Coles backflips on deducting Flybuys points from customers’ accounts after copping angry backlash
- About 600,000 Flybuys members affected by initial decision to revoke points
- Flybuys said additional points were wrongly issued due to a technical problem
- Both retail giants have decided to honour the extra points as a sign of ‘goodwill’
Coles will restore customer’s Flybuys points after widespread protests at the supermarket deducting points given out in an ‘administration error’.
Around 600,000 Flybuys members received an email on Friday saying they were wrongly issued with boosted points that would be revoked.
Flybuys members were able to boost their points by buying selected items at Coles but due to an ‘administrative error’ were allocated additional points.
Coles customers who saw their Flybuys balance drop due to a ‘technical problem’ when shopping will have points returned in a ‘gesture of goodwill’ (pictured, Coles Sydney)
‘Over the past two months Flybuys has enabled you to boost your points balance at Coles across categories such as produce, chilled dairy, and biscuits, through offers made available each week,’ the message from Flybuys read.
‘Unfortunately, some points have been incorrectly awarded contrary to the terms and conditions of the offer.
‘After discovering the technical problem, we are removing those incorrectly awarded points from your balance and ensuring your balance is in line with the terms and conditions.’
Disgruntled Coles and Flybuys members slammed the retail giants for cancelling their points and threatened to contact Fair Trading and the ACCC.
‘Fix it moving forward, don’t penalise us for your issue Flybuys!’ one shopper wrote on the Coles Facebook page.
‘Your actions are unreasonable and amounts to unconscionable consumer conduct,’ another comment read.
Coles and Flybuys issued apologies in reply to customer social media posts and in a major backflip decided to return the cancelled points as a ‘gesture of goodwill’.
‘As a gesture of goodwill, Coles and Flybuys have decided to honour the points for customers who received them in error, and we are working to restore them to member balances as soon as possible,’ the joint statement read.
‘We apologise to Flybuys members for the inconvenience and have reviewed our procedures to prevent similar occurrences in future.’