Automotive

Esso Extra Privileges fuel discount requirements are ridiculous

  • Last Updated:
  • Nov 22nd, 2017 9:09 am
Sr. Member
Jan 13, 2007
689 posts
669 upvotes
Toronto, Ontario

Esso Extra Privileges fuel discount requirements are ridiculous

Hi everyone,

I haven't posted here in a while but I thought RFDers might be able to offer some feedback. Essentially, I signed up with Esso Extra points and the Extra Privileges program back in April 2017. I immediately signed up for the fuel discount offer of "Buy 80 litres by April 28, 2017 and receive 2.5¢ off/litre for 40 litres." After achieving that within 3 weeks, I had a new offer, which kept pushing the litres required up (albeit with the litres eligible for the 2.5¢ discount also increasing). Anyway, here is my history of rewards/achievements:

  • Buy 80 litres by April 28, 2017 and receive 2.5¢ off/litre for 40 litres.
  • Buy 80 litres by May 22, 2017 and receive 2.5¢ off/litre for 40 litres.
  • Buy 90 litres by June 11, 2017 and receive 2.5¢ off/litre for 50 litres.
  • Buy 150 litres by June 30, 2017 and receive 2.5¢ off/litre for 60 litres.
  • Buy 150 litres by July 19, 2017 and receive 2.5¢ off/litre for 70 litres.
  • Buy 230 litres by August 3, 2017 and receive 2.5¢ off/litre for 80 litres.
  • Buy 280 litres by September 1, 2017 and receive 2.5¢ off/litre for 90 litres.
  • Buy 280 litres by September 24, 2017 and receive 2.5¢ off/litre for 100 litres.

Now having achieved the latest reward, my next offer is as follows:

  • Buy 360 litres by October 18, 2017 and receive 2.5¢ off/litre for 110 litres.

Really, Esso? You're just going to automatically keep bumping up my requirement each time I achieve the previous one? Talk about pushing the limits. Does anyone know if they do this just to determine what your threshold is and then keep it there for the remainder of your enrolment? Does the requirement ever go down? Or do they continue increasing it until you just no longer use the program anymore?
29 replies
Deal Expert
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Jul 30, 2007
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time to get a 6000lb super size SUV, you will get there in no time. Winking Face
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Jun 18, 2008
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They are also bumping up the rewards too. It's working as intended, I rarely surpass the requirements and they seem to stay flat. Seriously, the amount is paltry. Don't forget, there is no 'fee' for participating so not sure what the gripe is.



booblehead wrote: time to get a 6000lb super size SUV, you will get there in no time. Winking Face
Or use it in recipes, fertilize the grass, fill up neighbours cars....
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Feb 11, 2007
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woofster wrote: Esso Extra Privileges fuel discount requirements are ridiculous
Were you forced into a contract with them? If not, you don't have to buy Esso.
If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.
Sr. Member
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Jul 15, 2003
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Ottawa
I noticed the same thing, so I stopped going to Esso for fuel... after a few months it dropped back down to 130 litres which is two fill-ups for my van.

If they left it at 80 litres it would still be two fill-ups but with a smaller earned discount, so the joke's on them.
Sr. Member
Jan 13, 2007
689 posts
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Toronto, Ontario
booblehead wrote: time to get a 6000lb super size SUV, you will get there in no time. Winking Face
Exactly. It almost seems like they believe people will start driving more and wasting more fuel in various ways just for the satisfaction of achieving those ever-increasing requirements. Knowing how a lot of people think though, it might actually work!
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Jan 31, 2006
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I use esso extra privileges as well. I just accept all their offers. if i meet it then i meet it if not i won't be bother by it. you have a choice not to use them anyways.
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Jan 13, 2007
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ottofly wrote: They are also bumping up the rewards too. It's working as intended, I rarely surpass the requirements and they seem to stay flat. Seriously, the amount is paltry. Don't forget, there is no 'fee' for participating so not sure what the gripe is.






Or use it in recipes, fertilize the grass, fill up neighbours cars....
To be honest, the actual dollar amount savings of the 2.5¢/L is negligible and doesn't make a difference in my finances but it's the principle! Sure, the number of litres eligible for the discount increases also but the structure of this program is plain stupid.

Despite the number of litres discounted increasing with each increasing requirement, the return is far from linear. The more you achieve, the lower the return becomes. The 1st offer was 80L for 40L of discounted fuel. The latest offer is 360L (4.5x the original) for 110L of fuel (2.75x the original). The effort is much greater for a much lower return.

Here's another point of contention. Say, you are short the fuel requirement to achieve the discount by 1L. Who really goes to the gas station to fill up 1L just for this discount? I suspect most people just fill up their tank to the max (as I would and as I have certainly done). So the customer fills up, say, 50L but since they only needed 1L to reach the reward, the remaining 49L is not added to the next fuel savings period since you have to manually "enroll" in the next offer and the next offer usually takes a day or 2 to appear. Esso essentially just avoided paying out the fuel discount on 49L of fuel right there.

Anyway, this whole thread is basically a rant because I find the fuel requirement, the manual enrolment, the excess fuel that is not counted if you go over the fuel requirement...all of that is just silly. Previously, I just had the Petro-Canada MasterCard which automatically gave you a fuel discount of 2¢/L on every litre. It was so easy and straight-forward but alas, that program has since been terminated.
Last edited by woofster on Sep 18th, 2017 11:27 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Jul 12, 2003
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Isn't it you can pick up a 2.5c discount card at Esso stations anyway?

Why now they have to make you purchase certain amount of Gas for you to get that tiny discount.
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Sr. Member
Jan 13, 2007
689 posts
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Toronto, Ontario
marktang wrote: I use esso extra privileges as well. I just accept all their offers. if i meet it then i meet it if not i won't be bother by it. you have a choice not to use them anyways.
This is basically my concession for subsequent offers as well. In all previous ones, I didn't make any concerted effort to achieve the reward. I simply filled up when I needed to and just so happened to achieve the minimum requirement each time. With the next offer requirement being so high at 360L/month, I'm certainly not going to go out of my way to achieve it. If I get it, great, if not, then so be it, however I still felt like ranting. Grinning Face With Smiling Eyes

Thanks for listening!
Sr. Member
Jan 13, 2007
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Toronto, Ontario
engineered wrote: Were you forced into a contract with them? If not, you don't have to buy Esso.
rodenti wrote: I noticed the same thing, so I stopped going to Esso for fuel... after a few months it dropped back down to 130 litres which is two fill-ups for my van.

If they left it at 80 litres it would still be two fill-ups but with a smaller earned discount, so the joke's on them.
Yeah, I just thought I'd try out Esso earlier this year after the Petro-Canada MasterCard 2¢/L fuel discount program ended. With that program, it was an automatic 2¢/L discount on fuel whenever you used that credit card to fill up. It was pretty seamless.

I'm not necessarily stuck on Esso but I've been with it since April. I just so happen to have achieved each fuel discount offer to date but I most likely won't meet the one coming up but I'll probably just fill up normally anyway...or I could always just go to Canadian Tire to fill up (with my CT MasterCard) but I don't want to overthink this. It's just 2-2.5¢/L which won't really change my life either way!
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Jan 31, 2006
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i think the car wash rewards are easier. i have 4 of them now if you buy one car wash you get 80L. For the fuel one i am at buy 90L stage.
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woofster wrote: To be honest, the actual dollar amount savings of the 2.5¢/L is negligible and doesn't make a difference in my finances but it's the principle! Sure, the number of litres eligible for the discount increases also but the structure of this program is plain stupid.

Despite the number of litres discounted increasing with each increasing requirement, the return is far from linear. The more you achieve, the lower the return becomes. The 1st offer was 80L for 40L of discounted fuel. The latest offer is 360L (4.5x the original) for 110L of fuel (2.75x the original). The effort is much greater for a much lower return.

Here's another point of contention. Say, you are short the fuel requirement to achieve the discount by 1L. Who really goes to the gas station to fill up 1L just for this discount? I suspect most people just fill up their tank to the max (as I would and as I have certainly done). So the customer fills up, say, 50L but since they only needed 1L to reach the reward, the remaining 49L is not added to the next fuel savings period since you have to manually "enroll" in the next offer and the next offer usually takes a day or 2 to appear. Esso essentially just avoided paying out the fuel discount on 49L of fuel right there.

Anyway, this whole thread is basically a rant because I find the fuel requirement, the manual enrolment, the excess fuel that is not counted if you go over the fuel requirement...all of that is just silly. Previously, I just had the Petro-Canada MasterCard which automatically gave you a fuel discount of 2¢/L on every litre. It was so easy and straight-forward but alas, that program has since been terminated.
Never seems to be about the money on RFD, yet you've dissected and analyzed this down to the penny. :rolleyes:

Your rant makes very little sense. Firstly, it's all computer generated, if you're short 1L then you're short a 1L and you do not qualify. Secondly, you are not being charged anything for participating so whatever you can collect in both petro points and privilege rewards is a bonus. If you're going to go out of your way to reach for their goals or go for the 'spend $5 in store and receive 2.5 cents/liter for 40 liters, then you're a sucker. The PC program was terminated because PC realized giving 2 cents/liter every liter forever was a terrible idea. The Esso program wants to give you some discount but not on every single liter in perpetuity, hence the rising qualifications. I fill up at Esso not because of the points (I do collect, I don't go out of my way to collect and I certainly wouldn't rant about it because it's literally works out to like 20 free liters of gas/year on a small car) but because ever since they came out with their new Synergy blends I get an additional 50-60km/tank more than anywhere else with their regular 87. For me, that's where I see the most savings.
Deal Expert
Feb 29, 2008
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Collect ESSO extra points. Use them for 5c/L discount card. Keep refilling. Best use of esso pouints I've found. But as I've said before:

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Jan 13, 2007
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ottofly wrote: Never seems to be about the money on RFD, yet you've dissected and analyzed this down to the penny. :rolleyes:
I'm a numbers guy. It doesn't matter if the units are dollars, shares, Newtons or slugs, I just found the return of $ required to $ discounted was going logarithmic real fast.
ottofly wrote: Your rant makes very little sense. Firstly, it's all computer generated, if you're short 1L then you're short a 1L and you do not qualify. Secondly, you are not being charged anything for participating so whatever you can collect in both petro points and privilege rewards is a bonus. If you're going to go out of your way to reach for their goals or go for the 'spend $5 in store and receive 2.5 cents/liter for 40 liters, then you're a sucker. The PC program was terminated because PC realized giving 2 cents/liter every liter forever was a terrible idea. The Esso program wants to give you some discount but not on every single liter in perpetuity, hence the rising qualifications. I fill up at Esso not because of the points (I do collect, I don't go out of my way to collect and I certainly wouldn't rant about it because it's literally works out to like 20 free liters of gas/year on a small car) but because ever since they came out with their new Synergy blends I get an additional 50-60km/tank more than anywhere else with their regular 87. For me, that's where I see the most savings.
My example about being 1L short was not about qualifying despite being short, it was based on the premise that should you only require 1 additional litre to meet your offer requirement, you would likely fill up more than 1L. Unfortunately, the excess volume of fuel you fill up will not contribute to your next offer.
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Oct 7, 2010
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Who cares. Let's ask which program is best? Cheapest place to get fuel instead of going to line up at Costco. Lol
Sr. Member
Jan 13, 2007
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woofster wrote: ...

Now having achieved the latest reward, my next offer is as follows:

  • Buy 360 litres by October 18, 2017 and receive 2.5¢ off/litre for 110 litres.
...
UPDATE: So I have taken some of your feedback and decided to forgo filling up at Esso altogether this month. The reward offer quoted above has come and gone...and my latest offer does indeed reduce the fuel requirement:

  • Buy 340 litres by November 18, 2017 and receive 2.5¢ off/litre for 110 litres.


Unfortunately, 340 L is still a very high fuel requirement for me so I will likely forgo this month's reward offer too. As "rodenti" mentioned early on in this thread, a couple of months of inactivity will most probably bring the offer requirement down to a more attainable level. In the meantime, I've been happily filling up at Canadian Tire Gas+ locations with my Canadian Tire Options MasterCard and rapidly accumulating Canadian Tire "money" in the process.
Deal Expert
Feb 24, 2007
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Sorry...but wouldn't buying Costco gas where the discounts can range from $0.08 - $0.10 per litre exceed any discount from these Esso or any other large fuel retailer promos?
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Apr 21, 2004
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MP3_SKY wrote: Isn't it you can pick up a 2.5c discount card at Esso stations anyway?

Why now they have to make you purchase certain amount of Gas for you to get that tiny discount.
I was going to say this too. I see a stack of them when paying at the cashier.

I haven't been hitting the targets lately because I had some Shell promotional offers but without any promotions, the closest Esso has the best car wash, which is why we just go with Esso instead of the Shell, that's much closer. The Petro Canada stations uses cloth car wash and that for me is a no-no.

That's all we use the Esso points for -- luxury car washes.

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