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“Please Sir, can I have a coffee?”

written by fmcoats on 02/06/2015

My previous love for (and loyalty to) Waitrose has been completely eroded by their new policy of requiring customers to ask for a coffee cup at the Welcome Desk before taking advantage of the free coffee 'benefit' to myWaitrose cardholders.

While I understand that the free coffee was being abused, surely this was anticipated and should have been addressed before the scheme was implemented and the new policy has been implemented without adequate training or staffing (the Welcome Desk is frequently unmanned; staff direct you around the store to eg the bakery countery who then direct you back to unmanned Welcome Desk or to queue at a till simply to get a cup. Most crucially, they also appear to believe they can be rude or ignore you simply because the item you're asking for is 'free') and without thought to the negative reaction elicited by, effectively, withdrawing a 'benefit' or making customers feel like they have to beg to receive it.

The 'free' coffee is, remember, not free - it is consideration for the collection and use of our personal and shopping data via the myWaitrose card. Other stores offer money off benefits tailored to the items you buy most. Waitrose offers a coffee that costs it perhaps 10p. This makes it even more distasteful that the store and its staff make us feel that they are giving us something we should be grateful for.

I have voted with my feet and my spend with Waitrose has fallen at least 80% since mid-April when they implemented the new policy.