Shell loyalty cards may change....

[Wasso]

I was invited to a Shell loyalty card seminar this evening at a local hotel to discuss the current and potential future plans for the Shell reward card.

 

The seminar was conducted by an outside agency, although a representative from Shell also attended. Who turned out to be the Midlands area manager.

 

Currently we have two cards, one for standard fuel and the V Power. They asked why we liked the card, why we used shell and what we thought of their products and overall service. The general consensus was that Shell was the preferred service station, for cleanliness and overall quality. Not overpriced in comparison to other fuel suppliers, although 3 out of the 7 of us all uses V Power for the higher octane.

 

We were asked what did we think of the reward scheme. The consensus was that we don't earn enough points especially those purchasing V Power which is more expensive. Currently you earn 1 point for basic fuel and 2 points for V Power for every litre. We all agreed this should be increased in comparison to other loyalty schemes such as Tesco's and Sainsburys where their food purchases earn you far more return.

 

We were offered 4 potential reward schemes for the future. 1. Pretty much the same scheme we are on. 2. A one tier system that rewards the same as the basic fuel although with 10% off things such as Halfords and Kwik Fit. (funny thing is nearly all said they avoid both like the plague!) 3. A reward scheme which has 2 tiers like we have now but with a minimum buy in, 150 litres in one month (for V Power) and a further 450 litres for the rest of the year. This will give you benefits such as 10% off halfords, Kwik Fit, AA membership, John Lewis and Waitrose discounts/vouchers, half price Pizza Hut on Mondays and various other discounts. The other feature of option 3 was the increase if the rewards for V Power to 3 points per litre. 4. The final option wasn't great but contained options to save money for your kids, so whilst you fill up, they reward you with Kidstart donations. I guess this would be fairly pointless as the rewards are fairly limited and your child may end up with £100 after 10 years of filling up with fuel.

 

A lot of the people were using the rewards to fill up at the pumps via the vouchers, although I've been collecting airmiles with them for the past 15+ years. As I mentioned to them, it needs to reward more as I've saved enough for me and the other half to go to Central Europe for 3 nights which includes hotel accommodation. Although that's taken 15 years and I daren't start to count how much fuel I've purchased as a loyal Shell customer.

 

Anyway, just thought I'd mention it. So look out in the future for some potential changes that could (hopefully) help towards fuel, discounts and added airmiles?

 

It was made even better for two hours of my time to get free sandwiches coffee and £50 in the sky rocket!

 

PS I also asked them to sort out the quick pay machines, as you can't quick pay and obtain your points at the pump. They found this a rather interesting point and so hopefully they might listen, or maybe not?