Grant's Law

British Columbians should know what I mean when I say Grant's Law. I'm 100% for it, but I must admit that since its inception, it's been a hassle for me.

None of the Esso gas stations in Mission have the Tiger logo to which I can point my Speedpass and be charged with fuel instantly. Now, I have to go into the store, tell the clerk how much I want to fill up with, then go back out to fuel my car. If I estimate too much, I have to go back in to get credit back onto my Speedpass. If I don't estimate enough, I have to go back in to ask for another amount, then go back out to fill up. Since I've been keeping track of my fuel consumption and pricing, I prefer to fill up every time. The whole point of the Speedpass is that I speedily fill up and speedily go (and since the Speedpass is linked to my keychain I don't have to rummage through my purse for my credit or debit card).

Around the time that I faced Grant's Law for the first time, my credit card expired -- the same card I registered my Speedpass with. I walked into the store and guessed that I would need $40 in gas. I pointed my Speedpass to the scanner only to have a message "Credit Card Expired" bleep at me. Then, I realized that I forgot to update my credit card expiry date online. The cash register gave me the number to call to update my info, but because it was a Saturday, the office was closed, so I told the gas station attendants that I would just use my credit card directly at the pump. I went back out and swiped my updated credit card. It turned out that I needed $43 in gas after all. Off I went.

Later this month, I received my Visa statement indicating that I have been charged $40 and $43 at the same gas station on the same date. I figured out that it must've been a mistake and that the Grant's Law had something to do with it. I called Visa and they told me to deal with Esso. I called Esso and they told me to deal with the gas station. Last week, I went to speak with the manager, but he wasn't in, so I went in today when he was working. He has no record of the $40 transaction. If it went through, the manager told me, he would have had a copy of that transaction. He showed me the envelope dated Feb. 3 and showed me all the debit and credit card receipts. I showed him my statement and the $43 receipt, but he says he can't really do anything about it. I'm not blaming the manager because I'm sure he's showing me everything he's got and he seemed very puzzled by the whole situation too, but there must be a glitch somewhere and no one knows where and now I'm just not sure where to go from here. I'm upset that I'm getting the runaround and $40 is too large of an amount to be ignored. The gas station manager did say that he would contact Esso himself; I said I would do the same and I left my number for him to call me back for any developments. If Esso won't deal with it, I'll go back to Visa. If Visa won't deal with it, I'm seriously thinking of going to the media because I can't believe I'm the only one who has been affected this way by Grant's Law.

With all that said, I'm nagged by the feeling that I'm complaining about something trivial. $40 seems a lot for me, but it certainly isn't when I consider that Grant's Law was put in place to prevent another kid from being dragged to his death trying to protect his workplace from a gas-n-dash.