free drink from starbucks when you load a card with £5

ladyh667

now i know this isnt strictly the right kind of freebie, but i just went into starbucks in liverpool today, and they are offering a free drink if you load a starbucks card with £5, which is almost buy one get one free. so if you were going to go anyway then its a good idea!

crandy07

can you take the money back off the card afterwards?

Cook_County

Do they pay interest on the money I lend to them?

littlejaffa

could this be used like the costa ones, where you could get around loading the card and just had to register it to get the freebie?

milkfloatquack

according to the sign on the Bold St Liverpool Starbucks, you have to charge the card with £10, not £5 to get the free drink.

Littlejaffa - don't know if the cards can be charged online or not.

milkfloatquack

http://starbucks.co.uk/en-GB/_Card/

oh looks like you can register the card online, might be worth picking up a card and investigating...

Cook_County

I m not sure you are getting the point here. Whitbread have already raised £170 million from the Costa branded pre-paid coffee cards; as they pay no interest on the money this is far cheaper for them then borrowing from the banks.

I see no reason to lend Costa/Starbucks money unless they actually give me something free; which they just don't...

milkfloatquack

Cook County - yes I do take your point, and wouldn't bother using the card beyond getting any free drink offer available! And with the costa card it was possible to get £2 free credit without putting any cash on the card whatsoever, don't know if there will be a similar glitch with the starbucks card.

littlejaffa

Cook_County wrote: »

I m not sure you are getting the point here. Whitbread have already raised £170 million from the Costa branded pre-paid coffee cards; as they pay no interest on the money this is far cheaper for them then borrowing from the banks.

I see no reason to lend Costa/Starbucks money unless they actually give me something free; which they just don't...

I'm not sure your getting the point,
Loads of us got £2 free on costa cards, without spending a penny, and stores would take multiple cards, i'd quite a few free coffee/muffin sessions without them getting a penny out of me.

Broke_Student

Cook_County wrote: »

I see no reason to lend Costa/Starbucks money unless they actually give me something free; which they just don't...

You are paying for the convenience of not having to find change or carry change around after you buy your drink. For regular coffee drinkers the net loss in interest profit on £10 a week, which is well under 1p, may be a good price to pay for this conveneience. Now considering you can get a free drink worth £2-£3, for anyone who was going to spend that money there anyway this promotion is a no-brainer. If you were not going to spend your money there in the first place then I cannot to see point of ranting.

therealdessie

FYI I signed up to one on the way to work in Epsom the other week, no minimum charge and they upgraded my coffee to the largest size for free.