kirky

Three weeks to go until our next Tesco BAEC adventure to British Columbia!

Took advantage of last November's BA Miles Sale - two Club Class return flights NCL/LHR/YVR for a mere 41667 Clubcard Points (100,000 BA Miles) - equivalent cash price for those tickets was between £3500 and £13000 (depending on comparison with non-flex to fully flex tickets).

All of our Clubcard Points get converted to BA Miles, although we haven't converted any since November 2008 as I'm waiting to see what the future holds for BA and/or their inclusion in the Tesco scheme - better to hold these as Clubcard vouchers for the time being I think. I can always convert them quickly if they announce they are pulling out of the scheme or I can keep them to convert to Airmiles instead.

Already have enough Clubcard points to convert to 50,000 BA Miles so far this year, but I haven't had time to take advantage of many bonus points this year.

hingethunder

More bonus points offers this week, most noteworthy one is 200 points on 2 bottles of herbal essences shampoo (£3.25 ish per bottle), so 200 points for £6.50 and it probably tastes better than some of the wine.

And talking of wine - http://www.tescowinefair.com/london.html
Apparently 100 points when you book a ticket (£6).

ajamieson

Did these points show on the bottom of your receipt straight away?

Mine didn't, and the assistant refused to add the extra points manually by claiming bonus points always took two days "to show up" despite the fact that other bonus points were specifically listed at the bottom of the same receipt

So it looks like I'm going to have to pretend to go along with her conjecture and then go back to the store on Friday to have the points added, which is a huge bore even for 800 bonus points (and crap 'champagne')...

DannyBoy73

How do u get 100 points from recycling cans? Beers can and/or tinned cans etc??

where2travel

They fobbed you off there which is a pain as it means you will need to go back. Unfortunately, Tesco pulled this promotion early and stopped awarding the bonus points a couple of weeks back. However, stores were slow to take the labels down from the shelves and so you can still claim the points at CS despite them not being added at checkout.

For them to say that they take two days to show up is nonsense. All in-store bonus points show on the receipt immediately (and if they're not there, they won't magically appear at a later date).

From shopping in-store, it does take a couple of days for the points to show up online on your Clubcard account (longer at a quarter end when they reset the points and send out the statements). However, this is irrelevant to what they were telling you.

Jonobigblind

Our local (Cirencester) has a fancy space aged recycling machine that allows you to register your clubcard and monitors what you sling in.

They give 0.5 points per can (beer, coke and pepsi work best - anything tin or steel won't pay out). I get another person from my office to bag cans up for me (great in BBQ season) and I also won a quiz night at a local cricket club, instead of the case of wine (looked distinctly ropey) I agreed a deal for them to bag the cans up from their bar.

Jackpot - more cans than I need and points in the bag.

TravellerFrequently

I also had some problems getting the points with the champagne, but as I never accept that old line, I asked the person, politely, to credit the points in accordance with the shelf sticker - which was now in his hands - or refund my credit card.

I was successful, but why does Tesco force its customers to go through this hassle?

LHR-HUB

Your cricket club must think you're one stump short of a wicket!

"Congratulations, for being so clever and winning the quiz, you've won the star prize - a case of Chateau Plonk 2008"
"Er, no thanks, could I just have all the empty cans from behind the bar instead?"

Jonobigblind

Even worse - I've got them for the season. I explained (as I find I have to with many others who don't do the miles thing) and he was happy to help me on my way to Oz in First...plus I gave the wine out some of the other contestants and the barman - everyone was happy.^^^^^

ajamieson

Thank you - this is exactly what I thought but I couldn't convince them otherwise.

As it happens I will need to go back anyway because something else was not right on the receipt, but it is a hassle. In fairness, they did mark my receipt that the amount should be credited "if..." the points don't show up.

Their logic was that, if my balance went up by 2x800 points in 48 hours, the points had credited. But without a spreadsheet they have no more idea than I do where the points have come from and what they are for! If I had earned 1,600 points elsewhere in the meantime they would presumably refuse to credit these points?

Anyway, thanks for confirming my suspicion ^

ajamieson

Hassle is just the start. I was last night threatened with arrest at Tesco after its refusal to honour offers took a rather sinister twist.

I needed to fix two things: first, the missing 2 x 800 points that the store had fobbed me off about with nonsense two days ago (see above) and, second, to fix an offer where you got various spirits for £10 if you spent over £30 instore (my chosen item was incorrectly charged at full price of £14.09).

The young lad tried hard to fix the 800 points but various supervisors and duty managers insisted the promotion had never existed and that I would never be getting any points. The label had gone from the shelf, so I had no evidence except the original scrawl on my receipt from one of their colleagues authorising the credit after two days. They refused, stating the member of staff could not be identified from the receipt. Very odd, that.

Duty manager also refused the other offer, saying I hadn't spent £30 (I had spent £106, as per the receipt) and then saying I should have spent £30 on groceries (I had spent £86, as per the receipt) and then saying I should have spent £30 on food only. I went to the aisle and returned with the shelf barker that clearly said "spend £30 instore" with no mention of food but she still refused and said I would have to make a complaint to head office. In light of the sinister attempts to wriggle out of the 800 points offer (which "never existed") I said I would the take shelf barker as evidence, at which point she had me surrounded by security and said the police would be on their way to arrest me for theft. I took a picture of the label instead but she said "photography isn't allowed". I'm prepared to spend the night in cells at many locations where mankind struggles against oppression and ignorance but the Leytonstone branch of Tesco isn't one them so I said I would hand the shelf label back if she returned the £4.09 she clearly owed me. After more refusals she eventually relented and I made the long walk to freedom through the car park.

Still no 1600 points, though. This will be an interesting discussion with Tesco...

For anyone still wanting some points, the Tesco Metro south of Victoria station is selling Leopard's Leap Lookout S African chenin blanc with 100 extra points for £4.99 a bottle. It has a tolerable taste, there's plenty left, and the points post correctly at the till

where2travel

Yikes, sounds like quite a battle you had. I try to avoid dealing with the store Customer Services where possible. That said, the number of errors made in-store means it's often not avoidable. Some of the logic and excuses they try to use to wriggle out of honouring prices/points/promotions etc is truly bizarre (and getting them to see their flawed logic is impossible).

On the Champagne, I think I may have been minded to return it and just ask for my money back. Having said that, if you have the fight then good luck and I hope you get the points you're owed.

The white Leopard's Leap is still showing at £5.35 on the shelf-edge label but it's going through the till at £4.99 with the 100 points. "Tolerable" is a fair description.

Serko

So you're the one who clears all the points offers in the Leytonstone branch. I had a similar issue with the apple promotion in there the other day. CS said they would show up after 48 hours and I said that was rubbish. The points for other things (trail mix) were showing underneath and after I pointed this out she reluctantly added tghe points. BTW I beleive you should have got a double the difference refund on the whisky as per Tesco's policy.

ajamieson

It was my first (and last) time there. Not my local Tesco

Yes I should have gone for £8.18 but at that stage I was being ordered into the "interview room" where they lock up shoplifters until the police arrive and I was just grateful to get out. I was so flustered by the whole ordeal that I forget to buy anything for dinner.

As for the mistakes, trading law is trading law and the bigger companies have no excuse for not getting the shelf labelling correct as they have the computer systems and the resources to do it. Quite rightly, Trading Standards take a dim view of repeated mistakes in this area.

malkie

Just wanted to post regards after reading that rather horrid affair.

Tesco's do need to sort themselves out regarding honouring their own promotions - they often do seem to have disparity between the shelf tickets and the computer database. However, that does occasionally work in our favour (eg the half price bubbly which still gave 300 points recently).

I'm not going to complain if their error works in my favour, however I will stand my ground if they advertise something which they don't pay out on. My local Tesco has without fail manually added points when they've been missed.


There's no current meaty promotions, a few points here and there for salad and fruit items (which is great as it forms part of your shop anyway). Currently also getting 25 points for finest sandwiches, so offer to do your office run and rack up the points!