[Gansan]

I filled 12 litres. After I paid the bill by card, I was given ₹12 by cash! This was yesterday at Shell Chromepet.

[giri1.8]

Originally Posted by wildsdi5530

Shell pumps are harassing petrol vehicle owners by trying to push V-power. I recently had to shout at a guy because he made me repeat 6 times that I wanted ordinary petrol for my 13 year old Alto and didn't want the benefits of V-power. This has happened quite frequently at 2 Shell bunks in Bangalore. Now they are trying to sell other merchandise too.

This is becoming a big irritation now a day! been using shell for very long time and every single visit feels like some kind of act of escaping from some con artist.

Pressure when I stop for fillups:

me: fill normal petrol/diesel
attendant: saarrr try v-power saarrr mileage saarrr (goes on and on if we don't stop them).

someone out of nowhere: saarrr open the bonnet(shouldn't it be a request or a question? they know command works better so they just ask you to open the bonnet).

I did once let them check and they were forcing me to have an oil change! my car's service was due hence there was no point in changing immediately, heck it was supposed to be just a check-up.

Oil change: so many issues here, man, never changing oil with them ever again! asked them for 1L 10w40 and they just billed full synthetic without even asking(800INR)! told them that last thing my low running bike needs is synthetic oil, that particular bike wouldn't fetch more than 8K in second hand market!

worst experience : I finally hustled a lot and bought something half the price for my scooter, guess what, guy poured the entire 1L can into my puny scooter crank cover clearly shows it only needs half of that! this incident is different from the previous bike incident.

Had to go to nearby local mechanic shop and drain out the extra. Issue of having poor enforcement of laws related to customer is slowing catching up everywhere I go.

unlike more people I can't let anyone scam me for few Rupee and go on with my business, that will only make things worse.

[hemanth.anand]

Last weekend, I went to fill petrol in the Shell bunk on JP nagar ORR.
As usual I used the shell card. It had some 300 rupees balance. Since I had filled for much more than that, I went to the store to reload it. The attendant swiped the card and told me that the card has expired!
I told him that there was some amount in the card and I hadn't received any message about card expiry. He told me to call the customer care number behind the card and I would get a new card delivered home. I asked him if he could make a new card there itself. He told they can't generate a new card for one which has expired.
It was 1 am and I was not in a mood to call the customer care number. I've still not called. Anyone else here have experienced this 'expiry' of shell card?

[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

Last weekend, I went to fill petrol in the Shell bunk on JP nagar ORR.
As usual I used the shell card. It had some 300 rupees balance. Since I had filled for much more than that, I went to the store to reload it. The attendant swiped the card and told me that the card has expired!
I told him that there was some amount in the card and I hadn't received any message about card expiry. He told me to call the customer care number behind the card and I would get a new card delivered home. I asked him if he could make a new card there itself. He told they can't generate a new card for one which has expired.
It was 1 am and I was not in a mood to call the customer care number. I've still not called. Anyone else here have experienced this 'expiry' of shell card?

In fact today, I saw the card and noticed that there is an expiry month mentioned 03/18.
So I called the toll free number and he took the replacement request. He told me that the new card will come to my home address and the remaining balance will be transferred to the new card.

[Ragavsr]

Originally Posted by giri1.8

This is becoming a big irritation now a day! been using shell for very long time and every single visit feels like some kind of act of escaping from some con artist.

This is getting irritating beyond a point. I asked them to fill diesel for 2000 and before I could even get out of the car, I see the nozzle for V Power in the fuel inlet.

Thankfully, he hadn't started filling, so forced him to fill normal diesel.

With Essar and Reliance offering similar quality fuel, I won't be filling up at that particular branch.

The attendant was so rude that he swiped my card in a machine which I knew wouldn't support Rupay cards and then asked me to go inside the shop and pay.

[sumzup]

Originally Posted by Gansan

I filled 12 litres. After I paid the bill by card, I was given ₹12 by cash! This was yesterday at Shell Chromepet.

Hi Gansan, they are still costlier than other petrol bunks by Rs 3-3.50. The total difference between Shell and PSU bunks is around Rs. 4.0-4.50 and it kind of negates the perceived value we think we are getting from Shell over other bunks. Now-a-days, the service in Shell bunks are going down which was bound to happen as the initial euphoria has subsided. Also, the job attrition is very high in the petroleum sector which means losing trained manpower and the replacements would not get sufficient training. Again, this is my understanding and hope you don't mind me. Cheers

[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

In fact today, I saw the card and noticed that there is an expiry month mentioned 03/18.
So I called the toll free number and he took the replacement request. He told me that the new card will come to my home address and the remaining balance will be transferred to the new card.

I received the new card today. The card number is exactly the same. The validity of the previous card was 03/18 and that of the new one is 03/21. In addition, the new card has my name embossed on it below the card number.

[sajo]

Shell in Pune is now a whopping 89.70 Rupees to the liter! :O
To make matters worse, they are posting a signboard since the past many days at their bunk in Hinjawadi stating that "Normal Petrol unavailable".
The Shell V-power costs nearly 3 digits, at 98 rupees to the liter! No wonder the bunk was totally deserted since the past few days.

[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by sajo

Shell in Pune is now a whopping 89.70 Rupees to the liter! :O
To make matters worse, they are posting a signboard since the past many days at their bunk in Hinjawadi stating that "Normal Petrol unavailable".
The Shell V-power costs nearly 3 digits, at 98 rupees to the liter! No wonder the bunk was totally deserted since the past few days.

Other PSU bunk prices are just around 3 rupees less per litre for all grades of the fuel (which is also sky high). First time I'm seeing many other cities paying more for fuel than Bangalore.

[PetrolRider]

Originally Posted by sajo

Shell in Pune is now a whopping 89.70 Rupees to the liter! :O
To make matters worse, they are posting a signboard since the past many days at their bunk in Hinjawadi stating that "Normal Petrol unavailable".
The Shell V-power costs nearly 3 digits, at 98 rupees to the liter! No wonder the bunk was totally deserted since the past few days.

Yesterday filled at a BP station on highway with 86.XX per liter. Shell fuels are always couple of rupees more than that of state owned, so no wonder. I will have to fill again in couple of days, will comment on shell bunk in PMC then. I think, shell bunks in PMC are marginally cheaper than PCMC, not sure though. Can’t comment on V-power or extra-premium etc. as I normally go for regular.
By the way, are we still paying those drought + flood + loan waver + whatnot taxes, surcharges?

[sajo]

Originally Posted by PetrolRider

Can’t comment on V-power or extra-premium etc. as I normally go for regular.

But they kept putting up notices saying that they are out of regular fuel! Even I have never filled V-power or any of its equivalent.

Originally Posted by PetrolRider

By the way, are we still paying those drought + flood + loan waver + whatnot taxes, surcharges?

Yes we are still paying the drought surcharge and the liquor ban surcharge, both amounting to about Rs.6 per liter of petrol (Not sure of diesel).

[theredliner]

Here is something I'd suggest. Instead of selling normal petrol with additives as V-Power which no one wants at such a high price, sell 95 RON petrol as V-Power like in other countries. Since Shell mainly exists in bigger cities, a lot of big bike owners would be happy to buy it regularly. Also, other than the big cars, owners of turbo petrols like Linea/Punto T-Jet, Octavia TSI etc. would fill up every now and then as they run considerably better on higher octane. I occasionally buy the heavily overpriced HP poWer 99 for my T-Jet and KTM RC 390. If 95 RON is available at current V-Power prices, I'd buy it much more frequently. I currently avoid Shell pumps as much as possible as I get clean regular fuel at a COCO nearby at a cheaper rate than Shell (they support payment through PayTM as well) and I wouldn't touch the 91 RON V-Power with a barge pole at current prices (I use other additives myself which are much better and cheaper).

[Gansan]

Originally Posted by sumzup

Hi Gansan, they are still costlier than other petrol bunks by Rs 3-3.50. The total difference between Shell and PSU bunks is around Rs. 4.0-4.50 and it kind of negates the perceived value we think we are getting from Shell over other bunks. Now-a-days, the service in Shell bunks are going down which was bound to happen as the initial euphoria has subsided. Also, the job attrition is very high in the petroleum sector which means losing trained manpower and the replacements would not get sufficient training. Again, this is my understanding and hope you don't mind me. Cheers

The perceived value for me is not monetary, it is confidence that I am not getting adulterated fuel in to my tank. And that I get the quantity I pay for. Which I can't say about 99.99% of PSU pumps.

[chncar]

@ evillife

You are contradicting yourself. Global brand or not (pretty worthless to me as the person at the receiving end of the cheap antics of the people at Shell stations) you either provide a good quality experience or you don't. You acknowledge that there are major customer service quality issues and yet say that you don't compromise on the quality! Maybe you mean the fuel quality and not the customer service quality, but given their cheap antics and your passing the buck on to 'local vendors not employed by you' it doesn't really inspire much confidence in that either.


And then you go on to blame the Indian bureaucracy. Surely they Indian government is not asking your attendants to force V-Power down the throat of the customer every single time (by my experience) despite asking specifically for ordinary petrol upfront! At least fix the problems that are under your control.

[sumzup]

Originally Posted by Gansan

The perceived value for me is not monetary, it is confidence that I am not getting adulterated fuel in to my tank. And that I get the quantity I pay for. Which I can't say about 99.99% of PSU pumps.

I beg to differ on the percentage you have mentioned. It is absolutely incorrect to say that such a high percentage of businesses malpractices. In every trade, there will be few of those who don't care for their own businesses but not to that extent. Gone are the days of adulteration as now the solvents that were mixed are not so cheaply priced. Also, they spoil the sophisticated dispensing pumps. Even the "adjustments" that some of the customers complain with respect to short-filling is impossible to go undetected. So much so that any small tampering will result in a message being sent to the concerned people. In fact, if what you say is right then all those who work in MNCs' and decently educated who have had exposure in other countries shouldn't be taking their bikes in one ways, drive/ride away even when the signal is red, ride on footpath, and not wear helmets. So, IMHO, it is still that our intrinsic traits that take over our education or our exposure.

There is no more adulteration in any bunks whether PSU or otherwise and also most of the times the mismanagement is done by the delivery staff and not the owner as is the case in some of the cases reported by customers of Shell. In fact, there are several instances, as shared by our Bhpians, stating that the behavior of the staff at the Shell outlets have fallen. The fact that they force their customers to fill a particular product and claim they have no stock of regular petrol itself amounts to misinformation. You can continue your patronage to Shell and I'm not in any way trying to influence you to either. Cheers