Has anyone else been caught up in the ongoing farce involving Shell Oil changing their credit card from Citibank to something called “Imprint?”
I have had a Shell gas credit card for about 55 years.
About three months ago I received a large envelope from Shell announcing that their credit card business was moving from Citibank to “Imprint” and I should watch for my new card. Six weeks later the new card arrived with instructions to activate it.
I went online, was able to login easily, followed the activation instructions only to be told that the card number was not valid. Sensing a problem, I immediately went to the MY ACCOUNT link where I was able to unlink the card from my bank account (I had it linked to pay my balance in full each month).
I then tried to rectify the situation using the online chatbot. That resulted in nothing but a loop with the chatbot asking the same questions and giving the same directions.
Two weeks later got a letter telling me my new card was on the way. As of last week, nothing. Tried to deal with the online chatbot. Then I found an 888 number on some of the mailings I had received. I called that number and it was the worst disaster I have ever witnessed.
The 888 chatbot said she was sending a six-digit code to my email. I received the code and was told to read it back. “That code is not valid; I will send another one.” Got that one, read it back, “That code is not valid, goodbye.”
Spent two days trying to get past the 888 chatbot to a real person, gave up.
All the letters I had received had the same Boston return address. So — I took the card that could not activate, scratched off most of the magnetic strip, cut it into a dozen pieces, wrote a short letter — cancel my account, don’t even think about contacting me — and mailed back every letter I had received along with the cut-up card.
Meanwhile, I searched online for “Imprint, Shell” — it’s a farce and a disaster, Shell is losing hundreds of customers.
Widespread systemic failures following the recent transition of the Shell Credit Card from Citibank to Imprint Payments, Inc.
Since the migration took effect, Imprint has completely failed to provide adequate account management, infrastructure, and customer support, leaving thousands of cardholders locked out of their accounts. Specifically, the transition has caused the following actionable issues:
- Complete Lack of Account Access: Many consumers never received their replacement physical credit cards or the necessary activation credentials to transition their old Citi accounts into the new Imprint portal.
- Unreachable Customer Support: Imprint’s support system is fundamentally broken. Customers are trapped in infinite, unhelpful loops with automated AI chatbots. Attempting to reach a human representative results in hours-long hold times, sudden call disconnections, or a total inability to connect.
- Financial and Credit Harm: Because Imprint has cut off account access and human support, consumers cannot view their statements, confirm their balances, or make timely payments. This systemic failure risks exposing cardholders to unfair late fees, interest charges, and wrongful damage to their credit scores.
This is not an isolated customer service glitch; it is a mass infrastructure failure affecting a massive class of Shell cardholders nationwide. Imprint rolled out this transition without the operational capacity to handle it, resulting in severe consumer negligence.