Gas Station report - their clock 20 minutes off?

Trying to report a gas station shop I did today, and I noticed that the receipt says I bought gas at 3:03 PM but I didn't even arrive at the gas station until 3:20 PM! I wrote the help desk, but got an auto-reply that they'll take
24 hours to reply! I've read through the whole report, and good grief, there's no place for a narrative to explain this discrepancy. I know if they check their tapes for MY times, I won't show up. But I feel like it's lying to use their time, when I know it's off by 20 minutes. Any suggestions?

Also, I was to note if "Clear Gas" was sold at any pump. What is "Clear Gas"? Is it just regular gas, without ethanol, or is a special gas, like the racing gas and all those other specialty things? The paperwork SEEMS
to imply it's just gas, but I'm just not sure. When I'm at a gas station for gas, I always just look at the price
and get the cheapest (I know, I'm a ninny). I don't think I've ever seen a label that actually says "Clear Gas",
even when I'm shopping gas stations. I got it covered, whatever the answer is, because I got photos of
each and every pump.

Thanks for any help. I would hate it if they "poof" the shop because of not meeting the deadline, because it was a long drive, and I did the work, and it was heavily bonused!

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Yes, clear gas is gas without ethanol. I frequently have receipt times that are wrong for this gas brand and others, and this company does not require an explanation. I have asked the help desk about this, and they said they go by the reported times, not the times on the receipt for this client. Maritz, on the other hand, will put the report on hold if the receipt times are incorrect, so it needs to be explained in the comments box on their reports. Many stations don't bother to set their clocks at all, and sometimes they are off by several hours.

I sometimes put the "erroneous" receipt on a piece of white paper and write an explanation new to it. I then scan the entire thing (receipt and explanation) and submit the entire thing as my receipt. This is a "generic" answer for me. In the case of Maritz, I just submit the receipt itself, and write an explanation in the comment box at the very end of the report. I have learned with them that anything unusual. should get a mention in that comment box, no matter what it is. BTW, I had no idea what clear gas was.

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

Receipts will have wrong city, address, date and time. Stores will borrow registers from other locations owned by the same franchise and not reprogram them.

Always report the receipt location, date or time that is not correct when first submitting the shop. If it comes back as an editor question, you are likely to not be believed when you say the receipt was wrong. By not reporting this the first time, you failed as a shopper by not noticing the problem with the receipt. There is one large company that is very picky about the receipt and if ANYTHING is off on the receipt from the guidelines, you are going to have an invalidated shop if you don't report the receipt problem.

@scanman1 wrote:

Receipts will have wrong city, address, date and time. Stores will borrow registers from other locations owned by the same franchise and not reprogram them.

Always report the receipt location, date or time that is not correct when first submitting the shop. If it comes back as an editor question, you are likely to not be believed when you say the receipt was wrong. By not reporting this the first time, you failed as a shopper by not noticing the problem with the receipt. There is one large company that is very picky about the receipt and if ANYTHING is off on the receipt from the guidelines, you are going to have an invalidated shop if you don't report the receipt problem.

No, no, no! Immediately I noticed the discrepancy, I halted the report and e-mailed the help desk! Because there is no place in the report to explain the difference.

I do like the above idea about scanning the receipt with the note on a white background.

I bought gas first; the receipt is off by 20 minutes. Then I made my inside purchase, and that receipt is
also off by 20 minutes, so at least they are both "wrong the same", LOL!

@ceasesmith wrote:

...

I bought gas first; the receipt is off by 20 minutes. Then I made my inside purchase, and that receipt is
also off by 20 minutes, so at least they are both "wrong the same", LOL!

Yuck, I think that makes it worse... I'd definitely try to get something submitted with the report that acknowledges the difference in your time and the station's, whether you get a response from the HelpDesk or not. I agree with Myst on the idea of scanning a note in with the receipt noting the wrong times on both the station's receipts. Good luck! Let us know how it goes.

Shopper in California's Bay Area

Just got a reply from help desk. They didn't answer a single one of my questions, just said submit report or it will be cancelled. I followed the above suggestion about the note on the white background. I also sent another message to help desk with the supplementary information there was no place for on the report. Egad.

I always check the time on my cell phone, and then I know it is absolutely correct. It is so annoying when a receipt has an incorrect time, and then there are the different instructions with each company in regard to handling it.

When the receipts have incorrect times, I have never had both receipts with the exact incorrect times, but I'm sort of a newbie.

To define "clear gas" for yourself, go to Google, type in "What is Clear Gas?". Lots of articles will come up about this or any other subject, and the researcher can get a very good idea of the answer.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/10/2015 08:17AM by HiCue.

If a station sells clear gas, they will generally display this fact prominently with signs saying "ethanol free," no ethanol," or "100% gasoline." If you don't see this signage, just assume it's the regular type of gasoline. Most gasoline sold in the U.S. has up to 10 percent ethanol (although it may be different in your state.) Technically, this mixture is E-10, which is another one of the options on the form. I never select E-10 on the form, even if that is what the station technically sells. It just creates more headaches when entering the data. I have never had complaints from the MSC. I have yet to see a pumps specifically labeled as E-10 where I shop; usually they just have labels saying it may contain up to 10 percent ethanol. I have done some stations where the previous auditor did select E-10, and the form alerts me to this, in which case I just go along and change my answers to say E-10 was present. In one case, the form alerted me that the previous auditor selected clear gas. I had to put in the explanation box that all pumps were labeled as having 10 percent ethanol.

Yes, I had to ask if 'E-10' was the stuff labeled "up to 10% ethanol". Here in Nebraska, at least at the stations I've shopped, 91 Octane is no ethanol, and all the rest are "up to 10% ethanol". I've never seen a label with
E-10.

Thanks for all the helpful info. I just hope it gets accepted.

Huh. Just got a "shop approved" e-mail. Never got one of those before! To the effect they have added the additional info to the "file" in case the client has questions. And thanking me for the supplemental info...way to go, MSC!

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Gas Station report - their clock 20 minutes off?

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