Closed

For many years now, I have had a Shell MasterCard. I purchase most of my gas on it, and get a discount on my gas through the rebates. It has worked quite well for me. I just finished closing the account. Why? Well, they give you less than 2 weeks to make the payment from the time you receive the statement. This year, that happened to coincide with my 2 weeks of vacation. So, I got home Sunday night, got my mail Monday afternoon, and paid the bill on line Tuesday morning.

When I got my next statement, it was the largest of the year. I had charged over $200 worth of gas on it those 2 weeks we were on vacation. They had credited my payment, which, as expected, had been late. They also charged me a $39.00 late fee and over $2.00 in interest. This had happened once before, and that time, when I sent an email to customer service and explained the situation, they had credited the late fee. This time they refused. I pay my balance in full each month, so I guess they saw this as their one chance to make money off of me. So, I called and cancelled the card. It was a convenience, but not one that was worth $39 anytime I'm away for 2 weeks.

A number of years ago I was on vacation for 4 weeks. As a result, I was late with a payment on a card with a much longer grace period for payments. The next month's statement had closed before they received the payment, and so I deducted what I'd paid when I got home and paid the rest, including interest and the late fee. I wasn't quite as assertive in those days. I had used the card throughout the vacation, so it was obvious I had been travelling. The following month, without me even asking, they refunded both the late fee and the interest they had charged. If I need to buy Shell gasoline in the future (and I will avoid it when possible), I will use my GM Card.

It is the kind of thing my father would do. We used to joke about all the places we couldn't go because he'd gotten mad at them over something and refused to do business with them anymore. I'm beginning to see his point.