The FuelRod saga continues! Just days after it was announced that a class action lawsuit had been filed against the portable (once-upon-a-time-unlimited-swappable) charger, FuelRod appears to be reversing its decision to charge for charger swaps!
Swapping Fee Sticker
After creating quite a stir online (and in DFB comments!), it appears that FuelRod stations at Walt Disney World locations are not currently advising of the new fee. We found this station with its “Swapping will be $3 as of 11/1/19” sticker at BoardWalk Inn and Villas recently, and today: no sticker! Another DFB reporter was able to confirm the current charge fee reversal this morning when she swapped out her FuelRod with no fee.
FuelRod Station without swap fee sticker
We called and spoke with FuelRod and they informed us that it was the Disney Parks, not FuelRod, that chose to add the fee initially. Disney had decided to suspend the increase due to the negative guest reaction. They expected Disney to make a formal announcement soon. Note the keyword there is “suspended,” meaning the charge COULD return down the road, but for the time being it appears we can continue to swap for free!
What does this mean for users? For now, they’ll be able to exchange spent chargers as needed without paying $3 each time. And, if our followers are any indication, plenty of users may head a different direction after growing frustrated with the handling of this situation. (See these suggested methods for surviving without a FuelRod!)
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Let us know what you think about the latest addition to the FuelRod saga in the comments below. Will you stick with your FuelRod or find a different solution?
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To late. I will not purchase the fuel rod. Now or ever. I will bring my own. This way I know there will be no hidden fees or surprise charges later.
I already have two fuel rods, we bought them online for $25 each ahead of a 2017 trip tp Walt Disney World. They served us well then and since. But I wouldn’t buy them now with this charge for swapping looming as a possibility, and they’ve just been demoted to second-favorite chargers in my purse.
I call shenanigans on FuelRod not increasing the fees, as I just checked a FuelRod station at Long Beach Airport yesterday (11/1/19), and it had a $1 fee for swapping. FuelRod is not being truthful. Disney may have wanted a HIGHER fee to get their cut, but it’s not just Disney asking for the increase.
According to my husband, who travels weekly, Fuel Rod started charging to swap Fuel Rods at airport locations about 6 months ago. I bought him the Fuel Rod about 2 years ago and he has stopped using it.
Fuel rod must be a Disney Company just trying to soak us for every penny it can
FuelRods outside of the Disney parks has been a fee of $1– mall, airports, etc. Now, the jump from $1 to $3, who is to say who wanted the $2 extra. But I did meet a person from the FuelRod company servicing one of these machines, and he told me that he has to come out every day and replenish the FuelRods. I assumed the machine was recharging them since it asks to be put in a certain way, but they are taken back and recharged and put back in. It sounds as though that’s a lot of work, but that’s the business model that they have set up. This conversation happened at DCA at the Disneyland Resort approximately a month ago.
The fact they are charging $30 for what is at most a $10 powerbank on Amazon and most brick and morters, that initial $30 should be plenty to cover numerous swaps without the need to charge extra fees