Fuel card tomfoolery

[edible_hat]

This one started out as a brain burp, but quickly descended into SC territory.

A truck driver filled up his truck, almost $300 of diesel. Came in to pay and presented a BP fuel card. We are not BP.

SC: "But it's a fuel card, it should work."
Me: "It won't. This is not BP."
SC: "But I can't pay otherwise! Just try it."
Me :"I'll try it but I can tell you it won't work."

So I try swiping it through the EFTPOS machine and up comes "INVALID CARD". I try the eftpos machine and up comes "CARD NOT SUPPORTED"

Here's where it gets really sucky (or just stupid)
SC: "But it's a fuel card!"
Me: "It's a BP card, it only works at BP."
SC: "But it's a fuel card!"
(repeat for a while)

Eventually he called the truck's owner (around here, a lot of truck drivers don't own their own trucks) who came and paid with a credit card. He did not appreciate being called out of his warm comfy house at 9pm on a cold, wet Sunday. But at least he took it out on the person who was actually at fault.

[jais]

Didn't you know that repeating the same impossible request will make it work?

[greensinestro]

Next time I visit a Shell station, I think I will try my BP card. It should work, right?

[wolfie]

I've never been to a truck stop where this would happen - they all expect you to (if it's not set up for "pay at the pump" hand them the card before they'll set up the pump, so you'd have seen that it was a BP card before he put the fuel in.

What I don't like are the ones that don't get an authorization first (and therefore leave themselves open to cards without enough credit left). I ran into one of those places in Louisiana last year near the peak of the fuel price spike. My tanks were nearly dry, they set up the pump, and after it shut off (a few bucks short of $1000) they ran my Comdata card. Since my truck wasn't full yet, they turned the pump back on. After I put in about $75 worth, they tried running my Comdata card, and it was rejected. Fortunately I had a credit card. Turns out Comdata only allows $1000/day (resets at midnight Central time).

What would happen to someone whose only means of payment was their Comdata card? Since they were intending to pay for the fuel, but hadn't hit the limit before (at the time, my TCH card had hit its limit a few times at the Flying J near the company yard, but it had a per-transaction limit, so starting the pump again always worked), fraud charges wouldn't be appropriate (no criminal intent).

[prb]

Next time I visit a Shell station, I think I will try my BP card. It should work, right?

Fleet or Consumer card? Most Shell stations here can accept a competitior's Fleet card (but not Petro-Canada cards, the only one to give us a discount)

[edible_hat]

I've never been to a truck stop where this would happen - they all expect you to (if it's not set up for "pay at the pump" hand them the card before they'll set up the pump, so you'd have seen that it was a BP card before he put the fuel in.

Here the norm is that you put the fuel in, then pay. We've tried alternatives but...

-people are too dumb to figure out pay at the pump
-people who don't know how much fuel they want (i.e. are filling the tank completely) get unnecessarily angry and abusive when asked to pre-pay.

So we deal with drive offs by glaring at any suspicious looking people and generally being alert. I once proposed hiring some ninjas, but it was deemed too expensive.

[Lace Neil Singer]

What I don't like are the ones that don't get an authorization first (and therefore leave themselves open to cards without enough credit left).

Where I am, we can call a number and get authorisation. It's irritating, but better than going thru all the crap that happens when someone puts in fuel and can't pay. I ring the number, give the person on the end the amount, the number of times the driver comes in and the amount of their last purchase and they give me a number to key in.

It's irritating to both myself and the drivers, cuz a lot of these drivers come in several times a day and their bosses will not put a bigger cut off point on the cards.

[Imogene]

hiring some ninjas, but it was deemed too expensive.

Well, what about pirates? I hear they work for rum...

[Andara Bledin]

Here the norm is that you put the fuel in, then pay. We've tried alternatives but...

-people are too dumb to figure out pay at the pump
-people who don't know how much fuel they want (i.e. are filling the tank completely) get unnecessarily angry and abusive when asked to pre-pay.

Am I out of line in suggesting that maybe you should put in pre-pay systems and pay-at-pump to maybe get these people to go bother your competitors?

^-.-^

[Geek King]

Well, what about pirates? I hear they work for rum...

Oooh, good idea! You could also pay them in plundered cargo, and the state patrol would start a campaign against road pirates! Great battles would be fought along the I-70 corridor as vollies of iron shot fly between semi-ships...

Ok, maybe I'm getting carried away.

[edible_hat]

Well, what about pirates? I hear they work for rum...

actually, we could pay them in ethanol... it's the same kind of alcohol as found in rum...