My Boots Advantage card points were stolen. Can I get them back or what can I do? 11 January at 3:59PM in Ask An Expert 4 replies 466 views

ConGirlRed

Hi Katie 
On 23rd December,  over £600 of my Boots advantage card points were used in a store in a London, across 4 transactions and I have been left with £4. My Boots card was locked away at home (where no-one else was present) and I was out of the country on holiday for several weeks before and after this date.
This previously happened in May 2021 and Boots refunded the points and set me up a new account. I have spoken with Boots Customer Services and they refuse to refund me this time as they state "we are confident that the issues that effected your previous account would not have reoccurred on this newly created account".
I have asked if they have carried out an investigation, compared my spending habits with these specific transaction; I do not live in London and mostly purchase online and do not cash in my points as I was saving them, did they check store CCTV etc but they refuse to answer my questions and have replied today with "if your account had been compromised on this occasion, it is not as a result of our security and we would suggest you raise this with any friends, family or associates who may have had access to your account details". 
It is not a case of "If" it is that my account has been compromised. I have opened a case with Action Fraud but is there anything else I can do? I have asked to speak to a senior manager and no-one will contact me. It took me about 15 years and tens of thousands of pounds to build up these points and I am only getting accusatory generic responses of "we apologise that this outcome could not be more favourable" while I'm the victim of a scam and lost over £600. 
I appreciate any help or advice you can provide. 
ConGirlRed

MSE_Katie

Transcript of video above:

So there are lots of loyalty card schemes that give you cash value back, like Tesco Clubcard, like Nectar and like Boots Advantage cards. Now if you think you've been defrauded of your points, the first step is to contact customer services and tell them what's happened. See if they can get those points refunded to you. You might need some evidence that you definitely didn't use the card yourself. But otherwise customer services should be able to sort it for you. 

Now, if you can't come to an agreement with customer services, the next step is to raise a complaint with their complaints team. And if you've already done that and they don't agree with you still, unfortunately, there's no ombudsman or arbitrator for loyalty card points. So your only option is to then take them to small claims court.

Now it's worth getting some advice before you do that and looking up online whether it would be worth it, what the costs might involve and whether that balances out against what you're trying to get back. But unfortunately, if they've decided not to agree with you anymore, that unfortunately is the end of the complaint.

silvercar

Another option, particularly for a large amount like this, would be to contact one of the journalists that have money question pages in the newspapers. This is the sort of thing they may be interested in following up for you. 

ConGirlRed

MSE_Katie 

Thank you for your reply. I have contacted customer services and the complaints team and they are saying that my account has not been compromised so they will not refund me anything. I have contacted them about 6 times and they now say that they will not reply to me again. 

Can I go to small claims court though for "points"? 

ConGirlRed

silvercar said:

Another option, particularly for a large amount like this, would be to contact one of the journalists that have money question pages in the newspapers. This is the sort of thing they may be interested in following up for you. 

Would you be able to advise on who? I have spent the last month emailing Boots, phoning them, going into branches and no-one will help. Thank you for your advice.