Universal Premium Fleet Card / Fuel Man review: Not a good company to do business with 29

Just cancelled our account as well. They are an absolute joke. We switched to COAST and love them. No fees, weekly drafts to pay for fuel, etc. I tried to set up auto drafts on Universal and they wanted to charge me $35/transaction just to do auto ACH. Wish I would have cancelled sooner, probably paid $1000 in fees over the 2 years we used them. They should be sued for their deceptive business practices.

Do not use this company! High Risk fees- $5/transaction, with no notice, never had a late fee or a delinquent payment. Their on-line portal doesn't always work, and if you mail a check it's always "late". Paying over the phone is a $50 fee - so that's not an option. End of 2021, the cards stopped working at ALL Cumberland Farms. Early 2022, they rarely work. I have had employees have to use their personal cards, because they cannot find a pump that will work these cards. They show no loyalty to their customers, and no remorse for their outrageous fees which they are completely unwilling to negotiate on. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!

universal premium company is a fraud company they will charge arms and leg (high risk fee, late fees, rewards fee).
i signed for paperless to save the environment never the less they took advantage of me by sending the monthly bill to wrong email address even though i have changed it numerous of time in order to [censored] those late fees which accumulated to $4000 in 5 months.

i will file a fraud with the consumer affair to try to stop those thieves.

This company is a joke. The customer service is in Mexico and the people act like robots. They don't use common sense. They didn't know the president of the company name and they help me activate my fleet cards. This is a shame for the sales agents to labor to get new customers and customer service is turning businesses away. They are burning this company down to the ground. What a shame.

This company is definitely not one any vehicle fleet should choose. We have always paid our complete balance every month without fail. I have enrolled in paperless billing & now for 2 months have not received notification of invoices. Because of this crap I have incurred astronomical late fees & interest. I would also mention that we have been automatically enrolled in rewards programs that I verbally declined. Card fees, minimum use fees, unjust late fees & interest fees no kind of customer service is what you can expect from this organization. I will be going back to WEX fuel cards ASAP.

I wish I would have found these reviews before signing up with this company. This company is a nightmare to deal with. They hit you with fees every billing period. If you mail them a check they will hold the check beyond the due date and then [censored] a $75 late fee plus interest charges.

They released a mandatory rewards program (you cannot opt out) and the monthly fee to be a part of the program far outweighs the so-called "rewards". This company ought to be investigated. I'm sure fraud is rampant with their deceitful business practices.

Kristina you are spot on! OK - how can we try to take action against these folks. I need to get out of this mess as well. I got High Risk charges. Well, I forgot Monday holidays kept my payments from posting n time and they were ONE DAY LATE... Looks like I might take it again for cancelling. I am afraid to ask what that will cost. WIsh i had heard all these things 1 2/2 years ago. Curious - has anyone actually cancelled without additionall charges?

Worst credit card EVER! No valid point to have it. There is a monthly charge. To belong to their fuel program, it cost more than we can earn in rewards. Their late fees are excessive. The statements come out on the 2nd (they say the first but you can't actually download it) and then payment is due on the 10th by 4:00pm. No grace period at all. Also, I read the fine print about the late fees and it is so confusing that they can pretty much charge what they want and I'm pretty sure that is what they do.
So to recap:
High fees (just to have the card)
Excessive late fees
Rewards that are cost more than you get
No grace period on a due date that is less than 10 days from statement date

What this company does in illegal! They make it extremely difficult to reach them to resolve an issue, they do not send invoices timely, the website can be difficult to get set up to view, constantly adding fees for services that should be standard (dashboard, reports, - I had all this cut off saved money and there was really no change in my view), delays processing payments to add late fees intentionally (you will not prove otherwise how blatantly unethically crafted your business model is), changes due dates for payment without proper notice, criminally excessive late fees with interest charges on top of the late fees (you are INSANE!), long long hold times to speak with customer service, run around from the customer service teams (you should be ashamed of yourself working for this unethical business model - quit and get a respectable job), it's a part-time job to monitor the statements when you finally get one. I'm tired of working the game and fighting this battle to stop fees added unfairly to my bill...I AM NOT PAYING THE LATEST EXCESSIVE CRIMINAL FEE JUST BECAUSE YOU DECIDED TO CHANGE THE DUE DATE WITHOUT NOTICE!
I'll sue you for your terrible unethical business practices and for the anxiety caused by your pathetic services.
One last WARNING TO POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS ---------if you use them get ready to spend about 2-3 hours per month fighting with them about ridiculous fees and if you are like me you will find it difficult to know where and how to make a payment if the system is running.
BEWARE...BEWARE...BEWARE!

HORRIBLE COMPANY THEY PURPOSELY DO NOT SEND INVOICES SO THEY CAN CHARGE YOU LATE FEES!DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY THEY ARE OUT TO RIP YOU OFF!

Well, hate to pile on, but...everything written is ABSOLUTELY TRUE. Sorry we did not see this information before becoming a customer...
STAY AWAY UNLESS YOU HAVE A SEVER MASOCHISTIC PERSONALITY DISORDER.

THE FACTS MATTER! OR - MY BUSINESS DOESN'T
HOW DO I CONTACT THE BOD OF THIS COMPANY?

We had our account shut off while out of the country last week, and had employees needing to use the gas cards. In researching this, we were told that two online payments we made were rejected.

However, here are the facts:
1. our account was in current status (not past due)
2. we always pay an automatic $1800 a month and many months have carried a credit balance
3. our first report (while we were out on vacation) from employees was on Tuesday 5/14 that the card was cut off. When we called the call center, they told us that everything was ok, and that they would unlock the account.
4. he did advise us that our balance had reached over 2K (of an 8K line of credit).
5. on Wednesday 5/15, our normal $1800 was sent to you... and credited on 5/16 (ach automatic every month)
6. On Wednesday we also made two additional online payments - using your online payment system, to be sure we had no problems while we were out of the country.
7. on Thursday the accounts were locked again. We called and they told us that they would unlock it
8. on Friday they locked them again.
9. upon returning - yesterday, Monday 5/20 we were advised by the credit / finance department that we had two returned payments from our bank. They said that this was the reason for the accounts being locked up. However, this is not accurate. Also, the first lock out was on Tuesday 5/14, prior to us using your online system for additional payments. Look at the transaction log!
10. After spending significant time on the phone with the credit department, We went to our bank and learned that our bank did not reject any payments. the finance department sent a payment request to my bank (from your payment system, representing the online payments we made on 5/15) with the wrong account number (although we verified that we provided the right one on the online system). Also, there were additional payments not even due yet.
11. So, while our account was not in a past due balance, and your team knew we were out of the country, no-one made any effort to contact us to resolve the issue. They just shut down the account... and now we know it was a system issue on your side, not my bank.

This type of service is so completely unacceptable. Why didn’t anyone attempt to contact us? We have been good customers and attempted to resolve any concerns you have over the phone on 3 times last week. No-one in your company took any accountability to research what we were saying.
Even today, we are still locked out

Do not even consider getting a Fuelman Card unless you're ok with spending all your time hunting the extra fees they randomly add to your account on the last page of your bill at the very bottom. We dealt with this company for a little over a year before getting completely fed up and cancelling our account. First, we were told we could switch to a monthly billing cycle after 3 months, we were declined for monthly billing even though we are a 50 year old company with extensive and pristine credit history. On the second bill we noticed fees being added to different fill up sites, we were told it was because they were a different network so extra fees were added, after threatening to close our account they agreed to not charge us the extra fees for any site. Next after one year we noticed we were being charged more for each fillup than the receipts showed. I called and was told that we were changed from our original pricing program and we would be charged an additional fee for each use. No notice! Also, no line item charge showing the additional fee, just a higher total on the bill. Then we started seeing the extra charges for different programs that we were being randomly enrolled in(fraud protection, etc. ) that means more calls asking for credits and requesting not to be enrolled in that program. Next bill cycle, another new charge, more calls! This is the kind of shady practices you would expect from a mob ring not a nationwide supposedly reputable company. The reality is they add all these extras because larger less observant companies may never notice them without carefully auditing each receipt or the person in charge of the account just may not care, they pay what's billed and move on with their workload. So you do that a few hundred thousand times every two weeks and suddenly they have added millions to their bottom line . We switched to a card using the WEX network. The agent enrolling us said we were the third account that day she had switched from fuelman for the same reasons. If you have this card, review your bill carefully against actual pump receipts!

This company is a scam, I am having the same problems as everyone else here. I overpaid by accident because of the billing system Fuelman is using, trying to get a refund now for over three months. DO NOT USE this company!

We are being billed 3 x month by universal fleet and wex. Lots of fees and I don't know when it went from one company to 2. Dorothymullis80@hotmail.com

Can someone please advise what company are y'all switching too? I can't get in touch with a fuelman manager. All I get is ppl who don't speak English as their first language. I've gotten discounted a handful of times or one representative gave me a number that ended up being some sort of foreigner wanted to give me $100...WHAT? Omg. What a nightmare. What other companies are good for fleet fuel? Please help.

This company is a joke! I have been on hold for over 20 minutes trying to make a payment since their new system is so messed up you cannot do anything on it and they cannot help you ! We have experienced all the same problems that the others speak of; the only shining light is our account rep. She is fantastic and gets all the fees waived and makes sure we are taken care of properly. Normally I never call customer service I call her directly; unfortunately I had to deal with customer service today.

I have already contacted a new company- they seem to be talking to a lot of us unsatisfied FleetCor or whatever they wish to be called customers. We will be switching asap! I may even pull all 30 of our cards and just have drivers use their company credit cards until new cards arrive

txweagle please contact me if at all possible. We have similar issues with them. controller517@gmail

The Fuelman billing department is either incompetent or deceitful. For the 1st few months everything was okay but then...

Let me attempt a summary of the sequence of events for you. Starting at some point in the 2nd half of 2014 Fuelman stopped sending actual statements/bills to me via the postal service. They would instead have some individual whose 1st language was something other than English call my cell phone demanding payment along with late fees. Due to the unintelligible broken English being spoken I would request someone whose 1st language was English and/or a manager. The 1st person would generally start out by telling me there was no manager available or they might try telling me that they were a manager. Generally speaking it took 10 - 15 minutes before I got someone with basic English speaking skills on the line. From this incoming call I never got to someone I would call a manager nor did I ever get someone whose s language was English. Just for clarification these were incoming calls to me.

At this time I would explain that I had no interest in paying the bill without a statement and that I never received a bill. We would go back and forth as to what might have happened to the bill with the Fuelman representative usually suggesting I might have misplaced the bill or that I had overlooked it. It was funny at how predictable they became. The 1st few times this happened I think I simply paid the bill attributing the foul up to the US Postal Service. After a while I began to wonder if this was a new revenue stream for Fuelman and began to protest . I would request/demand a manager each month. The only way I was ever able to speak with someone living within the United States and whose native language was English was to hang up on the foreign bill collector and call the customer service line. It's funny how that worked out but I suppose that's part of their system.

I'm making a point regarding the language skills because the outsourced bill collectors from outside the country lacked the basic language skills to put proper notes into the system. They also lacked the conversational skills to understand what my frustration was with the phone calls. I didn't want a dang phone call each month to tell me that my bill was late. What I wanted was a bill in the mail like everyone else sent me. I discovered this once when I called the customer service line and found none of my previous conversations had been noted. The right hand didn't know what the left hand was doing for crying out loud. Eventually I discovered the foreign bill collectors were not entering notes into the same system as their US counterparts as it was confirmed by a Fuelman manager in one of my many calls to the customer service line. I spoke with several people who claimed to be Fuelman management but every month we would start all over again. They always seemed polite and competent and they said they were making notes in the system to prevent such problems in the future. They would assure me that the late charges would be credited but each month I still had new charges and the old ones were still there. Nothing changed!

The next month the entire process began all over again. Eventually I refused to speak with anyone from Fuelman when they called and even started blocking numbers as I learned them. Fuelman represents everything wrong in/and with Corporate America. I pray the people behind the system they've implemented suffer great pain in this life and the next. Especially in the next life. I have some ideas as to the structure of the game being played by Fuelman but I don't have all the pieces yet.

Before you start thinking it should be my responsibility to anticipate this bill and simply pay it whenever Fuelman called along with the late fees I would suggest you apply that standard to the world of bill paying in your own home or business. I can only imagine the hell people would raise if treated in a similar manner by a power company, landscaper, maid service, cell phone provider or cable company. Really? You want me to pay the bill without you sending me a statement? Absurd!

After 8 to 10 months of these exchanges I selected another fuel card management firm and have been pleased with the willingness of this firm to actually send me a monthly statement. We've had no problems since moving away from Fuelman.

I'm currently dealing with a collection firm regarding the additional late fees and penalties they want for cancelling the card service.

They are not to be trusted.

the 14 day billing cycle is the key to late charges being assessed, who can run a business and be tied to a 14 day payment schedule
also they are some of the highest late fees i have ever seen -Totally a rip off company

Stay as far away from this company as possible. Every 14 days we would make a payment on the due date only to find they would not post the payment for 2 days after, therefore leading to late fees. Furthermore, we overpaid an invoice and I have been trying to have a refund issued to our company since 9/1/15. The BBB has a large amount of complaints that have been filed against them as well.

This company is a nightmare! Almost every month we got charged between $75.00 and $125.00 in late fees. We made our payments as soon as the bill came in and they would tell me it posted 2-3 weeks later. When I told customer service when we mailed the payments, they told me they are "not the postal service". Wow. There are also so many various fees..."out of network" fee. We didn't even know there was a network! Transaction fees, administrative fees. Just ludicrous. Canceling my account.

I used this company for 2 years. Every month I had charges related to the cards that I was unaware of (reports I'm "eligible for, charges for being late on top of the late charge they assess, etc) I literally had to call every month to question the charges. Most of the time they would reverse the charge. I also got a surcharge anytime diesel went under a certain amount at the pump. The last straw was the fraudulent charges we had on 2 of the cards used by different employees at different stations. I started to suspect it may be an inside job. It's taken me over 6 months to get it straightened out. I submitted all my info, they accepted and said a credit would be made but it took literally hours of phone calls to get them to put the credit on my statements. Nothing but a headache. There's got to be a better company! I do like their reports but the customer service is horrible - I got different answers, got disconnected several times and their accents are so strong that sometimes I had a hard time understanding. My advise - DO NOT GET STARTED WITH THIS COMPANY

Please please please if you are reading this do not get a fuel program from Universal Premium Fleet Card. Twice I was charged a late fee for paying 3 days in advance via their website. What they neglect to tell you is that they take up to 4 days to process the payment. I called customer service and asked for my late fees back, at which point they agreed to credit it back to me. That never happened, the second and last time they said they couldn't refund the fees because it had been done before. Total BS! They add a $50 fee to receive a quarterly report that you don't ask for. I should have know to avoid them when they bill every 14 days. Avoid these people like the disease they are.