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.

It should have been worded something like "a £5 discount to spend on any bra of your choice".

I meant to say "per each item in one transaction". I am being confusing but not getting paid to write copy for M&S and have had a couple of glasses of wine

The sparks card is such a pile of crap.

They send me 'tailored' offers for fish cakes and things, I hate fish and have never bought it so what they think is tailored is beyond me.

I threw mine out not long after I got it.

Ok. We all agree it's a pile of shite. So what do we do?

Anyone on Twitter! #scrapsparkes @m&s ?? Anyone got a better hashtag?

I've started the hashtag #scrapsparkes @m&s. Join me mumsnetters.
Marks and Spencer take note.

I read it as each bra too. Am just clearing my shopping basket on their stupid app

At least you have a Sparks card.
M&S treat their Irish customers with disdain.
We are not allowed Sparks cards.
I had an M&S store card but they are no longer available in the Irish market.

Refresh your lingerie drawer, we’ve got a bra for every outfit is hyperbole given the parameters of the offer, but where an offer is expressed as £x off, that does not usually mean the discount can be used multiple times within the same transaction, especially given that the terms of this offer say it can only be used once. Grammatically, £x off all items might sound erroneous, when it actually applies to only one item, but it is a term used by others in retail, meaning that the offer could be applied to any item in a range; no items are excluded. Where multiple items can be discounted in a single transaction, that offer is usually expressed as a % off a total.

That said, if some people find the details unclear, then it is worth providing feedback and asking them to be more specific with their phrasing.

"£5 off all bras" has to mean all bras, not just the first one you buy. In your situation I would definitely have opted for just buying the first one and telling them to keep the rest.

It may be worth tweeting them or putting something on their Facebook page, publicity will probably have more effect than complaining. Maybe link to this thread?

I love you all - you have solved a mystery for me.

Whenever I use the self-service tills to buy my weekly supply of Percy pigs healthy salad items, there is a quiet female voice asking if I have scanned my ............

I thought it was something like Svalbard or Skarsgård or summink.

Now I can stop looking like this and instead ignore the prompts to use this bra-thieving disloyalty rip-off card that you all deride so heartily.

\/

"£5 off all bras" is different from "£5 off any bra". If they meant the latter, they shouldn't have said the former.

Th offers through the card are nit-pickingly random and rarely any use. The best offer I have had recently has been the beauty box for £10 (which actually did prompt me to "refresh my lingerie drawer" to spend the required £40. And I didn't hear anything about that through my Sparks card!

Augusta
£5 off all bras" has to mean all bras

No it doesn't. It's common parlance within retail to mean you can apply the discount to any item within a range.

On the other hand, I can't think of any examples where you can use the same £x off multiple items in one transaction.

Why didn't you do five separate transactions? Or go to 5 different Tills?

Fascicle, if you walked into M&S and saw a sign "£5 off all bras", would you seriously think it only applied to the first bra you bought? If so, why?

Why didn't you do five separate transactions?

She says the assistant tried putting it through as a separate transaction and the till would only apply the discount once.

Apparently sparks card is being relaunched according to check out lady today. She asked if I had one and I told her no because it was ridiculous!

How did the till know it was the same person? Was it because the Sparks card had to be swiped first?

AugustaFinkNottle
Fascicle, if you walked into M&S and saw a sign "£5 off all bras", would you seriously think it only applied to the first bra you bought? If so, why?

Yes, I would. I've explained my reasoning before. From experience and looking at the wording of other offers, 'off all bras' is highly unlikely to mean 'off each and every bra that you might wish to buy'; instead it's likely to mean 'this offer can potentially be used on all items in this range'. The fact that the terms say the discount can only be used once should clarify any misunderstanding.

I got the same offer and read it the same as OP

they need to put the FULL t&cs on each 'offer'

they are impossible to find. Which makes me think they are being deliberately obtuse- hoping you'll get to the till and be too to query it

I had some sort of food offer a few weeks back but couldn't work out if it could be used in conjunction with another offer I'd already got on the Sparks card. I looked EVERYwhere and couldn't find the info. In the end, I didn't bother and went to Sainsbos instead

Sorry but I don't think that's confusing at all. To me, that just sounds as though there is a £5 discount to be used (on any bra) You had used your discount so you couldn't use it again.

The fact that we are having this debate in itself says that the wording is unclear.
A fiver off all bras means just that. If they wish to limit the discount to 1 bra in 1 transaction, offer to be used only once, then they need to make that clear.The wording as given above does not provide accuracy or clarity.
I tried to check put the offer via Sparks, but I am not privileged enough to have access to this particular offer. Instead I have "tailored" offers for food items unrelated to anything I ever buy.
In a previous life, I ran the promotional programme for a major UK retailer and I would have been shot if I had passed wording as sloppy as this. As demonstrated by this thread, it is a really silly and probably unintentional mistake with the potential to piss off a lot of people very quickly.
Simple customer service says they should have given you the discount if you complained.
I was in Sainsbury's this week and wanted to buy some 1/2 price steak but realised that none of the packs were marked up corrrectly. I drew the attention of staff and after a bit of head scratching, stock was removed for relabelling and I was given the offer immediately at customer services and a thanks for making them aware.smug.
Mistakes happen, it's how they are dealt with that matters.

Augusta
£5 off all bras" has to mean all bras
fascicle
No it doesn't. It's common parlance within retail to mean you can apply the discount to any item within a range.

No. It means what it says.A fiver off each and every bra. That wording places no limits on the number of bras to which the discount can be applied in any transaction or number of transactions.

I agree the service is very poor now. They are trading on past glories.

Last week I queued for 10+ minutes to return a cashmere not cardigan my mum did not like. Only two people on the Customer very poor Service desk. They both kept disappearing behind the scenes totally blanking the queue. When I got served they were efficient but impersonal with no apology for the delay.

I walked 50 yards down the road to return something to Primark where I was served promptly by a very friendly, chatty assistant. Her and her colleague seemed to be enjoying their work. I had lost the receipt for the item and it had dropped a lot in price and the two of them were genuinely
apologetic that I would not get back what I had paid. I wasn't bothered as nothing in Primark costs that much to start with and it was my own fault for being careless, but I came away feeling like a valued customer, not an intrusive nuisance.

And as for Sparks card - it actually reduces my loyalty as it makes me think they are taking me for a mug.

i liked my Beauty Box though , the beauty section is the only good bit of Marks now.

It's not a complicated offer as they intended it - "£5 off any bra". Unequivocally five pounds off precisely one bra but from anywhere in the shop.

If they had any sense at all ha that's what they'd have put. But somewhere between the finance office and the promotions email someone substituted "any" with "all" and the meaning was lost.

Like when they substitute "50%" with "half price" in the phrase "up to 50% off" and busybodies like me point out that something with 30% off shouldn't be on a shelf marked "up to half price".

mateysmum
That wording places no limits on the number of bras to which the discount can be applied in any transaction or number of transactions.

The wording: Offer can be used only once in store is limiting. It doesn't say against one transaction (or multiple purchases), but once.

There lies the rub Fascicle. The wording is conflicting and therefore below required standard. "all bras" and "can only be used once" in the small print are confusing. "5 pounds off ALL bras - can only be used once" can suggest you can have 5 pounds off each of the bras you purchase on one occasion.

Suffice to say, if the OP was confused, and she got several different answers from MnS, then MnS should accept that they have failed to specify the offer in unequivocal terms and honour it to the OP in the more generous sense - then get on and change the wording.