Advantage, Caroline (Boots Advantage Card)

Member Name: caz-3124

Product:	Boots Advantage Card
Date:	28/03/09 (94 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Free stuff of course

Disadvantages: Collect your buying information

A store loyalty card is meant to encourage shoppers to become loyal to one particular store and feel that they are appreciated as customers and encourage a bond between store and shopper. Through rewarding you through their shopping they hope that you will stick to them and shun the alternatives. Unfortuately this is not usually the case and many people have a whole display of loyalty cards in their wallet. The Boots Advantage card is the same size as a bank card and it is white with the Boots logo in the middle and your name in the corner.

Boots Advantage card is said to be the most generous customer loyalty card there is far outshining the likes of Tesco and Sainsburys. Is this fair? Basically yes. For every £1 spent in store you receive 4 points. 1 point = 1p so basically they give you 4% of your purchase back. For example say you bought a creme for £10 you would get 40p in credit on your advatage card.

You can sign up to the Advantage Card scheme by picking up an application form or filling in your details online and they will post you it. If you go to Boots to buy things you can use a temporary card (available at the tills I think) until your permanent one arrives and then you can ask for the balance to be transferred. When you choose and item and take it to the till
simply hand over the card which the assistant wil put in the machine to collect the points. You can also use the points on the card to buy items. Say you wanted a £1.50 toothbrush you would need 150 points. Simply tell the assistant you would like to pay with your points balance. However you cannot part pay for items. So if the brush was £1.50 and you only had got up to 100 points then you couldn't pay for it with all the points and 50p cash, you'd have to wait till you had enough points or pay for it with cash or card entirely.

You can check the balance on the card either online if your card is registered or on your latest Boots receipt or by using the purple machines in-store. These machines will also offer you bonuses that are specifically matched to your profile. So if you have a baby and you have bought loads of nappies for them in the past then they will use the data collected on the card to try and offer you deals they think you will like, for example, 50 bonus points when you buy two packs of Pampers. Sadly it seems only the bigger stores carry these machines.

One thing to be aware of is that you do not receive points on an item if you have paid for it using you points balance. Also, though you can collect points when shopping on the Boots webiste you can't yet pay in points for something. Furthermore, there are a few exclusions on what you can spend your points on. You cannot pay with points for Boots Opticians, stamps, gift card, infant milk, top-up, insurance or prescriptions.

Another thing to look out for is double or triple points weekends. This is when for one weekend they double or triple the amount of points they give you so an item costing £1 would on a triple points weekend give you 12 points or 12p. Bargain! However these don't happen all that often and it's a while since they've had one. If anyone knows one is coming up, do say. On an average day however, though 4% is good don't automatically assume it's the best deal possible. Some of items can be found cheap in places like Poundland or Wilkinson. More so in the case of Superdrug who generally sell pretty much exactly the same items as Boots but cheaper. E.g a shampoo may cost £4 in Boots giving you 16p in points but Superdrug may sell it for £3.50. This is why, despite losing out on points, I tend to mostly go to Superdrug because the prices are lower and you can even get 10% off the bill if you fill in their customer satisfaction surveys.

There are a few other perks of the Advantage Card. From time to time they will send you special offers by email or invite you to special events. I had BOGOF on Rimmel's eyeliners with a print out coupon which was good and was invited to the launch of Max Factor's False Lash Effect, though no, I did not take them up on that offer. You can also join special clubs like the Health or Parenting Clubs where you get discounts and advice and so on. And last but not least, if you buy five meal deals in a calendar month they give you the sixth for free. Woo!

So in conclusion I'd say yes it's a great card. You buy things and you can get free stuff every once in a while in return. The only downside to this card is that some items are cheaper elsewhere thus making it a false economy and some people don't like companies collecting information on their buying habits. But personally I think this is a fantastic offer and won't be using the scissors on this card any time soon...

Summary: If you haven't got one yet now's your chance