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Original poster

To think Waitrose loyalty card is losing all its benefit?

259 replies

Precipice · 08/02/2022 20:55

The free coffee disappeared at the beginning of the pandemic (it's "suspended"), in two weeks the newspaper offer is going. There were to my mind the only tangible benefits of having this loyalty card.

They claim there will be "personalised offers". Of course this is vague, but all it sounds like is that the Waitrose card will become like the loyalty cards of many shops where they get the benefit of tracking your purchases and in return for the loss of your privacy, you get nothing or almost nothing in practice, like the current occasional vouchers of "get x off if you spend ". (You can tell perhaps that I am not a loyalty card "fanatic", but I am willing to use some in some circumstances.)

OP posts:
londonrach · 10/02/2022 07:13

Best cards are Morrisons and Lidl...I've saved £££ at both with the cards sorry apps. Waitrose cakes are awful so shocked someone likes them. They all dry. Marks, Sainsbury's and Waitrose cards are useless. Tesco reduces the price at the till which is strange. I'll stick to Morrisons and Lidl. Love Morrisons break...the cheese and onion rolls are amazing...made at 4am but a champion bread maker...he was making a plated harvest shield in October for all the local schools...

Sparklingbrook · 10/02/2022 07:14

I have never found the Waitrose cakes ‘dry’. Maybe certain ones? Which ones do we avoid?

mizu · 10/02/2022 07:19

I don't bother scanning the card anymore either. I have never had anything that could be considered a benefit from having it. No vouchers, nothing. Perhaps I don't spend enough ?

AnnaSW1 · 10/02/2022 07:23

Those who don't like the M&S sparks card.. don't you get loads of free stuff? I do! I agree Waitrose has been rubbish since it stopped the free drink I don't bother with it.

bluewanda · 10/02/2022 08:16

It’s a big shame about the free newspapers, but I will continue to shop at Waitrose. I find the quality so much better than other supermarkets.

Sparklingbrook · 10/02/2022 08:18

@AnnaSW1

Those who don't like the M&S sparks card.. don't you get loads of free stuff? I do! I agree Waitrose has been rubbish since it stopped the free drink I don't bother with it.
I have a Sparks card. I scan it when I shop but how do I access the free stuff. TBF my M&S shopping consists of a few items from M&S food about once every two months though).
bluewanda · 10/02/2022 08:18

This is another reason I will continue to shop with them:

globalgoodawards.co.uk/waitrose-lauded-for-excellence-in-farm-animal-welfare/

Scianel · 10/02/2022 08:21

My Waitrose settings have never changed and I used to get the vouchers sent out and since I moved i no longer do. Address details are up to date as well.

AnnaSW1 · 10/02/2022 10:40

@Sparklingbrook I have the M&S app omy phone which shows all the current offers on your Sparks card. I pretty much always have a free food item I can pick up. And always offers on home and clothing.

Sparklingbrook · 10/02/2022 10:46

[quote AnnaSW1]@Sparklingbrook I have the M&S app omy phone which shows all the current offers on your Sparks card. I pretty much always have a free food item I can pick up. And always offers on home and clothing. [/quote]
Just checked. No freebies. 15% off chicken and duck and 50p off a £3 bakery spend expiring in 3 days. I can only assume I don't go to M&S enough.

user1487194234 · 10/02/2022 12:58

I was always a bit confused when i saw a line of maybe 10 people waiting for a free coffee

Sparklingbrook · 10/02/2022 13:13

@user1487194234

I was always a bit confused when i saw a line of maybe 10 people waiting for a free coffee
People seem only too happy to queue for it-it's ok coffee but not worth being 11th in the queue for.
BrightYellowDaffodil · 10/02/2022 14:00

The best loyalty scheme at Waitrose was the 8 picks they did around a decade or so ago

Yes, and they got rid of that on the basis that "You'll get more personalised offers". Given that they didn't materialise and they've binned off other offers - the papers and the coffee - for "more personalised offers" I don't expect much. It's usually 25p off something I don't buy. And they can say the coffee offer is "suspended" all they like but they could have brought it back by now. I could understand insisting on a purchase but it costs bugger all and it's clearly something customers value.

And as for those "Spend X and save Y" vouchers, what a waste of time. If they were as "personalised" as their marketing insists, they'd recognise that I rarely spend anywhere near the £60 that's the minimum spend, so it's a waste of time.

Customers want actual tangible benefits in return for a) loyalty and b) handing over their personal data, not a series of nebulous discounts on products you don't want.

Whoever the hell is in charge of John Lewis/Waitrose now is doing a hell of a job of failing to understand what JL's their customers actually want (if you're reading this JL, it includes GOOD CUSTOMER SERVICE WHEN THINGS GO WRONG). Sooner or later the Trading on Past Glories bus is going to come to a grinding halt.

T00Ts · 10/02/2022 14:04

The vouchers are a joke. “2p off when you spend £160 on artisan cheese.”

AnnaSW1 · 10/02/2022 14:48

@Sparklingbrook each offer is only valid for maybe a couple of weeks then they swap for new ones . Maybe keep checking 😊

Cutesbabasmummy · 10/02/2022 14:57

M and S Sparks is just as useless

Gowithme · 10/02/2022 15:06

It's rubbish now. Before Christmas though we had 4 spend £100 save £20 I think it was. We don't normally spend £100 more like £70 or £80. Anyway we we buying bits for Christmas that pushed our bill up and then we basically doubled up on all the meat we bought and put the extra in the freezer to get the money off. Then in January we didn't buy any meat the whole month.

Vicliz24 · 10/02/2022 15:27

I shall miss the newspaper so much . We swapped to Waitrose because of it . Our budget is limited but we had got used to going on a Sunday and getting a free paper then back home to share the special weekend goodies we'd bought and read the paper . I won't bother going anymore because I can get goodies elsewhere.

NeesAndToes · 10/02/2022 16:39

@Vicliz24

I shall miss the newspaper so much . We swapped to Waitrose because of it . Our budget is limited but we had got used to going on a Sunday and getting a free paper then back home to share the special weekend goodies we'd bought and read the paper . I won't bother going anymore because I can get goodies elsewhere.
Could you not get the paper but fewer goodies?
TatianaBis · 10/02/2022 17:06

@Vicliz24

I shall miss the newspaper so much . We swapped to Waitrose because of it . Our budget is limited but we had got used to going on a Sunday and getting a free paper then back home to share the special weekend goodies we'd bought and read the paper . I won't bother going anymore because I can get goodies elsewhere.
Surely the weekend newspaper could be one of your weekend goodies?

It’s under £3 for a Sunday Times.

user68901 · 10/02/2022 17:07

Thanks sparklingbrook i had neither option ticked so will see what happens now !

2X4B523P · 10/02/2022 19:26

My main draw to Waitrose over other shops was the complimentary latte that I would enjoy on my way home but when that stopped I mostly switched to Sainsbury’s. I used to pop into Sainsbury’s a handful of times a year and now it’s Waitrose that I pop into a handful of times a year.

Elphame · 10/02/2022 20:04

I only use it for scan and shop anyway. I didn't bother with the free coffee and it's been years since I read a print newspaper.

The few vouchers I get are at least for items I buy regularly.

RandomUsernameHere · 10/02/2022 20:19

Agree and Waitrose generally has lost all its benefit in my opinion. The quality of the food has really gone downhill.

TatianaBis · 10/02/2022 20:20

The quality of the food is the same as ever.

It depends how you feel about free coffee. I don’t drink it personally.