Shell Credit Card - Cashback cutback

DarkShadow

Got the letter this morning, upset as well. Can't believe this decision, I spend so much on petrol. I guess, I'll hang on to the card till end of september after which I'll go for some new card. Funnily enough, I had cancelled my Nectar amex since I wasn't using it much and looks like I need it back :mad:

Picasso7

Me too! Had done really well with the Shell card as was able to buy a car with it, so a lot of cashback. Ah well, task for this coming month is to work out which is the best to switch to. Don't fancy a fee-based card. It may just end up being Tesco!

JohalaReewi

I was thinking of switching from Amex to Shell after Amex announced their new cashback regime. Looks like I might be staying with Amex now. Just need a decent visa/mastercard backup for places that don't take Amex.

NonGeographicalMan

withnell wrote: »

No charge if you are an existing Egg Money customer

I am an existing Egg Money customer so it looks like its back to using the Egg Money Mastercard on October 1st if there will not be a monthly fee of any kind.

The needless additional cancellation of the motor legal insurance was really the final kick in the teeth. A cut in the Shell cashback to 2% while leaving the other cashback at 1% and the motor legal insurance in place would have been a disappointment but not totally unreasonable, unlike the changes Citi have actually made including the arrogant letter from John Jones in which no explanation or apology of any kind is offered to customers.

flyingscotno1

I still have not received this letter. I must be last in the queue

withnell

JohalaReewi wrote: »

I was thinking of switching from Amex to Shell after Amex announced their new cashback regime. Looks like I might be staying with Amex now. Just need a decent visa/mastercard backup for places that don't take Amex.

Shell card hasn't been available to new customers for quite a few months now

withnell

NonGeographicalMan wrote: »

I am an existing Egg Money customer so it looks like its back to using the Egg Money Mastercard on October 1st if there will not be a monthly fee of any kind.

The needless additional cancellation of the motor legal insurance was really the final kick in the teeth. A cut in the Shell cashback to 2% while leaving the other cashback at 1% and the motor legal insurance in place would have been a disappointment but not totally unreasonable, unlike the changes Citi have actually made including the arrogant letter from John Jones in which no explanation or apology of any kind is offered to customers.

I know it's annoying when benefits are removed, but what other card (apart from Amex, who get all their benefits back through charging merchants more) gives you anything like 1% and insurances, for no cost?

Citi offer the Egg Money card as well, which is a market leader for Mastercard cashback, so why should they run 2 products? I'm guessing that the Shell additional cashback was funded by Shell, so the reduction in this might well be nothing to do with Citi

NonGeographicalMan

withnell wrote: »

Citi offer the Egg Money card as well, which is a market leader for Mastercard cashback, so why should they run 2 products? I'm guessing that the Shell additional cashback was funded by Shell, so the reduction in this might well be nothing to do with Citi

The Shell Citi card was under Citi's own branding whereas the Egg Money card was a legacy card brand inherited from Prudential. So to my mind it is daft to now step on the customers who took out the Citi branded product from Citi but to go on offering the cashback on a brand now not even primarily associated wit the Citi group.

The fact that Citi group can still profitably offer a Mastercard on which most of their cardholders will earn at least 0.8% to 0.9% cashback per month after the £1 fee clearly shows us why the cashback for all purchases other than petrol on the Shell City card clearly did not need to be cut back to a measly 0.25% when it is also up against Argos's card that pays you 1% cashback in vouchers against future purchases at Argos (not as good as cash but still a pretty good deal) and the Amex Platinum card. So yes the 3% cashback on Shell petrol may not have been affordable and may be only 1.5% could be offered but what they should have done was to cut the Shell cashback to no less than 1.5%. and cut the cashback everywhere else to no less than 0.75% But the way they have changed things is just likely to make most customers want to jump ship to Amex or wherever else.

At the end of the day merchants are still being charged just as much by card companies so they really cannot use the excuse of the credit crunch to justify the cashback reduction. I bet neither John Jones or Bert Pijls at Citi have taken a pay cut and that they are both still being paid large bonuses.:mad:

Chris123_2

Gutted to have got this letter yesterday also.

The only reason I got it was because of the petrol cashback combined with that our local Shell petrol station is the cheapest one around!

Having read the comments above it seems it may not be worth getting a different card and just holding out until a new offer comes along.

NonGeographicalMan

Chris123 wrote: »

Having read the comments above it seems it may not be worth getting a different card and just holding out until a new offer comes along.

The only better deal on offer on fuel is the Amex Platinum card as that pays up to 1.5% cashback (above a certain level of spend each month) and nearly all fuel stations do take Amex (they can't afford not to because of the risk some rich foreign visitor will fill up assuming they must take it and they can't get the fuel out of the tank).

However moving on to cashback on other purchases only paying 0.25% is a shockingly bad rate and I suspect that even AirMiles or NatWest YourPoints or the miles schemes of other airlines on other cards represent better value for money than 0.25% cashback, subject of course to the usual problems of redeeming the miles.

So if you also like getting other cashback on your purchases then you need to apply for Egg Money as that pays 1% cashback and although they charge a £1 monthly fee I suspect for most users that works out at around at least 0.8% cashback (£500 per month average spend). I am one of the lucky ones as I already had an Egg Money card so I won't be subjected to the £1 per month fee and will get the full 1% (I have called them and they confirm this is the case).

Against that is the fact that its another Citi group card and that I would very dearly like to give Citi one in the eye after this plain stupid move on Shell Citi (why build a brand like that up to only then do something so nasty all in one fell swoop that most customers will give up using the product) including forcing me to move all my continuous credit card authorities back across to Egg Money.:mad: