Waitrose

[StoneofDestiny]

Just tried the 'new offers' on Waitrose. You have download the offers at home but then scan to scan a QR code at the til point and click into a coupon for every offer. Surely they could put the offers directly into your Waitrose Card like M&S Sparks Card does?
Given John Lewis is on a downward track - surely making shopping difficult at Waitrose won't help keep customers. Anybody else found this as unnecessarily complicated?

I just had a look and all the vouchers were fairly shit. I too used to go in and buy stuff to get a free paper but now wont bother - there is a M&S that is easier for wine so will just go there now.

Oh I totally agree. I love Waitrose but find their loyalty scheme far behind Tesco & Sainsbury’s! JL’s scheme is somewhat better as I get a free coffee and cake every other month!

I like the new way the card works. 20% off all fish, meat and deli foods 7 days a week plus other items on the shelves that are cheaper if you have a waitrose card

We've given up on Waitrose entirely. Our local branch always has empty shelves (our local Tescos and Sainsbury's always seem to be fully stocked). The range of goods is limited, usually one branded version and one own brand and the size of the own brand items has shrunk alarmingly over the last two years. A Waitrose own brand sausage (they are very good BTW) is now about the size of what we would have called a cocktail sausage beck in the 70s. High prices, limited selection and indifferent quality is no way to run a grocery business.

I used to go every Sunday for the free newspaper and a takeaway coffee. I like Waitrose so I’d spend £35+. easily. I often took my elderly Dad who’d spend about the same.

I have a Sainsbury’s and an M + S nearby. So I won’t miss Waitrose.

If Waitrose brought back the free coffee and paper I would return on Sundays and spend.

Seems they've shot themselves in the foot. The vouchers are a bit of a joke and ungenerous, are faffy to apply and I miss getting the free paper - on top of now having to pay a delivery charge. At least with the old "pick your own" scheme you were able to get savings on a lot more things bought regularly, which were automatically applied at the till. Only being able to get 50p off only two of the offers listed is just a bit mean. 🌹

Haven't even noticed them. I do hate that Sainsburys gives you a load of printed at till coupons which I usually forget to bring next time. I'd rather they gave me the discount like Tesco does without the need for an actual piece of paper.

I have vouchers for a free paper every day. I only get one a week though, with my delivery, for lighting the fire. I never read it

@BurscoughBooths

I have vouchers for a free paper every day. I only get one a week though, with my delivery, for lighting the fire. I never read it

How do you have this?

The point of these kinds of offers is to appear to be offering something but to ensure that not too many people take it up. It's like the coupons you get at the checkout at Sainsbury's, which are either for things you never buy, require you to spend more than you regularly spend, or go out of date before you will have a chance to use them. If they were for things people want to buy and didn't go out of date the offers would cost the company too much.
Supermarkets exist to make money, not to give it away.

The whole thing is a total faff

It's a real faff. Waitrose must do better. I was sent a notice about vouchers which I claimed but when I ordered online they were not in my voucher wallet. And now they seem to have run out of dishwasher salt! And no coffee in store today. They will fail if they don't improve.

And now they seem to have run out of dishwasher salt!

Same thing in my local store - is there a National shortage?

They do seem to be doing everything in their power to alienate loyal customers.

Our local (fabulous|) store closed and is now Tesco. I used to have a delivery each week - probably £100 but often significantly more. They started charging for delivery, lost newspapers and generally seemed pretty disinterested in any issues. So I'm slowly getting into Tesco - like the Club card offers - and only have a Waitrose delivery once a month.

Whoever is running John Lewis/Waitrose group now seems to be targeting the closure of the business.

I really hope Waitrose are reading this thread to see how much they are annoying loyal customers... 🌹

It’s the communications that are so bad.

I would guess people shopping at Waitrose are less price sensitive than elsewhere, but rather than promoting what they do well they are promoting a really rubbish, fiddly offer that can’t compete with other loyalty cards.

@AWavyLine

Have never understood the point of the card. Our local Waitrose (rightly) didn't offer free newspapers due to local issues- is it good for anything else?

No. I can’t be arsed to ferret about looking for the card when I shop in Waitrose. I’m quite happy not to give them any data.

@Hairbrush123

Oh I totally agree. I love Waitrose but find their loyalty scheme far behind Tesco & Sainsbury’s! JL’s scheme is somewhat better as I get a free coffee and cake every other month!

When was the last time you got a free coffee and cake? I thought they'd stopped that ages ago.

I considered stopping the weekly Waitrose delivery when they brought in the £3 fee, on top of out of stock and short use by date issues, and only being able to have a delivery with a newspaper after 3pm, but carried on. Then, they announced the stoppage of free newspapers on top. Effectively, having to pay for delivery and the newspaper is an increase of £6.50 per week to the shopping bill. That's without all the increases on individual groceries across the board to factor in. I logged in to cancel the order, but found I had two 50p vouchers to use on regularly purchased items and a voucher for a newspaper, saving me a total of £4.50 from the additional £6.50. I ordered because of that, but what I don't know yet is whether Waitrose will apply those vouchers every week. The answer to that will inform my decision about whether I stay loyal to Waitrose.

Total pain in the arse!

There is no signal in our Waitrose so I was trying to access the vouchers to “activate” them while shopping. Eventually managed that (to save a whole £1). Then not enough signal to get the app to open the page with the loaded vouchers. So I held up the queue until it worked and I could I apply my voucher. I kept asking the teller if I was doing something wrong, apparently not!

I received a notification in the post about it yesterday. When I went to Waitrose on Friday I asked how it worked and was told I had to download the app which I did. Then at the till no one knew how it worked but a staff member came along and showed us. The store I'm shopping at is being revamped and has been suffering staffing issues due in part to Covid bur also the increased cost/lack of housing.

Free coffee and cake every month? Never had that once - where is this Waitrose?
Apparently the vouchers are renewed every Wednesday - seriously unimpressed by the choice offered. They must be losing customers fast and furiously over this.

I think loyalty cards have had their day. I don’t bother with the Waitrose or M&S sparks card anymore.

I never bother with waitrose offers, the postal coupons were so short lived, specific and I always forgot to take them with me. Pain in the arse. Tesco’s club card system was much better when I used it 6 or 7 years ago (I don’t use it anymore so don’t know if they’ve ruined it now).

@StoneofDestiny

Just tried the 'new offers' on Waitrose. You have download the offers at home but then scan to scan a QR code at the til point and click into a coupon for every offer. Surely they could put the offers directly into your Waitrose Card like M&S Sparks Card does? Given John Lewis is on a downward track - surely making shopping difficult at Waitrose won't help keep customers. Anybody else found this as unnecessarily complicated?

You mean it's worse than the Sparks offers?

That's a new low!