The best loyalty store card around (Tesco Clubcard)

Member Name: kate2009

Product:	Tesco Clubcard
Date:	09/06/09 (100 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good value as long as you spend on clubcard deal scheme

Disadvantages: None!

Tesco's may not always be the cheapest supermarket in comparison with places like Asda, Netto and Aldi, however it undoubtedly has the best store loyalty card scheme which is available anywhere in the UK.

Sign up for a Tesco Clubcard - you can do this via the Customer Services stand which is available at every large branch. It's free and won't take you long to fill in your details amd within a few weeks a clubcard the size of a credit card will be sent out with your name on. Everytime you make a purchase at Tesco's, you hand this card to the cashier who scans the amount of points earned during your shop.

Typically you can earn 1 point for every pound spent. So if you spend £50 in Tescos you will have earned 50p in clubcard points.

***TOP TIP

1. Look out for special offers in store - there are always offers to 'maximise' your points when purchasing certain products. Sometimes you can earn double or triple points on one product which is on offer

2. Use your clubcard in Tesco petrol stations

3. Keep your eyes peeled on money saving websites which often point out good ways to maximise clubcard points, such as moneysavingexpert.com. There is currently an article on this website about Tesco's savings account and how opening one of these can earn you extra clubcard points. Offers like this spring up reguarly so I would suggest that you stay vigilant for future ones.

***Clubcard Deals

This is where your points are best spent. If you take for instance £10 worth of your hard earned points and spend this in Tescos on groceries - you will only get £10 off your bill. It can take you MONTHS to earn these points and it's not worth wasting your points in this way.

However, if you were to redeem your £10 worth of points on one of the many 'clubcard deals',Tesco's have on offer, you get a fantastic 4x worth the value. For those of you who are bad at maths, this means that your £10 is now worth a whopping £40.

So what can you spend your points on? Well the other great thing about this scheme is that there is actually a surprising amount of choice for you to consider spending your points on.

Some of my favourites are:

Jewellry stores
Travel and holidays
Hotels
Days out - such as Blackpool pleasure beach and Edinburgh zoo
wine and champagne
cinemas
Restaurants
Sports
Magazines
Motoring
Annual membership

This is not an exhaustive list.

A word of warning about the hotels scheme - I have previously had a fabulous stay at a Macdonalds Hotel in Edinburgh. This included dinner bed and breakfast for 2 people for 2 nights, at a cost of £240 worth of points. Unfortunately, it appears you are now unable to have only a one night stay in a hotel - there are terms and conditions which makes the scheme less flexible. It is also more difficult to get dinner included lately and there are only select deals you can choose from.

Once you have choosen the deal you want, you must copy down the code and fill in an online form, and send this to Tescos. They will then send you some vouchers relevant to your deal. In the case of travel and hotels, you often need to do this at least a few weeks in advance.

I recommend that you take a look at the Tesco Clubcard website. Go to www.tesco.com/clubcard/deals/ for more info on the Clubcard scheme and all of the deals available on which you can redeem your points.

Tesco will send you a statement with your vouchers and tokens on a quarterly basis. You will also receive vouchers with discounts on in this statement and vouchers for extra points when you purchase specific items, which are then scanned at the till when you do your shop.

Tescos are also able to send out additional club cards under the same name to you, so that other household members can use it and the points you accumulate will all go under the same name. This is actually useful, as sometimes when booking hotels or travel, you need to book a certain amount of nights to qualify and the tokens need to be under one name. For instance, you could not use several different clubcard vouchers from different people to pay for one stay. It has to be one named individual. So watch out for this and read the small print when booking hotels or redeeming a lot of points in one go.

Another word of warning - clubcard vouchers have a shelf life and it is very easy to accumulate them to make the amount more substantial, only to realise you have missed the date! If this happens I recommend that you send a groveling letter or email to customer services asking them to re-administer your points. It worked for me!

I urge you to sign up for a clubcard and use your points on the deals scheme.

Summary: Use correctly and you will be quids in!