Customer care

Our objective is to make the ORLEN brand bring to mind not only modern, technologically involved products; we want our petrol stations to mean friendly stopover and rest places. We want them to be modern places offering top quality customer care, services and fuel. There is a vast network of our petrol stations in the best locations, offering loyalty programmes and car fleet services. They are customer-oriented and they guarantee a pleasant atmosphere and high standards, and professionalism of staff, expressed in their concern for the minutest of details.

PKN ORLEN strives to meet the needs of a broad range of customers. At our BLISKA petrol stations, drivers are offered high quality fuel at good prices and well-tried service standards.

Our target is the satisfaction and well-being of drivers, and we want to provide them with comfort, quality and above all a pleasant atmosphere for resting during a trip. We base our relations with petrol station customers on trust and partnership. Our petrol station staff are comprehensively trained and open to people, which makes them reliable and trustworthy.

For our loyal customers, we have created the VITAY loyalty programme, based on a clear understanding of their needs and expectations. It is easily available and easy to use, and the rules for collecting points are simple, which encourages our customers to participate in it. The most loyal of our customers are rewarded with a special prestigious offer under the Super VITAY loyalty programme. We also have the FLOTA programme addressed to wholesale customers. The Company addresses the offer to the entire business, irrespective of the industry and size of an enterprise, and ensures a partnership-oriented approach and advanced modern technological solutions. FLOTA cards guarantee safety and comfort, and convenient forms of payment for fuel and services, and a feeling of good money management through greater control of a company’s fuel expenses (reduced costs of accounting, controlling).

PKN ORLEN actively creates new trends. At a Stop Cafe, customers may drink coffee which not only tastes very good but also bears the Fairtrade logo. This means that our suppliers apply the principles of fair trade, the objective of which is, among other things, to eliminate farmer exploitation. Customers may also be certain that the coffee they drink was not produced through child labour. We also support the World Land Trust organisation, which fights to reduce the logging of South American rainforests. The manufacturer of our coffee cooperates with the Belgian Corporate Fund Programme (CFP), whose objective is to implement projects to fight poverty in developing countries. This initiative is a joint effort of numerous companies and NGOs. By offering our coffee, we encourage other companies to promote Fairtrade products, and our customers – to pay attention to the labelling of the goods they buy. Since the bags in which customers put their shopping are equally important, PKN ORLEN petrol stations have three kinds of ecological and fully biodegradable bags.

It is worth noting that at 12 ORLEN stations customers may tank up with AdBlue directly from distributors, which reduces the hazardous content of the fuel applied in the newest generation diesel engines. AdBlue is non-toxic, colourless, safe and environmentally friendly. AdBlue sold at ORLEN stations complies with the DIN 70070 standard and ISO, and CEFIC standards, which guarantees safe and trouble-free operation of the SCR system in cars. It is worth noting that most European producers of trucks and buses have opted for SCR technology in their latest models in order to minimise emissions of hazardous substances. The SCR system complies with EURO IV and EURO V EU standards.

Responsibility towards customers

Responsibility determines our activities in all areas of the Company. PKN ORLEN’s product offer was briefly presented earlier in the text. It clearly shows that environmental and quality aspects, and the consequent care for the health and safety of our customers and the quality of the environment are constantly at the centre of our attention. We are equally diligent in the case of complaints which we deal with, thinking about the utmost quality of our products and customer service. 100 of the 553 complaints made in 2008 in the retail sales area were accepted.

Customers complained of:

• the quality of fuel – 57%;
• other reasons – 15%;
• behaviour of petrol station staff – 11%;
• services – 10%;
• the quantity of fuel – 3%;
• card products – 3%;
• technical condition of devices – 1%.

In our strategy, we assume that our basic task is to meet the needs and expectations of customers as best as possible, also with respect to product quality.

PKN ORLEN has implemented, maintains and improves its management system according to the following standards:

• Quality Management System according to PN-EN ISO 9001:2001;
• Quality Management System according to AQAP 2120:2003 (supplies to NATO);
• Environmental Management System according to PN-EN ISO 14001:2005;
• Food Safety Management System HACCP according to Codex Alimentarius;
• Occupational Health and Safety Management System according to PN-N-18001:2004.

In order to ensure compliance with the applied standards: ISO, AQAP, PN-N and PN-I, we have a rigorous procedure for the application of the management systems.

The achievement of those goals is regularly verified and no irregularities were reported in 2008. As a result, customers are more confident in PKN ORLEN as a Company that guarantees the utmost quality, pro-environmental properties of its products and timely deliveries of products manufactured and sold. We regularly check the level of customer satisfaction. Their opinion shows us which aspects of the functioning of petrol stations we should particularly focus on, what things are the most important for customers, what reservations they have and what they assess positively. For us, this is a form of dialogue with the customers of PKN ORLEN petrol stations.

In the “ORLEN Brand Barometer” project, we ask our retail customers about:

• their general satisfaction level with our petrol stations (all products and services offered by the petrol stations). ORLEN stations received 4.3 points and BLISKA stations – 3.9 points on a scale of 1 to 5;
• fulfilment of expectations. Here, the respective results were 4.2 points for ORLEN and 4.1 points for BLISKA;
• satisfaction at being a customer of our petrol stations. ORLEN stations were assessed at 4.3 points on average, and BLISKA - at 4.2 points.

Customers also evaluate price levels, product and service quality, and confidence in our petrol stations.

In a survey called “Fuel quality perception at petrol stations” we ask them to:

• assess the quality of fuel offered at ORLEN stations. In 2008, the result was 4 out of a maximum five points;
• describe customers’ experiences with poor quality fuel, the main indicator being the ratio of drivers who bought poor quality fuel from the ORLEN network – in 2008, the problem was mentioned by 10% of respondents;
• assess the level of satisfaction with enriched fuel – the average assessment by our consumers was 4.3.

Our customers are also asked for an overall assessment:

• in 2008, ORLEN stations were assessed at 8 points and BLISKA at 7.5 points on a scale of 1 to 10;
• the VITAY loyalty programme received 7.1 points. Customers considered the respective elements of the loyalty programme, namely the quantity and selection of rewards, their quality, rewards catalogue, the number of points required to receive a reward and the procedure of ordering and picking up rewards;
• car wash at petrol stations – 7.9.

It is worth noting that surveys result in proposed changes to be implemented by PKN ORLEN in order to improve customer satisfaction level.

The purpose of another programme, “Mystery Customer”, is to regularly verify customer service quality at all PKN ORLEN petrol stations. In this way, we develop a service standard indicator which expresses percentage compliance of customer service and the services offered. Petrol station infrastructure and facilities are also evaluated.

At the turn of 2008 and 2009, we implemented an innovative research project named: “ORLEN Brand Reputation Index”, which covered a broad group of our stakeholders: consumers, local societies, employees, suppliers, opinion leaders, media representatives, market regulators. The purpose was to develop a synthetic Reputation Index for PKN ORLEN which would show the level of acceptance of the Company’s strategy. The index takes into consideration various aspects like social involvement, environmental sensitivity, business ethics, brand loyalty and effectiveness in business. PKN ORLEN and its benchmarks were assessed by the aforementioned stakeholders in each dimension. An index value was calculated for each of them. The Company took second place among leading fuel companies and it outscored its strongest competitor in the field of social involvement.

Marketing communication in PKN ORLEN is regulated by internal standards. One of the important elements of those standards is to use true and reliable information in communication with customers. The quality of the Company’s marketing communication is demonstrated by the fact that no inconsistencies with regulations and voluntary codes regulating marketing communication issues, including advertising, promotion and sponsoring, were reported in 2008.

We combine respect for the law with respect for those whom the Company serves. We engage in activities serving our environment and we encourage others to do the same. Participants of the VITAY loyalty programme have a chance to support the ORLEN Gift from the Heart Foundation, which takes care of over 280 adoption homes across Poland. Each participant of the programme may exchange their points for dinners for schoolchildren in need, rehabilitation activities, school accessories or monthly grants for children from adoption homes.

Gifts donated by PKN ORLEN customers to adoption homes in 2008

Contribution to the development of energy policy

PKN ORLEN’s participation in public life also means its lobbying policy in Poland and in Europe, which is done in a legal, conscious and public way. The Company bases its activities on direct lobbying, through active involvement of its own experts and indirectly, through organisations to which it belongs. The main principles of PKN ORLEN’s lobbying policy include: the principle of lobbying ethics, the principle of sustainable development, the principle of coordination, the principle of dialogue and the principle of adjustment. The last principle involves minimisation of the risk of a dispute with the regulator of a market in which PKN ORLEN operates. The idea of this principle is to create conscious and legally admissible dialogue with respective regulators in order to receive from them binding and transparent interpretations of law in the process of establishing and executing laws.

In 2008, PKN ORLEN actively participated in the development of domestic energy policy from now until 2030, among others in the field of fuel supplies security or increased usage of renewable energy sources. It is also worth noting that Company experts participated in 2008 in the development of the Directive 2009/29/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 amending Directive 2003/87/EC so as to improve and extend the greenhouse gas emission allowance trading scheme of the Community, and a directive on industrial emissions, which is a challenge comparable to the climate-energy package. Participating in the works of industry associations, such as EUROPIA (European Petroleum Industry Association) and CONCAWE (Conservation of Clean Air and Water in Europe) or the Energy Working Group of the BUSINESSEUROPE Association, PKN ORLEN took an active part in the development of EU policies and legal regulations with respect to the oil, chemical and energy industries. The result of the Company’s close cooperation with national associations, such as Polska Organizacja Przemysłu i Handlu Naftowego (Polish Organisation of Oil Industry and Trade), and in particular Polska Konfederacja Pracodawców Prywatnych Lewiatan (Polish Confederation of Private Employers Lewiatan) were evaluations of the impact of key EU draft legislation on the Polish oil industry, financed under a project of the Office of the European Integration Committee (UKIE) - PL0012 “Strengthening Poland’s active participation in the process of establishing EU legislation”.