It all began with a story in the local paper yesterday talking about damage done to the pipelines that bring gas into this area. The story, if you read it, said that if the pipelines were to be completely destroyed that we would still have enough gas for at least two weeks of normal use, but this wasnt the case and everything is fine. By the end of the day, people were emailing each other, in a modern adaptation of the old telephone game, that we were out of gas and rationing was coming and stations would be closing early.
So consumers flocked to gas stations and gas station owners greedily decided to stick it to their customers and started raising the prices. I personally saw gas over $4 a gallon. The national news showed stations in the area pushing $6. One station owner on the news said it was his station and he would charge whatever he felt like charging. The sad part to all of this is that it was perfectly legal for them to do this. Luckily the Governor FINALLY acted and made it illegal to do this.
Meanwhile, hotels in Texas where hurricane refugees have fled to are suddenly learning that their hotel rates have doubled and tripled. I thought as Americans that we are supposed to be better than this but I guess I am wrong.
The following story ran in today's Macon Telegraph.
Gas price complaints investigated
By Liz Fabian TELEGRAPH STAFF WRITER
After paying more than $4 a gallon for gasoline Wednesday afternoon, irate customers returned to the Express Food Mart at 701 Eisenhower Parkway asking for some of their money back.
The lighted sign read $2.98 when one man demanded a partial refund with two receipts showing he paid $4.29 a gallon earlier in the day.
The customer, who declined to give his name, walked out with a refund of $44.54 and got into his Volvo station wagon that was loaded down with five new 5-gallon gas containers.
Macon police Lt. Marquette King said officers investigated reports the price was more than $4 a gallon, but the responding officer said that wasn't true when he arrived.
Even if officers had found the higher price, they could not have issued a citation because Georgia's price-gouging statute was not enacted until later in the day.
Kent, the co-owner of the convenience store, who would only give The Telegraph his first name, said his staff had a problem changing the computerized sign during the day.
"It was an accident and it won't happen again," he said.
But before the owner arrived, store worker Calvin Denmark blamed the high price on the Citgo gas company, which he said independently sets the price for the store.
"It's been as high as $4.69," Denmark said.
But the owner later said the price never rose above $4.29.
Customers told a different story.
Regina Montgomery of Thomaston said she was in line for gas when the price jumped from $3.59 to $4.99.
"I was like, 'Did you see that?' to the people in line and they said, 'How can they get away with it?' " Montgomery said.
It cost Montgomery more than $50 to fill up her Toyota Camry. A check of her receipt showed the price at $4.29, she said.
At the Eisenhower Parkway Dialysis Center next door, employees said they watched out the window as the price on the sign continued to rise.
Rosalind Hodges, who works at the center, said she saw the sign reach $4.99.
Jerome Villarreal, who said he was the gas station owner's nephew, said his uncle wasn't trying to cheat anyone.
"My uncle's a good, going-to-church man. He's not fixing to take anybody's money," Villarreal said. "It was an honest mistake and he's given people their money back."
Editors note... "Honest mistake"? You call ripping people off an honest mistake? Not "fixing to take anybody's money?" Isnt that exactly what he did? My advice is to remember which stations did this to people and dont go back there ever again.
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