Gift Card & Loyalty Migration
Gift Card Updates
Gift cards purchased prior to July 10, 2023 won't be usable on the
checkout, but you can still use it! To do so you'll need to transform
your gift card into a "The London Tea Merchant" gift card.
Please email us at support@teamerchant.xyz with the following information:
- The last 4 digits of your gift card.
- Whether it's a plastic or digital gift card.
- The email address where we should send the new gift card.
We'll email you a new gift card within 1 business day. Your old gift card will be deactivated. Please bear in mind that this means you will not be able to use your gift card in-store at The London Tea Room.
Gift Card FAQs
Why are you making these changes?
We're spinning off our online and wholesale business, and as part of this change we're using different payment platform that has no access to the gift card issue used by The London Tea Room.
The London Tea Room and The London Tea Merchant have very different business models: one is a restaurant and event space with a retail shop, while the other manufactures tea and sells online to both consumers and businesses. They're both technically the same legal entity, but it's likely that the Tea Merchant will become a different entity in the future. Splitting our payment systems is a first step in this process.
Why can't gift cards work both in-store and online?
We tried to find a way that could allow both systems to talk to the
same gift card issuer, and while it was possible we determined that the
cost of development was about three times our annual gift card revenue.
How will gift cards work?
A: All existing gift cards will continue to work with The London Tea Room to make purchases in-person, including afternoon tea and loose leaf tea. You can still purchase eGift cards and physical gift cards for use
in-store by visiting the tea room's website at www.thelondontearoom.com.
My gift card already says "The London Tea Merchant." Will it work online?
We had multiple gift card designs for several years, one of which said
The London Tea Merchant. If it was purchased before July 1, 2023 then it will not work.
I'm trying to make a purchase during one of your sales and just learned about the gift card change. I don't want to miss the sale, but I want to pay with my gift card. Can you extend the sale?
Yes, we're happy to extend the sale to you! Along with a new gift card
number, we'll also give you a coupon code that extends the sale price.
Can I exchange my physical gift card for another plastic card?
No, unfortunately our new gift card service does not supply physical
gift cards. We're hoping that this changes in the future, but for now
all exchanges will be rendered in an eGift card.
Loyalty Updates
Our website has a new loyalty program, but due to system limitations we weren't able to import all of our loyalty accounts (see the FAQ for the technical explanation). We imported the accounts that we could, and if we couldn't import you then we're committed to ensuring that everyone gets the points that they earned.
You can check to see if yours was imported by joining our rewards program, which will automatically be populated with any imported stars. There's no need to make a purchase, just click the button in the bottom left corner of your screen to sign up and get your points.
If your account couldn't be imported then we're offering two ways to ensure that you're made whole:
1. We're giving out 1000 stars to everyone who signs up for our new loyalty program before August 30th. Since about 75% of our loyalty accounts had balances of 20 stars or less (equal to 1000 stars in the new program), this means that the majority of folks will start out having at least as many stars as they did under our old program.
2. If you had more than 20 stars in our old program and your stars weren't imported when you created an account, then please contact us at support@teamerchant.xyz and we'll manually transfer your points over. We just need the phone number associated with your old loyalty account and the email you use with our new system.
Loyalty FAQs
What's changing with the in-store loyalty program?
The only thing changing is that stars you earn in-store will not be usable online. Otherwise, our loyalty program will remain the same.
How does the new online rewards program work?
For now it will work similarly to the in-store loyalty program. The differences are in terminology (points instead of stars) and value levels (100 points is equivalent to 1 star). Every dollar you spend gets you 5 points.
There is one big change that's been highly requested: your points are now convertible into dollar discounts. For example, you can use 100 points to get $1 off an order.* It might be a better deal to save up your points for a coupon or free item, but if you don't want to wait then you can always convert your points to dollars.
*This is subject to change. At the time of writing we were planning 100 points = $1, but that may have changed since publication.
What do I need to do to get my existing points online?
If you had 20 stars or less then there's nothing you need to do, as our sign up bonus of 1000 stars is equivalent to 20 stars under our old program.
If you had more than 20 stars then please join our rewards program. After signing up you may see that you already have stars assigned to your account.
If you don't have stars, or if you don't have as many stars as you should have, then please contact us at support@teamerchant.xyz. Let us know the phone number associated with your old loyalty account and the email associated with your new loyalty account.
How can I check my loyalty status online?
Click the "Rewards" button in the bottom left corner of the screen and
then click "Sign In" to check your current loyalty status.
Is there a difference in star value between the old and new programs?
Yes, one star in our old program is equal to 50 stars in our new program. For example, 20 old stars = 1000 new stars.
What's the technical explanation for this?
Our old loyalty program has two data points associated with each entry: phone number and stars. Our new loyalty program also has two data points: email and stars.
Since email ≠ phone number, we couldn't directly transfer data between systems.
We pulled customer profiles from our directory, found all profiles with a phone number that matched one in the loyalty data, then narrowed that down to entries that also had an email address. That number was surprisingly low at about 20% of our loyalty participants.