7 On Your Side investigates after woman gets charged extra on gas station bill

MARTINEZ, Calif. (KGO) -- There's a fee for just about everything these days, but when a Bay Area women saw a charge that added 43 percent to the price of her gas, she did a double take. She asked 7 On Your Side to look into it.

This was something one Bay Area resident had never seen before. When she asked about it, no one at the gas station could explain it.

Sylvia Taberner Huggins has been gassing up at this chevron in Martinez for years. Never has she seen a bill like the one she saw earlier this month.

"I come once a week. I've never had this issue," Taberner Huggins said.

But there it was on her gas receipt, a labor charge of $6.54 for a gas purchase of $15.01.

"It's regular unleaded gas for $2.99 a gallon and I'm being charged almost 50 percent extra to pump my own gas," Taberner Huggins said.

The gas station attendant refused to remove the charge, despite being unable to explain it. Instead, the clerk urged Sylvia to file a complaint with her credit card company.

"I'm like, 'no. that's not my job to do. You need to fix this. I'm not paying a labor fee to pump my own gas,'" Huggins said.

The large placard listing the prices says nothing about a labor charge. Neither do any other signs that we saw.

Huggins said the credit card terminal at the gas pump wasn't working. So she went into the store to pre-pay for $20 of gas. She pumped just $15 worth, but the total charges came to $22.11. Taberner Huggins contacted 7 On Your Side and we took her complaint to Chevron.

"Our investigation showed this is a one off issue and it was a coding error in the system," said Chevron spokesperson Kurt Glaubitz.

Taberner Huggins had purchased cat food in the store and that purchase was mislabeled on the receipt as a labor charge. She said she mistakenly believed her cat food had been rung up separately. She was also charged sales tax for that cat food.

"She was assured that she had not been over charged. That she was being charged for the items in the store," Glaubitz said.

For her troubles, Taberner Huggins received a $20 gift card from Chevron despite the gas station being independently owned.

"I was very surprised," Taberner Huggins said.

7 On Your Side went back to the gas station and did not find anyone else who saw a labor charge on their receipt. Chevron is confident the issue has been resolved.