[RSR]

Originally Posted by naveenroy

Not sure how they manage to escape that. Any pointers to articles talking about this?

Quality doesn't come cheap; and where there is a will, there is a way:

Rhenus Logistics India, the Indian arm of the global Rhenus Group, has announced signing an agreement with Shell India, to launch a fleet of specialised tankers for transportation of fuel for Shell India.

...

The new fleet is equipped with ABS-fitted disc brakes, three point inertia seatbelts, in-cabin climate control, 2x10 DCP fire extinguishers, GPS among others.

http://www.business-standard.com/art...1101702_1.html

Originally Posted by naveenroy

Pure fuel marketing company? Are you saying that for only India?

Originally Posted by batterylow

Has to be, Shell operates upstream facilities like oil rigs in other countries.

Yes, of course, only for India.

Elsewhere, Shell are involved in all streams of the oil business, and more.

[hellmet]

Originally Posted by RSR

You were there when there were hardly any (or no) customers around. Imagine what would happen if two bikes entered the place simultaneously, just as your bike was being filled by the attendant. One comes in the correct direction of the queue, and the other joins in the incorrect direction of your bike.

I find nothing wrong in it.

I get that. But what I didn't like was how it was put. "Follow the rule (take it) or leave it" attitude that is almost rampant across the nation gets my goat. One customer gone, another customer comes to fill the coffers. Nobody cares about you!

Originally Posted by RSR

In customer service, the smiles are always fake, even at star hotels, first class airline compartments, luxury cruise ships etc. That's how it is the world over! Do not even imagine for an instance that any person in the customer service field has a genuine smile on his/her face when he/she greets you! It's a fact of life.

A fake smile on the face of a Shell attendant who says the traditional greeting is far better than the nasty, ugly scowl that the rude, crude, poorly-trained PSU pump attendants have on their faces when they "greet" customers.

It looks like you've had very bad experience(s) with PSU pumps. Smiles are always fake, but customer service / courteousness should follow the smile, else it makes no sense. You can't smile at the customer one moment and then shoo him away the next moment. Atleast at PSU there are no smiles, so I expect no "service" either.

Anyway, I've gone way off topic. What's news for today? How much do I pay the govt. extra ?

[khoj]

The same applies retrospectively too. No?

All Shell bunks have a standard design with entry and exit clearly marked, so if one follows them the question of being parked the other way around does not arise.

Originally Posted by hellmet

Nobody cares about you!

So the guys was gruff, of course he was. If we take a closer look Shell bunks generally hire attendants from the local populace's EWS clusters. It is a way of providing job opportunity to someone who otherwise may loiter around and become a nuisance. Most of these guys despite their training towards greeting are not equipped to have a conversation apart from the usual mundane queries, let alone try and understand that why this customer is insisting parking in this manner when the company's training video never showed a customer insistent on parking in the wrong direction. At that point his mind would have been a mishmash of confusing thoughts being presented to you in a tone growing desperate and ruder by the second.

All of these bunks are under cctv surveillance and the company monitors not just theft etc but the action of their employees too with an emphasis on following the set standard procedures and a proportion of their salary is linked to the same. This guy was in a catch 22. Insist on following the procedure & lose a customer. Please the customer & get reprimanded on not following the procedure. Nett Nett we are discussing here.

We all have had miscellaneous experiences at petrol stations but deep down I would rather have a guy (with or without the Namastey/Smile) come up to my door and ask me the type and quantity of fuel I want rather than another guy who simply knocks on the fill cap asking me to open that first before I even tell him what I want. I think given the difference between us and them on the stations in life that we are at, we should allow for a bit of leeway.

[RSR]

Originally Posted by hellmet

I get that. But what I didn't like was how it was put. "Follow the rule (take it) or leave it" attitude that is almost rampant across the nation gets my goat.

I agree on this. The attendant was in a difficult situation, but he should have requested you with the utmost politeness and explained why he is was in a helpless position.

It looks like you've had very bad experience(s) with PSU pumps. Smiles are always fake, but customer service / courteousness should follow the smile, else it makes no sense. You can't smile at the customer one moment and then shoo him away the next moment. Atleast at PSU there are no smiles, so I expect no "service" either.

To each, his own!

I wouldn't mind the PSU cabal's lack of customer service at all. It's the cheating, and looking for every opportunity to cheat that I simply cannot tolerate.

Yes, I've had very bad experiences at pumps of the PSU cabal - been cheated on a couple of occasions by pump attendants at different pumps using their dirty tricks, which I discovered only later.

After I became aware of their vile methods (Team-BHP threads also helped), I kept a careful watch and caught them red-handed on a couple of occasions when they were attempting to pull a fast one out of their bag of dirty tricks. The shameless cheats!

Enter Shell. The honesty of their attendants (apart from all other Shell advantages) came as a breath of truly fresh air when compared to the toxic, carcinogenic fumes of the PSU cabal!

I fill as much as I can at Shell these days and even take detours to do so. The few times I'm forced (by circumstances) to fill at the PSU cabal's pumps, I fill in no more than 200 or 300 rupees worth of fuel (while keeping a strict watch), just enough to last till the next visit to a Shell outlet.

It's such pathological cheats, sly rip-off artists, incorrigible conmen etc. like some of the ones employed at pumps of the PSU cabal that bring a very bad name to this country!

I want more and more quality oil companies to enter the oil marketing business, and force the PSU cabal to mend their lowly ways, or force them out of business if they don't.

Total and Petronas have already started fuel outlets in Chennai, but they dispense only automotive LPG.

I can't wait for the day petroleum becomes a truly deregulated field, leading to a flood of quality companies into the refining and oil marketing business.

Only then will the PSU oil cabal face the situation that was faced by HM & PAL in the car making business. Either improve by leaps and bounds, or get what they deserve.

Anyway, I've gone way off topic. What's news for today? How much do I pay the govt. extra?

There may be a ray of hope on this. The Bihar elections are not that far off, you know.

[Tanveer_2558]

Diesel hiked by 1.83 Rs and petrol by 2.78 rs in delhi, Just saw it as a breaking news post from timesnow on facebook.

[LonelyPlanet]

Originally Posted by Tanveer_2558

Diesel hiked by 1.83 Rs and petrol by 2.78 rs in delhi, Just saw it as a breaking news post from timesnow on facebook.

Finally the whole country stops to subsidise the delhities

[arun_kun]

Press Trust of India ‏@PTI_News
Petrol and diesel price cut by Rs 2 per litre, excluding local levies, with effect from midnight tonight.

[khoj]

VAT hike in Dilli takes out all juice from the reduction

[Sheel]

And I was wondering as to why there are less trucks at peak hour yesterday night at a reputed & popular bunk?

5 mins back [last night] I was sitting with fleet operators and owner and there was a discussion of price cuts and that too not paltry, but I just see Rs. 2 being waived off.

But thanks to this price cut awareness [happening on either 15th or 30th/1st] I could shake - fill, shake - fill, shake - fill till no more fuel could go in.

Might have saved some 30-40 odd bucks but an entire bunk to you + attendants jostling your car to fill more is priceless

[sgiitk]

This is probably the first time OMCs have announced a price change sans local levies. Heard may Delhiites cribbing, well folks you get the govt you vote for and deserve. They have to fund the subsidies somehow.

Kanpur petrol is ₹71.01 per litre.

[supremeBaleno]

^^^Well, it is not just the Delhi-ites. The rest of us in India also got a Central Govt that have extracted more than their pound of flesh from the fuel-prices. And that too when the global prices were at a historical low.

Talking of local levies, at one time (a year or more ago), Kerala petrol prices were lower than TN due to the Kerala Govt reducing local levies. Today the situation is the opposite, with petrol prices in KL costing Rs4+ more than TN. Since that is almost the differential between TN and Pondichery prices, I guess folks at the Kerala border might drive/ride into TN and tank up.

[itwasntme]

Filled up diesel in Bangalore BP for Rs. 52.60!

[sandsun7]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

, I guess folks at the Kerala border might drive/ride into TN and tank up.

Petrol Price in Kannur, Kerala is 70.54 per litre, whereas Mahe, part of Pondicherry UT which lies around 28 km south of Kannur (and just 10 km south of Telicherry) sells the same at 62.22 per liter- A difference of Rs. 8. For a 30 liter fill up, this equates to saving of around Rs. 240.
In case of diesel, the difference is around Rs 4.24.

It may still not make sense for someone to drive down from Kannur to Mahe only to fill fuel as the fuel spent in doing so will even out the advantage of lower costs. But people like me use the opportunity to tank up and save a few rupees when passing through Mahe while on the way to other destinations!

[AJITHAAA]

This is another Jumla we Indians are being fed. Subsidies were removed and deregulation was done to match the international price movements. In the last 15 days crude prices dropped by almost $6 and we get a paltry Rs.2 .

[jeepster_chd]

Originally Posted by AJITHAAA

In the last 15 days crude prices dropped by almost $6 and we get a paltry Rs.2 .

$6 price cut is per barrel not per litre Moreover to rear 1.25 crores of us Govt does need some cash.