Recently filled up my LG6 at White Post Filling Station at Yeovil. Normally use Shell V-Power in the UK, but needed to fill up, and advertised pricing of their BP 95 octane at 108.9 a litre was very competitive. As seems all to frequent, the high octane petrol was not shown on their sign, just 95 and diesel. Pricing of V-Power was in the region of 120.9 - 121.9 on my trip, so I expected similar or lower, given Shell 95 priced at around 112.9-113.9.
So when I went to pay, was more than horrified to be asked for £91.83! Transpires their price for BP Ultimate was 157.9! Their staff feigned ignorance of how ludicrous that was, and of course, no manager to hand so no choice but to pay (be mugged, rather).
We stopped at a BP station in Sherborne (just 6 miles from Yeovil) later the same day. Their 95 was 114.9 .. and Ultimate was 131.9. Still 10p overpriced compared with Shell V-Power, but surely making White Post's 157.9 insupportable.
I emailed the manager at White Post to complain, as surely the pricing was in error. No reply forthcoming, so I tried again. This is his reply:
"In reply to your previous emails, unfortunately the fuel pricing is not a keying error. Our Ultimate fuel is priced a lot higher, nearly 50% higher. This is how our Ultimate fuel is priced. On lifting the pump nozzle the price per litre is clearly shown on the pump screens and the price is correct."
This is utterly absurd. OK the price may have been shown somewhere on the pump, but how many times do you check that before filling? Rather one goes by the advertised 95 price and expects some normal enhancement, perhaps 8 - 10p a litre. With pricing that stratospheric, surely it should have been shown on their main advertising sign.
Incidentally, BP claim an extra "up to 21 miles per tank" using Ultimate. My petrol consumption using Ultimate was 15.33mpg. Using V-Power on the same trip, I got 15.89, 17.51, 15.35, 15.33 and 16.87. So that claim is utter crap. Also note that despite the name, Ultimate is 97 octane, whereas Shell V-Power is 99.
So, has anyone else suffered similarly from such sharp practice? Have you complained and obtained a refund? Do tell!