Card Loyalty and 'prestige'

ti1980

Astaroth wrote:

The "problem" with Black cards is that at the moment is they are so unheard of that if you happen to use your Natwest Black card in Tesco the person behind the till may think it is an unusual card design but have no idea you must earn at least £80k to apply for one. Of cause it could however be used as proof of entitlement if you are in a more selective store/ resturant/ hotel but do not fit the normal stereotype of their clientele (eg me, look much younger than my age, male with long hair, only wear t-shirts and jeans outside of work etc)

I think that you are totally correct with the Tesco analogy. I work at M&S and I know that a lot of my colleagues wouldn't have a clue as to the supposed 'prestige' of certain cards so anyone retaining one (who only shops in ordinary shops) in which they would gain more benefit to themselves elsewhere is just wasting their time and losing out for vanity reasons but if they are that shallow then that is their problem.
Of course if there are benefits that are more than what you might get on another card then of course you should keep the card, that goes without saying I think.

Especially as nowadays there are so many cards that are coloured 'black' or say 'Visa Platinum.' I do think the M&S &More card looks 'nice' (which is just black in colour as opposed to black status) and I have a couple of cards that are 'Platinum' cards.

When working on a till and seeing people with 'nice' cards, I don't know what cards are prestigious these days but I have seen a few 'Coutts' cards and 'St James's Place' credit cards which I think you need a really high salary or massive savings to own. I don't know for certain though and don't care in the slightest. In my store you will be using that card to buy a sandwich and a drink or a ready meal and bottle of wine, so will the other 1000+ customers I or others may serve in a day, many will use a whole range of cards, get over it as 'I ain't bovvered!'
In the more selective store etc they might pay more attention to it though and give you better service/treatment.

When working on a till for 4/5 hours without a break/thinking about what you are going to eat for your dinner/wondering what to buy your dear suffering husband or civil partner for your anniversary/hoping the kids aren't getting into trouble/already having done 300-500 transactions, the last thing your typical shop employee is going to be bothered about is how much you earn or have in the bank!:p

In certain shops, if you had a casual appearance but had one of those 'prestigious' cards I would think that it may cause a bit of suspicion as to whether the card was stolen or not.

Also these days there are a lot of places that people just shove their card into the card reader so the sales assistant wouldn't even see the card and would just ask you to enter your pin.

I wonder what other shop workers think of this, it would be really interesting to hear what they think of these cards.

mrbigd

Who cares about the type of card, its the financial deals that come with the card I care about!

The_Boss

Redbedhead wrote:

I currently have a Morgan Stanley platinum (is this any different to their standard black one in terms of benefits?)

I've got the black card - got it 5 and a half years ago and started with a £1.5k limit, building up to £5.5k last year before I reduced it to £2k. No specific benefits I can see, and at no point have they offered me an upgrade to platinum.

Fahim_2

Financial offer is important, but i do consider the looks as well. I don't need a 'black' card, M&S &more card looks good to me. Also marriott rewards cards are good as well.

Graham_Devon

Reading this I have just looked in my wallet. I have a platinum tesco card. Does that mean something then?!

Treadmill

I'm a card snob, I'd rather use my Barclaycard Platinum than Capital One Classic, not to the extent that I'd let it cost me money though.

The_Boss

Hold on - I have a black Morgan Stanley card - why do they issue me with this when it is a standard card if having a 'black' card means something so much more prestigious?

GlennTheBaker

I have a Conran card which I use for all of my everyday spending (for the 1% cashback) but I have had quite a few comments from shop assistants to the effect of 'that's a nice card, haven't seen one of those before' which makes me feel quite good about having one! A bit daft really, I suppose!

GunJack

The Boss,

the 'black' cards Astaroth et al are referring to are only given out to people on whopping salaries and are prepared to pay a hefty fee for the privilige, and give various high-prestige benefits, e.g. discount at posh restaurants and suchlike. The design on your MStanley or whatever just happens to be black, and not a reference to the status of the card.

Stompa

mrbigd wrote:

Who cares about the type of card, its the financial deals that come with the card I care about!

Precisely. I was unaware that the colour had any significance.