.

[Tiger926]

.

 

[striker3636]

I don't have a membership there, however as a new teacher I will look into it. I do shop there now. For me, the reward program itself is what will tempt me to buy in, not the deals or coupons on products I may not be interested in anyways. I do shop for books at other places and like most people like to make sure I get a good price. At Chapters I spend approx $250 in books a year and I also buy several gift cards too. My kids are young, so I tend to get most of their books through the school from Scholastic. If I am going to spend the same about of money, I would rather have some proceeds go to the school than entirely to the business profits of a large retail store. I haven't bought a membership as I feel I haven't shopped there enough to make it worthwhile. However, my buying patterns are now going to change A LOT, so we'll see.

 

[maddiel]

1) If your card is coming up for renewal soon, are you going to renew?

We stopped buying the card 2 or 3 years ago because of the rising fee/reducion in benefits

2) Will silly coupons entice you to renew or purchase new?

No. If they went back to the old deal with $5 in coupons per $100 purchase, maybe.

3) Do you feel valued as a Chapters/Indigo customer?

No.

4) How much do you spend annually on books at Chapters/Indigo?

Now, less than $100. We used to spend $300-500. Neither of us are teachers, but my husband used to buy technical manuals for work.

5) Do you purchase books anywhere else?

Scholastic, Costco, bookcloseouts.com (love it!), amazon.com, amazon.ca, independant bookstores, yard sales.

6) What would Chapters/Indigo have to do to entice you to return as a customer if purchase elsewhere, or, to renew your card again if not going to?

They would have to have a lower breakeven point on th card purchase.

7) Do you feel that there is value in a $20.00/year (will continue to go up, I'm sure) membership card?

Not with the current rewards plan.




Hope this helps,

M.

 

[Yzma and Kronk]

I haven't even thought about it until I read your post. I just got my renewal notice and the one thing that struck me was I have a short time limit on the renewal coupon - this was before I read your post. If I'm a loyal customer, I should be able to use it when I get to the store next time - which for me isn't that frequently. I also thought the $25 renewal fee and "we'll send you $20 in bonus coupons" WHAT??? How about $100 or $200 because we all know that consumers actually don't tend to use coupons like these for a variety of reasons.

Your post got me thinking, so here are my answers:

1) If your card is coming up for renewal soon, are you going to renew?

It is, and I don't think so because they told me I saved $38.85 this year and with the $25. renewal fee thats a savings of $13.85. If I purchase one book at a discount somewhere else there goes my savings.

2) Will silly coupons entice you to renew or purchase new?

No. I got a $5. off coupon for renewal so actually for me it's $20.
They are giving me a laughable $20 in bonus coupons. If this coupon is $20 off a purchase - maybe I'd renew because then my membership would be 0 but I don't think it is. It is called a "exclusive" coupon booklet, which could be anything. Probably stuff I don't want.

3) Do you feel valued as a Chapters/Indigo customer?

Not really. I get frequent emails, but hardly read them

4) How much do you spend annually on books at Chapters/Indigo?

About $500 - I'm not a teacher, just a bookstore junkie.

5) Do you purchase books anywhere else?

Sam's and Costco. In the US when I'm there - sometimes much cheaper.

6) What would Chapters/Indigo have to do to entice you to return as a customer if purchase elsewhere, or, to renew your card again if not going to?

$5-10. membership. More coupons, better deals for frequent customers. Maybe a points reward program - so many points for $ value to use towards free stuff - EXCEPT I don't want another points card!! So not sure really.

7) Do you feel that there is value in a $20.00/year (will continue to go up, I'm sure) membership card?

No - too much money!

 

[Tiger926]

Thanks for your answers. Just a few points of clarifications:

1) For those of you wondering about the coupons (I mentioned a few of them above): there are only 2 book coupons, Dora/Spongebob DVD, National Post, some type of chocolate, Roots, movie and a few others. Most people aren't going to use these coupons at all, coupled with the short expiration date, so they really are of no value at all.

2) The $20/25 membership fee is high - I'm glad to see others think so.

3) Yzma and Kronk - If Chapters told you that you saved $38.00 either they made an error (they did this to me 2 years in a row, so now I add up all of my receipts), or 2) You spent way more on books then you thought as you would have purchased at least $400-$600.00 worth (depends upon whether online or instore) of books over the year. If that's the case, then the card may be worth it for you. Also, how did you get a $5.00 off coupon for renewal?

4) Gift cards, gifts, DVDs and CDs do not qualify for iRewards discount.

I am going to email back to the Marketing Director as they really have missed the boat. They told me that they surveyed people and customers told them that they wanted more coupons (yeah, because they didn't feel they were getting their money's worth!), so they raised the price to cover the coupons. Not very good business sense, but definitely not for teachers since we have a million places in which to buy books from, so in my opinion, they need to make things even more attractive to teachers especially, but $25.00 for anyone else is just too high!

Thanks for taking the time to respond - very interesting answers! Tiger

 

[Yzma and Kronk]

3) Yzma and Kronk - If Chapters told you that you saved $38.00 either they made an error (they did this to me 2 years in a row, so now I add up all of my receipts), or 2) You spent way more on books then you thought as you would have purchased at least $400-$600.00 worth (depends upon whether online or instore) of books over the year. If that's the case, then the card may be worth it for you. Also, how did you get a $5.00 off coupon for renewal?

It came with my renewal notice. I just rec'd it the other day.

It's a tear off from the body of the letter with my name, coupon #, card# and valid date.

I'm not sure what they calculated the savings on - it is at the top of my letter in bold. I know that I have purchased at least $400. in books this year, maybe more. Unfortunately, I don't keep track of what I buy there - maybe I should!

Thanks for your post - and let us know what they say.

 

[jaz4]

hope this helps

1) If your card is coming up for renewal soon, are you going to renew?
no - haven't renewed in 3 years due to the price increase - and i am a teacher too.

2) Will silly coupons entice you to renew or purchase new?
nope

3) Do you feel valued as a Chapters/Indigo customer?
nope

4) How much do you spend annually on books at Chapters/Indigo?
about $200.00

5) Do you purchase books anywhere else?
definately - costco, scholastic

6) What would Chapters/Indigo have to do to entice you to return as a customer if purchase elsewhere, or, to renew your card again if not going to?
lower price of card

7) Do you feel that there is value in a $20.00/year (will continue to go up, I'm sure) membership card?
nope

good luck with your survey

 

[Tiger926]

Hey, thanks! I am sending a letter this weekend, probably won't help, but if I can do my part to get them to lower the teacher card sometime in the future, then it will definitely be worth it!

Thanks, Tiger

 

[Mickey&JoshNut]

I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one to think this way. I am not a teacher but I LOVE books. When I renewed last October I was given 6 "lame" coupons that expired on March 31 - but my Chapters card was good until October...when I questioned this I was told that the coupons are the same regardless of when you renew....

Before the coupons expired I tried to use one to buy a whole bunch of scrapbook magazines (avg cost $9 - $11 each)...I handed the cashier the coupon for $5 off a purchase of $35. She explained I couldn't use the coupon because I wasn't buying "books", even though some of the magazines cost MORE than a book!

I find that amazon is just as cheap and you don't need to purchase a reward card to get the discounted price.

1) If your card is coming up for renewal soon, are you going to renew?
In October I will not be renewing

2) Will silly coupons entice you to renew or purchase new?
No...I liked the old $5 rewards...

3) Do you feel valued as a Chapters/Indigo customer?
Nope - does anyone remember the days when if a book wasn't in stock but was available online they mailed it to your home for free if you were a Chapters Reward holder?????

4) How much do you spend annually on books at Chapters/Indigo?
Used to spend $500+ but since October I've spend less than $100

5) Do you purchase books anywhere else?
Yup...amazon and Costco

6) What would Chapters/Indigo have to do to entice you to return as a customer if purchase elsewhere, or, to renew your card again if not going to?
Better rewards

7) Do you feel that there is value in a $20.00/year (will continue to go up, I'm sure) membership card?
Not now with the "lame" coupons...I used to make money when you used to receive the $5 rewards and the bonus rewards

 

[PhotobearSam]

Since they took out the couches and raised the price of the discount card, I stopped going all together. I only buy my books from Costco and Amazon.ca now and I will only be back to get a caramel Apple cider from the Starbucks but won't go into the store.

They have gone way down hill. It used to be fun to go there and I would buy more books because of the level of fun but now it feels like a cash grab and it turned me off...I won't go back.

 

[DutchsMommy]

For what it's worth I agree with the other's responses. I havn;t renewed in a year becuase of the cost and lack of benefit - and the fact that they don't include magazines, CDs, DVDs etc. I find their prices high as well.

 

[princess pooh]

It kills me that the renewal price keeps increasing and they don't give the $5 or $10 coupons with their newsletter anymore. I'm still a member though because I save money with it. I usually buy my books at Costco but DH needs books for work that we can't find there. We saved around $30 last year with the rewards card.

I do miss the olden days

 

[Wazzo]

Hello!

I paid for my card with a gift certificate I got from my Airmiles, but otherwise, I wouldn't have paid for one. I used to work at Chapters in '98-00, and I couldn't believe how high the price got too!

My main source of anger with Chapters is the difference in price at the store and online. I think they should be the same! Also, if BestBuy and Futureshop.ca can offer free shipping, why can't Chapters?