Major coffee chain to axe free drinks from loyalty scheme in DAYS leaving customers livid – where you can bag freebies
A MAJOR coffee chain is set to axe free drinks from its loyalty scheme in a matter of days.
Club Pret at Pret A Manger costs £30 a month currently, or £360 a year, and members can get five free hot or iced barista-made drinks daily.
The scheme also offers 20% off the rest of the food and drink menu.
But under changes coming in next week, subscribers will instead get 50% off five barista-made drinks a day instead.
Pret A Manger fans have just three days left to claim free coffees before the Club Pret terms change for good on September 3.
Discounts on the food menu through the scheme will also end.
At the same time, the price of the scheme will fall to £10 a month – with a reduced rate of £5 a month available until the end of March 2025.
The lower price will be implemented from members’ first billing date after September 2.
July’s announcement shocked Club Pret members with one writing on X (formerly Twitter): “Have a word I will be cancelling as I think many others will be!!! Shame on you.”
Another added: “It’s a very sad day for coffee lovers.”
A third added: “Pret changing their subscription to 50% off five drinks instead of it being free five drinks…. that just ruined my day.”
And a fourth fumed: “You are making a huge mistake. There is time to rectify it.
“Otherwise, I am cancelling my subscription, and will never step foot into any of your stores.”
Pret said that given that the majority of its customers were not Club Pret subscribers, its priority now was to “focus on better value for everyone”.
In a letter sent to customers, Pret’s managing director Clare Clough said: “We know this is a change.
“But with Club Pret subscription, our coffees, teas, coolers and iced drinks will continue to be the best offer on the high street, and at a much more accessible price than the £360 a year people have to pay for the current scheme.”
Club Pret changes will cost coffee lovers
Sun Savers Editor Lana Clements gives her verdict on the changes to the Club Pret scheme.
The Club Pret subscribe and save scheme has been hugely popular among coffee lovers.
If you enjoy treating yourself to a hot or iced beverage every day, the savings were well worth it.
The £30 a month price tag may sound fairly hefty but it works out as up to five drinks every day for just £1.
Now the cost of the scheme is falling to £10 a month which would work out as roughly 33p a day. But you now have to pay half the cost of your drink of choice.
If you buy a flat white, medium size, at £3 a go. You’d pay £1.50, plus the 33p in membership working out at £1.75 for one coffee. If you ordered another four on the same day, it would cost another £6 working out to a total of £7.75 for five drinks in one day.
To soften the blow, Pret has reduced the price of its no-frills filter coffee to 99p, down from £1.80.
But those who enjoy a drink with the added extras could find that other coffee chains are now a better deal. For example, you can sign up to chain Leon’s Roast Rewards for £25 a month and get five barista-made drinks a day. This works out at roughly 83p a day for five drinks. Not bad, not bad at all.
What are the alternative schemes?
Those who enjoy a drink with the added extras could find that other coffee chains are now a better deal. We look at what is on offer…
Leon Roast Rewards
You can sign up to chain Leon’s Roast Rewards for £25 a month and, as with Pret’s original offer, get five barista-made drinks a day.
This works out at roughly 83p a day for five drinks – definitely not a bad deal if you’re buying even one coffee every day.
Under the terms of the off membership, you can only buy one drink every hour. So you can’t get a free drink for you and a pal at the same time.
As part of the scheme, you also get 20% off breakfast and the all-day food menu.
There are branches of Leon across the country, you can find your nearest through the find Leon tool on the website.
Starbucks
You can join Starbucks membership for free – a no-brainer if you’re regularly getting drinks there.
Customers get three stars for each partial £1 spent, then a free drink when they get 150 stars. It means spending around £50.
For a £2.95 small latte, it means buying 17 small lattes to get a free one.
Taking a leaf out of airline loyalty programs, Starbucks has a “gold level”.
This is reached once you have collected 450 stars – after spending £84.
It lets you claim perks like extra shots, dairy-free milk and whipped cream for free.
There is also a drink on the house for your birthday.
How it works:
- £1 spent = three stars (includes partial pounds spent), 150 stars = free drink
- Small latte cost: £2.95
- Number of drinks to hit target: 17
- Cost for a ‘free’ coffee: £50.15
- Reusable cup bonus: 25p off
Caffe Nero
Every drink gets you a reward stamp in your Caffe Nero app which is also free.
You get an extra one if you bring your own cup.
Every nine stamps is a free drink.
So, take your reusable cup and you get a free latte, cappuccino, flat white or whatever your chosen caffeine is after paying for just four and a half.
With a small latte costing £3.50, that is a free one after spending £31.50.
Go green with a reusable cup and it is half that, so just £15.75.
How it works:
- One drink purchased = one stamp, nine stamps = free drink
- Small latte cost: £3.50
- Number of drinks to hit target: Nine
- Cost for a ‘free’ coffee: £31.50
- Reusable cup bonus: Yes, one extra stamp
Costa
Costa also runs a free loyalty scheme but also changed the terms last August
Customers must now buy an extra two coffees to get a free one at Costa, meaning you’ll get a freebie after buying ten, rather than eight.
As with Nero, you get an extra stamp for a reusable cup.
Stamps can be collected in any of the chain’s 2,800 coffee shops, as well as around 12,000 machines in petrol stations and convenience stores.
How it works:
- One drink purchased = one bean, 10 beans = free drink
- Small latte cost: £3.50
- Number of drinks to hit target: ten
- Cost for a ‘free’ coffee: £35
- Reusable cup bonus: Yes, one extra bean
Other Pret changes
At the same time as announcing the freebie change, Pret said the price of its signature 100% organic arabica filter coffee would drop to 99p, while an all-butter croissant would be reduced in price to £1.99.
Club Pret was introduced following the Covid-19 lockdowns as a means to lure customers back to the chain, which was particularly hard hit by the slow return to offices.
While it was loved by coffee fans, the scheme has had hiccups.
In March, the chain implemented a crackdown to prevent Club Pret subscribers from sharing free drinks with others.
Some customers were exploiting loopholes by sharing subscription benefits, prompting the changes.
Subscribers have since been required to use the app to redeem their complimentary drinks, rather than accessing QR codes via Apple Wallet or smartwatches.
Many aired their concerns, saying the changes made it harder to claim the offer, with some reporting technical issues when trying to access the app.
Others said they had cancelled their subscriptions altogether amid the “faff” the updates had caused, with some questioning how they would be able to access the app if they were in a chain without a signal.
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