A small card with big advantages!! (Boots Advantage Card)

Member Name: sparkle2

Product:	Boots Advantage Card
Date:	08/11/09 (99 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A decent amount of points for every £1 spent, free magazine for card holders and additional vouchers

Disadvantages: none

I have had a Boots advantage card for just over a year now and am kicking myself for not having got one earlier. In essence, it is a card that rewards you for shopping at Boots by giving you 4 points for every £1 you spend. However, the numerous offers the card entitles you to means you can often accumulate a large number of points with minimum effort which can all be used to treat yourself (or someone else if you are feeling exceptionally generous!!)

What it is??
As I mentioned above, the advantage card is a reward card. It is made from plastic and is similar to a credit card in both size and shape which means it can easily be stored in your purse or wallet. There is a large Boots logo on the front of the card with your name printed underneath and a strip at the back for your signature.

How it works??
To use your advantage card is simple- you merely present it at the till when paying for your purchases and the assistant will place it into the card machine which will add however many points you are receiving to your existing amount. On the receipt you receive for your purchases, the total number of points you have will be shown so you can keep track of how many points you have.

As well as using your advantage card to get points, you can also use it to get some exclusive offers. You can do this at any of the kiosks placed around the store. All you have to do is put your card in and then click on the screen till you get to the 'my offers' page. You can then scroll through the offers you are entitled to and depending on which ones appeal to you, you can print them off. For this reason, if you are making a big purchase, it is a good idea to check these kiosks as you can sometimes get some really good deals. For example, I currently have an offer for £20 off a pair of glasses so if you were intending to buy some glasses from Boots' opticians, this could save you quite a bit of money.

The benefits??
The primary benefit you get from this card is the reward points for every purchase you make. This is currently 4 points for every £1 spent which is claimed to be the most generous out of all the reward cards in Britain. One thing to note would be that if you don't spend a full £1 you don't get any points. For example, if you spent £0.75 you wouldn't get any points even though logically, you should get 3 as every point should equate to 25p spent. Therefore, this card may not be very useful if you only intend to buy snacks from Boots for lunch, but if you do regularly spend a lot, then this card would be brilliant.

Other benefits from the card include the fact that at some points in the year, you can get bonus points. For example, they have some Christmas events coming up soon and if you spend £50 or more during the event, you get a bonus 1000 points (plus the 200 points you get for spending £50) which overall equates to £12 worth of points. This is brilliant if you are likely to be spending a lot on people's Christmas presents from Boots.

Another benefit is the vouchers you sometimes get in the post. These are quite unpredictable and there is no set pattern as to when you will get some. However, when you do, they can be quite useful and can help you get a lot of points for a small amount of purchases. Vouchers I have received in the past include double points vouchers (you get 8 points for every £1 spent), 'get 150 points when you spend over £20' vouchers and a '£5 off when you spend more than £30 on electrical beauty products'.

For the health and beauty conscious amongst us, there is a magazine taken out by Boots every month that can be purchased in store for £1. However, advantage cards can get this magazine for free merely by presenting their advantage card. In this month's magazine, there are lots of gift ideas customised to various members of a typical family as well as articles such as '3 easy ways to glam party hair' and '6 feel-good fixes' which can be interesting to flick through when you are bored.

Lastly, there are the advantage card kiosks, which I have mentioned above, located in most large Boots stores where you can print of additional vouchers.

How to get one??
To get a Boots advantage card, just ask the assistant at the till when you are paying for your next purchase and they will give you a form to which a temporary paper card is attached. This can be used for collecting points until you receive your permanent one. To get the permanent one is simple as you just fill in the form and send it off with no additional costs involved.

How to spend your points??
Spending your points is simple as you just inform the assistant when paying that you would like to do so and they will more than happy to assist. One thing to note though, is that you can't receive any points for purchases made using points. This can be annoying if you were going to receive a lot of points for the purchase, but on the plus side you are getting something for free essentially as, apart from the effort of presenting your card whenever you pay for something there is nothing else involved in getting points.

Overall, I think the Boots advantage card is great as you can use it as and when you like and you can build up quite a large number of points. Using myself as an example, I have about £17 worth of points which I have received over the course of just over a year and which I can now spend on anything I like from Boots. With the additional benefit of a free magazine and additional vouchers and offers, this card can save you quite a bit of money and thus, if you do shop at Boots quite frequently, I would recommend getting this card.

Summary: I would definitely recommend this for people who often shop at Boots.