Open letter to Topaz.....

endacl

OK. This will be a bit ranty, and is most definitely the first worldiest of first world problems, but how and ever, in the hope that somebody in charge of marketing in Topaz might see this....



No. I do not have a 'game card'.
No. I do not want a 'game card'.
No. I do not want a ticket for the Lotto.
No. I do not want a ticket for the Euromillions.
No. I do not want a muffin with that.
No. I do not want anything your poor long-suffering staff might have been instructed to offer me.

What I want is what I put in the tank, and what I may have picked up in the shop. They only extra I want, on top of that, is the opportunity to pay, get my change, and leave. Without the Topaz twenty questions. I'm aware of your 'game card', both lotteries, and the existence of muffins. If I want one, I'll ask for it.

That is all.

corktina

endacl wrote: »

OK. This will be a bit ranty, and is most definitely the first worldiest of first world problems, but how and ever, in the hope that somebody in charge of marketing in Topaz might see this....



No. I do not have a 'game card'.
No. I do not want a 'game card'.
No. I do not want a ticket for the Lotto.
No. I do not want a ticket for the Euromillions.
No. I do not want a muffin with that.
No. I do not want anything your poor long-suffering staff might have been instructed to offer me.

What I want is what I put in the tank, and what I may have picked up in the shop. They only extra I want, on top of that, is the opportunity to pay, get my change, and leave. Without the Topaz twenty questions. I'm aware of your 'game card', both lotteries, and the existence of muffins. If I want one, I'll ask for it.

That is all.

ah go on.....

colm_mcm

I had one of them ask me if I wanted to give money to the Temple street-children.

endacl

corktina wrote: »

ah go on.....

:mad:

:pac:

Old diesel

endacl wrote: »

OK. This will be a bit ranty, and is most definitely the first worldiest of first world problems, but how and ever, in the hope that somebody in charge of marketing in Topaz might see this....



No. I do not have a 'game card'.
No. I do not want a 'game card'.
No. I do not want a ticket for the Lotto.
No. I do not want a ticket for the Euromillions.
No. I do not want a muffin with that.
No. I do not want anything your poor long-suffering staff might have been instructed to offer me.

What I want is what I put in the tank, and what I may have picked up in the shop. They only extra I want, on top of that, is the opportunity to pay, get my change, and leave. Without the Topaz twenty questions. I'm aware of your 'game card', both lotteries, and the existence of muffins. If I want one, I'll ask for it.

That is all.

I suspect the reason for this - is "customer service procedure"

Now you probably think - what difference does that make.

Well it should make bugger all difference - but the issue is POSSIBLY the whole mystery shopper thing.

Mystery shopper comes in - you don't know who they are - but you could get in the height of crap if you don't follow the proper procedure with them.

In particular a key area afaik - is these stupid loyalty cards - afaik NOT asking the mystery shopper do they have one is a BIG no no.

Not sure if Topaz actually do mystery shoppers though - BUT they may do as its all about "customer service" these days - and mystery shoppers are a tool to test that out

colm_mcm

I turned down the loyalty cards over and over. Then I saw they giving way a car. So I asked for one. They had none left!
Got one later and won a winter car care kit. (Essentially an ice scraper and a sponge for the windscreen)

Plopli

Old diesel wrote: »

I suspect the reason for this - is "customer service procedure"

Now you probably think - what difference does that make.

Well it should make bugger all difference - but the issue is POSSIBLY the whole mystery shopper thing.

Mystery shopper comes in - you don't know who they are - but you could get in the height of crap if you don't follow the proper procedure with them.

In particular a key area afaik - is these stupid loyalty cards - afaik NOT asking the mystery shopper do they have one is a BIG no no.

Not sure if Topaz actually do mystery shoppers though - BUT they may do as its all about "customer service" these days - and mystery shoppers are a tool to test that out

Mystery shoppers are most probably not motorbike drivers.
I never got asked anything ....

michael999999

endacl wrote: »

OK. This will be a bit ranty, and is most definitely the first worldiest of first world problems, but how and ever, in the hope that somebody in charge of marketing in Topaz might see this....



No. I do not have a 'game card'.
No. I do not want a 'game card'.
No. I do not want a ticket for the Lotto.
No. I do not want a ticket for the Euromillions.
No. I do not want a muffin with that.
No. I do not want anything your poor long-suffering staff might have been instructed to offer me.

What I want is what I put in the tank, and what I may have picked up in the shop. They only extra I want, on top of that, is the opportunity to pay, get my change, and leave. Without the Topaz twenty questions. I'm aware of your 'game card', both lotteries, and the existence of muffins. If I want one, I'll ask for it.

That is all.

Ah sure will you not buy something. Poor old Denis o Brien is down to his last few billion.

Hell need another dig out from fine Gael shortly!

Bpmull

colm_mcm wrote: »

I turned down the loyalty cards over and over. Then I saw they giving way a car. So I asked for one. They had none left!
Got one later and won a winter car care kit. (Essentially an ice scraper and a sponge for the windscreen)

That's a great loyalty card. I'd say this year alone we got two of them lunch sets can of coke, chrisps, Mars bar. Got one of them ice scrapers winter kits, 2 free car washs and then tea and Danishes twice. Although I always forget to scan my card.

Op all them questions you get asked I literally never get asked them questions and go on a weekly basis to topaz.

colm_mcm

Its worth having if only for them to stop asking you if you want to sign up with one.

Tails142

As loyalty cards go the topaz one is decent. If you're going to go to topaz and pay over the odds for your fuel you might as well get the free mars bar while you're there.

Kevin McCloud

michael999999 wrote: »

Ah sure will you not buy something. Poor old Denis o Brien is down to his last few billion.

Hell need another dig out from fine Gael shortly!

Its all down to politics.

The Hill Billy

In fairness, this is not exclusive to Topaz or fuel outlets. You'll get the same 'up-selling' in AppleGreen, Starbucks, Centra, & any amount of small independent outlets.

Old diesel

Other thing that strikes me as well....

The shop is I understand by far the most profitable aspect of the petrol station business - margins on the actual fuel are very small afaik.

So the staff are probably told to encourage customers to buy scratch cards etc - as not every customer will use the shop - only visiting to pay for the petrol.

Need to maximise shop revenue - to drive the business forward.

Btw - have no connection to the petrol business DESPITE above posts.....

_taytothief

Hardly the best reason to complain about Topaz.

flutered

michael999999 wrote: »

Ah sure will you not buy something. Poor old Denis o Brien is down to his last few billion.

Hell need another dig out from fine Gael shortly!

seen as he hired our clowen he has another expense sheet to shell out for, a guy who looks and acts high maintenance.

delly

Since Topaz started their loyalty card, I've had a free car wash, 3 or 4 cans of minerals, a couple of cups of tea, a couple of bottles of water, some pastries and some sandwiches, along with some crisps and Mars bars. Sad as it is I look forward to see what I will be getting each month, which reminds me I need to pick up my ice scraper and demister pad.

endacl

_taytothief wrote: »

Hardly the best reason to complain about Topaz.

I know. It's the one that bugs me though...

JohnBoy26

endacl wrote: »

:mad:

:pac:

Download the app for the phone and swipe it every time you are at the till hardly a big deal and I have gotten loads of free tea, bars, free sandwiches and a free breakfast roll over the last while. I'm always in topaz due to having a fuel card so it makes sense to play the loyalty game.

porsche boy

endacl wrote: »

OK. This will be a bit ranty, and is most definitely the first worldiest of first world problems, but how and ever, in the hope that somebody in charge of marketing in Topaz might see this....



No. I do not have a 'game card'.
No. I do not want a 'game card'.
No. I do not want a ticket for the Lotto.
No. I do not want a ticket for the Euromillions.
No. I do not want a muffin with that.
No. I do not want anything your poor long-suffering staff might have been instructed to offer me.

What I want is what I put in the tank, and what I may have picked up in the shop. They only extra I want, on top of that, is the opportunity to pay, get my change, and leave. Without the Topaz twenty questions. I'm aware of your 'game card', both lotteries, and the existence of muffins. If I want one, I'll ask for it.

That is all.

Also, I object to the fact that you are actually Shell Oil and changed you name to distance yourself from the 'Shell to sea' debacle. Further more you are headed by the biggest tax dodging b@stard this country has ever seen and you now employ Brian Cowan as a director, most likely a thank you from your managing director for a dodgy government deal in the past, choose one yourself as there were loads involving the afore mentioned people.

Now, that is all.

Stheno

I actually like my local Topaz, the staff are friendly, once they know you they quit with the upselling, and you have a bit of banter tbh

i do have a game tag (not card) btw

Foxhole Norman

Ye should all go to Maxol, way friendlier staff :pac:

Godeatsboogers

Just sing 2unlimited's hit no limit for the duration of the transaction whilst holding out some currency, thats what i do

hfallada

Everyone knows that the margin on fuel is only about 2-3%.The petrol stations make their money on the newspapers, cigarettes, sweets. Up-selling will become more and more regular in Ireland. Even Sainsburys told its employees to aim to get every customers to spend 50p more in store.

In my last retail we were "encouraged" to push raffle tickets for "charity". Most employees werent bother as the prize was something the store had brought and no one brought it. They were using the raffle as a way of recovering the cost of the prize

coylemj

I've never noticed that one brand is worse for the upsell than the other, it's usually down to the bloke at the counter. I seriously doubt that there's any mystery shopper issue involved because if a filling station had a store policy of doing the hard sell on all of their customers, they'd probably be out of business in a month or so.

I don't mind a waiter/ess in a restaurant (gently) encouraging me to order dessert and/or coffee but that's as far as it goes, any other hard sell is a serious turn-off.

CiniO

Old diesel wrote: »

I suspect the reason for this - is "customer service procedure"

Now you probably think - what difference does that make.

Well it should make bugger all difference - but the issue is POSSIBLY the whole mystery shopper thing.

Mystery shopper comes in - you don't know who they are - but you could get in the height of crap if you don't follow the proper procedure with them.

In particular a key area afaik - is these stupid loyalty cards - afaik NOT asking the mystery shopper do they have one is a BIG no no.

Not sure if Topaz actually do mystery shoppers though - BUT they may do as its all about "customer service" these days - and mystery shoppers are a tool to test that out

Well this mystery shopper thing explains why staff are following the procedure.

But OP's question was why is this procedure in place at all?

endacl

CiniO wrote: »

Well this mystery shopper thing explains why staff are following the procedure.

But OP's question was why is this procedure in place at all?

Point of clarity. Rant. Not question!

edburg

Old diesel wrote: »

I suspect the reason for this - is "customer service procedure"

Now you probably think - what difference does that make.

Well it should make bugger all difference - but the issue is POSSIBLY the whole mystery shopper thing.

Mystery shopper comes in - you don't know who they are - but you could get in the height of crap if you don't follow the proper procedure with them.

In particular a key area afaik - is these stupid loyalty cards - afaik NOT asking the mystery shopper do they have one is a BIG no no.

Not sure if Topaz actually do mystery shoppers though - BUT they may do as its all about "customer service" these days - and mystery shoppers are a tool to test that out

This plus if it's like B&Q when I worked there you get another 5 cents in your pay check.

It is annoying at times being pestered for crap, but odd one is handy.

Breffnigolfer

michael999999 wrote: »

Ah sure will you not buy something. Poor old Denis o Brien is down to his last few billion.

Hell need another dig out from fine Gael shortly!

You can keep your anti-FG crap.

I stopped purchasing TOPAZ when O'Brien appointed Brian Cowen to the Board of Directors of the company.

whiterebel

hfallada wrote: »

Everyone knows that the margin on fuel is only about 2-3%.The petrol stations make their money on the newspapers, cigarettes, sweets. Up-selling will become more and more regular in Ireland. Even Sainsburys told its employees to aim to get every customers to spend 50p more in store.

In my last retail we were "encouraged" to push raffle tickets for "charity". Most employees werent bother as the prize was something the store had brought and no one brought it. They were using the raffle as a way of recovering the cost of the prize

It might be 2-3% in most places, but in almost every town you go through, topaz is the most expensive. So they're taking their "2-3%", and adding 3/4/5c per litre on top. Only one I know of that's cheap, and it's because they have unmanned pumps, is Knocklong. No shop, just fuel.

michael999999

Breffnigolfer wrote: »

You can keep your anti-FG crap.

I stopped purchasing TOPAZ when O'Brien appointed Brian Cowen to the Board of Directors of the company.

Don't worry, im just as anti Fianna fail crooks.

Breffnigolfer

hfallada wrote: »

Everyone knows that the margin on fuel is only about 2-3%...................

A bit of a generalisation there?

Topaz owned stations are the ones being referred to in this thread. Being company owned they are also reaping the wholesale margin as well as the retail one, an aggregate of well over the levels you mention.

The upselling is all about increasing their margins/profit.

coylemj

I used to have a Topaz card which gave me a guaranteed weekly price that was typically the best or equal best in my area and I used it for a few months. They then changed the Ts & Cs which was the topic of a thread here and people stopped using the card, including me. Since then I have purchased on pump price alone and have never been to a Topaz place because they are never the cheapest.

JohnBoy26

Breffnigolfer wrote: »

You can keep your anti-FG crap.

I stopped purchasing TOPAZ when O'Brien appointed Brian Cowen to the Board of Directors of the company.

He's right though. Sorry to go off topic here but it's funny that you won't use topaz anymore because of cowen's appointment yet your perfectly willing to come on here and defend a party that is just as bad, if not worse than the one he presided over.

listermint

Topaz have expensive fuel. Thats reason enough not to shop there. There fuel prices seem undetered ever by the fall in barrel price.

jimgoose

porsche boy wrote: »

Also, I object to the fact that you are actually Shell Oil...

No, I'm Shell Oil. Junior. We named the company after it. Now, please excuse me, you're blocking my view.

Breffnigolfer wrote: »

You can keep your anti-FG crap.

I stopped purchasing TOPAZ when O'Brien appointed Brian Cowen to the Board of Directors of the company.

I stopped purchasing fuel there when O'Brien showed up. I stopped purchasing anything there when Cowen showed up. Mind you, I would have done the same had any of the IndaKinny()'s shams showed up instead.

derry

Anything with that SOB Denis attached to is avoided as much as possible and the fact the bonzo is trying to get me to pay for water he and his TOPAZ (Shell ) can rev up and f*** ***
Last week in Dublin NS was real low on fuel so had to buy 2 liters of their sh1te from them .
The car a 98 fiat sx 1400 after 100 yards exiting the station burped and farted all the way to next filling station 4 miles away .I filled up there and lashed in half a bottle of the Diphetane stuff and after couple of miles car went back to normal running
SABENA such a bad experience never again .

If i had the money and time would remove the offending fuel completely but cant so hopefully the other better fuel will dilute the Topaz stuff enough

Yeah some will say its airlock or other techy stuff but as I generally only fill a tenner and often am down to last liter before filling I never encountered this problem before that .

The reason to keep fuel tank low as possible is if i get a bad fuel fill from some stretched fuel operator I can fill the tank with as much good stuff as I can find after that .To reduce the risks for me to get a lot of bad stretched fuel I always fill with tenners from multiple different stations in Dublin region .Its pain in the ass but best solution coupled with Dipthane i can find .

Derry

greatdepression

Some people need to get there facts right.

Topaz is not and never was Shell. A private equity firm called ion equity bought Statoil and Shells Irish assets and merged the two under the name Topaz.

As for where Topaz buys its fuel is essentially the same as Maxol, Apple Green etc. who ever is the cheapest supplier!

And if your going to Boycott Topaz next time you go on Holiday have a think where the fuel in the plane has come from.

BMJD

the "loyalty" game is sh1te, spend the best part of €300 to get entered into a draw, big ****in deal :rolleyes:

IrishHomer

I passed Topaz Kinnegad yesterday and there was a lot of men at the entrance and exit holding a protest carrying placards stating "boycott"

Interslice

greatdepression wrote: »

Some people need to get there facts right.

Topaz is not and never was Shell. A private equity firm called ion equity bought Statoil and Shells Irish assets and merged the two under the name Topaz.

As for where Topaz buys its fuel is essentially the same as Maxol, Apple Green etc. who ever is the cheapest supplier!

And if your going to Boycott Topaz next time you go on Holiday have a think where the fuel in the plane has come from.

Topaz was formed by ion to take over all aspects of shell in ireland. It was described at the time by the ion CEO Mr O’Leary as "a fairly unusual opportunity" to buy a well-established distribution business. Shells turnover in Ireland at the time was around 1 billion euro.

During the subsequent merger with statoil this happened. The first time in the history of the competition authority I believe.

The Competition Authority failed to make a
determination in the Topaz/Statoil merger within the
prescribed time period under the Competition Act,
2002. Accordingly, the parties were legally permitted
to complete the merger. In this section we outline
how the error occurred; the consequences of the
error from a competition perspective; and what the
Competition Authority has done to ensure that such
an error does not occur again.

source: http://www.tca.ie/images/uploaded/documents/2007-02-28_Annual_Report_2006.pdf

If you ever drive from cork city to tralee you will see a fine example of the monopoly at work with fuel at about the same price all along the route, which consist only of topaz garages, and is 5 cent dearer than in tralee, where competition reemerges and you get some of the cheapest fuel in the country.

I could go on but will easily enter tldr territory. Hopefully people can read between the lines on this as hard evidence rarely emerges from behind closed doors, the odd tape maybe. Mr. Cowen was minister for finance at the time of the topaz - statoil merger for example. Needless to say I never step foot in topaz, as it is to me, a shining example of the projects undertaken by greedy fat men in suits that ruined this country at a time when it was prosperous enough to invest in itself for the benefit of it's people and future generations.

MarkR

BMJD wrote: »

the "loyalty" game is sh1te, spend the best part of €300 to get entered into a draw, big ****in deal :rolleyes:

Pretty big deal for the winners. Just because you didn't win, doesn't mean it's shíte! I didn't win the lotto this week, not going to give out about it.

Guy:Incognito

BMJD wrote: »

the "loyalty" game is sh1te, spend the best part of €300 to get entered into a draw, big ****in deal :rolleyes:

Your not buying a lottery ticket, your spending the €300 on fuel either way.

MarkR

Costs you nothing. They give you free stuff every so often. What a shower of w*nkers.

Paco Rodriguez

All you have to do is say no. Which is at most about 3 seconds of your life.

killanena

I work in a topaz, We are required to ask those things, especially if the supervisor or manager is around. + we get a bonus ever month based on our performance throughout the store including people signing up for game tags. Every employee is also required to have at least 20% of their transactions to have loyalty tags scanned.

colm_mcm

I got a free can of coke, a bag of taytos and a Mars bar there, maybe they're not so bad

Purple Mountain

no i dont want a pastry with my coffee...

killanena

Purple Mountain wrote: »

no i dont want a pastry with my coffee...

Its called upselling

endacl

killanena wrote: »

Its called upselling

Its called irritating. I haven't been to a Topaz station since I opened this thread. That's an awful lot of fuel and coffee. Please let your manager know.