Have you been overcharged by a Fuel card company

[ajmull]

We have been using a well-known company for the last 6 years and didn’t really check the weekly price per litre which they sent through, but at a quick glance it seemed to be similar to local pump prices and whilst our expectation was that fuel cards would save money compared to pump prices we didn’t look at it any further.

However one of our drivers recently pointed out that our Fuel card price was 3p more than the pump price at Tesco’s and we therefore queried this with the Fuel card company.

They gave us some explanation about Tesco’s not being their preferred option and advised us to use other petrol stations which we found a bit bizarre to say the least. This made me question the rationale behind using these cards if our drivers could buy the same fuel at the same filling station for less!

The next part is the worst, we then discovered that the Fuel card price is subject to Vat, whereas a pump price is of course inclusive of Vat!

This means that we have been overpaying by at least 20% since we started using this Fuel card, we should of course have noticed this previously but Fuel purchasing is not one of our main priorities and as stated earlier the quoted price was always close to pump price – which would seem to be an intentional ploy to make one think prices were reasonable.

The suppliers attitude is predictable, they say tough, you had a price list every week which clearly stated that prices were subject to Vat. We never looked at these in any detail and I am certain that we with no doubt numerous other SMEs have been deliberately ripped off.

We have spent over £30k with this company, so overcharges are at least £6k…….

Any advice on what to do would be appreciated.

 

[Root 66 Woodshop]

Any purchase no matter what it is for any business SHOULD BE one of your main priorities!

Not exactly over-charges is it. You've signed a contract and gone into a legally binding agreement... You should have done your due diligence before signing TBH.

6 years down the line only shows how unimportant it all really was and realistically still is...

change suppliers end of story... but expect the same from other suppliers.

 

[ajmull]

Any purchase no matter what it is for any business SHOULD BE one of your main priorities!

Not exactly over-charges is it. You've signed a contract and gone into a legally binding agreement... You should have done your due diligence before signing TBH.

6 years down the line only shows how unimportant it all really was and realistically still is...

change suppliers end of story... but expect the same from other suppliers.

Point taken , but as outlined above they clearly have a policy of "tricking" customers in to thinking they are getting a fair deal. I suspect thousands of other SMEs have been treated in the same way , this needs to be exposed.

 

[Root 66 Woodshop]

With all due respect, this is only your word against theirs...

You think you've been tricked, yet you've already stated that it wasn't a priority - you didn't check the T&C's - how on earth can this be the supplier's fault?

 

[ajmull]

I posted this so I could get perhaps some constructive help or advice..

 

[Root 66 Woodshop]

OK, I understand that - but what kind of advice are you expecting?

I've given you some constructive help... it's right here...

Any purchase no matter what it is for any business SHOULD BE one of your main priorities!

Here's my advice...

Accept that either you or someone has cocked up royally and move on... you can't do jack about the last 6 years... what you can do is check everything thoroughly before you go into any more deals/contracts/agreements.

It's clearly not affected your business as you're still running and you've only just noticed

 

[MartinCivil]

Ultimately, you have nowhere to go, you have overpaid but you wont get anything back so time to get over it, the supplier would have given you a price each week and you just haven't paid attention to what they are charging you unfortunately.

I have come across this exact situation before. Fortunately not with my company, but when I used to be employed. It wasn't my job but as I got more involved with the business I decided to look at the fuel suppliers. The MD had set up the agreement some 8 years previous, and each week took a look at the fuel price notification that came though, and checked that it was broadly in line with the pump prices. He also failed to notice that the VAT was on top of this......

When I did some rough calcs, I worked out that they had overpaid on fuel by some £250k over the previous 8 years! OUCH!

When I discussed this with the fuel suppliers they immediately revised the rates to a more sensible figure, but unfortunately the damage was done.

I now alternate between two suppliers, I find that they give you some good rates to get you using their cards and then the price slowly creeps up. I then switch to supplier 2 and repeat ... its a bit of a game but these third party re sellers I believe make next to nothing per litre, and so it's obviously in their interest to try and creep the rates up.

It's painful but you have learnt a valuable lesson here, make sure you know how much something is before you buy it!!! Just because it is a fuel card and it's convenient doesn't mean that you are getting good value unfortunately. As an alternative, maybe consider switching to a scheme that just charges pump price?

 

[MartinCivil]

Out of interest, who is the company? I wonder if it is the same company I am referring to above

 

[ajmull]

Out of interest, who is the company? I wonder if it is the same company I am referring to above

Thanks for at least being helpful and supportive , the company is DCI

 

[MartinCivil]

No, not the company we dealt with then, but suspect that a lot of them probably employ the same tactics.

 

[cts1975]

I've had lots of experience with fuel cards for our business.
Have you agreed a 'bunker' price with them?
Have you agreed to buy fuel from just one franchise e.g. Texaco?
One of the bigger fuel card companies whose name has a star in it decide in the middle of last year to start applying 'risk' fees to customers who's credit scored dropped as they put it.
I was told that the check credit scores every month and if the score drops they apply their 'risk based pricing' strategy. It's horrible industry to deal with in my opinion.

 

[Andrew Bolton]

We too, took our eye off the ball with the Fuel card service we were using, the initial agreement we signed offered a saving on the National Average, "up to 4 ppl" and for 2 years or so these cards were economical to use, but, then ( unbeknown to us, as we were lulled into a false sense of security) the weekly prices continued to rise and rise and rise without us bothering to check. The moment we queried it, the prices tumbled instantly. We effectively lost thousands of £s and these sort of Companies clearly operate on the premise that a trust has been established and the card holder will no longer cross check everything.
For all those who feel they have very much been conned by this devious practice, do you feel it is worth taking individual or even collective legal action. ? if the initial spirit of the agreement, (and these people are still offering new customers the same misleading terms) then surely legal action can be successfully taken.

Has anyone done this, or would be willing to do it collectively ?

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

I have been over charged in the past You dont always have the time to spend on studying the statements
I challenged the fool on the phone who said a drivier must be stealing deisil

The transactions and volume were not being disputed it was the price!

.

 

[cts1975]

You should be emailed the latest price for the next 7 days?
If you don't like the price use another card. I have UK Fuels & Applegreen at the moment.
I play one off against the other. I just forward the lowest price by email to the other. Some weeks they match it other weeks they don't.
UK Fuels this week are 103.81 and Applegreen are 96.57.
Applegreen will get our money this week.

 

[cts1975]

We too, took our eye off the ball with the Fuel card service we were using, the initial agreement we signed offered a saving on the National Average, "up to 4 ppl" and for 2 years or so these cards were economical to use, but, then ( unbeknown to us, as we were lulled into a false sense of security) the weekly prices continued to rise and rise and rise without us bothering to check. The moment we queried it, the prices tumbled instantly. We effectively lost thousands of £s and these sort of Companies clearly operate on the premise that a trust has been established and the card holder will no longer cross check everything.
For all those who feel they have very much been conned by this devious practice, do you feel it is worth taking individual or even collective legal action. ? if the initial spirit of the agreement, (and these people are still offering new customers the same misleading terms) then surely legal action can be successfully taken.

Has anyone done this, or would be willing to do it collectively ?

What would you be claiming for? Do you not know the price per litre before you use the card?
They should be emailing you on the same day every week with the price for the next 7 days. It's up to you if you use the card at the latest price.
If it's a case of being charged more than what they have said then you may well have a claim.
Good look with it a spent ages trying to get AllStar fuel cards to refund me for stupid charges they decided to add on.

 

[Andrew Bolton]

yep, as you both say, as have others, we really only have ourselves to blame for not cross-checking the price in advance ( which is very well hidden in a long email full of blurb no one has time to read ) BUT, we stopped doing this routinely because all was correct for at least 2 years of use..these firms rely on the fact that some businesses are too busy, or complacent, and just slowly put the knife in by increasing the charges, until we happen to spot what they are doing. I think this is despicable and parasitic practice for one business to take advantage of another in this way, especially as the initial agreement signed gives a promise to be 'competitive on price' . So, it shouldn't be necessary for us to check the price every week.

I think this is very immoral practice and just wonder if it is also illegal, which is why I would be interested in hearing from anyone, who might like to consider a collective approach to seeking compensation

 

[dragonmiroff]

Hi all,

I know this seems weird, looking at an old thread but I'm hoping you can help me. I cant get a response from Allstar, We have found that the card is costing the business far too much. We want to cancel our allstar account, what changes would we incurr if we did this. I cannot seem to find it in the terms and conditions. It would be helpful if you can tell me what you did to cancel your accounts.

Thanks

Lee

 

[cts1975]

Hi Lee
Just cancel the direct debit with you bank - Allstar will soon get in touch with you!
In my experience Allstar are the most dishonest company I've ever come across in 19 years of business. They make up charges and add them on to your bill with out even discussing it. Proper cowboys!
We switched to Applegreen and they have been great. They do not have as many outlets as others but they are growing. We are paying £1.04 + vat this week.