Overcharged fuel card users paid local prices

A picture of the Esso gas card with receipts from recent gas transaction mistakes. "Fehler," is German for error, meaning the AAFES gas card was rejected by the gas station.


Overcharged fuel card users paid local prices
By Matt Millham, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Tuesday, December 30, 2008

The effects of a Dec. 20 fuel pricing error by the Army and Air Force Exchange Service reverberated through the holiday, adding insult to injury as an unknown number of fuel ration card users who had been overcharged were later forced to pay full price for gas and diesel at Esso stations across Germany.

AAFES has so far not said how many card users were affected by the initial error, which left customers paying nearly four times the listed price for fuel at German Esso stations.

As a result of the overcharges, the prepaid balance on some customers’ fuel ration cards plunged below zero. Because cards cannot be used to buy tax-free fuel if they carry a negative balance, some got stuck paying full German prices during their next trip to the pump — even though AAFES’ mistake caused them to be overdrawn.

"The problem that I had was that my trip didn’t end on Saturday so, on Sunday, when I refueled again, I went into the negative on money," Sgt. 1st Class Roger Muzzy, a member of the 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, wrote in an e-mail to Stars and Stripes. "I needed to refuel again on the way home and had to come out my pocket because the card wouldn’t work!"

It’s not known how many people ended up in a similar situation.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=59699