NE gas station "Sunrise Gas"- only gives credit for difference on prepaid purchases

[jdmXSI]

Does this surprise me? Not really, it's the NE... lol. What are your thoughts? Apparently there are no regulations permitting this from happening.

CALGARY- Prepaying for gas has become the norm, but some drivers fueling up at a northeast gas station have been getting sticker shock. At Sunrise Gas along 32 Street, it is mandatory to prepay inside the store, using cash, debit or credit. But to the dismay of some drivers, if you pay don’t fill up to the full amount, the difference is only refunded in store credit—regardless of whether customers pay with credit or cash. “I said, ‘this is gas, I’m not buying groceries,’ and [the clerk] said ‘that’s what we do here,’” complains customer Eric Harleman. “I said, ‘OK that’s fine, obviously business is not important to you, I’m taking my business somewhere else.’” The owner of Sunrise Gas says they are a small family business and don’t have the system or equipment to process the refunds that other retailers do. The provincial and federal governments both confirm there are no regulations concerning this practice, and it’s up to retailers to decide if customers get cash back or an in-store credit. Read it on Global News: Global Calgary | Refund policy at northeast gas station irks drivers

Source

[TQuon]

My opinion? It's ok to give you back "store credit" because I would assume that you will be driving by that gas station again with-in 1 month period of time. That may not be the case for everyone like out of towners etc. I also haven't been to this particular gas station so I don't know if they have signs telling you that this is their standard procedure. If and when I am required to "prepay" in advance inside the store I can pretty well estimate how much money I need to spend to get it close to full, but that's my main reason why I don't care. Last point most gas stations have pay at the pump to futher avoid having this prepay dilemma of walking inside the store.

[AE92_TreunoSC]

Insane bad decision. But that station is always busy because its cheap.

I filled up once there for a car I was selling and my bmw ran like shit on their "premium" haha.

[speedog]

The owner of Sunrise Gas says they are a small family business and don’t have the system or equipment to process the refunds that other retailers do.

What a line of horse shit - our business is a small family owned business and we are easily able to provide refunds back to our customers. I have been at that place but have never purchased anything there because it just felt like the shadiest place I've been in in Calgary - cheap gas can be held elsewhere without the bullshit this place will try to pull on you.

[asifka]

What kind of equipment they need to refund cash

[jdmakkord]

Originally posted by asifka
What kind of equipment they need to refund cash

A calculator?

[roopi]

Pretty good idea. Margins on gas are thin. Gas stations make there money on the convenience store items so why not o us? Either come back for more gas or buy something else? If they have a sign displaying the policy then people who want o bitch should buy there gas elsewhere.

It's not always free o refund debit/credit either depending on your setup.

[speedog]

Further to all of this, 7/11 stations that do prepay can give you a refund back on any type of transaction - Sunrise is just scamming and relying on human nature in that some of their customers that are due a real refund will just not bother with it because it's only available via in-store credit.

$2.00 on a $50.00 prepay, that's a pretty nice little profit top-up for little to no effort and even more so on a$20.00 prepay.

[msommers]

I know businesses get charged a fee when a customer uses a credit card but do they also get charged for issuing refunds?

[speedog]

Originally posted by roopi
Pretty good idea. Margins on gas are thin. Gas stations make there money on the convenience store items so why not o us? Either come back for more gas or buy something else? If they have a sign displaying the policy then people who want o bitch should buy there gas elsewhere.

It's not always free o refund debit/credit either depending on your setup.

Your initial point is spot on and if Sunrise has pushed the payment through their payment processor then yeah, the refund will cost them a bit extra to process. But they could refund cash - all it means is that the numbers have to match up when settling the cash-out at the end of the day/shift and that certainly isn't rocket science. Match debit/credit from the payment processor end of day report to what the till's cash-out count says and verify your cash minus the float - Sunrise is just implementing a shady business practice, it's as simple as that.

It's as simple as "don't go there" - I don't because I'd rather spend my hard earned monies at a business that ethically does the right thing IMHO.

[speedog]

Originally posted by msommers
I know businesses get charged a fee when a customer uses a credit card but do they also get charged for issuing refunds?

Yupp, nothing comes free from a payment processor - there's even costs associated with cash sales. Cash is still king though, debit #2, then Visa/MC and AMEX at the bottom of the heap although I would sometimes rate debit as preferable to even cash because of less of a theft risk.

[RY213]

This doesnt surprise me at all. These guys are really shady...

[lilmira]

Team up with the next car, move forward, keep on pumping, not exactly convenient but

[sr20s14zenki]

This has been in the news like 5 times over the last 10 years, and has never changed. They claim that because they have a sign that states this is the way they do things, that its ok.

W5 i think did a report 3 years ago.... (god im old)

They have shit gas anyways. I wouldnt run it in my winter beater, let alone use their shitty premium.

[slinkie]

Originally posted by speedog
I would sometimes rate debit as preferable to even cash because of less of a theft risk.

What?

[speedog]

Originally posted by slinkie


What?

Really?

You don't get this? Debit/credit means less cash on premises. Less risk to staff while shop is open and less risk to break-ins when shop is closed. Less cash on-site means lower insurance premiums as well.

[roopi]

Originally posted by speedog


Really?

You don't get this? Debit/credit means less cash on premises. Less risk to staff while shop is open and less risk to break-ins when shop is closed. Less cash on-site means lower insurance premiums as well.

You suggested they refund via cash earlier so now they have to keep additional cash to make sure they can cover refunds in addition to the regular float.

[speedog]

Originally posted by roopi
You suggested they refund via cash earlier so now they have to keep additional cash to make sure they can cover refunds in addition to the regular float.

Holy crap, you sure do read a lot into stuff. If Sunrise deals in cash and debit/credit, then they are more then capable of providing a refund in any of those forms. If Sunrise feels they need to have a larger float because they wish to refund only in cash, then that's up to them.

Point is that if they can accept debit/credit, then they can refund in that form as well and that would actually be preferable as opposed to screwing up the end of day cash count. My suspicions though are that Sunrise wouldn't have to increase their float as they most likely have enough cash sales on any given day to be able to accommodate any customer that might want a cash refund for a prepay they made via debit/credit.

Never the less, it just shady business ethics - offering only in-store credit as opposed to actual refunds is just a money grabbing venture. It means the customer will either just not bother or the customer will purchase some of the high profit margin convenience store crud and in either case, Sunrise also saves on any debit/credit refund because they don't have to incur another transaction processing fee. Actually I wouldn't be surprised if Sunrise wasn't charging a minimal debit/credit processing fee back to their customers on top of the customer's original purchase amount.

[kaput]

.

[Isaiah]

That place is awful; I made the mistake of going there once. It's a total dump inside.