Thousands headed to supermarkets early on Monday to get ahead with their big Christmas shop – only to reach the checkout and discover they could not use their store discount cards after saving their points up all year.
Morrisons has “sincerely apologised” to shoppers for the inconvenience.
One local man, who does not want to be named, went into the Morrisons in Blackwall Reach, Gorleston, to purchase a crate of Diet Coke for his wife.
He said his Morrisons More Card would usually knock the price down from £13 to £9 but when he went to pay, the card would not scan, meaning he had to pay full price.
“It wasn’t working for anyone,” he said.
“There were no signs or notices anywhere in the store to say they were having problems – I think it’s so naughty.
“The staff told me I could keep the receipt and claim the points back later but a lot of people will be trying to buy things for Christmas and might not have the money to front it right away.”
Plenty of people across the UK have echoed these thoughts on social media.
The self checkout Lady was doing her best to hold back the tears bless her
— Manisha Kalyan (@Manisha_Kalyan) December 23, 2024
One person took to X, formerly Twitter, to brand it “outrageous”.
They added that “the self-checkout lady was doing her best to hold back the tears”.
@Morrisons Highly convenient that your more card isn’t working today, didn’t get our £45 pound off today and even one woman there couldn’t afford to buy her Xmas shopping, shocking!
— Jamo (@GSJWAY) December 23, 2024
Another wrote: “Didn’t get our £45 off today.
“One woman there couldn’t afford to buy her Xmas shopping – shocking!”
A spokeswoman for the firm said: “Today we are experiencing some system issues which are affecting our More Card customers.
“For More Card customers who have Morrisons Fivers to redeem, these will be done manually in-store by colleagues.
“All our stores have now made the top 100 More Card prices the regular price – including the 10p veg deal, turkeys, spirits and champagne.
“And in addition we will give More Card customers an extra 10% off their entire shop as an apology.
“We sincerely apologise to our customers for this inconvenience.”
Click and Collect customers are being asked to wait for an email to inform them that their order is ready for collection before heading to the store.
Some home delivery orders may also be arriving late and affected customers will be warned in advance.
What is a Morrisons More card?
Morrisons More is the supermarket chain’s loyalty scheme.
Shoppers scan the cards at the checkout to earn five points for every item they have purchased.
Some special edition items have more points attached.
Once the account holder earns 5,000 points, they can claim a ‘Morrisons Fiver’ voucher for £5 off.
Scanning a card can also unlock discounts on selected items in-store.