Can I have my Nectar points back?

By MARGARET STONE FOR MAILONLINE
Updated: 08:06 EST, 20 July 2011

After shopping in Sainsbury’s, I asked for my Nectar points to be set against my bill. I was then told my Nectar card had a block on it.

I called the helpline, only to be told by the operator my first name and date of birth were incorrect.

I think I know what might have happened. My late husband had two Nectar cards, ours and one with his late wife — and I suspect I may have been using that. 

I tried to explain this to the operator, but he put the phone down in the middle of the conversation.

I have signed up to my electricity company EDF’s Read and Reward scheme, which earns me Nectar points on my quarterly bill.

I wrote to Nectar about the whole situation asking specifically about these points, but all they told me to do was to get a new Nectar card.

A.R., Bridgwater, Somerset.

Margaret Stone ,of MoneyMail, replies: You were quite right in your assumption that this problem occurred because you were using the previous Mrs R’s card by mistake.

In fact, a block was put on the card as early as March 2009 when Nectar — which has an obligation to keep its records as up-to-date as possible — discovered the actual holder was dead.

Points could still be added to the card, but it is not possible to redeem the points until the collector contacts the Nectar helpline.

Unfortunately, when you contacted Nectar you gave the wrong answers — your own date of birth and first name, instead of those of your late husband’s first wife.

Nectar has now apologised for the negative way in which your attempts to explain the situation were handled at its call centre, and so it should.

It has issued you with a new Nectar card, and the 822 points that had accrued on the old card have been transferred to the new one.

In view of the problems you experienced, I suggested to Nectar that it should round up the points to 1,500 and it agreed.