Former gas station manager raises $24k to pay back Shell after accidentally setting gas price at 69¢, company refuses money

A former gas station manager for a Shell station in Rancho Cordova, California, raised $24,000 in a GoFundMe campaign to repay his former employer after accidentally setting gas prices at 69 cents a gallon and costing the station $20,000. Shell, however, has declined the money.

John Szczecina was fired from his job when he accidentally punched in the wrong price-per-gallon last month and customers flocked to take advantage of the 69 cents a gallon amid the national fuel cost crisis.

Citing an honest mistake, Szczecina set up a GoFundMe campaign to raise the money to pay back his former employer.

Shell responded to the repayment attempt with a letter telling Szczecina to return the donations to the donors because the campaign was misleading.

“To be clear, at no time has the Company told you that it intends to seek payment from you to reimburse that Company’s losses. Nor does the Company intend to take any legal action against you in connection with the incorrect fuel pricing incident. The Company does not want the money raised and will not accept it,” the letter reads.

It continues, “It is the Company’s view that the people who have donated to your GoFunMe fundraising campaign have been misled. The GoFundMe page should be shut down and the people who donated to you should have their money returned to them.”

The company also offered the alternative idea of donating the money to two different charity organizations. GoFundMe, however, says if the intended end recipient of the campaign, Shell, refuses to accept the money, the owner of the campaign must properly notify donors of the update.