Pushy sales assistants asking you to take out "loyalty" or "points" cards

[nutelladreams]

This has happened to me a couple of times recently. Each time in a shop just buying something really mundane like shampoo or tea.
Today I was buying a coffee gift set for a friend and got to the till.. Assistant asked if I had one of their "points" cards and would I like one. Thinking it would be something quick and painless I said "ok", expecting it would be the kind of thing where your card just gets stamps each time you shop there or something.
Assistant wanted my name (fair enough), but then also my address, email, phone number and DOB.
It was a busy shop and I'm uneasy about giving out so much personal data just for the sake of saving a few pence off my next purchase.
I asked the assistant to stop processing my "points" card and just let me pay for the item and leave in the end as she was faffing around asking for so much and struggling to spell my name, address and email. Sigh.
Other people get frustrated by this kind of stuff in a shop?

YABU. Why on earth did you say yes?!

She was perfectly polite and you wasted her time.

No thank you.
No thank you.
No thank you.
Repeat.

It's frustrating but having been on the other end of it - they don't have a choice.

If they don't sign up enough people or have enough "registered" customers go through the till, they get pulled up on it. In the shop I used to work in, you would automatically fail a mystery shop if you didn't ask a customer if they wanted to register/sign up to the loyalty system - no matter how perfect the rest of their experience had been.

I do appreciate it's annoying but please remember it's not their fault and they really don't want to be asking you either!

I say yes if it's a shop I will use again, see what the offers are when they send emails and if it's not worth bothering with then I unsubscribe. Any cards are on G Pay so I don't have to carry anything around.

I've never found sales assistants to be 'pushy' in these situations.

I don't think they're asking if you want to sign up to these things for the fun of it, I assume it's something they're told they have to do.

Just say a polite 'no thank you', it's what I do; works every time.

Bad shop assistant doing the job directed by her Employer.

Silly OP for not saying "no" or realising that of course you'd need to give "personal data".

Yabu.

You made an assumption about how you thought it would be, you were wrong and made her stop because she was struggling to understand you likely because you, her or both were wearing a mask. You could have asked what it entailed before she started and if you were in a hurry you should have said no. She wasn’t faffing about, she was doing her job.

They have to ask - they are being monitored. Just day no thanks - they don't really care.

@100problems

Bad shop assistant doing the job directed by her Employer.

Silly OP for not saying "no" or realising that of course you'd need to give "personal data".

Why was the shop assistant bad?

Some jobs there's things you have to ask, like loyalty cards.

I have to ask people if they'd consider giving our app a review in the app store they purchased it from - I do TRY to check they've not already been asked but that isn't always possible if its really busy or if for some reason I can't scroll through a lot of previous conversation in the messenger function... so sometimes people who have already done it are asked again and that is annoying.

It is part of my job... soz!

It's frustrating but having been on the other end of it - they don't have a choice.

This. Where I worked we had to have a certain percentage of customers taking email receipts if we were on the til. Obviously, we can’t force people to give us their emails but we still had to ask regardless.

OP they are doing their job. It’s as much a part of their job to ask these questions as it is to process your payment or whatever else.

Just say “no thank you” in a reasonably pleasant tone. That’s it.

I work in a store that has loyalty cards. It is part of my job to ask. I do just that, if you say no I process your transaction, no hard sell from me.

I get asked in lots of shops, I find no thank you suffices.

@Offmyfence I was being sarcastic.

@Offmyfence - I think PP was being sarcastic

I find Superdrug really bad for this at the minute, do you have a loyalty card? Would you like one? You will get your points from your shopping today? Are you interested in our perfumes with 20% off? No? We also have make up wipes on 3 for 2? Do you need any top ups or stamps? It's actually put me off shopping there now. Totally appreciate the asking if you have/would like a loyalty card but a no should be taken as no in the first instance. The hard sell on other products after just adds to the irritation!

I always find the responses to these questions bizarre on MN. They have to do it so we just have to accept it?!? Yes they are required to ask BUT their employer won't know that customers are unhappy with it unless you complain (Or just say no so the policy is ineffectual). And the only person you have to complain to is the shop assistant as they are the face of that organisation in that moment. You can't ask for the CEO or Jenny from marketing. They have delegated the responsibility for asking if customers want the cards and handling customer complaints to the shop assistant. Dealing with both is part of their job.

Doesn't mean you need to be arsy about it though. A polite complaint to say you don't like the policy, can you feed that back, or you don't like being asked for personal details in a public area, or just saying no thank you is sufficient.

I have absolutely had the same experience as other retail workers here, fortunately I don't work in a role where I have to ask anymore. When I did you absolutely had to ask every single customer if they either had a card or if they wanted me to sign them up. This job was a store credit card with terrible rates so I felt terrible pushing it but I could actually lose my job if I stopped doing it (there's no protection under 2 years employment).

It's just as frustrating for the retail worker as it is for you if not more. I don't want to ask you, I don't want to push a crap card and I certainly don't want to be asking the same question for 9 hours a day. Just say no in future unless you actually want the card and are prepared to give the details (how are they supposed to look you up by name alone when you inevitably forgot your card?) And take the time needed. What cards have you signed up to recently where they just need your name?

How about when they ask you if you want any chocs or perfumes etc that they have by the till? Annoying.

Argos are the worst. The woman asked me several times if I wanted a card. She explained it wad a loyalty card and you collect points. Her exact words were "just like a boots advantage card" So I said ok sign me up. While she was filling in my details I scanned the leaflet. It wasn't a points card at all but more like a credit\store card. When I pointed this and said I didn't want the card. She was annoyed at me. My friend later went to work there they have target numbers of people to sign up. She said her boss tells them to say anything to get people to sign up. I wonder how many people they have duped into getting a store card.

@nutelladreams YANBU
I read your post as you were not annoyed about the employee asking at all but expected a quick stamp type loyalty card when really it's the company's way to gather data. Some aspects of modern life are super tedious and repetitive. I get it.

Just a quick, oh, sorry, i don't feel comfortable about giving my personal data for this, thanks for the offer anyway. Smile, shrug.

Years ago my sister worked in Topshop and the staff would be chastised for not selling enough store card accounts. Always felt off to me that they had to really push them when most of the customers are quite young women and are being asked to open a line of credit with high interest rates because you get money off your purchase for it. The managers would tell staff to compliment customers on their outfits etc to make them feel like friends so they were more likely to sign up. They’d have student discount nights on the late shopping days and heavily push them there too as the idea you could get more clothes for clubbing etc.

As others have said, often the loyalty card stuff/till selling comes from senior staff and you can get told off for not doing it. It’s just a bit unpleasant on both sides as I don’t know many people who want to hear the sales pitches as a customer (especially if they’ve been queuing a while), and equally a lot staff often feel uncomfortable having to do that spiel.

Argos are the worst. The woman asked me several times if I wanted a card. She explained it wad a loyalty card and you collect points. Her exact words were "just like a boots advantage card" So I said ok sign me up. While she was filling in my details I scanned the leaflet. It wasn't a points card at all but more like a credit\store card

Is this a new thing? I’ve never been asked about a card. The most they ask is if I purchased an additional warranty for an item otherwise I’ve just picked up my stuff with a thank you and left.

Argos was the business I was talking about, I worked there before I went to uni, so they've had the card since at least 2011/12. It's definitely not new, and the rates we're just as crap then, it's definitely a store credit card and unless they've changed things you don't collect points or get any reduced costs. I also feel by now that those that want one will have one (there's surely a limit pool of potential card holders), it also felt extremely irresponsible to be offering it knowing it was a terrible deal. I imagine the majority of people using cards like the Argos card struggle to get other forms of credit. I genuinely did hate having to push it and I imagine most other retail workers hate it too but I didn't have a choice if I wanted to keep my job.

Also complaining to the poor retail worker in front of you that you don't like to be offered the card will do other as will escalating it to a manager. Head office doesn't care, as long as the store is meeting it's targets they're happy. From their point of view, so what if a few people so inconvenienced they complained, we sold some cards along the way (I think they should be way more restricted and regulated). Consumers have far more powers on social media than retail works have in store.

I just say no thank you and go about my day.
What I find more shocking is that the poor staff get chastised or disciplined for not selling enough.