Gas Station Owner Caught Scamming Customers With Changing Prices Ordered To Pay $17,500 Fine

Despite the modern economy being built on scams and the scammers not even being shy about it anymore, false advertising is, believe it or not, still against the law in America. And as much as I'd like to report that it is Silicon Valley, Wall Street, or Big Pharma that has finally received their comeuppance, it is instead a shady gas station owner in Ocean County, New Jersey, who is learning a lesson the hard way. Baby steps, right?

Rajinder Chandi, who owns three gas stations, is being slapped with a $17,500 fine after customers were charged more for fuel at the pump than his stations advertise on those big signs visible from the road. Going forward, the prices on the pump screens must match the ones displayed in big numbers on the sign, and any pump repairs can only be done by "certified vendors," according to News 12.

Even without gas station operators sneakily working in their own premiums, fuel prices have been skyrocketing. At the moment I'm writing this, the national average for a gallon of regular costs $4.37, according to AAA. Some drivers are putting regular gas into their cars that call for premium, manufacturer recommendations be damned. Anything to save a dollar at the pump. 

Chandi owns a Delta gas station and a Sunoco gas station in Toms River, New Jersey, plus another Delta in Lakehurst. After three customers complained about the bait-and-switch prices, the county's Office of Weights and Measures looked into it and apparently discovered that lying about prices was just one tip of a shady iceberg. "Investigators uncovered numerous violations of state Weights & Measures laws alongside a pattern of deceptive business practices," Ocean County Commissioner Robert Arace said in a statement.

What those other violations and practices entail is a mystery, although looking at the public reviews of that specific Delta in Toms River reveals customers who allege machines that skim credit/debit card info, attendants who didn't pump gas but act as if they did, and attendants who overcharge.

Provided Chandi actually pays up and adheres to his new marching orders, justice has been served, I guess. Now, if only someone would do something about hospitals that overcharge by the thousands for the privilege of staying alive.