Calling servos to find out a fuel price at the time

Fev · 05-02-2010, 11:12 PM

Yesterday I was at home, ready to go out and get some fuel. Since it was the change day between high and low prices I decided to call before wasting time goin to the wrong servo. Apparently according to the guy who picked up the phone, it is against the law to tell you the fuel price over the phone??? WTF is with that?
- which is also what i said to him.

Anyway is this true? Or is it just some sleazy tactic for them to get us to go to the store to check, give up and buy it anyway?

snappy · 05-02-2010, 11:20 PM

you rang the servo ?

That almost a silly as starting a thread about ringing a servo .

**GasoLane** · 05-02-2010, 11:25 PM

Could well be true. A few years ago I rang a servo, where I am a regular customer, to find the price of Diesel. I was on first name terms with the Console operator but she still said she couldn't tell me the price as it was against the law. ( servo is in Qld.)

dom_105 · 05-02-2010, 11:34 PM

It is illegal.

The ACCC deems it collusion if one outlet rings another and asks for the price over the phone (Which makes sense, but not much sense), and the giver gets in as much ******** as the receiver. The ACCC have even been known to try and entrap certain outlets by doing spot checks, cold-calling some servo out in surburban Melbrisney and asking for specific prices. You can get done for that as well.

UU TS50 · 05-02-2010, 11:22 PM

I have also done it before and was also told that they couldnt tell me the price

1LOUDXFUTE · 05-02-2010, 11:22 PM

it's true

ThePistonHead · 05-02-2010, 11:32 PM

Fuelwatch.

xy500 · 06-02-2010, 10:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ThePistonHead

Fuelwatch.

fuelwatch is the official government site, i wouldn't trust any other site like motormouth to give reliable numbers.
Fuelwatch knows what the prices will be for every servo the next day in advance.

deesun · 06-02-2010, 01:49 AM

They would then have to make it illegal for me to look out the window at the servo I used to work at. Other servo directly across the road. We would watch each other changing our prices and act accordingly.

xy500 · 06-02-2010, 03:01 AM

yeah its stupid, but it's basic training for servo attendants; if someone rings and asks for the price, tell them to drive down and take a look.

Yaw · 06-02-2010, 08:10 AM

I actually only just touched on this in my post on another thread
http://www.fordforums.com.au/showthr...3&page=2&pp=25

In that thread I stated before a shift I would drive around to the other servos in the area to get thier prices so it could be reported to the fuel company for pricing support.

Well its not against he law to give the price over the phone, however the service station operator has no idea of who he may be giving this information to, who knows maybe a rival servo in the area too lazy not to do the drive around. If it was found out that the servo gave this information or traded info with thier competitor that is anti-competitive behaviour or colusion (price fixing)which has very hefty penalties and implications for not only the individual but also the company. Therefore it is common practice to decline to give the info over the phone. There is on the other hand nothing to suggest the market research done by driving around to see the advertised prices no connection between the parties making that legal.

iCat · 06-02-2010, 10:00 AM

what's the diff between ringing servos to ask for a petrol price and ringing harvey norman and clive peters to ask for their prices on a particular 42" plasma?

ltd_on20s · 06-02-2010, 11:19 AM

igoogle.

get the motor mouth petrol price tracker.

all you need is your postcode and it will give you five servo prices.

Zed7fiddy · 06-02-2010, 10:00 PM

haha yeah i used to do cash pickups at several servos around brissy and the girls at one particular servo would ask me to report fuel prices at all the others

**data_mine** · 07-02-2010, 02:03 AM

That's fine for you WA residents, no such thing for us. Servos can change prices whenever they want, and there's no mandatory reporting requirements.

eb2fairmont · 07-02-2010, 05:48 PM

Seriously, who gives a toss?

kinksta · 07-02-2010, 06:12 PM

there are worse things in life than this thread but since I am here I will add that I always use motormouth, it's has been spot on everytime I use it, which is often...

PANELCORP · 06-02-2010, 04:39 PM

motormouth is the answer

you can even check for the cheapset fuel in you city (and go get it if you think it's worthwhile)

Yellow_Festiva · 06-02-2010, 05:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PANELCORP

motormouth is the answer

How often does that site get updated (and for that matter... how)?

I just did a search on some of the places I drove past to get home that had cheap fuel and of the 2 areas I searched under neither came back in the results.

They were the cheapest, but not on the motormouth site.