From Nassau to Suffolk, Long Islanders are showing outrage over gas stations owners raising credit card prices to never before seen highs, including one chain owner, who officials said was one of the first to start charging customers $2 more for paying with plastic over cash.
Amid consumer fury regarding the exorbitant gas prices, some lawmakers are introducing legislation to help consumers who can barely afford the price of gas while drivers have been reporting complaints about what’s happening at the pump.
In the past few weeks, local consumer protection agencies said they’re seeing a rise in tips from drivers complaining about credit prices at gas stations throughout LI, with some charging up to $5.99 for gas—and that’s just for regular. The cash price for the same quality of gas at one Hauppague gas station was $3.99.
As of Thursday, premium gas was going for $6.18.
“I was really aggravated and outraged,” said Teresa White, an attorney from West Islip who along with several other Long Islanders sent tips regarding credit prices at several stations.
On Thursday, White’s tank was knocking on empty when she pulled into a gas station on Wheeler Road in Hauppague after a sign outside advertising $3.99 per gallon caught her attention.
When she got to the pump she noticed that credit was going for $2 extra. She snapped a picture for evidence.
“They don’t tell you on the signs out front in front of the station…that the credit prices are that much higher,” she said.
Intending to pay with cash, she walked to the clerk and handed him 20 bucks and asked for only $5 worth of gas—enough to get her close to home where she would later fill up the tank.
A man who picked up the phone at the gas station said he was just taking orders from his boss, and directed all questions to the owner, who wasn’t available for comment. A message left for him wasn’t returned.
On Friday, White called the Suffolk County Consumer Affairs office and filed an official complaint—and she’s not the only one.
Suffolk’s consumer affairs office said they’re constantly receiving phone calls about credit prices. The Nassau consumer affairs office said the same.
“I think it’s completely unconscionable,” said Madalyn Farley, commissioner at Nassau Consumer Affairs, who is currently investigating two complaints concerning credit prices at the gas pump.
But officials said their hands are tied because what gas station owners are doing isn’t illegal.
Farley said owners are claiming the credit price is what they’re actually charging for gas, and consumers are getting a “discount” when they pay with cash.
“When it’s a 10-cent difference, no one is complaining,” she said, “but this $2 difference is absurd.”
The gas station White visited is just one of more than a dozen stations owned by one individual, officials said.
“He’s really the one that increased [credit prices] initially from a dollar spread to $2 a spread,” said Robert Meguin, commissioner of Suffolk Consumer Affairs.
Record show that Steven Keshtgar owns 14 gas stations throughout Suffolk, and most of his businesses received complaints about credit prices, officials said.
They are in Brentwood, Medford, East Patchogue, Hauppague, Bohemia, East Northport, Coram, Islandia, Islip Terrace, Smithtown, Stony Brook and Centereach.
“Frankly, I think he’s a rogue vendor out there sending messages to his competitors,” Meguin said.
The commissioner said Keshtgar’s stations have been issued 24 violations, some with multiple counts.
The violations range from obstructed signs to equipment issues.
But he can’t do anything about the credit prices.
“If it’s not illegal,” White said, “it should be.”