The best plastic in my purse (Tesco Clubcard)

Member Name: RunnyHunnyBee

Product:	Tesco Clubcard
Date:	21/09/09 (123 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: All the freebies!

Disadvantages: Not all the deals are good ones

Tesco clubcard is a loyalty scheme in which every pound you spend in store, online, or at a Tesco petrol station will earn you one clubcard point, and each point is worth a penny. As long as you remember to hand over your card each time you shop, the points will be added to your account. You then receive a statement by post every 3 months which includes your vouchers as well as a few additional money-off vouchers to use in store. Registration forms are available at all the checkouts in store, and after registering, you will receive a welcome pack with your card along with two smaller cards which you can attach to your own and your partner's key rings. This is a great idea to help ensure you always collect your points, even if you have forgotten the main card.

When I first started using Clubcard I simply took my vouchers to Tesco and used them against my shopping. I soon realised this wasn't the best option, as Tesco offer certain 'Rewards' for which you get 4 times the value of your vouchers - ie. £10 worth of Clubcard vouchers gives you £40 worth of rewards. These rewards include things like cinema entry, restaurant vouchers, days out at UK attractions, Open University vouchers, magazine subscriptions, holidays, and more. Of course, for these to be a better deal than using your vouchers on your shopping, they do need to be something you would already be likely to spend money on. All the available Rewards can be found on the Tesco website or in the brochure they send with your quarterly statement.

I decided to save my vouchers and turn them into Virgin Holiday vouchers as I was already planning to go on holiday the following year. I had already looked through numerous holiday brochures and picked a Virgin holiday, so as I was already going to be spending money with them, I felt this was an excellent opportunity to make a bit of a saving. However, the problem with this was that I wouldn't be able to book my holiday too early, as you have to use your vouchers at the time of booking, and I obviously wanted to save as many points as possible to use against the holiday.
I waited until I received my last statement and vouchers before I wanted to go on holiday, and this gave me a total of £80 in clubcard vouchers. I went online to the clubcard website, selected the Virgin Holidays option, and typed in the codes on each of the vouchers. I then received my £320 Virgin vouchers approximately 5 days later.

It was only after I received my vouchers that I had a good look at the small print and realised I could only redeem them by booking my holiday over the phone, rather than online or in person. I booked my holiday, paid the deposit, and received my £320 discount on my first invoice......... Big mistake! I soon discovered that the same holiday would already have cost around £280 less had I booked it online! I really should have done my research before rushing into it, as I had only really saved about £40.

Despite my error, I have continued using my Clubcard religiously, making sure I get all my petrol and groceries from Tesco. Also, as I am with Eon for my home energy, I earn points on my gas and electric bills. Similarly, my car insurance is with Tesco, which also earns me points.

Occasionally, there are some excellent loopholes in this scheme. One of the best I have come across has been with wine purchases. A while ago, Tesco were offering a 25% discount on wine if you bought 6 bottles. In conjunction with this offer at the time, a few particular bottles of wine had yellow stickers bellow them offering 150-300 extra clubcard points per bottle. So buying six bottles of wine, normally priced at £6 per bottle, would cost you £27 instead of £36, and if they provided 150 clubcard points each, you would receive 900 points. Using these points for Rewards (quadrupling them) would give you £36. Therefore, you would have made a £9 profit!

I missed out on this, as all the wine included in this offer had sold out, but I did pick up a bottle of Cava for £10.99 which was giving 300 extra points (£12 in Rewards). I was saving my points for a holiday anyway, so I saw this as me paying £10.99 towards my holiday fund, and receiving a bottle of nice wine and £1.01 for free!

A similar loophole I have taken advantage of has been with chart DVDs. Several recent releases have provided 200-250 extra points, which equates to £8-£10 in rewards. So, you might pay £24 for two DVDs, receive £20 in Reward tokens, and if you sell the DVDs soon after watching them (on eBay or to CeX) you can easily get £9 each for them.

Currently, Tesco are giving 2 points for every pound spent across the store and online, and they have also recently introduced the option to double up your accumulated points if you use them on specific purchases. The way this works is that you simply go to customer services in store, or go to the Tesco website, and trade in your normal clubcard vouchers for 'double-up vouchers'. These vouchers cannot be used for food shopping, but the list of goods they can be used against includes wine, clothing, cosmetics and skincare, fragrances, toys and more.

Having wasted my points last time, I will be a lot more careful when choosing Rewards in future. I'm still keen to use the points for a holiday, but if I do this I will have a look at the other providers that they use, and be sure to do my research first. Airmiles might be a better option.

I would definitely recommend using Tesco Clubcard, whether you are a regular or occasional shopper there, as the points quickly build up and there are some great freebies available.

Summary: A must for all Tesco customers