Confusion, language barrier hamper fuel card program

[unhappycamper]

Confusion, language barrier hamper fuel card program
By Matt Millham, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Thursday, October 2, 2008

Esso station owners and attendants in Germany are giving mixed reviews of the new fuel ration card, with some voicing vague unease about processing problems and concern about an English-only help line and customers’ ability to access their account balances.

Others say it’s misunderstandings, not malfunctions, that are causing the problems.

Both Esso and the Army and Air Force Exchange Service dismissed the worries, attributing the claims of problems to confusion over the system and what it’s expected to do.

"I have had several customers whose card did not work right," said Jennifer Ade, an employee at the Esso station in Ramstein-Miesenbach. She maintained that it’s impossible for cashiers or customers to know how much ration a card has left until a transaction is complete, leaving customers with no option but to pump and hope they have enough.

Despite Ade’s assertion, that’s not the case.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=57835