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John Lewis: Partnership Card reviews

Name: Partnership Card
Rating: 1.86 (894 reviews)

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1.86

Based on 894 reviews, last reviewed 30th Apr 2026

No new 5 star reviews

in the past 90 days

700% increase in 1 star reviews

in the past 90 days

88%

Latest highest rating:

4

High interest although you gain points using your cr... High interest although you gain points using your credit card whilst shopping in John Lewis Reviewed on: 17th April 2026

Latest lowest rating:

1

Zero TRUST, and HONESTY Customer service is shocking. A distinct lack of ANY rewards for points earned. You call to say you have recieved zero vouchers depite clocking up ove... Read more Reviewed on: 30th April 2026

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About this product

Read our John Lewis Finance Partnership Card reviews to help you to find out about the pros and cons of taking out the Partnership credit card. What kind of features does the John Lewis Partnership card have? What do people think of John Lewis' customer service? Does the card have great benefits?

Find out more about the Partnership card by reading our reviews from the Smart Money People community - people like you. You can also write your own John Lewis Partnership Card review to share your own experiences.

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John Lewis Partnership Card reviews (894)

Review of the John Lewis, Partnership Card:

JLP and Newday in cahoots.

Told I'm ineligible - despite >50 years loyal JLP customer, 5 figure credit limit and score excellent - I have after communications with JLP managers concluded that this oust has been orchestrated by JLP. From sources including JLP and Newday websites,, I speculate: JL stores are in financial difficulty, currently supported by Waitrose itself on the brink. It’s not that JLP doesn't want higher spending loyal customers, it sure does; but what it wants is custom that doesn’t sap profits.    With the HBSC JL Partnership card, each £1 spent qualifies for a point, whose number depends upon whether spent at JL and/or W or elsewhere. The more elsewhere the less JLP gets the more it costs JLP. I think it used to be one point for every £1 spent in JLP, two for every £1 elsewhere. Nowadays for some eligible purchases at JL and W 5 points for every £4 spent; and for other eligible purchases at JL and W 1 point for every £4; 1 point for every £4 spent elsewhere. Fewer vouchers for spending elsewhere is not a deterrent. For example, if a card-holder with £5,000 credit limit spends £4000 a month elsewhere then JLP issues vouchers. Vouchers can only be used in JL or W but it doesn't follow the purchase price has to exceed the vouchers value. A cardholder could amass a substantial sum in vouchers without having spent a penny at JL or W. When using vouchers to buy in JL or W not have to buy anything involving any extra payment for the difference between the vouchers and price. JLP would make a loss. JLP says that over the last five years £230m has been issued in vouchers. How much of approximately £126,000 a day average has gone to customers that haven't paid JLP anything. By enlisting Newday to either render higher credit limit existing Partnership cardholders ineligible or where the applicant is eligible a substantially lower limit JLP is reducing the value of vouchers issued. JLP is probably getting a share of any interest paid by new card-holders and paying a lower commission on receivables (transaction sales). JLP I suspect envisages that where an existing Partnership cardholder is rejected that person would obtain a desired credit limit from another card provider and continue to buy from JL/W whenever. Whether enough existing Partnership cardholders would want to continue loyal to JLP is a separate issue. A JLP partner qualifying for discount told me that for most goods and services there are cheaper deals elsewhere. Not a deposit-taker Newday hasn't any revenue beyond credit cards. It borrows to re-lend, loan note interest between 2% and 6+% a year - with interest rates rising costs will go up: for how much longer its business is sustainable is anyone's guess. To finance JLP's transaction, Newday has taken out a loan of £650M. Any cardholder paying the whole balance monthly is getting an interest-free loan from the date of purchase to balance payment date - if you time it carefully then up to 45 days - so for that reason alone an existing JL Partnership cardholder is ineligible. Newday plans to float shares on the stock market next year so boosting the number of cardholders is to impress shareholders. A £5000 credit limit to one card holder (unlikely to pay interest) is akin to £500 limit to 10 card holders (likely to pay some interest). The net proceeds of a stock market float (rumoured capitalisation £2.5Bn) would provide a injection of interest-free cash. The sad part is that JLP could increase its profit margin and number of loyal customers without having to resort to destroying long-term customer relationships with JLP. Instead of the vouchers issued regardless of where a JL Partnership cardholder spends, the vouchers should be linked to the myJohnLewis and myWaitrose cards. Show or scan a my-card before paying and have the voucher value credited to the my-card - and since printing on paper is costly to administer, to issue every JL and W customer a my-card which can be produced by the customer at the check-out for credit and debit with the points/voucher value. Reviewed on: 5th September 2022

Disappointed in John Lewis Credit Card

The card is run by HSBC bank and the customers services for it is now outsourced to Cairo in Egypt, This is very disappointing. How can JL pretend that the card is related to their UK Business. I don't want to talk to people in other countries about my finances. I am going to finish with the card. Reviewed on: 6th April 2022

Professional, competent, reliable

Never had any problems with John Lewis; good company Reviewed on: 4th April 2022

What has happened to JL

Just in the last week every time I make a purchase I get a call from fraud services. I refuse to give the unexpected caller my details but then that means I have to go through another queue with someone who refuses to put me through until they’ve updated my contact details despite me telling them I did it yesterday and the day before. When I eventually speak to someone they are so passive aggressive it takes all my self control to not lose my temper. All in all spectacularly awful service. Reviewed on: 26th March 2022

Very frustrating.

I have been using my card for online Waitrose grocery delivery regularly for the past 2 years and have used the account for many years in both Waitrose stores and John Lewis for many years (10/15 years). This week, for no apparent reason, when trying to pay online for my groceries, I have had a notice on the screen telling me that my account cannot be authenticated. I phoned the number as suggested and had one of the most frustrating experiences I can remember. A pleasant lady, who had obviously received lots of "customer care" training kept assuring me that she had no doubt that I was a genuine customer but was very sorry but she couldn't connect me on the system. "Computer says no" in other word!!. She tried a series of security questions with "ah, bless you" interjected between what she explained were progressively easier questions. I do understand the need for security BUT please make it clear the information you need to have ready when phoning and train your call handlers that being apparently "kind" can result in a perception of condescension. Quite frankly, I ended up feeling stupid abd incompetent. I am neither and still have no proper explanation as to why my account cannot be authenticated. I now have to wait, goodness knows for how long, for Accounts to phone me. Not good enough and very poor customer service! Reviewed on: 18th March 2022

Customer Service is dreadful

Having moved house, I needed to change the address on the card. Could not do this online and the agent on the phone could not assist. Sent details on secure messages and 4 days on...I have still not had a response or acknowledgement to the secure message. The customer service at the John lewis partnership card service is woeful - avoid this if you can. Reviewed on: 13th March 2022

what has happened to this service!

What has happened to the John Lewis Partnership Card customer service! I have had to phone yesterday and today and both call handlers clearly have very limited experience and can only do minimal searches. Has the customer service side of business been sourced out? This is not only very frustrating as it is taking much longer than usual to get an issue dealt with but today I was told to leave things for a week! This might well have been a valid response and although the call handler was being helpful and everything they should, it was as though they were having to read for a page to page script for very basic answers. No longer happy and always have been up until now with JL Partnership Card. Reviewed on: 11th March 2022

Useless Customer Services

Since the 3rd February I have been unable to log on to my Partnership card account. I have rung customer services and explained my problem over and over again and I am still no further forward. I have now decided to stop using the card totally and pay my bill off. I cant get access to my statements or transactions and cant make any sense out of the attitude and total disregard for my complaints. What a letdown from John Lewis and they will lose more customers if they dont take notice of the complaints. Reviewed on: 26th February 2022

Customer Service is Awful

Every single person I've spoken with on the phone is rude & incompetent Reviewed on: 16th February 2022

Total frustration

I intended to make a large transaction on my card and telephoned JL to prime them - payee and amount. 'No problem' they said, so long as you stay inside your credit limit. Result? Transaction refused and a fraud alert issued. After more calls, I finally got the payment accepted. Then I tried to credit my account with a bank transfer but there is no payee on the statement - just sort and account numbers. The call centre wouldn't give out the actual JL payee name without full primary card holder security, and even then they got it wrong - 'John Lewis Partnership Card', instead of 'John Lewis Mastercard'. Why so secretive? Awful experience. Reviewed on: 11th February 2022

Unable to login both app and PC due to over complicated security

I have used the John Lewis Partnership Card for a number of years, but over recent months it has become almost impossible to login to either the mobile web app. One is locked out after several attempts with either entering PIN or password and contacting customer service has been a negative experience, as they always say I'm keying information incorrectly, which I am not. The login has become over-complicated. I am at the point of cancelling my card because I now cannot view my transactions, download statements. Extremely frustrated and very disappointed! Reviewed on: 10th February 2022

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