No Rewards Points awarded when buying with Rewards Points?

[DarkRedCape]

I’ve just made my first purchase using my reward points. I purchased the R3997 loco which is £241.99, and awards 3630 Reward Points upon purchase. I had enough Reward Points to buy the loco outright, so it cost £0.00. But it seems to have added no additional Reward Points to my pending points list.

Do you not get Reward Points when purchasing using Reward Points? Or is the awarded number of Reward Points deducted from how many Points were used upon purchase? Such as, if you were to use 10% of your Reward Points to make a purchase, you lose 10% of Points gained back? So as I used 100% of my Reward Points, I lose 100% of Points gained back?

[Aussie Fred]

Sounds fair to me - it is not like you paid CASH for the train, so Hornby had no income for it.

[Brew Man]

The points are probable just calculated on the total amount spent on the order. So zero spent, zero points.

[P-Henny]

Sounds like you want Jam on it as well. I agree with previous replies.

As an analogy, it is a bit like using 'Green Shield Stamps' to get a product, then being given even more 'Green Shield Stamps' back to the value of the item. AKA Double Bubble.

[Bulleidboy]

Green Shield Stamps!!!! Someone's showing their agejoy. I agree with all the comments made - sorry DRC you can't have it both wayssleepy.

[atom3624]

Boots' points system has worked brilliantly for me over the years I've used it.

They've recently 'devalued' it I believe, unfortunately.

Al.

[DarkRedCape]

I'm a bit lost for words really. All I did was ask if this was how the system works, being that this is the first time I've redeemed any Rewards Points.

Lesson learned.

[Mick-345930]

To try to answer the original question, I used hobby points and a cash balance over the Easter weekend double value points event, I got additional hobby points for the cash balance only.

[ModelerXYZ]

I suspect that would be how it works. Money redeemed from points doesn't count for getting points and why should it?

So the more £ you spend, the more £ you save on the next purchase. I haven't used any points yet, I need some £ to afford pointwork first.

XYZ

[96RAF]

I guess it’s points for pounds, not points for points.

Even Tesco has changed its fuel rewards from pounds spent to litres bought. All a bit of a fiddle to save a penny here and a million pennies there.

[DarkRedCape]

The thing that caught me out was I had a little over 31k reward points available before making the purchase, I think I used around 24k on the purchase, but it still shows I have 31k available points.

So I’m assuming the points are deducted when the loco is released, but how does that work if I were to go and make another purchase now?

For example, out of the 31k, I spent 24k, leaving 7k remaining, but if I were to spend another 24k, being that the reward points are still technically still available, would the second purchase use the 7k points, then charge the rest to my card?

The R3997 City of London is scheduled for released this spring, so hopefully I won’t have long to wait to see how this system works.

I think the Reward Points system needs a slider so you can decide how many points you’d like to use, as apposed to the current system where it just uses the maximum available.

[96RAF]

I can bring that idea up at tomorrow’s video chin wag with Manager eCommerce and IT.

[Topcat2018]

@DA

I think it's unrealistic to expect to get a reward on a reward. I don't know how the Hornby rewards scheme functions, but as an extreme example if the rate of rewards was a flat 10% with no minimum cutoff point then on a £100 purchase you would get £10. If you spent that £10 you would get a reward of £1. If you spent that £1 you would get a reward of 10p. If you spent that 10p you would get a reward of 1p, so your total reward would be £11.11 or 11.11%.

This potentially infinite regression is limited only by the minimum unit of currency.

I haven't researched this but I suspect if you buy something wholly with Nectar points or Tesco Clubcard points you don't get more points.

I think the only example where reward on reward works is with compound interest.

[Rallymatt]

As it’s described in the terms and conditions, you earn Hobby Rewards Points on the £s actually spent on product so excluding shipping and any rewards points redeemed. I am not aware of any reward points scheme that earns more reward points on redeemed points. If you check the cash value applied to rewards vouchers, it’s legally set at a fraction of a penny, essentially setting it as of NO Monetary value therefore unable to earn additional rewards points.

[Topcat2018]

I think Rallymatt has given the definitive answer as to how the Hornby scheme works.

[96RAF]

Hornby Commerce has requested that any queries about Reward points should be directed to Customer Services giving exact details of the problem as seen.

[DarkRedCape]

My Reward Points have updated and it’s taken the 24k for the loco. There is some delay in the Points updating, which is what I suspected. Seems to be straight forward system.

RAF96, Hornby have some of the slowest customer service responses I’ve ever seen. I’d really rather not wait 2/3 weeks for a reply when I can get multiple replies within the hour here. Plus they’re probably busy dealing with HM7000 inquiries, adding to the response times. Did they state a reason why they would rather it not be discussed here?

[What About The Bee]

Did they state a reason why they would rather it not be discussed here?

 

 

Hi DRC 👋

I will go way out on a limb at this time.

Hornby would prefer to quietly handle these start up glitches without great fanfare and public notice. Can't say as I blame them.

Social media, these pages excepted, has been unfairly unkind to Hornby. Hornby does not need bad publicity regarding their new rewards program.

I like the program. Sure, there are some glitches. Perhaps some questions how it works. But overall, I think it a winner.

Bee

[96RAF]

@DRC

They asked for those folk having problems to make direct contact as there did not appear to be a common denominator and that each persons’ case could be tracked end to end in attempt to see where the problem lay. It was not a case of discussing it here or there , simply dealing with each case personally. Forum help whilst it can be instant and useful is not official and in cases like this doesn’t fix your problem but may add weight if others have also had the same.

Hornby Customer Care gets mixed reviews, their phone service seems fine but their email response is generally reported as poor with folk waiting weeks at times for an answer.

Your idea for a points allocation slider was rejected as too complex for the present system. Their points take from your pot of gold is a bit like Amazon vouchers, if you have anything in the pot and buy something Amazon takes the lot, not just the amount you might want to spend. Hornby are looking into the points update lag which relies upon a system number crunch each day, thus maybe not as dynamic as folk would like. Added complexity is new points earned do not go live for 21 days after purchase, I suppose to cover the case of a product being returned.

HM7000 though has its own direct customer care email and that gets to a single point of assistance not a group, so response is usually quick.

[DarkRedCape]

Hi Bee, I don’t use any social media and this is the only model railway forum I’m a member of, so I don’t know what others say about Hornby.

There will always be complainers in every walk of life that need something to moan about, but I have no issue with valid criticism where it’s due.

96RAF, that all sounds very reasonable, I can’t fault their logic. I’ll take my questions to them in future if I can’t find an answer already posted here.

As for the slider idea, the system is still young, I’m sure we will see different iterations of it as time goes on. As it is right now, I think it’s a pretty solid system that doesn’t need a great deal of improvement.