Years later, I'm still disappointed with Apple Pay, and I'm not convinced it's worth it yet

[BigMcGuire]

Hi @BigMcGuire, got a question for you re: using the Shell app and Apple Pay. The other day I went to a Shell gas station and tried to use the app but ran into issues. I entered the pump number, then it asked me how I'd like to pay so I chose Apple Pay. It then gave me a screen to confirm the gas station location, pump number, paying by Apple Pay, etc. However, on that screen I saw an option where it was asking me to select a prepaid amount so I left it blank.

After I authenticated with Face ID for Apple Pay, I got an error message (some 'E code followed by a number and asking me to call Shell's customer support). Now my question is this, was I supposed to go into that menu I mentioned and select a prepaid amount? I'm guessing I was supposed to have chosen an amount that I believed was going to be greater than what I was expecting to pump?

I know when I've used the Exon/Mobil app to pay for gas with Apple Pay, I didn't have to go through that rigamarole like I did with Shell.

I haven't used the Exon/Mobile app yet. But I do know the Shell app is horribly not obvious when it comes to how to do things. My wife and I had to set the fueling value to " Fill Up " or it wouldn't work for us - and you can only get that when you're getting ready to pay. Setting Fill Up charges whatever it takes to fill up your car - it defaulted to like 30 for me and my wife initially. Kinda crazy.




After you do the Apple Pay, it gives you a code to type into the pump (3 digits).

 

[zinacef]

@BigMcGuire, thanks for the tips! I'm assuming it didn't work for me because when I was initially presented that screen on the phone, I never went into that Fueling Value menu to choose an option. It was only after I drove away and later discovered that within that menu had dollar-value amounts to choose from in denominations of tens.

I'm guessing that if I set a value of let's say $50 and I only fill up $30, I will be only be charged for $30?

 

[BigMcGuire]

@BigMcGuire, thanks for the tips! I'm assuming it didn't work for me because when I was initially presented that screen on the phone, I never went into that Fueling Value menu to choose an option. It was only after I drove away and later discovered that within that menu had dollar-value amounts to choose from in denominations of tens.

I'm guessing that if I set a value of let's say $50 and I only fill up $30, I will be only be charged for $30?

Yeah, when we had ours set to 30 - it would stop at 30 but we could fill up for 15 and it would only charge 15. But here in California, our local shell is $3.54 and a completely empty Civic can do $30+ so we changed it to Fill Up.

 

[zinacef]

[automerge]1583005166[/automerge]

Yeah, when we had ours set to 30 - it would stop at 30 but we could fill up for 15 and it would only charge 15. But here in California, our local shell is $3.54 and a completely empty Civic can do $30+ so we changed it to Fill Up.

Thanks! I have to fill up my wife’s SUV this weekend and will give it another shot.

 

[zinacef]

@BigMcGuire, update: this evening I tried again and still no joy! I chose different denominations like $40, $50, and even the highest amount $60 and I was immediately getting the same error code as I did previously (E019), after I authenticated with Apple Pay with Face ID.
I ended up going across the street to Circle K and noticed they had the NFC reader on their pumps so I said I’d give it a shot and Apple Pay worked!
I think from now on I’ll stick with Exon Mobil’s app and Circle K as I don’t think there are any other gas stations in my area that take Apple Pay to my knowledge. Thanks again for the help.

 

[BigMcGuire]

@BigMcGuire, update: this evening I tried again and still no joy! I chose different denominations like $40, $50, and even the highest amount $60 and I was immediately getting the same error code as I did previously (E019), after I authenticated with Apple Pay with Face ID.
I ended up going across the street to Circle K and noticed they had the NFC reader on their pumps so I said I’d give it a shot and Apple Pay worked!
I think from now on I’ll stick with Exon Mobil’s app and Circle K as I don’t think there are any other gas stations in my area that take Apple Pay to my knowledge. Thanks again for the help.

Yeah, forums show users having success at one station and not the other. I tried a different Shell and couldn't get it to work - but the one near my house does. Glad to hear at least you found a station that works. The only other one I know that works for me is Arco (using debit card via Apple Pay) but it's a good 10 mins from my house.

 

[zinacef]

Yeah, forums show users having success at one station and not the other. I tried a different Shell and couldn't get it to work - but the one near my house does. Glad to hear at least you found a station that works. The only other one I know that works for me is Arco (using debit card via Apple Pay) but it's a good 10 mins from my house.

Maybe I’ll try another Shell station but if it doesn’t work there, it’s three strikes for them in my book.
There are Arco gas stations where I live and never knew they took Apple Pay so maybe that’s another option to try.

 

[Erehy Dobon]

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[AdonisSMU]

Apple Pay is amazing for my needs. I almost never use cash for anything anymore. I almost never carry.

 

[salamanderjuice]

I find it works well in Canada. It's really only Wal-mart and some small restaurants and stores that don't take it. Everybody who is not using Apple Pay is using tap anyways. I've had it fail once or twice but on the second try it worked. I find the signal from the phone stronger than my cards and doesn't seem to fade over time.

 

[ecschwarz]

I'll chime in that in the Midwest, support is pretty good outside from the regular national chains that don't support it (Walmart/Sam's Club/Kroger/Home Depot/Lowes/etc.), but gas stations are a bit of a mess right now. The reason for that is that many are upgrading their equipment, but they have to wait on EMV contactless certification and there's a backlog (gas stations were exempt from the October 2015 liability shift, so they're racing to do it now before the deadline later this year). Between the various apps and a few chains that have it right (Speedway has been turning it on in a lot of places since December and they're doing EMV contactless), it's slowly getting better. Mix in that Visa said you can't use MSD contactless anymore last April and there's a lot of stuff re-broken as places adjust.

The other snag is that if you come across retailers with Verifone mx915/925 terminals (aka they look like what's at McDonald's or Target), there's a lot of flakiness with the software on those because many companies run custom stuff. The smaller Verifone and Ingenico units (typically are tall and narrow and have a small display) tend to not get custom software and work fine and have NFC working out of the box—I noticed this on a trip to Canada where everyone seemed to use the same Ingenico terminals.

Aside from sit-down restaurants, the infrequent Walmart trip, a Sam's Club visit, and some utility bills, I'd say most of my transactions are Apple Pay and work without issue across multiple kinds of cards. I haven't changed my purchasing habits based on retailers, but I have seen more supporting it since I jumped in back in 2014.

For small businesses, many either have built-in cycles for replacing/upgrading terminals and they're the smaller units I mentioned above, or if they're using a Square/Shopify/etc. solution, it's an inexpensive add-on that may become the default eventually anyway.

Finally, the Shell app—I've been using it for a few months, but only certain stations support it (notably ones that aren't Circle K/Shell combos, which is really annoying). In my area, the standalone Circle Ks all have working NFC readers on their pumps, but the Circle K/Shell combos have non-functioning readers and no Shell app, so it's double-broken.