I decided to close my Nectar account, my decision based on the poor levels of return, the loss of the points when attempting to redeem the voucher and the disinterested customer service.

I pondered whether the returns justified the action of carrying the card, which takes up wallet space, and balanced against the value of redeeming the points I quickly realised that, in effect, the value to Sainbury's (who own both Nectar and Argos) is far greater than it is to me. When I looked at it in detail it appears that Nectar does not really give me, the consumer, very much at all - the returns are really very small. Unsurprisingly I was not delighted, but it made me think about what Nectar actually gives me and what Sainburys plc gain from it (analysing my shopping and giving me vouchers as an incentive to spend more money with them). I eventually found a customer service number and received what, at best, can only be described as an indifferent and uncaring response. Nectar are not particularly easy to contact, you can live chat but only to discuss topics within certain criteria.

Oh dear, this is where the scheme falls down. For whatever reason the voucher did not appear on Ebay and, hence, I was unable to redeem it.

Recently I thought I would explore using points against purchases on Ebay, and redeemed my voucher. I go to Sainsburys and use it to acquire points which I then redeem at that same store, like most of us. I have carried a Nectar card for around a decade.

Nectar customer service