SWC has a beautifully remodeled location right off the 101, half-way between Rio Salado & University. It's accessible via the south-bond Price frontage road, on the right. They have friendly bud tenders, and a welcoming open layout. I've found their flower good, although often extremely dry -- to the point, a wrong look turns it to dust. HOWEVER! They have a wonderful selection of edibles. Their Infusion brownies, and soda are great. The only bad thing in the experience is the inaudible PA they use to call your name. Please, SWC, have your budtenders walk the extra few feet to call out names from the door. Employees insist on using the bad PA, and then apologize for it, after waiting two feet from the door. Don't replace the PA, stay cheap, change the silly policy.
TLDR; Bloom rewards should not be depended on, and loyal customers will be shafted. Expect to be treated like a number, and hostility from management.
I've been a weekly customer with Bloom for three years, taking advantage of the ounce deals for flower that they typically run thursdays. The quality of the flower will vary from week to week, and sometimes the flower is not fully cured (ie still slightly wet) which means you are paying for a bit of extra water in those ounces. I was a loyal customer despite this known shortcoming.
Bloom has a poor rewards system, amounting to less than 5% back on your purchases, if you've spent $10K. They advertise these as "instant credits" at various reward tiers. These amount to 5% back after spending $10,000, 4% back after spending $5,500, 3.5% back after spending $2,800 and 3.3% back after spending $1,500.
Bloom neglects to inform customers that these are not actual credits, they are coupons. Whereas a credit is typically considered something that is tracked on an account basis, a coupon is typically limited to the single day of purchase. For example, nobody would expect a coupon at a grocery store to be applicable to the subsequent purchase. However if I overpaid a water bill, credit card, or similar my account would be credited, and thus subsequent bills would apply the remaining credit before continued charges. Thus, I was never informed about "instant credit" actually meant coupon.
This presents a problem for me as concentrates and edibles adversely affect my body. Thus, I must buy flower, and carefully manage when I buy flower to prevent hitting state-imposed limits. I saved $5,500 worth of points, and on attempting to apply a $250 credit to a purchase I was then informed of Bloom's unique interpretation of the word credit in their rewards system. As I cannot take advantage of concentrated products; I could not purchase $250 of their products in a single day.
As a loyal customer for 3 years, a low-ball estimate of the money I've personally spent at Bloom is above $20,000. 52 weeks, times 3 years, times $130. Their prices used to be higher, so this number is inaccurately low. After loyally spending so much at this location, I asked to speak to a manager about this miscommunication in their policy. I was frustrated this policy was never stated in signage, or on their website.
This was the first time I applied rewards points, in my three years shopping with Bloom. If you are mathematically inclined, this might be a surprise. I should have points well exceeding the 5,500. But Bloom's computer systems were supposedly hacked, they lacked proper backups, and thus they lost the ability to track all points. Management at the time posted signs saying the points would be recovered in time, but alas they never were.
Today, I was forced to use a $100 credit, as the $250 credit was impossible to spend. Assuming I ended up applying two $100 credits, I now loose $50 of credit due to their policy. This is in addition to the roughly $525-$600 (Bloom's coupon / real credit) I was shafted during the Bloom hacking incident.
Bloom's manager was confrontational when I attempted to explain what happened, and had no attempt at empathy for my situation. His reasoning was as follows:
-- "Instant" implied it's a coupon.
-- Computer systems cannot track a credit.
-- Prior notification of policy is not necessary.
-- Ownership does not care, it's policy.
-- Only three people have complained, so my concern is invalid.
-- My complaint will not be passed along.
-- Ownership only cares about, or reads, Leafly reviews.
-- I should just buy concentrates, despite negative reactions.
Clearly, I disagree with the meaning of the definition of credit. The way credit is defined by most businesses does not apply to Bloom. As a computer programmer, if you can track points, you can easily track credits. Add a new column to your database. I am not responsible for Bloom's computer system failures. Hiding behind an unannounced policy, does not make for good business. I'm penalized, and my problem is irrelevant because not enough other customers have noticed the issue. The manager implied I was therefore stupid. Ownership doesn't care about anything but their public image, fair resolutions with loyal customers is not a priority.
In the end, I'm embarrassed to have been so loyal to a company that is only interested in treating me as a number. I'm sorry I ever recommended Bloom to others, and fully regret saying how great of location it was. I'm sorry for apologizing for Bloom to others when Bloom was hacked, and not pointing out how badly it reflected on Bloom's leadership to lack simple database backups.
Bloom does not care about you. They do not care about wait times, customer experience, honoring their own promises, or even provide an iota of empathy for customers that notice these discrepancies.
I will seek out alternatives to Bloom, and I urge you to do the same. I am embarrassed to be a loyal Bloom customer.