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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

in suggesting that the Marks and Spencer Sparks card is the worst loyalty scheme ever

308 replies

JackandDiane · 11/04/2016 13:18

  1. YOu have to activate offers - requires WAY too much thought and planning
  2. I just want money off things I buy fgs
  3. that fucking ' have you swiped your sparks card' is surely mitigation for murder?
OP posts:
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8
twofingerstoGideon · 11/04/2016 14:16

The Waitrose one is pointless to me as well

The Waitrose one is brilliant. Free coffee (though I never get this), free newspaper, 20% off ten items of your choice for an indefinite length of time, so my ten are things I always buy (yogurt, teabags, chicken) and no danger of me forgetting what they are!
Plus 2-3 times a year I get 3-4 vouchers for £6 off a £60 shop. Well worth having.
I reckon my Waitrose card saves me hundreds of pounds over the course of a year.

CockacidalManiac · 11/04/2016 14:18

I think that the Waitrose one is the best of the lot; I can get a free Guardian on a Saturday with it.
The M&S one is shite though.

JeffreySadsacIsUnwell · 11/04/2016 14:18

Another sparks refusenik here. It's a totally shite scheme so no, I don't want to give them info about my shopping habits for the non-existent 'rewards'.

JL has more benefits than the coffee&cake, Calon. When I lost my receipt and wanted to return (quite a lot of) soft furnishings stuff, having done that classic 'can't decide, will buy everything and check in the actual room setting', JL asked for the purchase details which were stored in the JL card app on my phone, then they scanned the barcode from my phone screen. It was incredibly painless - and I still had time to go to the cafe and claim my free coffee&cake afterwards!

stonecircle · 11/04/2016 14:19

Boots card - now that's worth having. Great when you're buying £20 worth of makeup or whatever and the assistant tells you you have enough points to cover the whole lot. Smile

MyLocal · 11/04/2016 14:20

Glad I have seen this thread now, because I actually asked the lady in M&S yesterday what I even got from it because none of the offers were of any benefit to me, and she feigned surprise.

What are the points even for? Is that just the charity element? Agree, it's pants.

JuxtapositionRecords · 11/04/2016 14:21

I don't buy newspapers and getting a coffee while doing the food shop is a total imaginary luxury for me when I'm dragging the DC around with me Smile

The 20% off is ok, but they never seem to have deals other than this. I never see a good old BOGOF or reduced price at Waitrose. And I know the 20 things I buy regularly are far cheaper at other stores.

RubyGoat · 11/04/2016 14:21

YANBU. I have one, got it the first week. Admittedly I don't spend a fortune in there, but it's rubbish. Who on earth can remember what "special offers" they've selected that week? It wouldn't be so bad if they were for things I actually buy occasionally - but they aren't! It does really just seem like they are trying to tempt me into purchasing items I would not usually, on the basis of some paltry points I'll never be able to use anyway. Extremely poor.

JuxtapositionRecords · 11/04/2016 14:23

Maybe I'm just not posh enough Sad

RubyGoat · 11/04/2016 14:24

Stonecircle - I love my Boots card - I have £73 worth of points, I like waiting until there's a (relative) fortune on there & then spending it on something I totally couldn't justify otherwise.

Timeandtune · 11/04/2016 14:31

Feel like I have found my tribe on this thread. I too am perplexed by my ( have you scanned your) Sparks Card. I swipe it religiously just in case that might trigger money off something I actually buy. It is the most cumbersome loyalty scheme ever devised. On the other hand 3 cheers for My Waitrose and My John Lewis. Coffe, cake and papers. What's not to like?

CalonGoch · 11/04/2016 14:33

Jeffrey The Kitchen Drawer app thing is genius. It also stores all the white goods guarantees that would otherwise get lost or go down the back of a cupboard drawer. That's what I mean about John Lewis/Waitrose schemes - it doesn't really cost JL much to offer this stuff, but it suggests that someone's actually sat down and thought about what makes shoppers feel rewarded and valued, in return for harvesting all their shopping details. Similarly, Waitrose probably save money by letting customers choose their own 10 items for 20% off, because they don't impulse buy storewide offers, but it just feels more individual as a shopping experience.

It's like the Boots card - yes, sure, they're monitoring my shopping but the points mount up quickly and you can use them on something useful or something treaty.

HeadDreamer · 11/04/2016 14:34

I have stopped using it and I'm a fan of loyalty cards. It requires far too much effort to select and activate offers every two weeks.

BoomBoomsCousin · 11/04/2016 14:36

I'm so glad it's not just me. I got one a few months ago and have been wondering what I'm missing because it seemed so unintuitive.

polyhymnia · 11/04/2016 14:39

Just rubbish. Never use mine. The Waitrose one is also pretty pathetic if you don't want to drink coffee out of paper cups. Have occasionally used it for a second paper but very seldom. The best one IMO is the Boots one which build support 'real' money to spend.

polyhymnia · 11/04/2016 14:39

builds!

StillNoFuckingEyeDeer · 11/04/2016 14:41

I was about to bin mine because of the lack of rewards and the fact that the app doesn't work and I can't be arsed to go onto the website continuously to update irrelevant offers. They keep saying that the more you use your card, the more relevant the offers will become, but that's bullshit - I buy 99% food, my offers are for men's clothing.
The only reason I still have the card is because every time I use it they give 1p to unicef or something, which I figure just about makes it worth it.

Lordamighty · 11/04/2016 14:41

Yes a complete waste of time. None of the offers appear to be targeted at the individual. I was chatting about it to one of their staff last week & she agreed. I wouldn't be buying kippers, one of their sparks offers, if there was 50% off let alone 20%. Setting up the offers is tiresome, they don't last very long & it is easy to forget what they are.

CalonGoch · 11/04/2016 14:41

Sorry, that didn't come out right - I meant, Waitrose probably save money by letting customers pick their own offers, which they then forget to use, than by running more discounts generally across the store, although they do still have 25% off/2 for 1 deals too.

HeadDreamer · 11/04/2016 14:42

I like the waitrose one probably because I like a coffee :) I regularly stop at the waitrose for cake and coffee with the DC after our trip to the library. (Our local library is near a waitrose).

And their choose your own offers doesn't expire. So I have it set to 10 things I normally buys. Far better than needing to log in all the time to choose offers!

Hippee · 11/04/2016 14:47

I know. I wish I had stockpiled more of the little cardboard cards - I had a couple in different purses and they still stamp them, but won't issue new ones.

Just starting to get my head round the double Nectar value thing at Sainsbury's - it's a bit of a faff - you have to decide what "categories" of item you want to buy (i.e. electricals or homewares or toys or clothing), how much you are going to spend in each category, then request a voucher, for which they give you 1p per point instead of 0.5p - and, of course, you have to know that it's a double points week - but I did manage to buy loads last time, because I had gathered so many points from using my Sainsbury's credit card.

lorelei9here · 11/04/2016 14:48

I got sent the leaflet for this but it looks a faff
Don't think much of Waitrose either, don't want the coffee or the paper, on,y go in rarely and annoyed that I'm meant to preselect stuff then remember what it is!

dustyanswer · 11/04/2016 14:48

You can take your own cup for the Waitrose coffee, or they sell (nice) reusable ones for £3 - a % of which goes to charity. If I think I might claim my coffee I take it with me. And as I don't always have my freebie when I buy stuff from there I don't feel guilty getting one when I haven't actually purchased anything.

And I love the JL cafe vouchers - my friend & I use them to meet up in town for a gossip. As someone else said, what's not to like? Boots card also excellent.

But the Sparks card? Complete (M&S) pants.

polyhymnia · 11/04/2016 14:50

Sounds like your Waitrose has a proper cafe where you can sit down and get cake to go with the coffee. And maybe even proper china cups. Just standing about in the store with a paper cup in hand doesn't have the same appeal for me! Plus am super fussy about my coffee but that's not their fault!

Nanny0gg · 11/04/2016 14:52

I love Boots and Tesco.

Tesco send me money-off vouchers for stuff I actually buy!

ouryve · 11/04/2016 14:52

I usually pretend I haven't got my card on me.I can never remember what offers I've chosen, either.