Shell Pluspoints now V-Power Club

vansboy

Got the info through today, about the re-branding of the old points scheme, looks sort of the same, but different.

The main thing being that you WON'T forget to claim your incentive vouchers, 'cos they'll send 'em anyway!!

What you MUST do, is specify the vouchers you prefer, or they'll just be money off fuel - not too much of a problem, unless you're using it as an unofficial perk!

Looks like value is around 1p/litre & a similar amount if you have a Shell credit card (also due for re-inventing, shortly)

Can't see anything about the confusing targets, from before, to earn the extra points - guess they'll come up with somthing though!

All in all, you might as well subscribe, if you're a Shell customer, or if they have a convenient station, on your route!

http://www.shell.co.uk/driversclub

VB

taxiphil

Thanks for alerting us to this.

Based on the information on their site, you get 1 point per litre and need 2000 points to get a £10 voucher, so it's a return of about 0.5% at today's fuel prices, although that return will worsen when prices exceed £1 a litre, as the awards are litre based and not £ based.

You also get double points if you buy 200 litres in a calendar month, so a potential 1% return isn't bad at all.

At first I thought they were pulling the same dirty trick as Total did recently by closing down the existing Pluspoints scheme and thus wiping out all the points people currently have on their cards, but I found this buried away on the FAQs page:

What happens to my old pluspoints or V-Power Club points?
Existing points can be transferred to the new Shell Drivers Club Programme or the updated V-Power Club.

Can I still redeem my existing pluspoints or V-Power Club points?
You can redeem your current points for existing rewards up until midnight on 23rd June 2007. Any unused points can then be transferred.

Note the use of the word "can". It vaguely implies that your Pluspoints will only be transferred to the new scheme if you ask them, and it won't happen automatically (that's my interpretation anyway). Take note, moneysavers!

At least they appear to have scrapped that ridiculous threshold scheme where you needed to spend a huge amount per quarter before you even started to earn points!

xycom1

I got my new Drivers club card by surprise yesterday morning and the transfer of points is reasonably generous - had just under 1000 on the Pluspoints card and it's worth 1330 in Drivers Club - about £6.50 worth of vouchers.

Cumbrian_Male

Not received mine yet but looking at seems ok. I prefer Shell anyway, they are competitive in my area, and I use 60-70 litres a week.

itm2

Has anyone actually managed to register their Driversclub card on the Shell web site yet? My card arrived in the post, having been a PlusPoints member, and I swiped it at the petrol station yesterday, but I got the error below when I tried (repeatedly) to register it on the web site:

"No such card number. Please consult Shell"

I emailed them for assistance 2 days ago but haven't even had an acknowledgement of my email.

This seems to be a familiar story with Shell - I wasn't able to login in to the Pluspoints web site during the whole year that I was a member. They also didn't respond to any of my emails requesting help.

pscandrett

What I'm most annoyed about[1] is the inconsistency in applying apostrophes. On the card and the letter head it's a "Drivers Club" and in the letter it's variously referred to as a "Drivers Club" and a "Drivers' Club".

It needs to be the latter, and they need to use it - consistently. I think I'm just old before my time but people need to learn to use English correctly - it's a rich language and a shame that standards are dropping so low...

[1] Not necessarily most, but for the purposes of this post it is!

MiserlyMartin

I stopped filling up at shell once I found out about the 400 litres a quarter thing before you earned any points. I'd written off my pluspoints and didn't even bother taking my card with me any more.

But today I got my Shell Drivers Club card and yes there does not seem to be any mention of a theshold. I think I'll start using it again. I'm glad other people here have also noticed this. Also note that if you choose the rewards online instead of posting the slip you'll get 50 bonus points.

So which of the rewards offers best value in monetary terms? Obviously not the Co2 thing!

bribri_2

I registered my card when I received it but it took about a week before I could select my reward online (50 bonus points) and x-fer my old points. the website said wait 2 days so very slow. also no reply to e-mail.

br1anstorm

I was (still am?) a member of the Shell pluspoints scheme, but I'm now clocking up fewer miles, so was concerned that I would not reach the quarterly litres-threshold to earn points.

The good news is that I've just received my new Drivers' Club card in the post, and I see that they have more-or-less scrapped the minimum-purchase threshold: you get a point per litre anyway, and start earning double points if you buy more than 200 litres a month.

The not-so-good news is that the new card didn't work when I tried to have it swiped at my local Shell station. I was told that their Shell online system isn't yet recognising the new cards. They've promised to credit me later if I hang on to the till-receipt...

Meanwhile I've registered (I think) on the new Drivers' Club website, but have to await a new password then wait another 48 hours before logging on. Shell clearly expects their clients to have lots of patience!

On a related theme, I had been thinking (while the pluspoints scheme was running) of getting a Shell Visa card to use for making the actual payments, as this enabled you to earn double pluspoints. But the Shell Visa card is currently unavailable to new applicants. I thought this might be because of the recent "cloning" problem. But it seems that Shell is shifting the admin of their credit card from RBS to Citibank; this has been under way for 18 months (!) and is still not complete. I was told by a very helpful Shell lady that the 'new' Shell credit card will be available "soon" .

It is however unclear whether using a Shell credit card will earn extra points under the new Drivers' Club rules - though it surely will have to, otherwise there would be no point in anyone having the Shell credit card at all!

So it looks at if we will have to wait and see for a bit longer...

br1anstorm

vansboy

We use ours in conjunction with Shell credit card - worked out about .7p reward, but did get £10 worth free on first use, IIRC!

& yes, they have mailed us telling about the new, exiting changes...still waiting!!

VB

highguyuk

Never really bothered with the Shell Card - but every little helps. Thanks for the tip OP!