So after a long week of dealing with transportation we are now in a sense homeless. Our household goods have been shipped off. Today we drove to South Carolina to drop off our truck at the POV port for shipment to Hawaii. Now they have guidelines that have to be followed and I'm sure they are in place for the safe transport of your vehicle. One of them is that you must have a 1/4 tank of less of gas before they will accept your car. Ok so my husband fills our truck up at Ft. Bragg figuring that we'd use a full truck of gas in the three hour drive from here to there. So off we go.
Pretty uneventful trip. We talk all the way down about all the new things we'll be doing and experiencing at our new duty station. We get there and we have exactly a 1/4 tank of gas left. Brian is feeling pretty proud of himself and strutting like a peacock singing I'm the man. So they have these guys that come and inspect your cars before you can even start your paperwork and they tell Brian he has to drain or run out some more gas. He's like...."what", I have a 1/4 tank of gas and that's what your lady said to have. The guy tells him again he has to get rid of some gas and that there is a gas station up the road that will siffon it out for him. Okay if you know Brian you know he's pissed by now cause his bubble is busted, he's no longer singing, but cursing instead. He hollars at me to get in the truck and c'mon. He slams his door and he's hollaring at the guy the whole time that a 1/4 tank of gas is a 1/4 tank of gas. He's pretty worked up at this point. So I tell him to just c'mon that it's no big deal.
As we're driving down the strip and looking for this gas station we realize it's easier to find than we thought it would be. The guy should have told us to just look for all the other military people lined up to get their tanks siffoned also. This sets Brian off all over again, but he pulls next into line. So after sitting there a few minutes this guy comes up and tells us that any and all gas they remove they get to keep and Brian says ok whatever he has no choice we need it done. So one by one we're watching all these soldiers come out of this office after turning in their gas and they are madder than hell and we can't figure out why other than they are just as angry as we are about the whole process. So it's our turn now. They hook up the hose into the tank and drain the gas. He tells Brian that they removed two gallons and he needs to come sign the release for the gas. Few minutes later Brian comes out and he to is now far madder than he was before. I ask him what the hell is wrong and he says that not only did they keep his gas but they charged him $30 dollars to remove it. That they charge a $10 a gallon removal fee. Are you kidding me? Now I know why some of those soldiers were really pissed off. A few of them had a half of tank or more to have removed. Can you imagine the cost they incurred.
What a rip off! So I made Brian go back inside and ask for a receipt and they guy wouldn't give him one. So I went in. Not only did I get my cash receipt along with the signature, store stamp, phone number and what service was rendered. I left telling that guy I was reporting them to the Better Business Bureau for pirating and operating services under the table. I was furious.
It's hard enough for military families trying to pcs on a limited income as it is. Even if you take out an advance on your base pay, take your DLE or TLA, you still have to budget to make ends meet. So it really pisses me off when someone or a business takes advantage like that or makes it that much harder on a family. Did I report them. You damn right I did. But at the time what could you do other than pay it. Nothing because you have to clear that inspection for POV. But at least I got a receipt for our taxes that we'll be able to claim on our taxes next year for moving expenses.
So word to the wise no matter how well prepared you think you are. Always watch out for those unexpected and unforeseen costs that are sure to come up somewhere.
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