More BPMe app users complain of being charged twice for petrol

Users of the BPMe app said issues with the service has seen them charged twice for petrol. Photo / NZME

Motorists using the BPMe petrol App have reported issues with the service saying they have been charged twice or accused of not paying for petrol.

Numerous people have contacted the Herald about issues with the app after an Auckland woman revealed both she and her father had been charged twice when filling up with the app.

The BPMe App allows customers to pay for petrol from their car as they arrive at the pump.

One North Shore customer said the app crashed when he was filling up and he only realised the payment hadn’t gone through when his wife checked the account to see if it had been processed.

“We returned (to BP) and paid, within the hour, and the duty manager said this had happened to a lot of people that day.”

Despite paying for the petrol he is still listed as a “driveaway” six months later.

The man said now every time he visits any BP staff are alerted to the supposed outstanding debt and he has to explain himself to staff.

“So far every BP has me listed and a photo pops up and I have to repeat this in each BP station,” he said.

The Devonport man said he had been trying to sort the issue with numerous phone calls to the helpline.

“This saga is almost six months old and I’m over it,” he said.

“Apparently 40 dollars of fuel is very hard to find and the helpline was a repeat of the letter.”

Despite the complaints to the Herald a spokesperson for BP said there were no problems with the app they were aware of.

“We process hundreds of thousands of BPMe transactions weekly and there are no known issues with BPMe.

“When we are made aware of any issue, BP is committed to thoroughly investigating them and where necessary evolving our processes to improve our customer experience.”

The spokesman said BP had looked into the case where the father and daughter were overcharged and said the app was not to blame.

“Following investigation, we have confirmed that this was human error from a BP team member while investigating a fuel non-payment for the same value. It was not a BPMe app error.”

Other complaints to the Herald about the app included the app charging the higher pre-authorised amount rather than the amount actually pumped; and the app seeming to fail while the pump is open so the customer pays inside but is also then charged through the app.

All said they had been in contact with BP about the issues either by phone, online contact form or text.

One woman dumped BP by text after ongoing issues with the BPMe app. Photo / Supplied.

One customer said she was embarrassed to be shown what looked like “a wanted poster” at a BP in Hamilton.

“I was standing next to my car – number plate in full view. The caption said something along the lines of ‘The offender is a frequent app user’.”

The woman asked why she hadn’t been contacted given they had her number plate, knew she used the app and the incident was 12 months earlier.

“Of course, I apologised profusely given I came every single week to that BP and fill up using the app, with the same car etc.

“The woman said to me this sometimes happens with the BP app.”

The Auckland woman said receiving the letter for payment was confronting but then she was told she had to pay the supposed outstanding amount the next time she filled up. Picture supplied

Others said they had tried calling the helpline to get overcharged money refunded but had little luck.

A few had given up.

“BP was unhelpful in getting me the money back and it was more time than trouble,” one customer said.

Another said there were obvious problems with the app that needed to be addressed.

“To me, it’s theft by BP and I see they are all too ready to make accusations against their customers and won’t bother to fix their issues.”

Another customer said she had been waiting for a month to get a refund on an overcharge to the BPMe app.

She had called numerous times, submitted an online request, and had heard nothing back.