WEX s fuel cards still having issues; company issues apology

WEX fuel card outage

An unspecified systems failure sometime in the past 24 hours left many truck drivers who use EFS fuel cards unable to fuel their vehicles. The outage appeared to be nationwide, according to social media users, some of whom had been in contact with representatives from EFS parent company WEX (NYSE: WEX).

Sources within the travel center
community confirmed the problem to FreightWaves and said they were aware of the
issues and monitoring the situation.

As of midday, WEX had provided no
official update on any of its social media channels. WEX Director of Public
Relations Rob Gould sent FreightWaves the following statement:

“We are experiencing intermittent
authorization issues on EFS and Fleet One cards at some of our locations. We
have been and are continuing to actively work to solve the problem. In the meantime
we humbly apologize for the inconvenience.”

In addition to the EFS cards, WEX
produces the FleetOne card and
cards for other providers as well, including the Owner-Operator Independent
Drivers Association (OOIDA). The outage appears to be affecting at least some
of those cards, according to card users. It is unclear what the specific issue
is, how widespread it is, and whether it is an intermittent problem or a
complete outage.

OOIDA offers the Truckers Advantage Fuel Card, which uses WEX’s system. Norita Taylor, spokesperson for OOIDA,
said the association is aware of the issue and still trying to determine its
extent and what communications to members are necessary regarding the issue.

Numerous postings by angry truck
drivers on the EFS Facebook page indicate a lack of communication from the
company. One poster said they spent 45 minutes on the phone waiting for a
customer service representative only to be told there was no word on when the
system would be back up and running. As of 12:48 p.m., another poster’s card
was still not working, and others reported being unable to even log in to their
accounts.

One poster said a WEX sales rep
told them an email would be sent out to all WEX customers affected once the
problem was corrected.

Drivers reported sitting for hours
in some cases at travel centers, unable to fuel their trucks. Some turned to
other cards, while others waited. Unlike some situations such as adverse
weather conditions where drivers may be able to extend their available daily
driving hours, an FMCSA spokesperson said this situation would not classify as
an emergency situation and therefore no additional drive time would be available.