How Well Does The Shell App Work For Contactless Fuel Fill Ups? Let’s Find Out!
Because of recent issues with the Esso/Mobil app during its rollout that resolved themselves, that drove me to trying the Shell App to see if it was any better. And based on my testing, it is and it isn’t. Let me explain.
Registration is very easy. After you install the app you’re prompted to enter you email address to set up the app. And you are able to add your CAA membership number and your AirMiles membership numbers to earn rewards. In my case, I entered my CAA membership number as I can save 3 cents a litre on every fill up. One big plus is that you can create an AirMiles account on the fly if you want one.
In terms of being able to drive up and fill my car with gas, that part is stupid simple:
- You drive up to the pump
- You open the app
- Pick the pump number
- Authorize the pump using a stored credit card or Apple Pay. I selected Apple Pay as that is more secure.
- Wait for the authorization to go through and then wait for the pump to tell you to select the grade of gas that you want to fill up with. Choose the grade and start pumping.
All of this was smooth and easy. I had no issues whatsoever filling up every time I used the app. So that part of the user experience was good. However, paying in store was not as good. The way it is supposed to work is that you choose to pay inside and a barcode appears to allow you to pay inside. If you’ve used the Starbucks app, it’s kind of like that. But for me, it has a fatal flaw:
Apparently you cannot pay using Apple Pay. Why I don’t know. But what it means for me is that I will not be using the app to pay inside a Shell gas station. After Petro Canada got pwned, there is zero chance I will be storing my credit card details in this or any other app. If Shell were smart, they would add Apple Pay support to the part of the app that runs in store payments because I am sure that I am not the only one who feels this way.
To conclude, if I had to rank this app relative to the Petro Canada app and the old Esso app, it’s able the Petro Canada app but below the Esso app. If Shell would allow you to pay using Apple Pay in store, it would be above the Esso app. But to be fair, I need to review the new Esso/Mobil app. I’ll be doing that in the coming days and we’ll revisit this.
Leave a Reply