Card Factory

Advantages: Great products at low prices
Disadvantages: Long queues and some products a little tacky

...Card buying can be an expensive thing, especially at this time of year and as much as I love the quality of the cards in stores such as Clintons, with my large family I just cannot afford to buy all my family cards from stores such as these at Christmas. So I was pretty impressed with Card Factory opened up a store in my local town recently. For me this store offers good quality products, but at really cost effective prices. Obviously their main market is the card market. They offer cards for all occasions including birthdays, anniversaries, moving, sorry, thank you and general cards too. Their cards are priced at 59p for a small card, 89p for a medium card and 99p for a large card, which for me is excellent value for money. They do extra large cards which do cost a bit more and they also do a couple of cards in each range for just...

bexx0907 14.12.2009 · Read review
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Review of Card Factory

Nectar Card

Advantages: Lots of retailers to collect with
Disadvantages: Online points may not equal amount of cashback available elsewhere

...The nectar card is the loyalty card associated with Sainsbury's, however it has since branched out and is affiliated with many companies which allows for maximum point collecting! Let's start with the basics, you get 2 points per pound spent at Sainsburys or 1 point per litre of petrol bought at the Sainsbury's petrol garage. Each point accumulated is worth half a penny, so you need 2 points to equal 1 pence. If you redeem your points in store at Sainbury's then you will need minimum 500 points for £2.50 off o your shopping. Points need to be redeemed in increments of 500. Points can also be collected in other stores, for example Dolland and Aitchinson also give 2 points per pound, as do Homebase. As far as I am aware however, you cannot redeem your points against your total bills in these stores. Points can also be collected...

rachieb123 06.10.2009 · Read review
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Review of Nectar Card

Oyster Card

Advantages: Convenient
Disadvantages: You could lose it!

...We Londoners are insistent people. We want cheap travel to anywhere in one of the biggest cities in the world. We want it regularly, without delays and seven days a week?if possible. Not too much to ask then?oh and we want a convenient travel card rather than paying with cash for each individual journey. Of course. Ladies and gentlemen, say hello to the Oyster card then. For those who don?t live in London or perhaps have never even stepped foot in the capital, the following paragraphs may read like absolute gobbledegook, but trust me, I think I know what I?m talking about and I think it makes sense. The Oyster card is basically a form of electronic ticketing used on public transport ? buses, some National Rail trains, trams, underground and the Docklands Light Railway system within Greater London. The blue card, which costs just a £3...

carl.mcqueen 26.07.2009 · Read review
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Review of Oyster Travel Card

Make a Bee Line for the Nectar Card !!

Advantages: A good way to save for the extras at no extra cost
Disadvantages: None at all.

...THE PURPLE CARD IN MY PURSE THE NECTARCARD I have owned a Nectar card for many years now - in fact my card is the old design and I keep forgetting to upgrade it!! "WHAT IS A NECTAR CARD ??" The Nectar card is a Loyalty or Reward card. It is NOT a credit or debit card and is free to join. Nectar is owned by Groupe Aeroplan Inc., and it is estimated that more than 50 per cent of UK households collect Nectar points when shopping for groceries, booking a holiday, paying household bills, buying petrol and even eating and earn Nectar points every time they shop online via Nectar eStores at over 220 leading online retailers. The scheme was started in September 2002. It is not actually a Sainsbury's Loyalty Card as the Tesco Clubcard is for Tesco, although Sainsburys and BP are the key members in the scheme...

oldchem 03.06.2009 · Read review
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Review of Nectar Card

Working for the well known card shop

Advantages: nice staff, not complicated work
Disadvantages: not the best paid job!

...I used to work at Clinton cards years ago when I was younger - in fact it was my first job! The shop may have changed slightly since then on how it's run but judging by the other reviews, it hasn't changed much! I was employed by Clinton cards for just under 3 years and during this time I did do quite a bit of training. I'll start from the beginning and cover as much as I can! Applying and the interview: I saw the ad placed in the window that they needed staff for the busy Christmas period on a temporary basis - this was just what I was looking for as at the time I was just going into college and needed a weekend job. I asked in the store for an application and the girl behind the counter was really nice and advised me that once I completed the form they would probably be in touch within a day or two. I actually completed...

frankiecesca 02.10.2007 (29.12.2008) · Read review
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Review of Clinton Cards

Quality cards at bargain prices

Advantages: Excellent value for money, great promotions
Disadvantages: Shops always busy, some relatives hard to find

...I'm slightly unaccustomed to writing reviews on shops in general, but I was thinking of something to write and this popped into my mind. I first discovered Card Factory a few years ago, after walking past it umpteen times and dismissing it as yet another card/birthday shop on the high street. One particular day I was struggling to find a good sentimental card for Mum's birthday that wasn't going to break the bank, so I thought I'd give it a try. Since that day, Card Factory has been my number one stop for all my greetings card needs. The shops are not terribly big, and usually crowded so getting around with a buggy is always difficult. Good thing I've got my Hippychick Hipseat! (See earlier review.) However it is worth the struggle as their prices are prettymuch unbeatable. As the name suggests, Card Factory mostly sells cards...

CG1anon 02.09.2009 · Read review
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Review of Card Factory

Vanquis Bank and Credit Card

Advantages: Gives credit to those who wouldn't otherwise get it.
Disadvantages: Very high interest, terrible customer service.

...A couple of months ago we made the mistake of getting a credit card "for emergencies", it was meant to be...but as always happens, it was used when it wasn't necessary (mainly by my husband!!!!). Vanquis Bank are a company who offers credit to people with a bad credit history (i.e. CCJs, missed payments etc and just no credit history). Anybody who has ever tried to get credit for the first time will know its sometimes very difficult, if you have never had any kind of credit given to you, companies won't take you on, as they don't know if your a risk or not...and so Vanquis offer a "credit score boosting card"...basically they give a credit card with £300 limit on it to people who have never before had a credit card and probably don't know how to use them correctly. (Before you start...I'm not calling everyone with no credit history...

stephbond89 14.06.2009 · Read review
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Review of Vanquis Credit Card

The Oyster Card vs Freedom card

Advantages: Read Opp
Disadvantages: Read Opp

...This was ex Mayor Ken Livingstones idea or in part at having a ticketless travel system which saw Oyster Cards introduced a few years ago. Now Sad Ken is no longer around Boris Johnson still has these in place. The main idea behind the Oyster cards I feel was to reduce queue waiting times as well as for Big Brother institutions to know where people travel to and from. The prices for travel to central London is much higher than zones 5 and 6 in Middlesex. The Oyster Card system operates throughout London and some parts outside London. I also feel that Transport for london introduced this system to curb and reduce fair dodgers which I claim to be one, by using a freedom pass which is effectively now free travel for myself along with the other hundreds or perhaps thousands of Londoners who have the freedom card. The places where...

costas1234 16.12.2009 · Read review
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Review of Oyster Travel Card

Card making!

Advantages: fun, more personal than shop bought cards
Disadvantages: equipment can be expensive, time consuming

...Since I got Freeview I love watching the shopping channels (I don't know how sad that makes me!), and that's what first made me decide to get into card making. I was watching Ideal World one day when they had a craft hour on, and they were making the most beautiful cards. The only thing that put me off starting straight away was the price of some of the equipment needed - handmade papers, embossing kits etc. can be fairly expensive. It was a good six months later before I actually got around to making my first cards. I bought a card making kit from Ebay for about £4.50 including the postage, which included cards, envelopes, handmade paper, stickers and die-cuts among other things. Realising I didn't have any glue (doh!), the next day I headed to town to get some, and I don't know if it was because I had crafting on the brain, but I...

pink_champagne 05.02.2006 · Read review
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Review of Member Advice on Card Making

Boots Advantage Card

Advantages: It's worth it, easy to collect points, four points per £1 spent.
Disadvantages: There should be more choice in products you can get with your points.

...Me and my mum shop at Boots, mainly to get my deodorant, her shampoo or my dad's toothpaste. (Well, we all use toothpaste!) When I was about three, my mum stumbled across the Boots Advantage Card, the reward card system for Boots. Now we visit more so I decided it was time to write a review for the Boots Advantage Card. HOW EASY IS IT TO GET POINTS? You get four points for every pound that you spend, and each point is worth 1p. It doesn't sound like much, but it pays off if you shop there quite a bit. RANGE OF BENEFITS We have got with our reward points...a chocolate bar on one purchase and some toothpaste, shampoo and a facial care product on another purchase. Sadly, you can only redeem your points on Boots products. Nothing like toys, holidays or attraction tickets like the Nectar Reward Scheme. IS IT WORTH IT? Me and my mum say...

AlexanderBanks 14.06.2009 · Read review
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Review of Boots Advantage Card