UPDATE 18. July 2024 The Pret subscription saga continues with Pret now scrapping the “free” drinks and trying to convince customers that it’s a good deal. The reader can find the news easily all over the Internet and the outcry on social media.
Also, as predicted, customers now try to cancel but are unable due to bogus error messages, blank screens etc. Please see at the very bottom of this page only 2 exampled from the last few days and contact TRADING STANDARDS!!! Pret do everything to hinder you from cancelling! And check the YouTube slide underneath, Pret have been hindering customers from canceling since 2020.
Oh well, Pret A ANGER yet again! 😀
The Guardian: “Pret customers left fuming over end of free drinks”
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Also see my post on why I believe that scrapping the 5 drinks and changing the subscription might actually save Pret:
Is Sinclair Beecham Saving Pret?
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UPDATE 16.08.2024
Pret YET AGAIN are swindling customers by saying they NEED to download the app in order to pay the take-away price when taking away. Customers are now charged the EAT-IN price, even when taking out unless they download the app. I am VERY sure this is illegal. Typical Pret. Review on Trustpilot:
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Contact trading standards!
What journalists fail to research and mention is that Pret are £700 million in debt while aggressively expanding, as tasked by their owners. I won’t update anything now as customers have more and more realized how bad Pret really are.
The below is relevant in the history of Pret’s subscription. For those who cancel the sub, make sure you also cancel the paymet type (direct debit etc.), I explain below.
IMPORTANT UPDATE at the bottom of this page regarding data breaches by Pret. (March 2024).
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UPDATE 12. April 2024
Pret are offering refunds to “genuine” customers after the app update backlash.
I posted some caution on Facebook:
And, it’s funny how journalists feel “vindicated” to have known all along how Pret’s subscription is a rip off, ignoring that I’ve been writing this since Pret started the sub in September 2020 😉
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The article starts:
»Oh, how delicious it is to be proven right.
A little under a year ago, I cancelled my Pret subscription after I was struck with the lightning bolt realisation that the chain was using my own caffeine addiction to rip me off. I haven’t had a coffee from Pret ever since.«
Link via Yahoo.
How delicious it is to be proven right? Tell me that since May 2018 😉
My “Pret’s Continued Coffee Subscription Rip-Off” post from January 2021 is still one of THE MOST read articles on my blog, read especially by journalists. It emboldened journalists to more freely criticise Pret now compared to years ago when most were kissing up to Pret non-stop (except Timothy Noah).
And as usual, journalists MAINLY write a critical article about Pret when THEY themselves are affected as customers. Hardly independent journalism there. No care whatsoever what current and former staff say. Who cares about low-wage workers who are VITAL in customer servoce and the food and drnk these journalists put in their stomachs which these burnt-out, often depressed, some alcoholic workers TOUCH.
But even Pret RE-founder and itsu founder Julian Metcalfe is throwing Pret CEO Pano Christou under the bus in a Telegraph interview! 😀
Metcalfe said that Pret’s »customers have been “let down” by the fiasco over its loyalty programme, amid claims of “chaotic” management at the sandwich chain.«
And yet, I also see complaints on Twitter/X by itsu customers saying they can’t access the itsu app as well as expired/foul foods incl. fish etc. 😀
And from knowing Pano Christou from his Pret UK Managing Director days, I keep saying that Christou has his head in the sand, was never an innovative or pro-active leader and only wants to build a legacy to have aggressively expanded Pret under instructions from owners in Germany via tax haven Luxembourg.
Original post from before the updates:
Several customers, including a The Times journalist, have ask how Pret can make a profit from their “generous” subscription offer after Pret first introduced the sub in September 2020.
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And another recent question on reddit:
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I explain in detail below.
UPDATE 27.04.2023: Reddit censors very heavily for no reason, unless prompted by Pret via Facebook/Instagram because my website url is completely blacklisted on FB/IG.
This picture here says “deleted”, but that’s not true, it’s been hidden from public view by reddit in secret.
Reddit also hides the feed on my reddit profile. Please see THIS LINK which here below is portrayed as “deleted”.:
Link that leads to my comment which reddit has HIDDEN around mid April 2023. It’s still there, because I can see it when logged in, but not when logged out. I made a screenshot of the upper part of my comment, with the date on my computer bottom right.
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I linked to my comment on anothr sub-reddit and was then informed that I deleted it, which of course isn’t the case as reddit just hid it from public view. The comment by the person who told me, my response to the person is also hidden 😀
Welcome to reddit’s toxic censorship. Reddit are THE worst in regards to censorship on social media platforms.
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Here’s my full text that reddit has hidden from public view, and I updated some issues now in 2024.
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Pret’s coffee subscription “Club Pret” is now Pret’s MAIN product to the detriment of drink, food and service quality.
How Pret A Manger make a profit via their MAIN product, the coffee subscription to the detriment of food and service quality. It’s a rabbit hole, but I explain.
– Pret FIRST advertised in Sep. 2020 the subscription as “endless”, “unlimited” barista made drinks, that included the expensive iced drinks, chai latte etc. while their T&Cs say 5 drinks per day in 30 minute intervals.
– After a year long of tweeting, complaining, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) got involved and Pret had to remove this false advertising and only announce it as 5 drinks per day, not endless.
– Then Pret announced early 2021 to be discontinuing the expensive iced drinks on the sub from April 2021 on. Many customers announced to boycott Pret and cancel their subscription. Pret then pretended to be humble, listening to customers and announced that the iced drinks will remain on the sub. But this turned out to just be on paper.
– Customer complaints started flooding in that they can hardly find a shop that makes the expensive frappes, smoothies etc. Common excuses were broken ice machines, broken blenders, out of stock etc. etc.
– The most nasty thing Pret does (and it continues to this day in some occasions) they make it hard for people to unsubscribe/cancel from the sub. And when people do manage to unsubscribe, Pret continues to withdraw money from accounts, even months after cancellation.
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Money Saving Expert already reported back in 2020 that Pret kept withdrawing money from bank accounts, at times even MONTHS after customers cancelled the subscription. The following Tweets I’ve put on YouTube are just some of many, many more complaints:
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At the bottom of this page I put another YouTube slide with further issues with the subscription that I explain here.
– Pret claim to be having technical difficulties etc. And yet, how can a company the size of Pret have THAT many technical issues for THAT long!?
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UPDATE March 2024:
I don’t update pages anymore, but want to put a recent screenshot from Facebook where even after over 3 years of the subscription, Pret STILL make it hard to unsubscribe and social media is filled again with complaints on changes with the app.
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There is MORE on this 13. March 2024 issue in further updates at the bottom.
In a nutshell, Pret make profit by the following:
(Please note, the list is NOT exhaustive, these are just the most common issues since years and ongoing, while some things have stopped).
– Luring customers in via a falsely advertised subscription (also see BBC report below).
– Refusing to make the expensive drinks under various excuses.
– Technical difficulties hindering customers to scan their QR codes (and now can’t use the app or the app just shuts down), and then after giving Pret the benefit of the doubt, they pay AGAIN in-store for a coffee thinking only their QR code / app has an issue, while reality many customers wait for their QR code for days and/or their codes then don’t work and as they’re already in the shop, they PAY again for a coffee.
– Pret also claim to have “supplier issues” since a year on chai latte. Chai latte is more expensive for Pret to give on the sub and it takes longer to make for the understaffed workers. So, they just say, we don’t chai due to supplier issues. Yet, Starbucks, Nero, Costa etc. have no supplier issues on chai.
– Under-staff shops forcing staff to work harder for less money, less staff, and have customers wait longer, and then turn around leaving the shop without a “free” coffee.
– Also, quality of products went down. Watered down products, cheaper coffee suppliers, decreased package/portion sizes for the same or even higher price etc. Pret also stopped complimentary items like the butter portions for soup bread, or discontinued the seeds for porridge, or downsized the 35g honey pots to 15g honey squeezable etc. etc.
– The Attachment rate: Someone mentioned already that people often buy other things while coming for a “free” coffee. Especially forcing customers to wait longer in the queue due to understaffed shops, they linger around in the queue looking at other items, tempted to buy what they never came for in the first place. Win-win for Pret. I posted a snippet of a leaked video I was sent by staff from a zoom call of Pret executives which I passed on to the BBC who reported on this. In the video UK Managing Director (who’s currently on maternity leave) explained the “attachment rate” when Pret first had the “£20 for 20 coffees” deal.
Scroll down about half way to the Leaked Video.
In a nutshell, it’s basically ripping people off in many many little ways, and it all adds up. Some thieves who steal credit card details, don’t rob your whole bank account in one go, no, they purchase items in small amount of money over a period of a long time until people notice it.
People don’t notice the odd £5 disappearing from their account, especially if they have a good income and use mainly card to pay. That’s how Pret does it. Take a little here, and a little there, but spread it out over MANY customers and for a LONG time … KATCHINK!
That’s where the profit comes in. They would only stop when called out publicly by MANY people and especially the press, the ASA, lawsuits and heavy fines. Other than that, the rip-off continues.
I’ve put a YouTube slide together with some of the MANY customer complaints on this: Pret A Manger Shady Practices.
I worked with journalist Mike Powell for the BBC who reported on this after I was contacted by him as I expose Pret on their shady practices:
“Pret A Manger customers complain over drinks subscription deal”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-59634846
When journalist Mike Powell and I worked on a follow-up story as complaints continued, Pret knew he would write a second piece as journalists always contact the company for a comment just before they put out the press report. Pret then quickly announced that they plan to change the smoothie menu to a watered-down iced-drinks menu to avoid further trouble.
Mike then had to re-write part of his report adding the sudden announcement by Pret:
Pret A Manger to scrap smoothies, frappes and milkshakes.
And again, many customers complain that the “new” iced-drinks are like a Ribena version of cheap sugary drinks. Many customers complain about the subscription, low quality service and coffee etc. so much so that 74% on Trustpilot (63% one-star and 11% two-star reviews combined – as of March 2024) disapprove of Pret, many having vowed to never set foot inside Pret again. Several journalists across different outlets also have started to write negative reports about the subscription.
And it doesn’t matter how many “perks” Pret promise to lure people into signing up for the subscription, any perks (bag of crisps, can of coke, or now even a HOT COFFEE which is already part of the subscription worth 40p for Pret!) are just temporary for a few weeks and many shops again don’t honour the deals under “technical issues”.
74% of unhappy customers on Trustpilot
(1 and 2 star reviews combined still as of June 2024).
Support small independent businesses. Take your lunch and flask from home. GOOD coffee is a treat for me, not a watered-down, bitter ash-tasting mess many customers keep complaining about.
Another YouTube slide with some of the MANY customer complaints on this:
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And the BBC recently reported on this after I was contacted by the journalist who covered it as I expose Pret on their shady practices:
“Pret A Manger customers complain over drinks subscription deal “
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-59634846 “
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UPDATE June 2022
A customer cancelled her subscription in August 2021 and realized now that Pret continued to charge her, altogether £210. From all the complaints I’ve seen on social media, there have been several who were charged 3, 6+ months after cancellation, but this is the longest, almost 9 months. And not all customers complain publicly, only Pret know how many complain via email/DM or try to get through via phone where Pret customer service rarely picks up.
If people have enough or a lot of money in their bank account, it will take a long time to notice that the odd £20 goes missing every month, except if they check their accounts regularly like I do, as I have been overcharged on several occasions. Clever thieves who steal credit card details often don’t wipe the bank account out of all its funds, but they withdraw or make purchases of small amounts over a long period of time until the account holder realizes.
Same with Pret. Take a little here and there from MANY customers over a long period of time, that’s how they make profit. Pret should seriously get investigated by financial standard and trading standard bodies.
UPDATE 17.03.2024
Pret being Pret and very naughty again, they break their own T&Cs.
… and no journalist has spotted it! Hell will freeze over before anyone contacts trading standards.
On 13.03.2024 Pret emailed all subscription customers that Pret are changing the app, giving customers only 5 days notice while in their T&Cs it’s 40 days. Please see underneath the Telegraph article:
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UPDATE 14.03.2024 on Pret’s data breaches.
I know like the back of my hand how dodgy Pret are on a lot of issues and will simply not respect data and other issues unless heavily fined or exposed.
Further in the Facebook conversation, the person explains how they can’t get their BANK details deleted. And THAT is VERY typical Pret and a complaint I saw throughout the years.
The biggest audacity and fishing for more data is that customers who try to delete their bank details, HAVE TO update wit NEW card details before being able to delete, DESPITE having cancelled the subscription.
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On Trustpilot former customers warn people about Pret’s data breaches:
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74% of customers on Trustpilot (1 & 2 star reviews combined) are fed up with Pret.
In the USA customers and staff sue quicker because the legal system is different than in the UK. But people can make a GDPR request to get their data deleted within 30 days or contact ICO. But it seems Pret keep getting away with not complying.
“Pret A Manger Fingerprinting Class Action Suit Reaches Settlement”
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£800,000 fine after ignoring further safety issues when a staff got trapped inside a walk-in freezer for 2.5 hours.
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July 2024 after Pret announced drastic changes to the subscription, customers YET AGAIN are hindered from canceling the subscription. Only 2 examples of many. Also, see the YouTube slide with complaints from 2020 / 2021 of the same issues and Money Saving Expert reporting on it:
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Also, see some of the recent bad press for Pret, in particular on the price hikes, lowered quality and the subscription. One journalist is even giving tips on how to get the best out of a “bad” Pret subscription.
Not to mention the ongoing complaints on Pret’s bad coffee:
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I worked at Pret A Manger and survived systemic workplace bullying during bereavement that involved HR, the top leadership, HQ and even the now “retired” former CEO Clive Schlee. I declined 4 settlement offers if I am silent about my ordeal. But I rather speak out to help others. For an overview of important blog entries of my experience with Pret, please visit “My Ordeal with Pret A Manger”. The little arrow to the right next to each heading will lead directly to the post.
An incomplete list on what other Pret staff say about Pret’s bullying environment: Caught in the Act Bullying at Pret.
I tell my story for the first time verbally in below audio player interview on a podcast by The Adam Paradox, wrote two articles in the Scottish Left Review and was mentioned by the BBC.
Please also see my MEDIA page for the press articles I influenced.
NEW LinkTree
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Thank you for reading/listening.
©2017 – Present: expret.org
Interview:
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©2017 – Present: expret.org unless otherwise stated. All Rights reserved. Disclaimer.
Bullied during bereavement in Pret A Manger 
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