Cespa petrol station outside Amacao De Pera

[alf1956]

We were travelling back to Carvoeiro from Almancil yesterday&called into the Cespa petrol station on the road out of Armacao De Pera towards the roundabout that joins up with the N125 at Porsches. We put €10 of diesel in our hire car&as we drove along we noticed that the fuel gauge had not moved&the fuel warning light was still on but as we did not get a receipt&our Portuguese is very limited decided to go along&see if it was maybe a sticky gauge or something. After few more miles the fuel warning light was on permanantly indicating we were running on fumes so we called into the Cespa petrol station that we usually use on the in\out road to Carvoeiro&low&behold we put the same €10 in&the gauge went up 2 sections on the gauge which just verified that at the other petrol station we had been fiddled! Nothing much we can do it about it now but we thought we would post this just to make other people aware.

[joeysoap]

drive it until you think you are driving on fumes again. Put in €10 and see if it jumps up 2 sections this time. 2 sections from empty seem a big jump for €10, my guess is a faulty guage.

[smudger]

Calibration of fuel gauges? Gauge should be taken as a rough indication of fuel level in tank. For every litre pumped into tank doesn't equate to an identical movement of the gauge indicator. Needle indicators better than electronic bar indicators in my opinion. But how often have you switched off engine then started up later on and the needle on the gauge below where it was when you stopped! Gauge indication changes when tank near empty or nearly full don't really show up when small quantities added to fuel tank.

[alf1956]

The hire car has a small tank as its diesel&very economical, we put €10 euros in when we picked it up from the airport&the guage went to more or less the same place as it went to when we put the same amount of €10 plus the €10 took us from Faro to Carvoeiro&a few extra bits of running around but the alleged €10 from Armacao lasted about 3 miles ! A definet case of being ripped off !

[joeysoap]

The hire car has a small tank as its diesel&very economical, we put €10 euros in when we picked it up from the airport&the guage went to more or less the same place as it went to when we put the same amount of €10...... A definet case of being ripped off !

When you picked it up from the airport was it also driving on fumes..... what does the rental agreement show? if there was fuel in it when you picked it up and you put in €10 then it could quite easily have gone up 2 sections and you could quite easily have gotten loads of miles of out it. Not defending the garage, never used them but still have my doubts...... when you put in the €10 did you notice the litres reading also move or was it static when the euro amount changed? My money is still on a faulty guage.

[alf1956]

Picked it up from the airport on empty. put €10 euros in the car&the gauge went to the same place on the fuel gauge as when i put €10 in at Carvoeiro if the gauge was faulty it would not have gone to the same place on the gauge as it did when i put €10 from the airport. Defo a problem at the pumps at the petrol station at Armacao without a doubt.

[smudger]

I have noticed some petrol pumps in Portugal have stickers from the government (?) agency equivalent to the UK weights and measures authority with the date when the pump was tested. Why not report the petrol station via the UK ECC website? It's a European Complaints system run by the UK Trading Standards Institute. They will pass complaint to their counterparts in Portugal to investigate.

[alf1956]

I might just do that as luckily we only put a small amount on €10 (or we thought we did) so its not about the money side of it more about the fact that either the petrol station are deliberately ripping people off or there is a fault on the pump itself.

[steve]

I have used this garage about once a month for some 6 years and never experienced any problems. I seriously doubt that anyone was trying to rip you off. Possibly the pump had not properly zeroed when you used it and in fact you added to what had been previously taken rather than putting a fresh 10 euros worth in. €10 will buy you just under 8 litres of diesel at current prices. Not a lot but the car's gauge should have shown some movement with this amount.

[alf1956]

Whichever way you look at it we paid for €10 of fuel&did not get it. The €10 euros we put in at the Carvoeiro petrol station has served us well&there will still be enough fuel in to get us to Faro airport tomorrow.

[pato]

Whichever way you look at it we paid for €10 of fuel&did not get it. The €10 euros we put in at the Carvoeiro petrol station has served us well&there will still be enough fuel in to get us to Faro airport tomorrow.

10 euros does the running around and then gets you to Faro? I can't believe it, why hire a car if that's all the mileage you're doing?

[alf1956]

Been ill all week my friend so the trips have been very very minimal.

[Geriatric]

This Cepsa station is reliable and before vilifying them you should have gone back and discussed your problem.
They issue receipts without any request and you should have taken one.
A nearly empty tank may not register the small quantity of fuel you purchased for several miles until the float sensor is jerked into action.
I do not believe that this Cepsa station ripped you off.

[alf1956]

We never take receipts as we have no need for them although in this case it would have been a good idea for taking one. We didn't go back as we thought we would have had a problem in explaining the problem as our Portuguese is very limited. Regarding the registration of the small amount of fuel put into the tank , the other 2 occasions that we put the same small amount in the gauge registered straight away. I thought it would be a good idea to post it just in case there was something dodgy going off so as to warn other people. The end result whichever way you look at it was that we paid €10 for fuel that obviously did not go into our tank.

[laserblazer]

We never take receipts as we have no need for them

Unless your friendly, neighbourhood GNR officer asks to see them?