AROUND the new fuel discount, there has been chaos, payment problems, and huge lines in filling stations all over Spain.
As a result of the high volume of consumers, thousands of service stations throughout Spain reported computer problems.
Service stations are closed, systems are down, and there are enormous lines... On Friday, April 1st, the first-day filling stations applied the 20 cents per litre fuel reduction; there was the predicted mayhem across Spain.
Given the recent record-high gasoline and diesel costs, many vehicles have been running on fumes for the previous few days. They flocked to the forecourts on Friday morning to fill up on cheap fuel, causing the stations to become completely overwhelmed.
Several Repsol stations had to sojourn assisting customers today because their computers couldn't keep up with the demand. A business spokeswoman acknowledged that its outlets across the country serviced five times as many consumers as usual on Fridays.
Much of the uproar stemmed from Repsol's announcement that existing fuel discounts will be extended up to 30 cents per litre for consumers who use the company's Waylet app, and up to 25 cents for those who don't.
The Valencian Community reported some of the most serious issues, with many service stations' sales terminals unable to apply the 20-cent discount. "There is no point-of-sale terminal (POS) set to carry out this operation, which is creating a significant problem for us," said Juan José Sánchez Segarra, head of the Mediterranean Federation of Service Station Entrepreneurs.
Furthermore, between 100 and 150 gas stations around Spain were closed today due to computer issues and misunderstandings over how to apply the discount.
The fact that 3,000 filling stations are having difficulty comes as no surprise to the Spanish Association of Retail Vendors of Fuels and Fuels (Aevecar), considering they only had 36 hours to set up the new discount scheme.
As a result, "it is typical that the service has slowed throughout the morning," said Victor Garcia Nebreda, the organization's general secretary.
