Waterstones - paying full publishers prices for books when you can buy new titles at half the price at Asda or Sainsburys. Waterstones, did (or maybe still do) a loyalty card scheme whereby for every £10 you spend, you get a stamp made on a little card. I think you had to spend about £80 or maybe £100 with them, to receive a fully stamped card that gave you £10. The loyalty card is similar to the McDs coffee cup card.
What really infuriated me about Waterstones is, I purchased a book for £9.99 and the jobsworth behind the counter would not stamp the card because I hadn't spent £10 or more. I even made a kind gesture of putting my loose change in the charity box on the counter, but no, still not good enough! I ended up binning the card and never shopping at Waterstone's again.
I had a similar experience with the Hungry House chain when I dined at the Lea Gate in Preston a few years ago. I had a discount card that stated I got £10 for spending over £30 in the restaurant. This does not include drinks, which is fair enough. Unfortunately, Hungry Horse then change the goal posts by saying you cannot use the card against steak meals, you cannot use the card against meals from the 2 for 1 deal, you cannot use the card on bank holidays or the month of December, you cannot use the card on Tuesday's because it is Curry night, you cannot use the card for children's menu food, you cannot use the card if you support Preston North End (okay I made the last one up!!!). Another card that went in the bin.
CJ