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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think Tesco Clubcard Deals are the biggest con going?

46 replies

amimagic · 19/07/2011 11:41

We usually use our vouchers for a crossing on Eurotunnel for which you get 3 times the value (used to be 4, that's another bug-bear).

This year though, our crossing is included with one of our stays, so I browsed around the Deals site and hit upon Butlins (not somewhere I'd choose to go usually, but thought the kids would enjoy it). Checked prices and for an extra £100 ish, we could go for a long weekend with food included - bargain!

But you don't get the discounts (which are permanently available on the Butlins site it seems to me) when using Clubcard vouchers, so it actually rendered my vouchers as worth less than the original amount, when it should have been 3 times that amount.

AIBU to think that Tesco's who earn like a million pounds a minute are perpetrating a scam of great proportions, or did everyone else know this anyway?

OP posts:

MsChanandlerBong · 19/07/2011 12:51

Just wanted to point out that Tesco isn't a charity. It is a hugely successful commercial concern. The loyalty scheme was set up so they can find out lots of really valuable data about how we shop, and it has the side benefit of encouraging us to be loyal and spend more with them.

With regard to the T&Cs, it is the partner organisations who decide the caveats and limitations of what you can spend your vouchers on, not Tesco. So you should be annoyed at Butlins (in this case) not Tesco. The majority of the reward partners use it to try and get new (incremental) custom - not to give the general public some altruistic freebies .

I think the best thing to do is carefully evaluate the deals and see how you can make the most out of your vouchers. And agree that it is usually days out or restaurant deals that give you the most bang for your (free) buck. It does take a bit of work, but if you can't be arsed, then you can just use them instore for a discount (although even the head of the Clubcard scheme says that is a waste of vouchers as they are only worth the face value!!).

bigTillyMint · 19/07/2011 12:52

I'm with you Scholes - we have a Tesco credit card and pay for everything on that. So I usually shop at Asda, but still get the Tesco points

MsChanandlerBong · 19/07/2011 12:55

Oh, just realised that reads like I work for Tesco. I don't. (I did have a Saturday job there in the mid-nineties but it was in their cafe in a small town store!!). But I did get a bit of an insight about 18 months ago which was a bit of an eye opener

Teaslegirl · 19/07/2011 13:40

Well I've flown to Hong Kong four times now to visit my best friend, all with airmiles got through Tesco clubcard- flights didn't cost me a penny. I would shop there anyway so it's win-win for me (and I've been bumped twice :)).

KaraToytown · 19/07/2011 13:51

I've been to the theatre 3 times this year using Clubcard vouchers - seen Legally Blonde, Jersey Boys and Billy Elliot. Chuck in a few Pizza Express vouchers and it's a very cheap night out.

stoatie · 19/07/2011 13:51

We have Tesco credit card so extra points. Tend to save them up and tehn convert them when they have special offers ie last year my vouchers were worth double (or maybe more) when converted enabling me to save £100 on my laptop (which was also cheaper from Tesco on line than other retailers). We also double them up on school uniform offers etc

CroissantNeuf · 19/07/2011 13:58

Shouldn't it be Butlins that you have an issue with as surely they are the ones stipulating that you can't get their discounted offers if you use the Tesco vouchers for payment??

(apologies if I'm wrong here)

PS. we're using £50 of ours for a £150 Eurotunnel crossing

nagynolonger · 19/07/2011 14:01

I know lots who think Tesco Clubcards are fantastic and shop their for that reason. I do think it's a con because things there are more expensive to start with. I find money buys much more at Morrisons or Asda.

Having said that I do shop there occasionally. DS sometime play cricket at a ground next to a large Tesco. So I save time and shop while they play. I just use the vouchers as money off the next shop.

valiumredhead · 19/07/2011 14:12

Oh I LOVE our vouchers! we had such a good summer last year - cinema, meals out, safari park, zoo, it was great!

I have about £400 worth of vouchers and am planning lots of days out this year too!

HarrietJones · 19/07/2011 14:31

We use ours for pizza express. I've also got magazine subscriptions that I wouldn't buy normally but I count the vouchers as treat money! We don't get much now though as we only live near a tiny (more expensive) tesco and never shop there.

valiumredhead · 19/07/2011 14:32

Oh yes last year dh got a Car mag and I got Good Food - we would never do that normally so it's a really nice treat.

girlywhirly · 19/07/2011 16:27

There is nothing I want from the clubcard deals, so we buy wine and Christmas groceries with them.

maighdlin · 19/07/2011 17:58

im over the moon with a clubcard deal i found. a hi life 2 for 1 card normal price £60 or £10 in clubcard vouchers. gets 2 for 1 in loads of restaurants. other one seems to be a bit crap. esp when you think about how much you have to give to tesco to get them.

valiumredhead · 19/07/2011 18:00

We do all our shopping at Tesco and buy petrol too so for us it's just like getting treats for nothing as we would do our shopping there anyway - fab!

Indaba · 19/07/2011 21:08

Majority of these deals are funded by the suppliers, not Tescos. In the case of day trips/holidays etc it depends on what the suppliers want to fund/push at any one time.

Though in the case of 3 for 2 deals on fresh food, Tescos often just tell their suppliers to fund it so Tescos look good compared to their competitors when people do the "average spend per basket of food" price comparisons.

The poor suppliers have no choice.....if they don't do it, they get dropped by the supermarket......just read some heartbreaking stories in the Observer Magazines Food Monthly supplement.

smartyparts · 19/07/2011 21:17

Con? Not imo.

We have recently used ours for, Legoland, Tower of London, Madame Tussauds, Aquarium, countless Pizza Express meals, ditto cinema tickets. And I have just ordered some vouchers for a sightseeing river cruise on the Seine.

I bloody love em!

janek · 19/07/2011 21:37

what about redspottedhanky.com? you can get train tickets that you would have bought anyway (if you are me...) for 3x the face value of your vouchers. We've been to london twice in the last couple of months using tesco vouchers and mine and my brothers families are travelling via london again on hol in a month, also for free using tesco vouchers.

also, you can currently get a family railcard for £14 of vouchers, face value £28. do it, you know it makes sense (if you don't have a car...).

nannyl · 19/07/2011 21:55

I use them for a free night out with OH

cinema followed by cafe rouge / pizza express.

I also saved up enough to by my DVD player when it was on special offer which felt good. I used to live almost next to the tesco petrol station which was the cheapest around..... i did 200 miles a week while at work nannying, )+ my own miles) so would be there buying petrol anyway.

I also have a magazine subscription with them.

And i have lots and lots left.... baby on the way so might have a few nights away with them next year.

I use my tesco credit card always for everything anyway, so build up lots of points that way too.

sayithowitis · 19/07/2011 23:55

It is the offer partners who decide their T&C's, not Tesco, so if you don't like the terms of a particular offer, find another one. I know of very few companies that would allow a customer to use a combination of special offers on a product or service, so it is up to the customer to decide which is the best offer in their circumstances.

Personally, I do most of my shopping at Tesco, simply because the nearest Morrison's, Asda are all at least 6 miles away and the local Sainsbury is so small that I cannot get a full week's shopping there. I tend to either save my vouchers and use to heklp with the food bill at Christmas, or I use them t buy gift subscriptions to magazines as Christmas/birthday gifts for family. The last one cost me about £9 in vouchers, but would have cost over £30 cash.

unpa1dcar3r · 20/07/2011 08:24

Amimagic
I cashed in my vouchers before Dec last yr when they were still 4x the value. Got Parkresorts vouchers and then booked 2 holidays (one involving 2 large caravans for my big family) and the other for just me, him and the 2 youngest for this August.
All good, didn't actually cost me anything (although of course I'd spent the money in tesco's) but what peed me off is when i said I was taking my 2 pups I had to pay seperately for them; £50 each.
But I know you don't get the other special offers, like discount for buying online which is a bit cheeky really I think.
But everywhere is the same; if you get one sort of bonus you don't get another. Like as a carer I often get free entry into places for the kids and pay for them but if it's one child free I don't get that too IUSWIM. So what you gain in one hand you lose in another.

Pandsbear · 20/07/2011 12:04

And we just do all our day to day shopping (wherever, not just in Tescos) with the Tesco credit card and collect the vouchers as a bonus that way. Great for Pizza Express, days out, mag subs etc. In fact some months very little is actually spent in Tescos. Works for us.

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