ECORSE, Mich. (myFOXDetroit.com) -
Mikesha Turner stopped at the BP gas station in the 3800 block of West Jefferson for snacks, but not to fill up her tank after what she saw there over the weekend.
"I noticed the price and it was crazy," she said.
Sunday, Fox 2 viewers started calling us when the station hiked its price to $4.49 for a gallon of regular unleaded. When our camera crew stopped by, an employee dropped the price to $3.99, but it was hiked back up a short time later.
Monday, the price of gas at the Ecorse station was $4.09 a gallon.
Does Sam Ali, who works at the BP, understand why customers may feel like the gas station was trying to gouge them?
"No. Our daily customers understand what's going on," he told us.
Driving around metro Detroit, the going rate at many gas stations is around the $4.00 a gallon mark. So why did it go so high at this particular station?
"We raised it because we were out of fuel, low, and if we happen to run out of fuel, it will mess up the tanks from underground," Ali explained. "That's going to cost a bunch... of money to fix, and we don't have that kind of cash to do that. So we (raise) the price so we can back off customers from coming in."
Why not just close down the pumps?
"If that, we'll basically lose customers."
We were also told the price is now lower because the station expects a shipment of gasoline Monday night.
We did check with Michigan's Attorney General's Office. They said no formal complaints have been filed against the gas station.
Meanwhile, if consumers do have an issue with the prices at any gas station, the Attorney General's Office urges them to call and lodge a complaint.
An expert that represents several gas stations also told us one of the big refineries started to undergo a conversion over the weekend. Due to that, some of the gas stations in Southeast Michigan could start to see a tightening of the supply in the next few weeks. Of course, we don't know if that factored into this situation.
Sam Ali (Credit: myFOXDetroit.com)
