Anyone else disappointed by the new M&S Sparks rewards changes?

[Nikki3009]

Hi,

Has anyone else noticed the change to the M&S Sparks Cards Rewards? I've previously often had 20% off clothing etc, but under the new system you have to spend money on certain items to earn money off future spends.

Before anyone comes at me, I know M&S don't have to offer a reward card in any shape or form. But the way the new rewards are going to operate seem highly biaised towards high-spending customers rather than all customers.

As an example...under the previous rewards I might have had 20% off dresses which, if I bought a dress for £50 would mean £10 off. Under the new scheme, I may get a £6 reward for spending £30 on a dress. So, as a customer I'm not really gaining anything - in fact, it'll end up costing me more, because I will no doubt have to top up that £6 reward in order to buy anything!

Obviously this has been done to be beneficial to M&S and it's a business decision but does anyone else feel it's a bit of a shame as a loyal customer?

Also, the influencers shilling this as a 'Fantastic Upgrade', need to start being transparent about their partnerships with M&S. You only have to do the maths to realise for the average customer, it's anything but 🙄

I guess only time will tell on this one. Cynical me just thinks they’ve got a lot to claw back after the cyber attack.

That’s really bad! They have plenty of data on customers. They can easily see who does/doesn’t buy meat.

I’ve got £14 in rewards so far, definitely prefer this to the money off which was always stuff I’d never buy anyway. Weirdly this is more general so easier to benefit from

It’s useless for me, live alone, pop in to M&S food hall about 3 times a week, usually for milk, fruit and veg and yogurt. Never spend more than a tenner, if that at a time. None of the rewards are suitable for me; earn a £1 by spending £6 on cleaning products, earn £1 by spending £10 on ready meals, neither of which I buy - so actually although still crap, the old system worked much better for me.

Really poor . I’ve scrapped my sparks card and don’t shop there any more as no longer competitive

I got a £7 voucher which I thought was good, I still miss the sparks advent calendar

Also just checked for the new offers and I've got a free bunch of flowers or box of chocolates because it's my birthday this month, which is nice

It seems over complicated, I often used the 20% off clothing, home or footwear and my spending has decreased since the change. It swayed me towards spending in M&S rather then elsewhere but now I will shop around.

Not impressed either. Had an offer of £14 reward on a £70 spend. I bought 4 items totalling £198 and the £14 reward showed as pend8ng. I retu4ned 2 items to the value of £99 and have now lost the £14 reward even though I have spent £99. It would appear the only way to avoid this would have been to purchase the 4 items individually.

Similar situation here, I'm tee total and have been for over 25 years, have never once bought alcohol from M&S (or anywhere else since the twentieth century) and have got £1 reward on a £10 spend on their wine range.

I've also got another £6 reward if I buy yet more jeans 🙄

Ah - I think this may answer the question I was posing upthread. I was wondering what happens if you buy something which qualifies for a reward but then return it...looks like the reward is removed regardless of whatever other spending you've done in the meantime (I'm still unsure what happens if you've already spent said reward in the meantime, given that rewards for clothing/home appear after 14 days but you have 30 days to return items - does your reward balance go into negative points? 🤔)

I also wondered whether if you buy a second item which would also stand as a qualifying item in the same period and return the first item but keep the second - so you have effectively still spent the right amount in the right timeframe - do you lose the reward as the item that actually triggered the qualification is no longer in your possession...from your experience that looks to be the case. Their system clearly isn't sophisticated enough to recognise that second purchase and link it to the reward. It's just a case of: qualifying item bought = reward, qualifying item returned = reward removed. I understand that if the reward period is ongoing the offer goes back on to your account and you can make a second qualifying spend, but I'm talking about you buying something else before you return the first item, and then returning the first item after the offer period. At which point it seems you lose the reward regardless. You even lose it if you return part of the first purchase even if you're still over the spend threshold it seems from your case! None of which encourages you to go and buy a second item if you suspect you might return the first and thus defeats their object to get you to spend more.

To be honest the fact that such complex questions need to be pondered over speaks volumes about how overcomplicated and silly this new scheme is.

I absolutely hate it. But then again Sparks has been dire the last couple of years.

They should at least just add them all to your card. I think I may have spent and used the card but hadn’t added the relevant offer.

Spent around £120 on 3 pairs of sandals at the weekend. 2 days later I get an offer of £8 off when I spend £40 on footwear 🤦 so annoying, I don't need that now since I've just bought the new footwear I needed! Really miss the 20% off offers. Can see that lots of these offers won't be used so a cost savings for M and S and definitely a way to claw back money lost in the cyber attack. I did enjoy my favourite truffles for my birthday treat though.

Yes it’s rubbish. I saw I had £5 more to spend (had spent £35) but only one day left to do it to get any benefit. It all expired and start from £0 again. It’s really rubbish

Yea it’s really annoying you have to actively add the offer. I’m often in the shop and there’s no signal in our one, and remember to check the app to add any offers but I can’t because no signal!

M & S Customer Services have confirmed if I purchased the 4 items individually and then retuned 2, the reward would have been paid. If there's a chance you may return an item when you are using an offer make sure you buy them separately to keep the reward.

Thanks for updating 🙂

What a performance that will be though. 4 separate transactions through the till, 4 separate online orders. M&S really haven't thought this through.

I'm still pondering what's going to happen when I spend my reward and then return the qualifying item. I wonder if my Sparks wallet will go into minus figures and then the moment I buy something and achieve a qualifying spend on my next reward offer the app will say "we'll have that back thank you" and take me from
-£6 to £0 😀

John Lewis did a whole host of market research when they removed their 'Never Knowingly Undersold' strapline/guarantee. That action was a dismal failure and it's back now.

Pret did a whole host of market research before they launched the 'X number of drinks for a monthly sub' scheme that went on to cost them a fortune...they ended up with an amended scheme after finding themselves all over the news with disgruntled customers.

Basic market research would tell them a successful scheme needs to be simple and consistent, with attainable and measurable goals and rewards, which is clearly communicated to customers. The new M&S scheme fails on all these key points as this thread shows.

Annoyingly M & S staff don't appear to know how the scheme works as I've had several different explanations about why the reward was lost. Think it needs to be reviewed.
@NoExchangeBeforeChristmasThen one person was saying it depends on when you return the item and if the original spend offer has expired. There's details on their website but the bit about other spending is different to what I was being told.

You missed the part where I said they will have crunched the numbers. So they will have analysed the data from all shoppers who used Sparks, which will have helped them decide on this revamped scheme. Just speculation but I doubt that most M&S shoppers who used their Sparks card for 20% off whatever will have gone onto buy a lot of other stuff, and regularly. More likely it was more like “I’ll use that voucher to get money off the bedding I needed and while I’m there I’ll buy some socks and a few groceries I was going to buy anyway”, every few months. It’s like the 12 Days of Christmas thing they got rid of, it was losing money for them. People weren’t going in droves to collect a free box of florentines then spending hundreds of pounds on champagne or whatever.

Im the only one loving it I think. Up to £14 so far.

Definitely aimed at higher weekly spenders. One of my first offers was to spend £120 fashion & Home for a £10 reward. Based on my shopping habits, it's highly unlikely I'd meet that target in 14 days. I think the timescale should be lengthened. Give customers 4 weeks to achieve a target. Also, should you pick-up reduced items in the foodhall, then these items do not count towards a grocery reward target. I think that's tight. In Sainsbury's, reduced items still count for Nectar Points. Another annoyance is Branded Clothing not counting. I spent £49.00 on a pair of Fat Face trousers ordered from M&S online - no points towards a reward for this purchase either.

I spent the best part of £275 in M&S over the last month. But as it wasn’t on things that M&S wanted me to spend it on I’ve only managed to get a £1 reward. Seriously unimpressed.

I've just been given the opportunity to secure a £4 reward by spending £20 on women's hats in the next 7 days.

They're game for a laugh, I'll give them that 😆