It needs fixing

The Managers

Coles of Northlakes

Links Road 

Marrara. NT 

0812

June 13 2026

Dear Managers

RE: FORFEITURE OF POINTS EARNED DURING YOUR PROMOTIONS

I am attaching a letter to confirm one of the key reasons I shop at Coles rather than Woolworths in Darwin. It was published in the NT. News on March 4 2026

The specials you offer customers through accumulated shopping credits are second to none. I don’t use much of what I purchase for myself. However, our son-in-law and daughter run the bakery and cafe in Nhulunbuy. There is no Coles supermarket in that town; Woolworths is the only available retail outlet.

Over time, I have spent many thousands of dollars at Coles and have appreciated being able to earn credits for glassware, cookware, and other products that they find useful and supportive in the business they run.

There is, however, one problem I need to highlight. As each promotion finishes and before you move on to the next one, people like me accumulate points that we cannot use because once the promotion ends, there is little carryover stock available to purchase against the credits remaining in one’s account. These credits become lost.

The recently finished cookware program enabled me to purchase two large frying pans, a small frying pan, and one of the other offerings for my family in Nhulunbuy. However, by the time the program finished in April, on May 12, I had 48 credit points that carried over. That’s $960 worth of shopping. There was nothing left in Coles shops in Darwin that I could buy, or at least offset, against the credit points I had.

I spoke with my Coles Shop at Northlakes and asked whether the 48 credits that I had could carry over to the next prep promotion. They told me I would need to talk with Flybys because of the conjoined arrangement in the administration of these programs between Coles and the Flybys organisation.

I contacted Flybys and was told that the program’s responsibility rested with Coles, not with Flybys. I was told that the 48 points of necessity would lapse and that it was a case of “so sad, too bad“. 

This forfeiture of credit points at the end of a promotion, I think, is most unfair, particularly as no sooner is one program complete than another one starts. In this case, your new glassware program just a fortnight after the cookware one finished.

In the interest of fairness and equity, I think it should be allowed for the Credit points accumulated in the way described to be applied to the new promotion as it comes in – particularly as colds and the promoting company are always the same.

I’m bringing this to your attention. I trust that you will be able to effect the change in the way the system works so that people like me are not disadvantaged.

Yours sincerely

Henry Gray