Frequent Shopper card woes

[Luna]

This system frustrates me to no end. Well, not the system - just the people who use it I suppose.

It used to be paper and you got it stamped. They finally made it electronic over a year ago. Yet people still keep coming in with paper cards from over 5 years ago and they are annoyed (despite expiration date on back of them) that they can't be redeemed and they must convert to the electronic frequent shopper card. Spend a certain amount - get store money back.

The new card gets you more for your money. It can be looked up if you forget it. This is nice b/c people would always come in with the stamped cards that were put through the wash or mutilated or complained that they lost them and expected us to magically issue them full cards for their inconvenience. However, you can't scam us anymore with the electronic cards. You get rewards based on what the computer rings up. No way to screw with it - and I think that's what pisses people off. The paper cards also were frequently stolen, along with the stampers - and people gave themselves lots of free stuff this way.

I get:
*Is this new?? Why do I have to do this? The paper ones were better! Why do I have to give you my address? I was able to use the stamp card now why do I have to be mailed my rewards? Why isn't tax included in the reward total? I had 3 full stamp cards but I lost them can you just put the points on my new card?



or if they are particularly dense:
*I've never been told about a frequent shopper card before! I spend thousands of dollars in here every year! Is this new?
(No, it isn't new. It's just plastic now. It's been here for 7 years. I've never seen you here before so don't lie to me, and every cashier is required to give you the frequent shopper or we get in trouble so I highly doubt you've never been told about it in the past 7 years!)

Another thing that annoys me is - it's FREE. Don't complain to me about it okay? It's FREE. The company is giving you FREE MONEY to spend just for shopping here, which you were planning on doing anyway.

Statements such as the following may very well one day be the straw that broke Luna's back and you'll have the wrath of everything I've held in thus far leashed upon your sorry ass:
*I want the free stuff but I won't give you my address
*can't you just put it on the "store" card
*insert loud sigh - how long is this going to take? (BTW - all I need is name and address, it takes 30 seconds for me to type it.)
*This is a scam to make me come back and spend more money! (if you were a smart shopper you would only spend your free certificate. But that would mean you were smart. Don't yell at me b/c you have no spending willpower. It's freaking FREE folks!
*You guys have got quite a racket going on! (This is a favorite line uttered by the older folks. If this were a racket - I wouldn't be standing here ringing register. I'd be on a yacht with a studly GQ dude feeding me lobster and massaging my feet.)
*I don't need to save money (well good for you...donate it then to someone not as well off as your rich ass)
*I don't shop here often enough (but you just spent almost $300!!???)
*The wife has it, I don't know
*I don't remember what name I registered it under can you look it up? (how many names do you have?? Some people give me 3-4 different names to look up and then 2 or 3 different zip codes to look up. Good grief people.)
*I've spent hundreds of dollars and I haven't received my certificates yet! (Don't lie to me, the computer tells me exactly how much you've spent and exactly when you were last in. You've spent $18 and you were last in - October of 2006.)
*(after my explaining the FREE card) Does it cost anything?

Does anyone else suffer from frequent shopper woes?

[Becks]

I suffered vicariously with you while reading your post.

[Zell]

We have something called a Very Important Customer card (VIC card). Never usually have a big issue with it but occasionally you get a huge jerk about it.

I heard this one from a coworker:

A woman walked in and was really paranoid about identity theft. Never gave her phone number and always paid in cash. Well, one day she forgot her VIC card. The lady asked if he could look it up. He said sure, and then asked for her phone number. She flipped out and said that she was never going to give out her phone number because she didn't want telemarketers to call it

She said again to look up her number. The coworker said that he HAD to have her number. Again, the lady flips out and keeps saying to look her up without her number. He then says that there is no other way to look her up other than her number, and we would never do a last-name lookup (plus, we don't have the resources at the store to do it anyway). The lady still kept saying "Look me up to put in my VIC card!" and was just not getting it.

I still have no idea how she thought we were going to put in her VIC card.

[katie kaboom]

We have something called a Very Important Customer card (VIC card).

ugh, that is a horrible name for a customer loyalty card. All it's gonna do is encourage these SCs inflated egos.

[Shengirl]

Well, our store card is mostly only good for getting customers the sale price, although customers also get super good coupons in the mail from time to time. Now, our competitors let people look up their frequent shoppers cards with their phone number. We do not. We have a store card so the cardless may still get the sale prices. Thus, the phrase, "Can I just give you my number?" makes me TWITCH by the end of a cashier shift.

The most ridiculous are the people who ask if they can just give me their zip code, however. How on EARTH is that supposed to help me attach this purchase to your personal account?!

[i4wolves]

I have those cards too at work. There are mainly for sales prices but you also get really good coupons. We cannot however scan one if you do not have a card, we can look it up if you give up your phone number. I have no idea how they decide who gets coupons but I get asked all the time, "What good is this" and "This does not do me anything, its useless." I do not make the sales and I do not decide on coupons, and the card was FREE what do you expect a sale on everything, which some people do think that having this FREE card entitles them to 10% off everything in the store. Thats Barnes and Noble and they charge you $25/year for that discount. In order to get that kind of discount the card would not be free. I never thought this much trouble would be over a FREE card. I just thought since it was free people would just use it be happy when they get something off or get coupons in the mail, I know I am when I save money. Nope, all I get is people complaining of how they did not save anything today, and how stupid this card is. Of course if they forget their card and something is on sale, these same people demand that I look up their card for them. Thank you letting me vent and I feel your pain as it never ends.

[Hon'ya-chan]

I still have no idea how she thought we were going to put in her VIC card.

She should've done what I do with really bad SC's and our own Customer Card when they forget it and be dicks about it.

Type in the phone #, and use the first number that pops up. Or randomly pick one and type it in.

[Nekojin]

VIC for Very Important Customer? If I worked there, I'd refer to it as a Vaguely Important Customer card by the third day on the job... =^_^=

[uknz76]

Type in the phone #, and use the first number that pops up. Or randomly pick one and type it in.

One of my old managers always used his GF's phone number for things like that. She ended up getting loads of free stuff. No one ever complained, and cos the boss was really nice none of the staff ever told head office.

[Gravekeeper]

ugh, that is a horrible name for a customer loyalty card. All it's gonna do is encourage these SCs inflated egos.

Yes, but "Frequent Farkwit Card" just doesn't have the same ring to it.

[Shabo]

I once had a guy tell me that there was no way he was going to get one of those cards because they (the company) used those to track him when he walked inside the door, and that people could take his personal information off of it, and yadda yadda paranoid freak talk. I was thinking, dude, first of all, it's a freaking pet store. Second, take a look at the door. Do you even see any anti-theft measures put in place? No. You don't. Do you think we have some magical device that detects your store card and magically gets all your personal information and sells it to third parties? I had the card, and had no information sold about me. I did not get telemarketers calling, nor did I get any extra mail from them. That information is no more then what is already available via public record. I often told people this if they were reluctant to sign up for that reason, and they usually believed me, but when I told this guy, I'm sure he thought that I was one of "them" out to get him. Whatever, you loon.

Needless to say, I found out later that grocery stores were not so much tracking people who came in the store as counting the number of people who came in the store with the cards. Probably to compare with the number that left with the cards, or the percentage of people with cards to the percentage of people who actually used them. Plus, most rewards cards tie specific purchases to your card, and offer you discounts on similar products. I'm pretty sure that someone once used my card to buy diapers at a drugstore, because I once got a coupon for them with a discount on diapers. I'm looking at it like since I'm not a mom, and the youngest kid in my family stopped wearing diapers about 10 years ago. So yeah, it wasn't a big deal, but it did make me think that the system was a little screwy.

[justZu]

VIC for Very Important Customer? If I worked there, I'd refer to it as a Vaguely Important Customer card by the third day on the job... =^_^=

How about Very Irritating Customer - I think that fits most SCs just fine.

[DesignFox]

I feel your pain Luna.

"Do you have our Free frequent shopper card? If not, I can sign you up for FREE so you can start earning your coupons."

"Wait, how much is it?"

[Shabo]

Isn't it ironic how when you are trying to tell them about something that's free, they don't seem to hear it, but if it says free in tiny little print under something like "Next Tuesday this item is" they will immediately pick up on it and demand the product for free right now so they don't have to come back next tuesday?