Pirelli Pre-Paid Cards

[Graham Wood]

Just wanted to share my experiences when trying to use my Pirelli Pre-Paid card obtained after buying new tyres (as per the Club Scheme) to help others get effective use from them.

I went to use the card today (with £50 on it) at a Shell filling station. I had a transaction of £55 and said use the card up and handed over £5 with the card.

The card was declined. So I paid via another means.

When home, I then thought I would use the card to ‘top up’ an online retailer account (the one with the same name as a South American river!), thinking there must be a problem using it as Shell filling stations.

I took the option to add £50 to my account and was told I would receive an email shortly confirming the ‘top up’.

A few minutes later I received an email saying the top up had been declined, and I also noticed the balance of the Pirelli card had dropped by £1.

On talking to the company that run the  Card Scheme, it transpires the card operator (MasterCard in this instance) have charged a fee of £1 to process the transaction, which then left £49 on the card, which was then declined by the online retailer as it was not £50!

Nothing in their T&Cs or FAQs says there is a fee if the transaction is carried out in the same currency as the card.

Regarding the Shell filling station transaction, make sure you are really clear with the Sales Assistant that you want to use the card for it’s value (in this case £50) and pay any extra as a separate transaction. They will often find this difficult to do as they will treat any fuel transaction as a single entity. Better still, ONLY fill up to the exact value on the card, and not a penny more.

I have emailed the company who promote the scheme for Pirelli for further clarification regarding the online retailer issue (the ‘contact us’ from the ‘activateacard’ website does not work), and will update when I hear back.

 

[profchristopher-green]

Graham

What a pallava  ( however you spell it).

I do admit that I am surprised the £50 Pirelli offer was worth taking up over buying via discount providers such as TyreLeader and Camskill. Guess you did the numbers before doing  it. I use the online discount alot  and pay £15 a rim locally to fit and get the tyres with a D.O M. that is is one or two years back as they reduce dramatically and mine never last more than a year  – well 6months really ( track time does them in).

Certainly the info is useful to know what might happen and how to avoid or minimise the hastle after all £50 is a worthy discount

 

Chris Green

[Graham Wood]

You just  need to use any authorised Pirelli supplier for the tyres and then send a copy of the invoice (by whatever means) to Pirelli, and I have used the same company for years, and they match most of the online providers. They also do a great job balancing and tracking at a good price.

My comments are more about the pre-paid scheme provider.

In fact, having emailed their ‘contact us’ email address yesterday with my ‘woes’, that email has been bounced back as not existing!

Not sure who to try to contact now.

Will report further…

[Lee Moore]

I wonder how many others have made use of this and what the result was?

[Graham Wood]

The card itself is an excellent idea, just to distill my ‘experience’ above

– If using for a fuel purchase and you fill up with more than the value of the card ensure the sales assistant can split the transaction into two, or can allow payment by two different tender types. It appears our local Shell filling station cannot.

– Do not use the card for payment with some (not sure who, which adds to the problem) online retailers, as the Card Provider seems to take a £1 charge for the transaction.

 

[Graham Wood]

Chris,

Indeed I did do the ‘homework’ when buying the tyres, and the two Pirelli tyres I got for an Alfa still worked out £30 cheaper, allowing for the £50 card value, by going to a local specialist than the online retailers.

I have never heard of Camskill before – so one to add to the list (in this case they did not stock the Pirelli tyres in the required size).

Obviously, it also depends whether you want Pirelli tyres or not. As said these were for an Alfa, and the Pirellis are what I want for that car.

Interesting point on the DOM, I had not thought of getting tyres with an old manufacture date – do some of the online retailers let you choose this way and how old are the tyres you can buy?

I do not get through tyres that quickly, so for me I live by the Belgian/French Contrôle technique rule of if a tyre is more than 6 years old it is highly recommended you change tyres (I wonder when this will eventually come into the MOT?).

[Graham Wood]

Just to add a final, important point.

The Pirelli cash back offer with the Club is an excellent idea, and it is worth noting when you look at the scheme, they do highlight it is to be used as a ‘Fuel Gift Card’ (even though the scheme provider does allow for use at any retailer showing the Mastercard logo).

So, as long as you get under or exactly the right monetary value of fuel, you will be OK!

[profchristopher-green]

Graham

Getting a one year old £300 + tyre can knock £60-£100 off a tyre. If you go to 2-3 years  i reckon it can be 50-60 %. you can get right back to 8-9 years sometimes on some tyres but i only go back 2-3 (so still the same life time  in it ) as i track a lot. Its all abit of luck but certainly works out more than its doesn’t. Saved me a fortune o PZERO CORSA Directional.

Tyre leader put the DOM on the website by each tyre. You prob noticed they also have new “ demo” tyres sometimes on which has a  few miles on them at reduced prices.

Anyway anything that keeps us safe and legal and saves a few bob is good.

Noticed you said you live under the Belge.Fr rules. I had the NL rules for nearly 30 years  before retiring back to UK

 

Chris

 

 

 

[Graham Wood]

Chris,

OK, I see what you mean, if you scroll down, having chosen a brand every now & again they show an old DOT code, and the prices are significantly cheaper.

Useful information, as the wife is currently doing 25K miles a year, and this would be suitable for her Alfa.

Thanks for that.

We have just come back from 5 years in Belgium (and spend time in France), so a little more wary of different ways of dealing with things there.

Were there any specific advisories in the APK?

Graham

[Graham Wood]

Finally got to the bottom of the ‘South American River’ £1 charge!

By delving deep into their (un)Help(ful) pages, I finally came across the following if you use a pre-paid card:

“There’s a £1 authorisation at the time of order to make sure the payment method is valid. This authorisation isn’t a charge, but banks may hold the authorised funds as unavailable until the authorisation expires. “

Apparently, I will get the £1 back at some point.

Just a bit silly when you have a £50 card, and expect to use the full £50!

Anyway, learnt much about these pre-paid cards now!

[John Bennett]

Oh dear that’s not how it should happen.  I’ll have a chat with Pirelli when I’m next in touch with them.  They are coming to the International and so you can nobble them when there Graham.

I always check the cost against Blackcircles and when I took the discount card into account Pirelli were cheaper for tyres for my Discovery but that was before the offer changed to a fuel card.

If anyone else has issues let me know please.

John Bennett

[email protected]

[Graham Wood]

John,

Just to reiterate, there is nothing wrong with the Pirelli side at all. The process of applying for and receiving the card was absolutely fine, the only issue is, if you use it for fuel (effectively what Pirelli want you to use it for) then it is about ensuring you either fill up to the exact amount of the card, or, if you fill up with more, then to ensure the filling station can ‘split’ the transaction – which my local Shell station could not do for some reason.

Best really to just fill up to the exact amount on the card.

Using the card for other online transactions is fine, but you just need to be aware of the ‘authorisation’ charge that the card processors may impose.

Again, from Pirelli’s perspective, they do call the scheme a ‘Fuel gift card’ offer, so, use it for that, with the above caveat in mind, and all will be good!

 

[Graham Wood]

Jut to end this little saga…

I did get the £1 put back on the card when the processes that checked my ‘South American River’ transaction had been declined realised no money had been taken (took about a week for the £1 to be automatically reinstated), and I have since used the card to buy £50 of petrol!

Success!

[Author]

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