Saratoga News

News

Deputies' arrival shocks resident with malfunctioning credit card

By Michele Leung

Saratoga resident Sandra Wheatley never expected she'd get emotional over a $50-something transaction to fill up her car. However, she says a customer service experience gone bad at a gas station leaves her no choice but to never return.

Wheatley pulled up in her Acura RL one morning in late June to one of the bays at the Shell station on the corner of S. De Anza Boulevard and Prospect Road. She usually pays with an ATM card but didn't have it with her that day, so she used her credit card for the first time to pay for gas. However, she didn't get a prompt that her transaction went through and explained to the clerk inside she was having a problem. An hour later, she was still trying to pay the $51.19 for her gas and was shocked when two sheriff's officers were called in.

"It was the most humiliating experience to have the police called and being accused of refusing to pay for gas," Wheatley said. "What was the most upsetting was that it could have been easily resolved."

When the machine at the gas station did not scan Wheatley's card when she tried to fill up, she went inside, and the clerk told her to go ahead and fill up. After pumping, she went back inside to pay. Again, the card did not register a transaction, and the clerk asked for a different form of payment. Wheatley said a back-up card turned out to be expired. The clerk suggested she can across the street to get cash at an ATM, but Wheatley said she didn't have an ATM card and that bank isn't where she banks. She said an offer to pay by check was rejected.

Wheatley decided to call the credit card company.

"They had nothing," she said. "Nothing registered on their end."

According to Wheatley, the representative from the credit card company suggested the clerk try swiping the card again, but it failed a third time. When he tried to take the phone from Wheatley to talk to the representative, he accidentally hung up. Wheatley said he refused to give her back her card and instead called the police.

"It was so unnecessary and really frustrating," Wheatley said. "I'm a calm person, but I was shocked by the whole incident."

Jan Root, owner of the Shell station, said she stands by her employee. She said her cashier had good reason to refuse a check from Wheatley, who had one credit card that didn't go through and another one that was expired. Who knew if the check would be valid, Root said. She added her clerk had no idea who Wheatley was.

"Nowadays, you do everything at the pump. We don't see faces anymore," Root said.

She disputes Wheatley's statement that her equipment was faulty. Root points out other customers were filling up at the time.

"It's not our fault," she said "The cashier didn't make her card get declined."

Root, who has owned the station since 1981, said her employee has been with her for 21 years. She said he got nervous once Wheatley herself got emotional.

"He's never been married," Root said. "He's older. He doesn't know how to deal with women. He didn't know what to do. Her emotions sparked his emotions."

Root said she went over the tape for 40 minutes with her employee to look at body language and point out the areas where he could have acted differently. Instead of calling the police, he should have asked the mechanics on duty to come and help, she said. Root herself was working in a back office and could have come out to defuse the situation.

"There are two owners and two mechanics. He should have called somebody for reinforcement," Root said.

She said the police have never been called to the station because of a customer's behavior.

In moving forward, Root is using the incident for training purposes.

"The only thing that I could do is study the video and counsel my employees," Root said.

She has written to Wheatley, explaining the episode will be part of future training, but the Saratoga resident said the letter doesn't ameliorate her feelings. She's looking for an apology, but the letter doesn't go far enough, Wheatley said.

"They're half-excuses," she said.

Meanwhile, Wheatley promises to never go back to that Shell, while Root said she takes it personally that Wheatley has chosen to air her thoughts so publicly.

"She can tell people [not to come and buy gas] on a personal level, but not at the community level. It's like a threat," Root said.