Pret was hit with over 5,000 complaints about its subscription plan that allows for five drinks per day. Customers complained they couldn’t get smoothes or frappes.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said it had told Pret to ‘consider reviewing’ its advertising campaign for the £20-a-month subscription.
Pret customers can get five different drinks every day by scanning the code during checkout.
Customers complained, however, that smoothies were sometimes difficult to find on these deals, and many shops claimed they couldn’t make them.
Others claim staff members have tried to pretend their machines were broken or run out of Ice so they won’t order cold frappes.
BBC reported that Pret had received approximately 5,000 customer complaints regarding the deal which was introduced a little over one year ago.
The broadcaster was also informed by ex-Pret employees that workers have felt overwhelmed due to increased work load.
Coffee, tea, iced coffees, smoothies and frappes are also included in Pret’s £20-a-month subscription service
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has now told Pret to ‘consider reviewing’ its advertising campaign for the £20-a-month subscription
Rachel from Watford said that she was now traveling to London and decided to treat herself with drinks she wouldn’t normally try.
“But I get told most times that cold drinks are not available.
Brendan from another customer stated that sometimes his mango-pineapple drink is not available by noon.
He said, “It’s been a long-standing joke among the staff now.” “I was able to laugh it off, but I am now angry at the staff and feel cheated.
According to the ASA, “Following a few complaints, we sent Pret an advice note suggesting they review their ads for their subscription service.
“We noticed that they should not advertise that this service is available at all stores or that it covers every product if that was the case.
“An advisory notice” is when we believe there may be problems with our advertising rules, but don’t consider these issues to be so important that they warrant an extensive formal investigation.
Officials will likely not take further action against the chain, as the notice of advice indicates. The officials looked into the allegations but concluded that they were not worthy of a thorough investigation.
The ASA stated that they would not contact an advertiser to get assurances of compliance. We will write the complainant and explain what we did.
“We encourage everyone with questions about ads that they’ve seen, to contact us.”