Gas Station Shop - I want your input

I had a gas station shop today and the gas station was out of 91 octane gas entirely. Since my vehicle requires 91 octane gas I complete the store purchase and left without purchasing gas. Do you think my shop will be rejected? I emailed the MSC, but I just want your opinion. On a side note, the other gas station shop I had today was not selling fuel due to environmental testing so I had to pay gas out of pocket today. Bummer!

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Was a store purchase required? I do many gas stations, for many MSC's. I know that some of them have a gas purchase as optional, as long as you have a store receipt. Some of them will reject the shop if you do not purchase fuel. I guess it would help to know the MSC.

Vehicle requirements are guidelines more than they are requirements. Obviously a higher octane gas would have been fine (if 93 was available). A lower octane will not "hurt" your car, it just won't perform as well and 2 gallons or $5 or $3 or whatever the requirements were for your particular shop wouldn't even be noticeable to the car (and definitely not noticeable to you).

There are reasons that a body stays in motion
At the moment only demons come to mind

If gas purchasing was required, you will not likely get paid. You should have bought gas for someone else, then, is what they'll say.

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Seriously, nobody cares that you're offended.

One of my cars is a convertible sports car that requires premium. I've had to fill it's tank several times with regular when higher octane was not available. CRAPPY GAS MILEAGE but otherwise couldn't tell the difference.

There are reasons that a body stays in motion
At the moment only demons come to mind

When this happened to me a few times, I bit the bullet and bought a couple dollars of regular gas. I figured if they had gas, I needed a gas receipt. I don't think a few gallons of regular will hurt my car. The attendants (I'm in NJ) have also messed up many times and pumped regular gas into my vehicle when I clearly requested Premium. That does not make me a happy shopper, but it has happened numerous times. I don't know if your shop will be accepted without a gas purchase, but you can try explaining and see how they take it. I never wanted to take the chance. If I have a station where the pumps are completely blocked off with no gas, I take photos to show the closed pumps and just make the store purchase, if there's a store.

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The more I learn about people...the more I like my dog..

Mark Twain

Several of the gas station shops that I do specifically want to test the operation of the credit card processing machine at the pump (and whether it produces a receipt). If that was the case with yours today, then I fear that you omitted large portions of the shop since gas was available. If gas is not available (I had one of those a few weeks ago when a construction crew cut the electric line), that is another story and I have been paid after explaining the issue and taking photographs. Unless the shop is one where you have to time to the second how long it takes to dispense 2 gallons of gas, I have been told that there is actually not a minimum amount that I have to purchase (Green and White; Red, White, and Blue; and Yellow brands). I worked for a division of one of the very large oil companies and I assure you that using a lower octane gas will not harm your car. It MIGHT run a little rough and have worse mileage, but you could always dilute it at the next stop with 93 octane or just more 91 octane. Your engine would be fine.

Shopping Southeast Pennsylvania, Delaware above the canal, and South Jersey since 2008

If a gas purchase was required, and you were worried about not getting the shop done, I would have bought gas for somebody else. I have done that when my tank was full.
I have always had a luxury car that required premium, but I also doubt that 2 gallons or $5 (less than 2 gallons in CA) would have done anything to my vehicles.

I know the gas shop I did said, "If you have E85 gas or Diesel needed for your car and this location does not sell this type of gas, you must not complete the shop." I think it would be fair if they would let you know what kinds of gas this shop accepts, or if you could call the gas station prior to the shop and ask what kind of gas they carry.

You could always bring a little portable gas tank for your lawnmower, or whatnot.

I would have called my scheduler right away while on site to explain the situation and see how they want me to proceed. Different MSCs and different clients have different ways of handling these types of situations. There are no blanket right or wrong answers when it comes to gas stations.

Interesting. All the ones I do require that you have a car that uses gasoline. A diesel car is not acceptable. I have never heard of a car which requires E85 gas, but anything is possible.

@SunnyDays2 wrote:

I know the gas shop I did said, "If you have E85 gas or Diesel needed for your car and this location does not sell this type of gas, you must not complete the shop." I think it would be fair if they would let you know what kinds of gas this shop accepts, or if you could call the gas station prior to the shop and ask what kind of gas they carry.

Shopping Southeast Pennsylvania, Delaware above the canal, and South Jersey since 2008

My car was blocked by another car so I had to take my boyfriend's car to avoid missing the shop. I guess I'm just greedy because I didn't want to purchase gas for a stranger and the bf's car requires 91 so I just risked it getting rejected or I'm hoping they'll send me back. I didn't contact the MSC since it was 10 PM their time and I knew I couldn't reach anyone. I am still waiting to see if they approve it.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/06/2016 06:09PM by Nataliekorn.

I've had shops where both a gas purchase and store purchase were required. On one, the pumps were down and the cash register wasn't working due to a power outage like @myst4au experienced. I was paid the fee for that one, but no reimbursement (obviously) since I couldn't buy anything. On another one, the pumps were operating but the c-store was closed (weirdly at 3pm on a Saturday afternoon). I pumped gas and got a receipt, took a photo of the closed store and got paid the fee and the reimbursement for my gas. Never had an experience where I could buy stuff at the store, but no gas. Good luck! let us know what they say.

Shopper in California's Bay Area

Caligirl...it actually happened to me twice yesterday. The other gas station shop I did yesterday all the fuel pumps were down for environmental testing. I was only able to buy something inside and couldn't get any gas. Now this gas station didn't have the type of gas I needed. So weird how these happened back to back.

I just got feedback on the shop and it will be paid. Thanks for your input everyone!

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