Totally high-tech card
TOTAL Jamaica’s an all-in-one postpaid convenience card, Total Card, is set to apply the brakes on fraudulent activities affecting fleet owners by way of its dynamic chip-based technology unveiled at a relaunch recently at the Spanish Court Hotel in New Kingston.
Last year, Leonard Green, president of the Jamaica Gasolene Retailers Association, had said fraud at gas stations was affecting the retail sector, something Total hopes its relaunched card will greatly curb as it is now accepted at 65 service stations islandwide – including 10 partner stations outside the Total network.
Guests, including enthusiastic representatives from automobile retailers such as Fidelity Motors and Volkswagen ATL Automotive, among others, listened intently as Robert Holdsworth, business development manager, Total Jamaica, pointed to the card’s enhanced security features.
Holdsworth explained how Total Card can be customised to a particular vehicle and driver as well as fuel used in the unit.
“Therefore, fraud, as in somebody attempting to use the card on a vehicle other from which it is assigned, cannot work with Total Card,” Holdsworth explained.
In 2014, police figures showed that Jamaican motorists were robbed of more than $9 million in the first six months of the year. Police investigators said then that the main method used to carry out credit- and debit-card fraud at gas stations was the cloning of these cards.
“The gas industry is one of the main targets because of the nature of our product and the nature of our business,” Green explained then.
Total Card’s chip-based technology makes the card impossible to duplicate. It boasts features such as an alert, activated by a three-strike blocking system, inclusive of driver and company codes, as well as an electronic windscreen tag, which works in tandem with handheld point-of-sale machines.
Topping the card’s security features is real-time 24-hour call-centre monitoring to resolve any issue that might arise.
Managing Director Dr Michael Faulkner said Total’s decision to relaunch Total Card, first introduced in 2014, underlined the French multinational’s commitment to keep Jamaica in line with its international operating standards.
“It’s the same card used across the world by Total. True to our mantra, with Total Card, we will give the same level of service offered all over the world, whether in Europe, Africa or Jamaica,” Faulkner pointed out.
Special guests at Total Card’s relaunch included Francois Abiven, technical expert, Total Lubricants, Paris; Transport and Mining minister, Mike Henry and Minister Andrew Wheatley, science, energy and technology, both guest speakers at the event; as well as French Ambassador Jean Michel Despax and his wife.
Howard Henry, network manager, said Total was offering safe and manageable credit to fleet owners on agreed budgets, ranging from fuel to lubricants, delicacies inside its Bonjour Cafes, in addition to car washes and auto parts stores islandwide.
Postpaid packages are tailored to meet clients’ needs, pointing to Gold, Silver and Platinum offerings aimed at providing a tamperproof and monitored cashless solution for clients, starting with as few as two vehicles up to a fleet of hundreds.
Subscribers sign up for the card and are afforded an agreed monthly limit to cover a combination of fuel, lubricants, store or other services such as toll-road payments for fleets.