[aargee]

Forget all that; I gave a call to RBS just now to ask them if the fuel surcharge waiver is being withdrawn from Sep 10. When I finished telling, they immediately said, their systems are not working & asked me to give a call back by 2 PM!!! I didn't know what to say, I simply hung up the phone. Waste of my time & money!!!

[MutantX]

Yes, I can confirm that Citibank doesnt charge surcharge if fueled at IOC bunks which have citibank EDC.

[AbhiJ]

Pasting this from Citi's website: (P.s. This card is free for life. No initial or annual charges)

IndianOil Citibank Titanium Credit Card

1. Save up to 5% every time you fill fuel at IndianOil Outlets*.
2. Earn 4 Turbo Points for every Rs. 150 spent at IndianOil Outlets*.
3. Earn 1 Turbo Point for every Rs. 150 spent elsewhere

*Only on Citibank EDCs.

Special limited period offer: Get Rs. 200 Cash Back^ on the first spend of Rs. 1000 on your Card during the first month of purchase

0% Fuel Surcharge Full waiver of the fuel surcharge (2.5%) every time you pay for your fuel purchases at IndianOil Retail Outlets with your IndianOil Citibank Titanium Credit Card. Just make sure to ask for a Citibank charge slip.
Go ahead and enjoy your drive!

Redeem Your Turbo Points Once you accumulate a minimum of 200 Turbo Points, you can redeem them for free fuel in 2 simple ways:

• Redeem your Turbo Points instantly at select IndianOil pumps. Click here to locate your nearest IndianOil outlet with the Instant Rewards redemption facility.
• Alternatively, simply call CitiPhone to redeem your Turbo Points against a recent fuel transaction at IndianOil outlets (on Citibank EDCs only).
• Each Turbo Points gets you Re.1 worth of free fuel.

[leadf00t]

Originally Posted by Gansan

While settling payment to merchant establishments the CC company will discount it by about 2% or so. This is their "spread" or commission. Apparently oil marketing companies and railways (unless it is a co-branded card) do not agree for this discounting and therefore it is added to the charge incurred by the card user.

As of now there is no charge for my Citibank Platinum card if used at IOC pumps. My HDFC Bank Platinum card has a different facility - no surcharge at any pump if I fill fuel for a minimum of Rs 450.00. There is an upper limit as well which I can't remember. So far both banks are continuing the facility.

AFAIK the range for fuel surcharge waiver on HDFC platinum card is 400 to 5000.

Isn't it really stupid and misrepresentation that a particular offer is applicable only if swiped on a particular bank's machine.

Its as good as saying Visa/MasterCard are useless coz that means only a limited set of cards will work and be applicable for the discount. I agree purchase and discounts are comlpetely different wrt Visa/Mastercard however isn't an offer supposed to increase purchases and directly affect people usage pattern towards a particular card.

Typically i see 2 3 different card machines at any petrol bunk and the attendant as usually ignorant of such offers and they will always swipe it on the machien they are most comfortable/willing/ want to.

Doesn't matter to them a bit.

What will worsen things is that fuel transactions will decline on CC and there will newer offers coming in to increase CC usage. Vicious circle IMHO

[MutantX]

Originally Posted by AbhiJ

Pasting this from Citi's website: (P.s. This card is free for life. No initial or annual charges)

IndianOil Citibank Titanium Credit Card

1. Save up to 5% every time you fill fuel at IndianOil Outlets*.
2. Earn 4 Turbo Points for every Rs. 150 spent at IndianOil Outlets*.
3. Earn 1 Turbo Point for every Rs. 150 spent elsewhere

*Only on Citibank EDCs.

Special limited period offer: Get Rs. 200 Cash Back^ on the first spend of Rs. 1000 on your Card during the first month of purchase

0% Fuel Surcharge Full waiver of the fuel surcharge (2.5%) every time you pay for your fuel purchases at IndianOil Retail Outlets with your IndianOil Citibank Titanium Credit Card. Just make sure to ask for a Citibank charge slip.
Go ahead and enjoy your drive!

Redeem Your Turbo Points Once you accumulate a minimum of 200 Turbo Points, you can redeem them for free fuel in 2 simple ways:

• Redeem your Turbo Points instantly at select IndianOil pumps. Click here to locate your nearest IndianOil outlet with the Instant Rewards redemption facility.
• Alternatively, simply call CitiPhone to redeem your Turbo Points against a recent fuel transaction at IndianOil outlets (on Citibank EDCs only).
• Each Turbo Points gets you Re.1 worth of free fuel.

Abhi, i had accumulated 1500 points over the past 5 years. I got free fuel worth 1500 rs. when I refueled at IOC and swiped my card at citibank EDC.

[amohit]

Ok, Just checked my HDFC card's unbilled transactions.
Last fuel filled was on 23/07. Petrol surcharge wavier reflected the same day.
So until now, no surcharge for me.

Regards,

[leadf00t]

Originally Posted by amohit

Ok, Just checked my HDFC card's unbilled transactions.
Last fuel filled was on 23/07. Petrol surcharge wavier reflected the same day.
So until now, no surcharge for me.

Regards,

I called HDFC CC in the morning and they said Petrol surcharge waiver is applicable on my cars its just some wrong credit entries that have been reversed. I went back strongly asking the female to look at every transaction in the last 2 month for a matching credit entry. she found none.

She infomred me that I should expect a callbackfom HDFC by afternoon.

I am still waiting.

[UKR]

Another case related to the surcharge waiver, I have a Deutche bank platinum credit card using which I bought diesel for Rs.500 from an indian oil pump on 17th July. The bill from the swiping machine also reflected the same amount. But on checking the credit card transaction online, I found that an amount of Rs.513.80 was charged for the same fuel purchase. And then, there was another transaction as well which showed a waiver of Rs.12.53 towards surcharge waiver. In effect I lost Rs.1.30(513.8 - 12.50) by using the credit card. It is not the amount of money lost that concerns me, but the hidden excess charge which was not mentioned even in the bill generated on the swiping machine. On inquiring, this is the response which I got,

"Thank you for writing to us.

Please refer to the following clarifications:
• If your petrol purchase amount ranges between Rs. 400- Rs. 4000, a petrol surcharge of 2.5% would be billed and reversed by Deutsche Bank.
• However, if the amount is below Rs 400 and above Rs 4000, the petrol surcharge of 2.5% subject to minimum of Rs 10.00 will be applicable.
• The service tax associated with the surcharge amount is levied by the acquiring bank and hence, we will be unable to reverse the service tax.
• The surcharge amount of Rs. 12.53 is reversed in full.

For any further queries, we request you to write to us at premium.care@db.com or call us at 1860 266 6660.

Assuring you of our best services.

Sincerely,
Charlotte D'souza
Customer Care Officer
Premium Care Team"

The least which anyone can expect is, the bill should contain the amount that is being charged for a transaction.

Any of you guys know what has happened here? Especially the third point in bold which is for some reason beyond me and also why the excess amount was not mentioned in the bill from swiping machine?

[MutantX]

DB india are a bunch of cons! tell them to try this in EU (especially Germany)! everyone including the CEO would be made to run like how they do at mardi gras

[aargee]

Originally Posted by DCEite

I also have an ABN Amro (RBS) Titanium One card, offering fuel surcharge waiver. But this too, as per their website, will be withdrawn after 1st September 2010. Also, cash back will be lowered from 1 % to 0.75 %

I spoke to their customer care this evening & they confirmed the same. They're not even going to having tie-ups with any of the oil company. I'm going to redeem the accumulated points & then start looking out for another card.

Appreciate if someone can suggest a card that offers surcharge waiver on all fuel stations in India, irrespective of the oil company.

@DCEite - Thanks for the heads up

[bblost]

Originally Posted by aargee

Appreciate if someone can suggest a card that offers surcharge waiver on all fuel stations in India, irrespective of the oil company.

@DCEite - Thanks for the heads up

Platinum Plus Chip Credit Card,Platinum Visa Credit Card, Online Credit Card Bill Payment, Travel Offers

0% Fuel surcharge
You can now fuel up as and when you want, without worrying about the surcharge. Enjoy complete freedom from fuel surcharge when you purchase fuel between Rs. 400 and Rs. 5000 with your Platinum Plus Credit Card.

I have not yet used this card.

[aargee]

Thanks @BBlost; I've a Gold credit card, not sure if HDFC will give me a platinum, also I'm looking free for lifetime ; looks like those days are over!!!

Here's the SMS I received for HDFC credit cards today...
"The cashback feature of your Gold credit card will be discontinued w.e.f. 1-Sep-10. Visit www.hdfcbank.com for details"

Looks like something major is coming up on the way; another financial melt down or is this a kick from Govt to control inflation? Not sure though.

[vnabhi]

Originally Posted by aargee

I spoke to their customer care this evening & they confirmed the same. They're not even going to having tie-ups with any of the oil company. I'm going to redeem the accumulated points & then start looking out for another card.

Appreciate if someone can suggest a card that offers surcharge waiver on all fuel stations in India, irrespective of the oil company.

@DCEite - Thanks for the heads up

I guess hsbc and sbi credit cards have this facility. They do charge fuel surcharge, but reverse it the following month.
However, I've been using Citibank at IOC bunks for the past 2 years as their rewards are more enticing.

[aargee]

Originally Posted by vnabhi

I guess hsbc and sbi credit cards have this facility. They do charge fuel surcharge, but reverse it the following month.

This is exactly what ABN Amro, now RBS, does on reversing the surcharge, but they're withdrawing it all of a sudden, especially after RBS N.V taken over. I'm really disappointed with this & hence looking for an alternative card. May be I should consider American Express. Few days back some guy met me from American Express & was giving a hype that they're hand picking certain customers for some credit card, but then, I was not interested.

May be I'll consider upgrading my HDFC Gold to Platinum as what BBlost recommended. I need that fuel surcharge waiver; worst case, I'll apply for some BPCL petro card.

[sgiitk]

I always wondered as to how can they afford to waive the surcharge as well as give cash back. The oil dealers are always cribbing about near zero margins!

@samurai: Picking up info from cards when buying petrol happened to my nephew twice. Both times at the same pump. Only later was he able to correlate the bills with the fraud. Since he is a lawyer the bank was very reluctant to issue a third card, and he had to threaten them to get it. I hear three professions are on the credit card black (or should it be dark grey) lists - lawyers, police officers and politicians!