To think M&S Sparks card should be aware of its own T&Cs?

[Notmoreantihistamines]

1st world problem, I am fully aware there are local regional and national news far more compelling and worthy than this incident.

Yesterday I selected a Sparks reward, "£5 off all bras".

Today I went to my local store specifically for bras. Before perusing the assorted fripperies I asked the shop assistant to clarify the deal, was it on a specific bra, any bra, all bras bought now or in the 6 day window the offer was available.

She kindly confirmed that all bras would have £5 off, but only in one transaction. I duly filled my basket.

I got to the till, lady at the till also thought the offer was all bras. Scanned first bra, £5 off, second bra, no deduction. She called the supervisor who said try it as a seperate transaction, it might only apply to one per purchase. Till said no, so supervisor concluded the £5 was for only one bra in one transaction.

I bought the basket of several as I had hoped 5 x £5 off the bras I bought would pay for the last one. I spent over £100.

By the time I had paid my parking £3, my marvellous offer saved me £2. .

Irritated by the lack of clarity I called Customer Services. They explained it was only one bra, only one transaction. I took issue with this as that is not what the offer said, or the shop staff said. Unfortunately there was nothing Customer Services could do my arse, ever heard of customer satisfaction.

So more irritated, I went online to have online "chat" with M&S Customer Services. it's a slow day chez antihistamines. The advisor advised if I had done each bra as a seperate transaction then I would have got £5 off each time, this was not what I been told over the phone. Customer Services directly contradicted each other.

Advisor then quoted in online chat (I have a transcript) T&Cs ""Refresh your lingerie drawer....we've got a bra for every outfit....excludes sale and clearance items....valid in store and online...not to be used in conjunction with any other offer.... Valid on presentation of card at till. Offer can be used only once"

This doesn't say only one one item. This says used only once. Bras is plural. In the abscence of clarity what happened to the customer is always right? If there was an offer, why hadn't the staff in the relevant dept all been told the correct details? This is not the shopfloor staffs fault.

This ad campaign is misleading, the staff misinformed, and the Customer Service unsatisfactory.

AIBU to think M&S Sparks card should be aware of it's own T&Cs?

FYI There will be no Daily Mail sad face in the side bar of shame.

[notamummy10]

I think this Sparks card needs to be revised completely!

[memememe94]

I would have interpreted it as 'all bras'--as in every bra they have any sale (any design, make), but only £5 off one bra. I would definitely not have thought I could buy 5 bras and get £5 off each one.

But m & s should certainly know what the offer means so YANBU in that respect.

[Batteriesallgone]

That is awful. Surely if it was only one bra in one transaction it should have been '£5 off any bra'. Why introduce a plural? Of course it's confusing, I would have been confused, asked for clarification then gone with what the shop assistant said.

FWIW YABU not properly kicking off in the shop. Bet the manager would have been able to do way more for you than shitty online customer services.

[Smidge001]

I agree with mememe. They were trying to say that all bras are included in the offer, but the offer is £5 off the one that you pick. I wouldn't expect it to be £5 off every bra that you take to the checkout.

[lornathewizzard]

Yep, I would read it as all bras included in the offer, not more than 1 bra. Aside from anything else, when have you ever seen an offer that decent??
Nonetheless, the staff should know what they're talking about.

[Notmoreantihistamines]

You agree it is confusing. It was advertised as "£5 of all bras". The T&Cs didn't state only one bra, and the staff thought it was all bras in one transaction.

I thought it was rather like their 20% off flash sales utter bunfights.

Maybe I should have kicked off, but when even their own Customer Service can't agree what the T&Cs are, how are we supposed to know??

[Notmoreantihistamines]

Ave bra price £20-25, £5 off is 20-25 % reduction, it's not unknown.

Just think the wording should have been clearer and the staff to have been properly informed. Customer Services were utterly useless. I expect more in terms of service

[MissBattleaxe]

The Sparks card is a disastrous shambles. This sounds like appalling communication from M&S to me, not to mention misleading.

[Notmoreantihistamines]

Exactly MissB. That stupid card is more trouble than it's worth

[MrsHathaway]

"All bras" implies plural; "any bra" means just one.

Don't let it go. Hold on for a goodwill gesture.

[MrsHathaway]

Sparks card in general is a v g thing - DM won a competition for DS2 and I am still basking in the reflected parental glory.

[bigsnugglebunny]

One single solitary bra is hardly "refreshing your lingerie drawer" is it?

[Notmoreantihistamines]

Sparks needs to be growing its customer base, not alienating it. Misleading adverts will not help their cause. In M&S surely they should have the brightest smartest marketing bods all over this campaign. It is sloppy marketing.

How should I follow this up, any ideas? Just irritated by the misinformation.

I was given one of those random, complete the customer service survey for a chance to win £250. I completed it and was very damning. Apparently if you rank a 1 it gets refferred back to the store manager, but what difference will that make?

[StealthPolarBear]

If I get 20% off sushi I'd expect to get 20% off all the sushi I buy, overy the period of the offer

[MuddhaOfSuburbia]

it's impossible to find detailed t&cs on the website when you chose your offers

it's all a bit half baked I think

come on marksies, buck the fuck up

[Notmoreantihistamines]

Exactly bigsnuggle, it states bras plural, bra for every occassion, refers to refreshing a drawer. A drawer full is not one bra

The advert is quite deliberately misleading.

[Notmoreantihistamines]

Good point stealth, if it 20% off sushi, that's all sushi.

So why is it only one bra? The T&Cs were quoted at my via the online chat advisor, who had earlier told me it was £5 only on each transaction, so repeat the transaction to get the offer, clearly she didn't have a clue either

[TheWordOfBagheera]

If it was '20% off all bras' it wouldn't only apply to the first one in your basket.

I agree that it's confusing when '£5 off all bras' isn't applied in the same way.

[TheWordOfBagheera]

Oh, cross post for the exact same % amount!

[FuzzyWizard]

I'm not surprised... It took 4 members of staff including 2 managers almost 15 minutes to sell me a £10 pizza deal in my local m&s the other day. Their was clearly some sort of glitch with their system but getting them to check the deal and then process my transaction was excruciatingly slow. No one seemed to know how put it through the tills.

[TipBoov]

YANBU I'd have read it as £5 off bras, not £5 off a bra.

Then again M&S have terrible customer service, I just don't shop there anymore because it's not worth the hassle.

[twofingerstoGideon]

The Sparks card is a massive pile of confusing shit. I've got rid of mine.

[Joolsy]

Yesterday I bought some groceries in M&S and paid with my M&S credit card. I forgot to hand over a voucher for 500 points on my CC until after I'd paid. The cashier said I needed to go to Customer Services. Now, in other supermarkets, they can just add the points on by scanning the receipt and the card. Not M&S. They had to manually input everything on my receipt, and then rescan everything in my shopping bag. I said to the cashier this was ridiculous and she mumbled something about their system not being "quite there yet". No shit!

[Notmoreantihistamines]

How hard would it be before launching a promotional offer to:

1. Brief the staff in the relevant department properly?
   
2. Inform customer services of said offer?
   
3. Proof read the advert so there is clarity in communication for the
   

consumer?

Not exactly rocket science.

The Sparks card has got too much of a peacemeal approach. I had five active offers, could only remember one, and it failed to deliver what I expected.

In a rush I don't want to be logging onto an account, whose password I've forgotten to check which offer I had randomly selected on a whim, some time in the past! I don't have that much headspace for marketing.

M&S what are they thinking??

[WalkingZed]

The Sparks card is rubbish.

I can't even be bothered to look in my purse to find it when they ask.

Why can't they add the £5 off food vouchers that they give out all the time to the Sparks card?

The 'offers and experiences' are a load of crap.

M&S need to learn from Boots! Much better