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Runaway gas pumps start charging before gas flows

Posted at 9:44 PM, Apr 08, 2015
and last updated 2015-04-08 23:42:39-04

DINWIDDIE COUNTY, Va. -- Imagine you go to pump gas and as you lift the nozzle off the handle before you even place it in your tank the pump starts charging you.

That’s what some people who went to a Dinwiddie County convenience store say happen to them.

The company that owns the convenience store says the state inspector found nothing wrong.

But the office that regulates gas pumps has received multiple complaints Wednesday.

This comes as a video of the alleged problem is going viral.

"It's getting to the point where, if it keeps going on, you're just going to lose me and other people," said Allen Carpenter.

We all fill up our gas tanks and many don't pay attention to what the pump is registering.

But in January, David Dundalow caught on video a possible problem with a gas pump at an East Coast convenience store in Dinwiddie County.

"I pulled the nozzle out and there's nothing coming out, so I go get my phone and take a video, and this continued on for, it took at least a minute for me to go get my phone out of the truck and to take the video," said Dundalow.

Dundalow says he told management, but a few days later, he had the exact same problem a second time, on the same exact pump.

On April 4, two customers say that they experienced a similar issue.

Allen Carpenter says he has had it happen several times in the past month.

"You start to put the nozzle in and before you can reach and grab the handle, it's like it starts," Carpenter said.

The video shot in January went viral with more than 100,000 views in the last 48 hours.

By midday, every gas pump nozzle was wrapped in yellow or red plastic and the pumps placed out of service as company technicians began doing tests.

On the pumps, Mapco, the parent company of the East Coast convenience store sent this statement to CBS 6:

“East Coast stores have not directly received any additional concerns from customers. East Coast convenience stores take any such issue very seriously.”

Once again the company says a state inspector found nothing wrong with their pumps.