Dooyoo Let Tesco Know All About Your Private Life? (Tesco Clubcard)

Member Name: janharper

Product:	Tesco Clubcard
Date:	28/10/08 (191 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Small discount

Disadvantages: Tesco know all about you

Tesco Clubcard is Tesco's own method of gathering data on you, what you buy and how often. This information is used to market to you. It is also used to work out just how much people will pay for their purchases and to monitor reactions to prices, etc. For example, if they put the price of an item up by 20p and you and others stop buying, they know the price hike is too much. So, they cut it by a few pence and you buy again.

OK, this is probably a very cynical viewpoint but it is how I see Tesco Clubcard. It isn't for the benefit of the customer as they would have you believe. It's for the benefit of the company only.

So, how does it work?

You fill in a form with details of yourself and your address, etc and you get a clubcard number. This identifies you in store and on line if you register it on-line too. If you don't register it on-line it doesn't count your on-line points. Basically, you get 1 point which is 1p for every pound you spend. Some items offer extra points. You cannot exchange these points for money. You get vouchers every three months according to the points you have collected. Only round amounts are paid and the left over points are rolled over to the next month.

So, you get 1% discount for signing up and giving them all your personal details. So, you sell your soul to the 'devil' for a 1% discount. (In a manner of speaking). At least Elliot in 'Bedazzled' (Liz Hurley Film) got three wishes in exchange for signing the 'Devil's' pact.

You can also relinquish your points for 4x their value if you exchange for a Tesco Deal .You can get a catalogue on-line. There are things like air tickets, entrance to theme parks etc. However, there was notihng there that I thought was worth savibg my points for. Certainly not worth giving up my privacy for.

I signed up for one of these cards but I have stopped using it because I don't want Tesco collecting all that data on me. If you think about it, the groceries and other items you buy in a supermarket say a lot about you. For example, you buy meals for one (do you live alone?). You buy a lot of wine (do you have a drink problem?) You buy Weightwatchers products, are you over weight, etc, etc.

As far as I'm concerned, using a loyalty card like this gives Tesco permission to collect and use data about you. It is to me an infringement of my privacy. I have nothing to hide but that is not the point.

So, I am not in favour of these cards.

Summary: Small discount is useful if you really need it but they want too much info about you