So what happened to pipeline? (the petrol card scheme)

Paul_Herring

Well I hope it's soon.

I've just found out that PetrolPrices.com have 'banned' me, and upon trying to re-sign up, found out that they don't like the domain I use for my email addresses (it's one of those you can use to track who's selling your details on. That and the fact they insist on having your complete address for no reason I can fathom makes me highly suspicious.)

I shall be composing an email to them tomorrow when I get back to my own PC...

martaaay

jeez chill out people, with the attitude of some people here I would tell you all to sod off and stuff my time and effort going into the fuel card.

Pipeline are trying to save the whole country money on fuel, which if they pull off I don't think any one person would not appreciate especially with todays tax hike. I know its been ages but give them some slack.

Ben and Nick keep up the effort, you have my support and I really hope you can pull something off!

C_Ronaldo

Paul_Herring wrote: »

To give them their due, and cheap sat-navs notwithstanding, the only mails I've had on the address I submitted have been from Pipeline.

Ive not had any spam, ive had the email about a sat nav and i had one last week i think but cant remember what it was about,

gazza975526570

martaaay wrote: »

jeez chill out people, with the attitude of some people here I would tell you all to sod off and stuff my time and effort going into the fuel card.

Pipeline are trying to save the whole country money on fuel, which if they pull off I don't think any one person would not appreciate especially with todays tax hike. I know its been ages but give them some slack.

Ben and Nick keep up the effort, you have my support and I really hope you can pull something off!

Yeah but are they REALLY trying to save us money on fuel. We are all aware that negotiations can be extremely long lasting however after signing up dont you think updates would be an idea. I, like many others, think they initially tried, failed, but have kept their mailing lists for "special offers"

Biggles

The problem is that 'NickCouchman' comes on here in May and says that 'Details of the demise of our original plan were sent out to everybody' when they certainly weren't and that 'Plan B is the last attempt to secure a deal and we will know pretty soon if it is going to work or not' when no 'Plan B' had ever been mentioned. If only he'd been honest and straightforward, even just saying, 'I can't tell you anything at the moment bacause it's under wraps', I doubt anyone would have had an issue with it.

BTW there was no question that 'Pipeline are trying to save the whole country money on fuel'. That was never the point. AFAIK the idea was to set up a bulk buying scheme where the members (only) got cheaper fuel with a single provider because of their buying power. Everyone else would probably have had to pay more!

toshkininny

An update has been sent today from Pipeline. Please check your emails, those who are registered with them.

By the way who is Nick Couchman in relation to Ben?

I am quite happy to sit and wait, and if a discount card materialises all well and good ..... we should all be cycling anyway for the good of the environment

NickCouchman

Nick Couchman is not related to Ben - he just works with him sometimes...

I am a MoneySaver and an MSE email subscriber - as the rest of you are - and I stand by what I said in May. I don't see any contradiction in what I said versus what the monthly update said.

I do know that some people didn't get the update - and I do now that some ISP' s automatically regard any mesasge that is sent to more than XX people as spam. To that I say, change your ISP.

Hopefully the latest update makes things clear. If you didn't get it, it is posted on the website.

==Nick

ukbill69

I don't think my comments are unfair, I don't send out adverts for sat navs for back handers to half a million people and then back into the corner when so many people get annoyed and say its not an advert, just a great deal lol. Noting against nick and the team. I hate paying high tax for my fuel, its like everything and we have to live with it. I think you should turn them half a million users onto the government to lower tax on fuel, maybe we can get somewhere. Get a million people to block petrol coming into the country and then you have a debate.

NickCouchman

Bill

We may never agree on this, but for the benefit of people who have recently joined the thread, let me reiterate Pipeline's position:

The objective first and foremost is to get cheaper fuel - for all members - via a free card. That is what Ben and I (and others) have been working on for the last 20 months or so. We got close to succeeding and may yet succeed.

During that time we have been flooded with companies offering us deals and discounts, requests for ads, requests to email the database. Most offered substantial financial inducements - and all were turned down, except Navman. We don't let *anybody* have access to members addresses as some of you who use multiple addresses have already confirmed. We don't take ads and we see no point in promoting products that have nothing to do with reducing the cost of motoring.

We thought the Navman offer was different, it was the cheapest price going for a very good piece of kit and itwas being supplied directly by the manufacturers. We had two choices: turn it down like the rest - never let it see the light of day - or tell the members in the course of our normal update email and let them make up their own minds. What would you do?

We don't deny that Pipeline did receive a small commision on the sales that were made - even Martin gets commisions from certain site referrals as he makes very clear in his section about how his site is funded - but Pipeline does NOT make a profit. It isn't even a company. Ben has personally funded Pipeline out of his own money and is substantially out of pocket as a result

Part of the reason why he doesn't post here himself is that he is pretty fed up with pathetic comments about his name, and being criticised for trying to do something worthwhile.

We don't apologise for the Satnav offers and, if we are lucky enough to get the opportunity to offer members a good saving on something that helps reduce the cost of motoring, then we may well do it again. But only if there is a significant saving to members. If we can't get cheaper petrol yet, surely that is something worth considering in the meantime? I ask you again: what would you do?

Don't forget; nobody has paid to join Pipeline and they can unsubscribe at any time having lost nothing.

Nick Couchman

redux

Will Pipeline ever produce a saving of more than the 5p/litre supermarket voucher on the table behind me, plus 2% on their points scheme?

I received no emails from Pipeline for 10 months, but they now seem to be trying to re-attract attention by sending almost the same one twice in a couple of weeks.

If you already received this, please accept our apologies. Our email server developed a fault halfway through sending the message and we have no way of telling which members have already received it. Thanks, Ben.

Some of you may have been wondering what has happened to Pipeline Card and if we are still going. It has been a few months since we have been in touch but I can assure you we are all still here!

It seems to have taken them 12 days to notice this glitch. :rolleyes:

On the theme of re-sending old emails again, perhaps we'll soon be receiving this to celebrate Pipeline's 2nd Happy Birthday and remind us where it all began:

It's now December and Pipeline has been going for just over a month, so it's time for an update.

Firstly, thank you all for signing up and pledging your support to the Pipeline cause. We have had some fantastic supportive emails - which has made all the hard work worthwhile.

We have also had great support from the media, particularly from the car forums, Times Online, and from Martin Lewis, the money saving expert. (Thanks Martin - and keep up the great work.) Do check out the Media Page on the website if you haven't visited in the last few days. You might also want to read our official Privacy Policy added to the site on 24th November.

Membership has been growing at an astonishing 10,000 members per week so we are well on our way to launching the Pipeline Card in the Spring of 2006. However, we do need a lot of registrations to make this work on a national level so please give some thought to ways of telling other drivers about Pipeline.

Meanwhile, I've been filling up with 89 pence a litre biodiesel for several months. At least that firm stuck their necks out and tried, and I think that needs support.

And diesel is cheaper abroad, so about a quarter of my fuel in a year costs about €1 a litre.

In June the requirement to account for duty on home-made biodiesel was removed for up to 2500 litres a year, so when I get round to it ...