Loyalty programs of Fuel companies (Petrocard, Club HP etc)

[abhilash_iv]

Hi,

I am not sure if this thread need to come under this section or not? Mods please move it accordingly and remove this paragraph.

Lets talk about the loyalty programs that Fuel companies run for their regular customers. I was a regular user of Petrocard (from BPCL) for 2 years and now uses an Indianoil-citibank credit card and would like to put in my experiences with it.

Petrocard:
I came to know about the Petrocard from one of my friend and later detailed info, obviously, through the net. The registration process was very smooth, just walk into a nearby BP station and fill up the form available there. The initial amount to be paid was Rs.250. And as an offer at that time they were giving out a gift (an umbrella costing around 200 Rs) for all new registrations. I got the card in 3 weeks.
The card is basically a prepaid one. We need to recharge it as and when required and the minimum amount for recharging is Rs.500. Points will be added to all purchases made using this card. It can be either fuel, lubricants or other items from the in&out stores at selected fuel stations. Points are not same for all kind of purchases. You get more points on purchase of lubricants. These points can be redeemed for rewards from the rewards catalog which the company publishes and renews occasionally.

Now, after using this for almost 2 years (stopped using it 1 year before) I have accumulated 22000+ points. But looking at the catalog you always feel very sad as there is nothing good you can buy with that much points.

So here are the pros and cons on this card based on my opinion
Positives:
1. No need to carry cash. (this is not applicable for credit card payers, but there is 2.5% sur-charge for cc payment)
2. Full tank can be made accurate irrespective of the amount (If paying by cash the attenders tend to round of the figure to avoid small change transactions)
3. Reward points can be accumulated by other means also (like taking part in the games, quiz etc. from the petrocard site, filling and returning feed back forms which the company sends once in a while etc. )
4. There are lubricants available in the rewards catalog
5. They announce double points on certain festival seasons and your birthday week.
6. They claim to provide other offers like movie tickets (which I never got)

Negatives:
1. Not all fuel stations has the petrocard accepting machines (mostly when you go to long drives, only major cities have them now)
2. The fuel station staff are mostly not trained to use the card properly, by which you end up getting less points (if they enters ordinary diesel instead of hi speed diesel, you lose 10 points for every 100 Rs)
3. Some fuel stations don't accept to only recharge the card, if you are recharging by a credit card. ( I don't know why)
4. If you try to complain any of the issues to their customer care or send mails, you get nice replies, but nothing happens.
5. The reward coupons you get after winning competitions or sending feedbacks, some times are invalid. Calling customer care for that reason is of no use. ( I lost 2000 points like that, followed up for almost 4 months, and later left it)
6. The rewards catalog is mostly filled up with very low quality and useless items.
7. Pre-paid

Indianoil-citibank credit card:
Now a days I am using this for fuel purchases. (This cannot be called a pure loyalty card though)
This is basically a credit card. But once it is used in an indianoil outlet with citibank swiping machine, it saves you 5%.
2.5% sur charges are waived and 2.5% of the amount is added as points. These points once reached 500, can be redeemed for IOC coupons, which can again be used at IOC outlets to purchase fuel or lubes. Have found this very convenient and saving.

Positives:
1. No fuel sur charge at Indianoil outlets.
2. 4 points for ever 150 Rs purchase
3. Card is a credit card also (free for life)
4. Redeeming very easy, just call and ask, they will send you the coupons
5. Other rewards catalog also available like usual credit cards (in case you don't want free fuel)

Negatives:
1. Hassles of getting a credit card to be met.(which is now a days not a big issue)
2. If it is not swiped in a citibank swiping machine, you will have to pay the sur-charge. Some attendants forget that and swipe in any machine.
3. Not all fuel stations of IOC has citibank swiping machines, so we need to ask before hand.
4. Minimum fuel purchase is Rs 400.

Thats all coming to mind now.
Please put in your inputs and also experience on club HP.

Thanks

[amit]

I used to use Petrocard upto Q1 2003. I don't really remember how many points I had but it was definately over 20K. I filled up a redemption form asking for a travel bag. That was in December 2002. I am still waiting for them to deliver the bag to my house. Made plenty of phone calls to their customer care number and everytime I was told that they had my details and it was being processed and I will get the product in the next 10 days.

Obviously, I stopped using Petrocard. I pay cash nowadays. And, I also switched over to IOC Xtra-Premium.

[spadival]

I have been using the Club HP ICICI Credit card for a long time now. The features are just about the same as Indianoil-citibank credit card, but you can redeem online, the reward catalog is quite extensive and they have delivered the gifts EVERY time I have redeemed .

[pabheda]

if u opt for hsbc credit card then there is no surcharge on in any of the petrol pumps

[Sahil]

I have an account with HP petrol pump in Bandra and we sign the slip everytime to get a consolidated bill each month. What exactly is this fuel surcharge as i dont see this 2.5% on my bill as such the only extra charges are 2% service charge.
I have been thinking of shifting over to one of these loyality cards but the only problem is that my drivers fill up everytime hence this slip is more convient. On average my fuel bills are in the 20,000Rs range will i save anything by shifting to one of these cards.

[abhilash_iv]

Hi Sahil,
There is a fleet card available from IOC for such customers. Called Xtra Power.
Experience IndianOil's XTRAPOWER Program
You may want to check out this.

Abhilash

[Steeroid]

We were recently approached at an Indian Oil pump in Mysore to sign up for their NEW loyalty programme called Xtramile Club or words to that effect.

In essence this does not require you to pay using your loyalty card or top-up the card with cash. It simply ensures rewards against spending at any Indian Oil pump, plus various discounts at places ranging from Music World to Reliance Fresh (pretty decent discounts) on just flashing the card. Have already used that card (less than 2 weeks old) to fill up some 240 litres so far.

I was pretty disillussioned by BP's Petro Card because we had logged up serious mileage (in points) on that card and on the one occassion that we stayed out of India longer than we normally do they 'blocked' the card because it hadnt been used for 6 months. This really pissed me off because we had stuck to BP ever since we bought the card, and on many occassions we had stocked the card up with serious amounts of money that we used over 2-3 months. After making use of us in that manner they simply discarded the loyalty points.

[Absar]

Hello! We have two Petrocards in our family, one for my bro and one for me. Both do a lot of refuel and its difficult to manage with just one card. So we have two cards.

Both cards have accumulated 80k+ points since mid 2001 or 2002 I'm not sure.. 30k-50k points were used earlier, for redeeming an iron box from philips or some brand and another gift for 40k. It was good. But it takes so long for the gift to come. The points get added up very quick in my opinion.

I feel this is a very good scheme given out by BP.

cya
A

[spadival]

Originally Posted by Sahil

What exactly is this fuel surcharge as i dont see this 2.5% on my bill as such the only extra charges are 2% service charge.

The 2.5% surcharge that Oil cos charge if you use a credit card ONLY to pay for fuel. So some of the credit card companies waive this off by tie-up with the oil companies.

Fleet card is the way to go for you...

[panky12345]

HP and ICICI has a tie up for waiving off the charges.

I used BP and HP Previeldge....got lost and dont know whom to approach. No numbers either. Does someone has an email or like? i tried surfing the net, but the email bounced.

[abhilash_iv]

Hi,

In case of BP-Petrocard, I have sent mail to them at this email id:
petrobonus@bharatpetroleum.com

I received a reply on the same from this address:
petrobonusinfo@bom.direm.com

And further mails I sent to this mail id.
Very prompt replies, but nothing happened on the issue.

[lambuhere1]

Does HSBC or ICICI CC has any tie ups with Shell for waiving of surcharges ? Just wondering !

Till date, I use HARD CASH for filling gasoline

[abhilash_iv]

Originally Posted by lambuhere1

Does HSBC or ICICI CC has any tie ups with Shell for waiving of surcharges ? Just wondering !

Till date, I use HARD CASH for filling gasoline

As far as I know, for HSBC credit cards the fuel surcharge is waived for all companies anywhere in the country. Private companies also should be included. Since shell is not available in our part, I am not sure about it. But Reliance pumps are available here and the waiver is applicable there.

[DCEite]

I use my ICICI debit card for HP petrol purchases.

[Lalvaz]

Hi,

I used to use the Amex HP co branded card, and there was no surcharge if I swiped it at an HP pump. Extra points, but thats it. Switched to a Stanchart Titanium card. Love it. They give me a 5% cashback on all fuel and telecom expenses. So, no matter which pump I use, I get the 2.5% waiver written off + an additional 2.5% cash back. Now, I dont get tied down to any one pump, although I'm still partial to HP, and I get the cash back in my very next bill. Dont need to wait to encash my points with junk stuff. Cash back rocks. Sahil, with a monthly bill of 20K, I would strongly suggest using this. It would give you a CB of Rs.500 every month.

Cheers,
Lalvaz