John Lewis - when did this start?!

ThumbRemote

Fella wrote: »

That's your opinion, but not a fact.


In which case I would say the JL bonus must be extremely well designed as their staff do their job exceptionally well.

(In my experience - the JL staff member referred to in the OP may or may not be an exception, I'm sure there are plenty in a company that size).

Although what frustratedexjlemployee says is interesting, particularly "it's still not policy to give a hard sell" and "One member of staff who got the branch record for opening a lot of cards got a long weekend away".

So it's not policy to give a hard sell, but they may be incentivising their staff to do so anyway!

wheezy57

Its the same at Marks and Spencers. Management can spot a good sales person a mile off. Management push the sales assistant, the sales assistant pushes the customer. The over zealous girl will not have probably given a toss whether the lady was 18 or 80. The adrenaline rush for the sales assistant getting someone to 'take out' a credit card ( and therefore a massive management 'well done') would have maybe blinded her to the fact that there must have been a real negative vibe from the elderly customer.

Its all about money and if management from any large corporation can get ANY revenue whatsoever they will adopt fair means or foul to achieve that end. Like charging for little piddly carrier bags for instance.

frustratedexjlemployee

wheezy57 wrote: »

Its the same at Marks and Spencers. Management can spot a good sales person a mile off. Management push the sales assistant, the sales assistant pushes the customer. The over zealous girl will not have probably given a toss whether the lady was 18 or 80. The adrenaline rush for the sales assistant getting someone to 'take out' a credit card ( and therefore a massive management 'well done') would have maybe blinded her to the fact that there must have been a real negative vibe from the elderly customer.

The thing is, it's not like debenhams where they print off a quick signup sheet. To get the partnership card you have to go to customer services, present ID and have a credit check. It's not like you can accidentally sign up to it in the blink of an eye.

I wonder if OP's mum had an old account card (like the green peter jones ones). When I used to recommend them, it used to go something like:

"You've got a peter jones card... have you thought of getting the partnership card?"

customer: No, what's that?

me: The john lewis credit card.

C: Oh, I don't want a credit card.

me: you're using one now. That's exactly what the account card is, with the same interest. The only difference is that you get points when you buy things, rather than just debt. So in this case, when you spend on the partnership card, you'll also have qualified for a £10 voucher.

c: But I like to just use my account card and pay it off.

me: And so you should. That's how I use my partnership card. I buy something with it, get points, and pay it off at the end of the month.

C: :O You can do that with credit cards? OMG!

*they open one*

Sometimes they will come back complaining that they didn't want a credit card, then go on to keep using their old credit card, with the same APR but no points.

Fair enough, some people don't like change. If they said no outright, I just left it, but if someone was using the same credit card, from the same company, on the same interest rate to buy the same item, but without any of the actual benefits, then I'd point that out. I mean, would you rather accrue £1000 debt and just pay it off, or accrue £1000 debt, a £10 gift voucher, and pay it off?

So yeah, I'd be interested to know if OP's mum had an old account card, and if she knew it was a credit card.

Either way, she can just decide not to use it. That's not going to cause any problems.

pops5588

As far as I'm aware my gran only has the one credit card with barclays but that's it.

I agree with ThumbRemote in that they send a very mixed message to their staff about their policy on these things. I know because it was the same for me! We had strict rules that we had to adhere to when trying to get people to sign up to a store card but they would then bring in raffles, gift card prizes, shopping spree incentives that were all designed to egg on the people who were happy to hard sell, and I was never comfortable with it. I understand the pressure, but I don't think it's acceptable.

I will put together a little note to go to the manager just to flag it up with them but appreciate it's hard to monitor. It's a shame because usually my gran has good service and enjoys the products they sell and now she just won't go back. All it takes is that one person to ruin years and years of decent reputation and service. I may go in with her one day, it would be a shame to blacklist the place forever!

yangptangkipperbang

There seems to be a total misunderstanding of what a John Lewis "bonus" actually is...........

The JL company (inc Waitrose) is a "partnership" - it has no shareholders , it is owned by its staff. At the end of each financial year the profit made by the company is shared out amongst its employees - that is the bonus. That is why the staff are so good in JL - they know that if they "frighten customers away" their bonus will suffer.

It always amuses me when I hear people say that JHL and Waitrose are "posh" - when the system used to run the business is the ultimate in Socialist thinking. In this case it works incredibly well.............

pops5588

For the record I never brought up the bonuses, there is no mention of it in my OP and I certainly have no issue with it.

SuperHan

I think Debenhams are getting a bad rap here... I don't shop there very often, but I made a fairly large purchase the other day (only around £100), but had to ask to take out a credit card as I wanted the 10% discount knowing it was the largest purchase I was going to make there in a while. The lady at the cashier didn't even tell me about the available discount, I had to ask if it was still an offer... So it seems their pushy selling is leaving a little to be desired

pops5588

SuperHan wrote: »

I think Debenhams are getting a bad rap here... I don't shop there very often, but I made a fairly large purchase the other day (only around £100), but had to ask to take out a credit card as I wanted the 10% discount knowing it was the largest purchase I was going to make there in a while. The lady at the cashier didn't even tell me about the available discount, I had to ask if it was still an offer... So it seems their pushy selling is leaving a little to be desired

As far as I understand it (my sister still works in the retail shop where I worked) the rules have, yet again, changed and the discounts are no longer allowed to be promoted as an incentive. I know my sister and her colleagues were told that they were no longer allowed to use the discount as an incentive in "selling" the store card but were still allowed to apply the discount once the application was done. The rules have changed a couple of times over the last few years, at one point we had a long list of things we had to say to the customer stuck to each till point before beginning the application because it became the law to inform people of every single bit of information to do with the card. Rightly so.

peachyprice

SuperHan wrote: »

I think Debenhams are getting a bad rap here... I don't shop there very often, but I made a fairly large purchase the other day (only around £100), but had to ask to take out a credit card as I wanted the 10% discount knowing it was the largest purchase I was going to make there in a while. The lady at the cashier didn't even tell me about the available discount, I had to ask if it was still an offer... So it seems their pushy selling is leaving a little to be desired

Debenhams did exactly the same thing to my 70yo mum as they did to OP's Grandma.

jezebel

I routinely get asked this when shopping in Debenhams and get a bit of a push but find that if I say no that they usually back down.

Are store cards the new "extended warranty"? This is all JL have ever tried to sell me...