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 was prepared to try but when I looked at the offers and realised you had to select two and then still scan the coupons at the checkout I decided to just boycott the whole thing. Pointless faffing about really.
I intend to pointedly explain, in a nice way, to every single checkout person who asks me to scan my card, as to why I’m not bothering to use the myWaitrose card anymore. Hopefully lots of others will do the same.

@StoneofDestiny

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.

It wasn’t Waitrose. It was John Lewis and I wouldn’t mind betting they made money hand over fist with it. Virtually everyone using them would have bought something they hadn’t planned to while they were in store.

Yes Lolabalola that's what I've been doing. Each time the checkout partner has said that lots of people are complaining and saying the same thing and that they will be passing on the customer dissatisfaction to the powers that be. We can only hope but I doubt anything will change as they wouldn't admit to such a big mistake.
Think I might refer customer services to this thread.

Tesco just advertise the reduced Clubcard price on the shelf so that you are forced to use your Clubcard if you want to pay the lower price. You also still collect points which can be used to buy defined rewards e.g. a 3 month Disney plus subscription.

You mean it's worse than the Sparks offers?

Yes, much worse. At least there is no faffing about with Sparks - goes straight on to the card.

Miss the coffee
Rarely used the newspaper offer
Only go there to do a treats for the weekend kinda shop as I can walk to one from home !!

I am in contact with customer services by email atm.

Email address (not that easy to find on the website) is [email protected] if anyone feels like they can be bothered to complain.

Waitrose is very geographically convenient for me on a day to day basis, so I'm very motivated to try to fix this situation, but I appreciate why pps are saying they'll just go elsewhere.

Free newspaper still there for me - on the app, in the vouchers section there is one tab ‘just for you’ where you can choose 2 of the vouchers, and one marked newspapers- they know I used to get the guardian so now I can get the same money off offer everyday by using a newspaper voucher but only for the guardian.
Perhaps other newspapers didn’t continue with the deal but I’d imagine the guardian desperate for the circulation figures

I wrote to them when I read about the demise of the free newspaper and they told me there would be a wonderful new set of offers to replace it and this is it! I've replied saying it's useless and they have told me they have passed my concerns on to both Marketing and IT who are looking at the glitches. I also referred them to this thread.
I live in hope that if enough of us can be bothered to complain something might improve, doubt it though.

@ajandjjmum

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.

Do you live in Wolverhampton?

Yesterday, as I was struggling to get my 50p voucher to load, I asked the till lady what the general customer vibe was about the new system. She said stiffly that any concerns should be addressed to customer services. So I said, “Oh, I’m not officially complaining, just was interested if customers were saying anything” and she repeated that I should address any concerns to customer services. Sounds like an official line to me…

@DottyHarmer

Yesterday, as I was struggling to get my 50p voucher to load, I asked the till lady what the general customer vibe was about the new system. She said stiffly that any concerns should be addressed to customer services. So I said, “Oh, I’m not officially complaining, just was interested if customers were saying anything” and she repeated that I should address any concerns to customer services. Sounds like an official line to me…

I imagine that it's absolutely awful working on the tills at the moment. I bet every second customer has been whinging (I was guilty of that, and ended up apologising). So I imagine that managers have been trying to help out their staff by giving them a stock reply.

No point in me going to Waitrose after they stopped the free newspaper and coffee. I used to go every Saturday intending to spend not too much over the 10 pound qualifying amount....and always spent Way more than that. But I was OK with that...

Now their offers, and the faff to use them, mean that there's no way I'm going anymore. Shame.

There are even more delivery slots available than after Waitrose introduced the delivery charge, so perhaps they have lost more online customers with the loyalty card changes, especially newspapers.

One good thing is that orders can now be amended up until 8pm instead of 6pm.

I've saved £5.50 this week: a 50p and £1.50 voucher off regular items and the rest with a newspaper voucher. I very much hope that the newspaper vouchers aren't only temporary!

It is a faff though to have to remember to choose your vouchers and apply them at the checkout stage.

I also hope Waitrose will join the boycotts of Russian products and correct the name of Chicken Kyiv.

The complete uselessness and limited choice of g Waitrose site never ceases to amaze me. They had 5 fucking years to sort themselves out for the Ocado split.

Whoever runs it ought to be sacked.

Meh I can change my order up to 11 with Sainsbury and Tesco.

I've just emailed them after my 'experience' of their new offers today. There's a couple of items I really like from there but they've lost my custom unless they sort this out asap.

I am happy to pay a bit more for excellent products and great customer service. Frankly I find many of their staff have that an air of 'doing you a favour' for helping you. I remember BA became like this and look what happened to them!

@Fernandina

Considering that a large proportion of their customer base is at the senior end of the market, you'd think they would do it that way, wouldn't you? A lot of their customers may not be all that au fait with modern technology, and won't be able to access the offers.

What a horribly ageist post this is!

@StoneofDestiny

Mine was £2 off wine and £1 off coffee - but for £3 it was a faff and I'll shop elsewhere if it doesn't get sorted out. Many seniors won't have I-phones or QR code apps. I can imagine a huge queue on weekends. Part of the attraction going there is short queues and quick in and out shopping! This will slow it all down. The offers are for you to choose on their web site/app. Personalised to your favourite products I suspect.

Again. Ageist and untrue.

87% of those over 55 have a smartphone
65% of those over 65 have a smartphone

from this website

But it's a bit rich of you to say that older people won't be able to deal with it, when clearly you are struggling! (Unless you're a senior too?!)

^ 65% over over 65’s having a smartphone still leaves 35% who don’t have one, ie 35 in 100.

@BIWI
Again. Ageist and untrue.it's a bit rich of you to say that older people won't be able to deal with it, when clearly you are struggling! (Unless you're a senior too?!)

Not sure I said that at all.
I said, many seniors won't have I-phones. That is a fact demonstrated even from your stats!
I didn't say anybody was struggling. I mentioned it was a slow process that will cause backlogs at till points

I'm on my mid sixties and very quick too call it ageism. But it's not ageist to point or that their older costumers will be disproportionately disadvantaged. My peers are pretty tech savvy, but a few years older makes quite a difference. By 70 I reckon that the percentage of those with a smartphone and able to navigate the maze that is the route to the coupons will decrease significantly.

...to call OUT ageism

@Malibuismysecrethome

^ 65% over over 65’s having a smartphone still leaves 35% who don’t have one, ie 35 in 100.

But the majority do.

So to try and suggest that seniors can't deal with technology is clearly not true.

... and therefore it's also ageist.

Another example: I use the QuickShop app but it keeps asking me to scan my Waitrose card when I want to start a shop which is ridiculous as I don't actually have one (just an old keyring one at home). Surely the app should know who you are, once you have registered.