GREENSBORO, N.C. — Whatever happened to all those price gouging complaints made when Colonial Pipeline shut down due to hackers?
At the time, a lot of people were calling and emailing saying stations around the state was putting up signs for $9.99 for a gallon of gas. Most of those signs were to warn drivers not to bother stopping because the station was out of gas. But one station that did that is now being sued.
The North Carolina Attorney General filed a lawsuit against the owners of Queens Market in Charlotte. The lawsuit claims the station increased the retail price by 19% for regular, by 278% for that $9.99 midgrade, and a 256% increase for the premium gas.
“We have to do an investigation of every case we get to see if the high price was justified or not. Did the gas station have to pay more to get its next supply of gas which would justify raising the prices? Turns out, the guy was selling the same gas that was in a big tank underground that he had paid the low price before,” said NC Attorney General Josh Stein.
The lawsuit asks for all consumers who overpaid to be paid back to them, as well as civil penalties to the state.
This is the second lawsuit Attorney General Stein has filed alleging price gouging after the Colonial Pipeline shutdown. On August 6, he sued Jack's In & Out Food Mart in Durham for allegedly increasing the price of gas from $3.29 per gallon for premium fuel on May 9 to $5.499 on May 11, an increase of 60 percent.
If you think you have a price-gouging complaint of any kind during a state of emergency, you need to make a formal complaint with the Attorney General's office. Know you'll need the name and address of the business, a copy of your receipt is very handy, the date of the offense, and the price you paid.