The Montgomery County Auditor’s Office is investigating after a Trotwood woman says a Shell gas pump kept charging her — even after the gas stopped flowing.
“That’s a first for me,” said Karl Keith, Montgomery County auditor. “Not good … those types of things, they’re mechanical devices and so they go out of calibration; it’s one of the reasons why we check them every year.”
Keith said an inspector from the auditor’s office was out at Shell gas, 4046 Free Pike on Monday afternoon. Gas pump No. 3 was not in service after Sunday’s incident, and all other pumps at the station were being checked.
Tanya Melvin of Trotwood said she’s an “avid Shell user” and often fills up at that station.
“I pulled the nozzle out and just happened to look up before I stuck the nozzle back into the gas pump and it was still charging me, and there was no gas in the nozzle at all,” Melvin said.
Melvin said she contacted Shell corporate, which said that location is independently owned, so there’s nothing they can do. The local store manager has apologized to Melvin for the mistake.
“How many other people may have had this happen to them and they did not know it?” Melvin said Monday. “My thing is bring attention that this is happening so that somebody else will not be scammed.”
Keith said if you suspect an error or break in a gas pump machine, contact the auditor’s office at 937-225-6309. The number is on every gas pump.
“We do about 5,000 gas pump inspections each year,” Keith said. “One of the first things we do is check the mechanics of the pump.”
