Misled, Ignored, and ****** of Rewards – Woolworths’ Treatment of a Loyal Customer

I have been a loyal Woolworths customer for over 30 years, swiping my Woolworths rewards card with EVERY SINGLE PURCHASE without fail. Yes, I received the in-store discount when I swiped, but only recently discovered that this is NOT the full rewards program. All this time, I believed the discount was the entire benefit. Years ago, I queried why I never got vouchers or points and was told (misled) that you don’t earn rewards on your purchases and only get in store discounts when swiping your card. I accepted this explanation and carried on shopping for years and years to come, only to now learn that this is completely untrue and that other customers have been receiving vouchers, points, and additional benefits for years. This means I have been excluded from the bulk of the rewards program for a very long time, despite my loyalty and spending tens of thousands annually. After recently spending R5,000 at the Sandton branch, I raised this again and was met with arrogance, rudeness, and indifference from staff. Head office promised me a call after having to resend the emails to for responses, and it never happened. My follow-up emails have been ignored for weeks. This is not just bad service, it is systematic negligence and feels like deliberate concealment of benefits from customers who trust Woolworths to be transparent. To keep a loyal customer in the excluded for decades about rewards they should have been enjoying is unacceptable and damaging to your brand integrity. I have escalated my case to the Consumer Goods and Services Ombudsman and will continue to share this publicly so other customers are aware of how easily their loyalty to Woolworths too can be shoved down the toilet.