More rewarding with partners (Tesco Clubcard)

Member Name: Nat.

Product:	Tesco Clubcard
Date:	01/11/09 (47 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Free things!

Disadvantages: Not too helpful if you don't shop at Tesco!

TESCO CLUBCARD

The clubcard is the Tesco shopping reward scheme. As a general rule, you get one clubcard point for every pound you spend in the store or on petrol, or three points for every pound you spend on topping up your Tesco mobile. Currently they have a special offer on where you get double clubcard points in store, so you get two for every pound you spend. Once you have built up 100 clubcard points, you get a pound voucher. The vouchers are sent out once every quarter. I have just received my vouchers for November, and the clubcard website tells me I will next receive vouchers in February.

COLLECTING CLUBCARD POINTS

In addition to the methods of collecting clubcard vouchers listed above, you can also collect points in the following ways:

Shopping online at tesco.com and tescodirect
Earn one point for every four pounds you spend on a Tesco credit card
Earn clubcard points when you pay for your electricity with Eon
Earn points from Tesco opticians
Earn points for reusing your carrier bags in Tesco
Earn one point for every two aluminium cans you recycle in the Tesco recycling points
Earn points for recycling old mobile phones or ink cartridges
Earn points for using Tesco broadband
Earn points for buying Tesco insurance

With regard to the Tesco insurance, you seem to earn a minimal number of points. I bought Tesco Value car insurance and Tesco breakdown cover, spending over £200, and only earned £2.50 in clubcard points.

CLUBCARD REWARDS

This is the bit that makes the whole scheme more appealing to me. You can obviously spend your clubcard points in the store, and just use each £1 worth of vouchers for £1 off your shopping. However, this is the least financially beneficial method of using your vouchers. If you use them with the "partner rewards scheme" online, you get four times the value on a massive variety of rewards. I'll list the categories of rewards and just give you a bit of detail on a few of them because there are far too many for me to cover without putting you all to sleep!

Activity Days
Annual Memberships
Book Sets & Toys
Movie and games rental
Days Out
Essentials
European Attractions
Exhibitions & Events
Green rewards
Health & Fitness
Holidays
Hotel Breaks
Indulgence
Learning
Magazine Subscriptions
Motoring
Restaurants, Pubs & Bars
Software Packages
Sporting Events
Theatre Shows
Travel
Airmiles
BA Miles

An example of a partner reward I have used recently, is a voucher for the Good Food Show in Birmingham. I wanted to go, but the tickets were £20 each, and as there are three of us going that just ended up being too pricey. So I checked on the clubcard website, and sure enough, if you use clubcard vouchers, you can get the tickets for £6 worth of clubcard vouchers each. So I've ordered my tickets and I can't wait!

Now that I've discovered the partner rewards, I'm going to start saving Airmiles. You get 60 Airmiles for every £2.50 in clubcard vouchers. When you have 750 miles, you have enough for a free flight to Paris- and that includes tax.

Another scheme that looks quite good if you've got children of that age, is the driving lessons. £52 in clubcard vouchers gives you a 4 hour BSM driving package. Well worth bearing in mind!

THE CLUBCARD WEBSITE

It's easy to register with the clubcard website. You just give them your details and your clubcard number, and you can keep track of how many vouchers you've got online. There's also a helpline number on there for if you want to change your contact details. I've phoned this recently, and they were really helpful. I'm going to be merging mine and my partner's clubcards, and this also seems like a really simple process.

CONCLUSION

As reward schemes go, I think this one's pretty good. It's easy to use, you earn decent rewards and they have some quite good offers on sometimes. To get your moneys worth from this, you need to be using the partner rewards scheme. I'd advise getting registered online and having a look through to see which reward is best for you.

Summary: Sign up to clubcard online and check out the partner offers to get best value for your vouchers.