A Z Energy customer is calling on the gas company to do more to protect users from mistakenly buying the wrong fuel type – without even lifting the nozzle.
Donna Stanish recently downloaded the Z app to her phone after hearing about a special feature within its Sharetank app.
Z described Sharetank as a ‘virtual fuel tank’, allowing customers to pre-purchase litres of fuel by scanning all Z stations within a 30km radius to access the lowest Z pump price.
In Stanish’s case, she only wanted to use Sharetank to buy fuel on the spot at Z Avondale, in Auckland, as she’d forgotten her wallet.
But as a first-time user of Sharetank, she sought help from staff to guide her through the process, “telling me what to scroll through, what to hit next and led me through the purchase”.
However, Stanish said when she went to use the 91 pump, the staff member informed her that she had just purchased $102 worth of 95 fuel.
Stanish wasn’t aware that 95 had been selected on the Sharetank app and asked for her fuel purchase to be switched to 91.
She was told that wasn’t possible, despite having not filled up.
Z Energy's terms and conditions state, "Sharetank balances cannot be sold, refunded, transferred or exchanged for cash".
The company’s only solution was for Stanish to ‘gift’ her litres to someone else using Sharetank.
That didn’t change the fact Stanish had just drained her weekly gas budget and still had an empty tank.
Fair Go knows of other Z customers who've purchased the wrong fuel using Sharetank, although Z argues it has thousands of customers using Sharetank each month and complaints over incorrect fuel are rare.
Fair Go spoke to technology company Journey Digital about the importance of designing apps with the customer in mind.
Managing director Dane Tatana says choices within an app need to be "at the forefront".
"They need to be easily discoverable for all types of users.
"If it’s not really clear to the user, they essentially remain hidden… and they won't be used."
Stanish said her Sharetank settings were set on premium 95 by default and Fair Go made the same observation when installing the app.
On the following purchase page, there is a second opportunity to change the fuel type, but what is not explained is that the user needs to swipe to reveal the other two choices.
In a statement, Z Energy chief digital officer Mandy Simpson told Fair Go the fuel grade selected remains visible throughout the purchasing process, including a review summary screen.
She said after an investigation, Z has reversed Stanish's $102 transaction and has also offered her a $50 voucher.
But the company told Stanish that's only because she was a first-time user and wasn't given the right advice at the time.
Its policy on refunds and exchanges still stands.
Simpson said the primary reason Z doesn’t enable transferring Sharetank litres between fuel grades on a user’s account “is that different grades have different prices per litre that change regularly at any given Z station”.
But she said Z Energy has taken Stanish's feedback onboard ahead of launching an updated version of its app later this year.
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