Man notifies store owner of gas price mix-up after filling tank for under $6

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WRCB) - The pain at the pump continues as the national average for a gallon of gas soars to more than $4.

One Tennessee customer got his gas at a huge discount, filling up his tank for just $5.64, due to a mistake at the pump on Friday at a gas station in Chattanooga.

“One of the pumps I stopped and got premium for my wife’s car. I wasn’t even really looking at the price because I didn’t want to,” Henry DeHart said. “And I went to hang it back up and I realized I had pumped 12 gallons and it only charged me $5.”

DeHart said that was the moment he realized there was a mistake at the pump. He went to tell the owner right away, so he didn’t lose even more money in sales that day.

“Once I showed him on my phone and he printed the receipt, you could see the color just drain out of his face. He was obviously pretty upset,” he said.

DeHart said he knows from being a small business owner himself, that it’s hard to make up for days when a simple mistake like this one is made.

The owner said one to two hours of this can cost him $2,000.

“I was hoping that people would kind of recognize, this is a small business owner,” DeHart said. “I own a small business, every little thing impacts your bottom line,” DeHart said. “And yeah, he might have made a mistake, but to go five or six hours without knowing, that’s huge.”

After DeHart spoke to the owner, he could tell he was devastated because it was a busy day at the pumps.

“At 45 cents a gallon that barely covers the federal and state gas tax, so he was basically giving fuel away for free, and it took a little while for somebody to stop and tell him,” he said.

DeHart took to Facebook and posted his receipts and frustration with people taking advantage of the gas station.

He said some people were supportive and some said, “well, it’s just big oil”.

“Yeah, the big oil they are fine. But you know, this guy lives in this neighborhood, owns a business here in Chattanooga or East Ridge, so he’s a local person,” he said. “He’s not a big corporation, you know?”

The owner thanked him for coming forward and a woman in line told him it was sweet he helped out.

DeHart said he was just doing the right thing.

“If you have your receipt, great, if you just have to look at your debit card or whatever, great,” he said. “I guess people who paid cash probably just felt like they hit the lottery, but you know it was at this guy’s expense.”

DeHart hopes the people who filled up their tanks that day return to do the right thing and settle their debts.

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