Every little helps? Tesco Clubcard BlackBerry app doesn't!
Every little helps says Tesco and its nifty app which allowed me to put my Clubcard on to my BlackBerry promised so much, yet has failed to deliver!
The truth is I forget my Clubcard more often than not and like a slimline key ring so the mini Clubcard is of no value. Hence when I spotted the Tesco Clubcard app on BlackBerry App World I was quick to download it and marvelled how it turned my screen into a facsimile of my Clubcard
I have already been delighted when flying how Q-codes replace my ticket and have seen that work really well, removing the need to check in when travelling light and speeding you through security too, so I had high hopes for this application.
I had glimpsed that it worked in ‘most stores’ however, that turns out not to be my local branch in Hungerford. They valiantly tried to scan in and after some checking were able to reveal that it would not work in that store and it only worked in the ‘really big stores’.
Convenience had morphed into inconvenience and while the lovely staff explained if I brought the receipt and my card back another time they would add the points, that wasn’t the point.
The app also allows you to check your Clubcard balance, which does work, but it was the convenience of being able to simply scan my phone that appealed.
Going back and reading about the app in more detail it does explain that ‘most stores’ actually means it can “...only be used on the customer facing scanners where a till operator is present, this does not include our Tesco Express or Petrol Filling Stations or at self serve and basket tills.”
Sure, if I had researched the app more thoroughly I might have been better prepared for it not to work, however, in creating the app could Tesco have been a little smarter? For instance, they know where my nearest store is, so why not show me a list of stores where I can use the app when I installed it? I have to log in, so it knows exactly who I am!
Naturally with this blog being tweeted on Twitter it would have been great to mention @TescoStores, but that account hasn't been updated since April 2009 and the @Tesco account is suspended, probably after someone not Tesco decided to roost there! But wouldn't it have been great if they were able to respond to this swiftly? Perhaps they might yet!
I am sure that the app will develop in the future and hopefully I will be able to use it in my local branch very soon, after all... Every little helps...