Roll Call Alaska 2013

Trackrig wrote:
Credit Cards for fuel.

When we came up the AlCan last spring, buying fuel was sometimes a real pain. Not because of the Canadian gas stations, but because of the credit card companies. We were just trying to make time to get the MH we just purchased home so sometimes we filled up more than once a day. The MH has a 100 gal tank and it was usually close to empty when we found a place to fill up so sometimes it cost $400. With two people driving more or less around the clock and being early spring before the tourist trade started, not all of the fuel stations were open at whatever time of day or night we came through.

If you have a large tank, when you pull into a place to fill up, we found it best to go to the cashier to see if you could pay them after filling up instead of using the card at the pump. If we did it at the pump, we’d have to run the card through three or four times to get enough fuel and every time the credit card company would lock up the card because their computer would think the card was stolen and multiple people were using it.

The main card I was using was my Bank of America card so that I got my Alaska Airline mileage. Yes, I had called them before we left Portland and told them we would traveling through Canada for the next five days with a MH requiring a lot of fuel. They said thank you, they would put notes in their computer and there wouldn’t be any problems. At every pump the card would get locked up. I’d call them and they would once again assure me it wouldn’t happen again. Then it got to be that the first run of the card, it would work, on the second run it would lock up, I’d call them, they’d assure me it was fixed, then the second run would work and the third run would lock up again. When that started happening, when I called on the card locking on the second run, I wouldn’t let them off the phone until I was all done filling up.

About half way through the trip we’d start calling them when we got within cell range of a town that we’d have to fill up in. By the time we got to a diesel pump and ready to fill up, we’d have gotten through all of their recordings and told them to stay on the line while we started fueling and stay on the line until we were done. This way they would immediately reset the card when the computer locked it up. In the end, this was by far the easiest and least painless solution. One night we couldn’t get through on the cell phone, but needed fuel to keep moving so we had to use four different credit cards to fill up. I’m guessing the fuel pump card readers were working on land lines. Had to call all four credit card companies the next day when we got cell service again to unlock the cards.

If there was a funny part to all of it (?), it was that when calling them you would listen to a recording telling you how you weren’t liable to for any theft on your card. Then when you got a live person and asked them why they kept locking up the card after all of the assurances that it wouldn’t happen again, they would tell me that it was for my own protection…………

So
1. Call them before going into Canada because it’s scary foreign country to them
2. If you can pay at the counter after you’re finished filling instead of paying at the pump, it will work better
3. If the card locks up, make sure you can read the phone # on the back of the card to call. On some of my cards they ran the card number imprints on the front, over the 800# on the back so you can’t read them
4. If it really starts becoming a problem, call them before starting to fill up and keep them on the line
5. Make sure you have three cards with you just in case you can’t get through on the cell phone

Have a great trip. We’ll pass a lot of you on our way down. We’ll leave Anchorage about June 12th to arrive in Conconully, WA on about July 18th.

Bill

Great information, I'm considering installing my in-bed 100 gal. tank unless it overloads the truck and had not thought about the credit card limits. I have about a 400 mi. range without it, but it should allow me to get fuel where it is more reasonable.