option 1 in the initial Chevron greeting. "Welcome to Chevron Canada....If you wish to report an emergency, please press 1"

[Iguanasan]

Interesting. In Nova Scotia we are under price regulation so the price is set by the provincial government. It's not really much better but at least it's stable for a week.

With regards to the phone shuffling. Never attribute to malice that which can otherwise be attributed to incompetence.

[Michaelaw]

With regards to the phone shuffling. Never attribute to malice that which can otherwise be attributed to incompetence.

"Perception is reality"....I was Railroaded!!!

PS...Funny part here I forgot to mention is that the station owners want to know the reason for the price fluctuation too. If they can't get an answer, what are my chances?