Charlotte 7-Eleven overcharged woman 77 cents a gallon at pump, NC investigation shows
Teshelle Sandwick drives for DoorDash to make ends meet, so every penny counts.
That’s why she spotted the 77-cent-a-gallon overcharge when she stopped for regular unleaded on Friday, Aug. 9, at her usual station, the 7-Eleven on North Tryon Street at Craighead Road.
Sandwick prepaid $20 and filled up at pump No. 5.
As she filled her tank, she noticed the $3.92 price on the gray screen at the pump, she told The Charlotte Observer, instead of the $3.15 for regular unleaded listed on the 7-Eleven app and a gas app on her phone.
7-Eleven worker disputes payment
She’d already gone inside the store before she filled up to question the $3.35 regular unleaded price on the outdoor sign. Workers assured her the pump would charge her $3.15 a gallon, she said.
When the pump charged her $3.92 a gallon, she returned to the store thinking management would reimburse her the difference. Employees refused, saying she should have noticed the price on the screen and filled up at another of the eight gas pumps at the station, she said.
“’There’s nothing we can do,’” a worker told her, she said. “’Did it say $3.92 when you pumped it?’”
Sandwick called The Charlotte Observer and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department the next morning.
“Are you kidding me?” she told the Observer about her reaction to discovering the price discrepancy. “It’s not just bad business. It’s illegal.”
Two officers met her at the 7-Eleven, she said. One officer went inside the store to interview employees.
“’We can’t really do anything about it,’” she said one of the officers told her.
The officer gave her the police incident report number he said he would file. The Observer on Tuesday requested a copy of the report from the CMPD records division and was told no record of the report number existed..
The officer also gave Sandwick the phone number for the Weights and Measures section of the N.C. Department of Agriculture in Raleigh. The division inspects gas station pumps statewide and investigates complaints.
Complaint prompts state investigation
Sandwick said she called Weights and Measures last weekend and left a message.
On Monday afternoon, an inspector from the N.C. Department of Agriculture texted her.
“I have responded to your complaint and have since closed pump #5 until a technician can resolve the pricing problem,” the inspector wrote, according to a copy of the text that Sandwick forwarded to the Observer.
Chad Parker, Weights and Measures program manager, confirmed to the Observer on Tuesday that his office responded to Sandwick’s message, sent an inspector to the station and ordered the pump closed until the pricing error is fixed.
Sandwick took a photo of the pump at 5:15 p.m. Monday showing a bag covering the shut-down pump handle.
A manager declined to comment when two Observer journalists visited the store on Wednesday afternoon. 7-Eleven’s national media office didn’t respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
Bags also covered several other pumps at the station Wednesday, and it wasn’t known why.
The price for regular unleaded at the closed pump No. 5 on Wednesday showed $3.95 a gallon — the same price Sandwick saw on Saturday morning. The price had increased 3 cents from the previous night when she filled up and alerted store employees.
Sandwick said she grew more suspicious after one of the CMPD officers told her at the station Saturday that police had recently responded to a report of an illegal card reader on one of the eight pumps at the 7-Eleven.
Parker said he doesn’t believe the discrepancy was intentional. Just a week earlier, the state completed a regular inspection of the station and its pumps and found them to be accurate with no issues, he said.
“I assume something’s off in the software within the pump,” Parker said.
State law — Chapter 81A of the Weights and Measures Act of 1975 — carries a fine of up to $5,000 for intentionally overcharging at a pump.
In such apparently unintentional cases as the 7-Eleven store, the buyer and seller would have to work out a resolution, he said.
When filling up at the pump, pay attention to the price on the screen, no matter the advertised price, Parker said.
‘Just not right,’ overcharged customer says
Sandwick has worked in the hospitality industry during her 19 years in Charlotte. She also trains dogs and teaches Qigong and Tummo breathing practices.
Regarding her calling attention to the gas pump overcharge, it’s not herself she’s concerned about, Sandwick said.
She sees lawn-maintenance and other workers pulling into the station each morning to fill gasoline tanks for their lawn mowers and weed wackers — workers who labor all day “in 100-degree heat,” she said. “And they’re getting their breakfast at 7-Eleven.”
“It’s just not right to be ripping people off,” she said.
This story was originally published August 15, 2024 at 5:00 AM.