jason - 29.05.2021
Hi team.
Yesterday I visited levins mobil. I arrived at 3.05 pm to have a gas bottle filled. The lady behind the counter was professional and pleasant in explaining that the licenced person who fills the gas bottles goes home at 3 pm so I could not get my bottle filled. I was understandably a lil unhappy about this but as the lady was apologetic about it, I understood. When I told her that I work from 9 am till 3 pm and that I couldn’t be there in time, she suggested I leave the bottle there pick up after work on Monday. I thanked her, and declined the offer thinking I would return in the morning, then left.
This morning when I went back, approx. 11 am, 2 young guys were at the counter. When I asked about the gas filling I was told the gas service was not available in the weekends as they has no one licenced to do so. I was again understandably not happy, and asked when things would change. At that point 1 of the men started smiling at me while delivering the bad news. I asked him to stop smiling as I felt he was taking the mickey and enjoying giving me the bad news. I asked. for their names so when I talked with management, I could say who they were. They would not give me there names and asked me to leave the shop.
I had not raised my voice, or used any language at all, in other words nothing to warrant this. They then said they would call police.... I invited this as I had not done anything wrong. So I asked once more for their names, was declined so I left stating I would make a complaint with this. By then I was angry and said “we will catch up”, which I shouldn’t have said but by then I was angry. He asked whether it was a threat, to which I replied “u can take it any way u like”, then I left. For that I am not proud, and that was something I did wrong, I own that and will never do that again But that is all I did wrong.
So I left but returned 10 mins later saying lets start again and asked if I could leave the gas bottle there to have filled and pick up on Monday. They declined saying they couldn’t do it.
Problem there is the day before, the lady at the counter said this could be done. So when the lads said no, I was wondering if it became personal. I informed them of what I was told by the previous staff member so 1 of the lads reluctantly agreed to keep the bottle there for pick up. I thanked him, then asked for his name....which he said he couldn’t give still. I asked for the other lads name... he ignored me so I asked again (big fella with no name so I called him big boy). He replied “I wont talk with you” it was then I told them that I was then forced to make a complaint against them and the mobil station they work for.
To summarize, its bad enough that a “service” station has limited services when I comes to refilling gas bottles ( 9 am till 3 pm and no weekends), and as I work from 9 am till 3 pm this gives me no chance of being able to get my gas bottle filled. I understand most stations are swap n go, but there are some that still own bottles and need them filled. Also I understand this is not the staffs fault and this goes to management, so I was good about it until the staff member started smiling at me. I asked him to stop smiling at me while delivering bad news but he did not and went on to say it was just what he did.
Can u imagine how I was feeling by then. The bad news was bad enough, but the way the 2 staff members handled the situation was downright cheeky. The day before, the lady was awesome. She delivered the bad news in such a way that, that I left mildly miffed but not at her, she handled the situation well. But the other 2 guys this morning couldn’t have being more patronizing with the smiles while seemingly enjoying telling me this. To be fair, I was upset about the gas filling timetable they have, but to be confronted with the staff doing this instead of deliving the news with some degree of seriousness, quite simply wound me up.
Can I ask that management in levins mobil station find and train someone to fill gas bottles after 3 pm and in weekends as this early shuttoff seems ridiculous, esp during the winter season. Can I ask the staff there (excluding the lady who was serving Friday afternoon) be retrained in how to talk to people who are clearly upset. They seemed to enjoy watching me react while he continued to smile while delivering bad news... not a happy smile but a bloody cheeky smile. As for the other staff member, he disliked me from the start and asked me to leave early in the discussion, even turning to the smiling one and saying “just ignore him”. Also to not have any names for you as the lads who were in uniform had no name tags on and refused to give their names.
Everything there is on camera and I would invite you to review the footage to see wether you think this needs some work, or wether you think they did ok by mobils standards. On reviewing you will find I did not raise my voice, swear, of become animated in any way, yet I was threated with police and asked to leave. In my lifetime, this has never, ever happened to me and in saying that, I am direct, and to the point but never abusive in any way.
I look forward to seeing how mobil views this, and am hoping the 2 young staff members get a lil training in how to deal with an upset customer, whether its the customers fault or their own. Without the cheeky smile, things could have been vastly different.
Also levins mobil has been this way for a long time now with the gas filling hours, so I am asking when will that change? Would be nice to have a mobil service station rather than just a petrol station...service seems to have gone out the window and with other “service” stations to choose from here, the choice is obvious in the near future.

Wanting change here at levins mobil
FYI... this has been sent to head office.