A year ago I began trying to use Lucky’s Tesoro gas station at the corner of Villard Street and 10th Avenue East in Dickinson, North Dakota.  For several consecutive fueling stops at Lucky’s Tesoro, the gas pump card readers would not read my Wells Fargo debit card.  This was very frustrating because my Wells Fargo debit card works absolutely everywhere else, and I didn’t like standing outside in the cold wind at the gas pump, wasting my time inserting my debit card again and again.

I quit trying to use this Lucky’s Tesoro because I could not get their gas pumps to read my debit card.  A month ago, I began trying to use Lucky’s Tesoro again, and I found that one of their gas pumps would accept my debit card.  A couple of weeks ago, my debit card wouldn’t work at Lucky’s Tesoro gas pumps again, but my American Express credit card would work.  A week ago, neither my debit card nor my American Express credit card would work at Lucky’s Tesoro gas pumps, so I went inside and paid cash.

I telephoned the manager of Lucky’s Tesoro in Dickinson, Damien Bearden, and I explained to him that I would like to use this gas station, but it was angering me that the gas pumps would not read my Wells Fargo debit card nor my American Express credit card, when both of these cards work everywhere else.  Part of the reason why I was angry, was because the cashiers at Lucky’s said to me, “No one else has complained that their cards don’t work at the gas pumps”, and I don’t see how this could be true.

A couple of days ago at Lucky’s Tesoro, the card reader at the gas pump wouldn’t read my debit card, so I went inside and I paid the cashier $20 cash for fuel on pump #6.  I went back outside, I pumped 5 cents of gas, and then the gas nozzle would not activate to give me the remaining $19.95 of gas that I had paid for.  I had to go walk back inside the store, talk to the cashier, go walk back out to the pump, try to restart the fuel pump, fiddle with it some more, and it still wouldn’t work.  I was now running late for work, the store cashier was busy with other customers, so I told him I would call Damien Bearden the manager to arrange getting my money back.

On the drive to work, I telephoned Damien the manager of this Lucky’s Tesoro, I explained what had happened, and that I would come back to the store at this same time tomorrow to get $19.95 in gas, or cash back.  Damien said O.K.

The following day I went back to Lucky’s Tesoro, the cashier remembered me, and he knew that I was there for my refund from yesterday.  He said that he had to call Damien, which was a surprise to me, why couldn’t I just get the $19.95 in cash or gas as was agreed upon yesterday when I spoke to Damien?  I heard the cashier’s phone call with Damien, and I was surprised even more when the cashier said to me, “Damien has to call me back.”  I said to the cashier that this was ridiculous, I would wait a few minutes, but why couldn’t I just get $19.95 in cash or gas, why is this such a big deal, you know that I didn’t get the gas that I paid for yesterday.

I wasted a few more minutes waiting, and then I had had enough, I was going to be running late for work again.  I told the cashier to tell Damien that I was going to write an article about everything that had happened,  which at that time they probably could not have cared less, and I left.

I began asking people in Dickinson who owned this Lucky’s Tesoro, and they did not know.  I found one person who did know that many people had had problems with the gas pumps not working at this Lucky’s Tesoro on Villard Street, though the cashiers denied that anyone else besides me had problems with their gas pumps.

I searched on the internet for a while, and I found a Dickinson Press newspaper article from 2016 that was about who owned this Lucky’s Tesoro, it was a local group of investors operating under the name Legacy 7 Group.  In this Dickinson Press newspaper article, they interviewed one of the Legacy 7 Group investors who was acting as their spokesperson, his name was Tim Lantz.  Here is the link to this newspaper article: https://www.thedickinsonpress.com/news/3951277-kum-go-has-new-owners-and-new-name-gas-station-purchased-legacy-7-group

I read some more information on the internet about the Legacy 7 Group and their other Lucky’s gas station in Dickinson.  There are two reviews on the website Yelp which describe an experience similar to mine at Lucky’s Tesoro, here is the link, and the two reviews:  https://www.yelp.com/biz/luckys-tesoro-dickinson-2

“Absolutely the worst Tesoro station I have ever visited, high priced, dirty and service is terrible.  When Don H. Owned this place it was first class and clean.
I was waiting in line for a car wash and they let a guy go ahead of me not very observant at this facility.”  …..from Michael

“I just got ripped off for $14 at the car wash. Absolutely worthless. Lesson learned, I will not be back.” …..from Monica

What do people need to do in order to get their money back from Lucky’s Tesoro in Dickinson?  Do they need to file a small claims case with the court in Dickinson?  Who and where do they serve the small claims notice?  I spent some more time on the internet trying to look up “Legacy 7 Group” in order to find out who was listed as the president of this corporation or owner of this LLC, and their mailing address, but this information did not come up.

I tried to find Tim Lantz’s information, and it appears that Tim’s wife is Dr. Cheryl Lantz, the Nursing Department Chair at Dickinson State University.  I am including the link to Dr. Cheryl Lantz because this gives her phone number and e-mail, so that you can contact her in order to find out where to get the small claims court papers served: https://www.dickinsonstate.edu/about/directory/dr-cheryl-lantz.html

Whoops, Cheryl Lantz changed jobs recently, she is now the executive director at CountryHouse Assisted Living in Dickinson, so this is her new e-mail address: clantz@chresidences.net.