Paul Sakuma/AP

A gallon of regular fell about a penny Thursday to a new national average of $3.778, according to auto club AAA, the Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express.

• Database: Search to find gas pumps that state inspectors previously took out of service

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Mark Greenblatt
KHOU l KENS 5 Eyewitness News -

But how would you feel if, after handing over all that extra money, you didn’t get all the gas you paid for?

An unprecedented state sting operation uncovered just that: Sunmart gas stations all across Texas shortchanging drivers.

Inspectors from the Texas Department of Agriculture found 990 of the 1,704 Sunmart fuel pumps were cheating consumers. At some stations, every single pump was coming up short on gas.

“Any time that number of pumps are tilted in favor of the station owner, it leads me to believe that was an intentional act,” Texas Commissioner of Agriculture Todd Staples said.

Sunmart denies any wrongdoing, however the Texas Attorney General has filed suit against the company.

But the 11 News Defenders discovered the problem may not end there. We found thousands of other cases in Houston and across the state in which drivers didn’t get what they paid for at the pump.

And despite the state’s recent show of force in fighting the problem, you still may not be protected.

The statistics tell the tale.

Consumer complaints about gas pumps are skyrocketing – with the Texas Department of Agriculture receiving 1,526 complaints in 2007, versus just 1,106 in 2005. That means complaints jumped by nearly 40 percent in just two years.

Since the beginning of 2008, the number of complaints has only accelerated - already up a whopping 500 percent since January. In fact, the state has seen an increase in consumer complaints every single month so far in 2008.

Those complaints, in part, helped lead officials to many of the 4,192 pumps taken out of service from January through mid-July.

“Any company that thinks there’s an incentive to cheat, I’m here to tell ‘em that’s not an option,” Staples said. “I’ll say this: Any station owner that is cheating Texans will be brought to justice.

But the newly-elected commissioner may be in for an uphill battle.

In 2003, the state cut back on its pump inspectors. On top of that, Texas law allows gas pumps to go four years without an inspection, which consumer advocates say is one of the worst rates in the nation.

That’s a fact that worries local pizza deliveryman Clyde Richardson.

He said it’s been hard enough dealing with the gas price increases, much less being cheated at the pump.

“It adds up to about another $200 a month,” Richardson said. “Just trying to make a buck no matter who it hurts.”

But Houston-area residents have even worse news to deal with now: Harris County has more gas stations that have been fined for cheating consumers than any other county in Texas.

In fact, it has more fined stations than Dallas, Bexar, Travis, Montgomery, Fort Bend, Jefferson, Brazoria, and Galveston counties combined, when you add up all enforcement actions taken from 2006 to mid-July of 2008.

Staples said that trend is definitely a concern worthy of further study.

“Certainly the numbers you’ve pointed out in Harris County is something we’ll be looking at,” he said.

It was that kind of research that led the state to crack down on the Sunmart stations, which are owned by a company called Petroleum Wholesale.

But another company actually tallied up more fines than Petroleum Wholesale through the first half of this year.

Through mid-July of 2008, Big Diamond, Inc., has been penalized $15,800 for shorting customers at their Valero gas stations in seven Texas counties, including Harris County. Big Diamond is a subsidiary of Valero.

Last October, state inspectors found three diesel pumps shorting customers at a Big Diamond/Valero station in South Houston off Allen-Genoa Road.

Two weeks later, a second inspection found all three had failed again.

A third inspection found two of the same pumps were still shorting consumers.

So the Defenders decided to pay the store’s manager a visit to ask the manager if consumers can trust her gas station.

Defenders: “Do they get what they pay for here?”

Manager: “I can’t answer that, sir.”

Defenders: “You’re the manager. What can you tell us about this?”

Manager: “Nothing.”

Defenders: “Are you familiar with what’s going on?”

Manager: “No.”

Valero’s corporate office sent us a statement claiming the company had the most fines because they have so many stores, adding the fined stores comprise a low percentage of all Valero stations.

“Shorting customers is rare and not something Valero tolerates,” the statement read.

The spokesperson also claimed state inspectors used a “bad can” during one of the three inspections that turned up failed pumps at its Valero off Allen Genoa in Houston.

(Note: State Department of Agriculture spokesperson Veronica Obregon said the state stands by its findings from all three inspections.)

Valero said they’ve paid all state fines and recalibrated the gas pumps in question. They also say that just because a few pumps fail an inspection does NOT mean all pumps at the station have problems. And they claim the vast majority of complaints filed by consumers are not upheld.

But that has consumers like Richardson wondering who they can trust.

“You don’t have any faith in these people,” Richardson said.

He’s used to cramming pizzas into his car for deliveries, but now he wonders if he’s the one getting taken for a ride.

Both Sunmart and Valero declined on-camera interviews for this story.