Is Tesco withdrawing 3V cards?

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I have written a few posts recently about how to earn free Avios (360 per £50 purchase) by buying 3V Virtual Visa cards at Tesco (see here and here for example). This has, unfortunately, led to a nationwide shortage of them!

3V card

It now seems that Tesco may be withdrawing the cards when current stocks run down. Reader Steve made a formal enquiry to Tesco and got this back in reply:

Dear Mr XXXXXX

Thank you for your email. My name is XXXXXX and I am a Customer Service Manager who is responsible for resolving your email.

I’m sorry to learn the details of your concerns since trying to purchase 3V Visa Prepaid cards from your local Tesco stores. I appreciate you contacting me, as these have not been found during your recent visits.

Please be assured that it is never our intention to frustrate or disappoint any customer at any time.

To investigate, I have this afternoon spoken with my colleague XXXXXX, from our Business Support Team. I have been informed that we no longer sell the V3 version of these cards, but we still sell the standard Visa Giftcard, which can be bought in either a £25.00 or £50.00 value. These will be available in most major stores which sell giftcards.

Finally, I’d like to thank you for your time and I do hope you are able to purchase these on your next usual visit. If there is anything else I can do to help, please do contact this office again.

I am actually quite impressed that Tesco is responding to enquiries in such a detailed manner.

And yesterday, just as I preparing this post, reader Mark posted this in the Comments section of Head for Points:

GAME OVER! Just had a call from Tesco after I sent an email asking when my local store would stock 3V cards. They inform me stocks won’t be replenished anywhere as their agreement with 3V, which was for limited stocks, is now at an end. It seems to me the bonus clubcard points attracted the wrong type of customer for 3V.

Nothing in either of these messages surprises me. After all, Tesco is making a big splash of the Visa gift cards which carry a £3.95 fee. It is just plain weird to cannibalise sales of these by selling the 3V cards alongside them, which carry no fee.

There are certainly thousands of 3V cards still in the system, since your reports show that stores which carry them are still being restocked. I wouldn’t count on this as a long-term way of generating free Avios points, though.

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Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

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Category

Tesco Clubcard

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

Moore1984 says:

31 May31 May 13:25

Shame. It was a good deal. Only negative is the amount of time its taking to get the funds back into my bank account.
Mr Bridge says:

31 May31 May 14:08

Thanks for the warning, went to Tesco today and bought £350, theres still plenty left, but I re arranged the gift cards covering them up with the paid ones, so hopfully there will be some left next weelk when my next £7 off coupon can be used…no im not saying which store
- xcalx says:
  
  31 May31 May 14:45
  
  Thats the spirit
- Mark B says:
  
  1 Jun1 June 02:18
  
  Arguably unfair, for example Mr Bridge contributed by promoting a hiding techinque whilst also showing appreciation for the information. The real problem is with the lurkers who take the information provided but offer nothing in return
  - Mr Bridge says:
    
    1 Jun1 June 11:49
    
    unfair maybe, but i regard HFP as a forum for sharing tips to maximise gains under the system, I am sure my post gave a few others ‘inspiartion’
    I wont be the first person to put an item back in the wrong place in a supermarket
    - Mr Bridge says:
      
      3 Jun3 June 22:23
      
      i am pleased to report that the last 4 i hid were still there today so y £7 off coupon was used today + i got £5 off my next spend….ohh …what should i do no 3v cards left , oh well back to cinewolrd and b+q
squillion says:

31 May31 May 17:05

No spirit required – look after number 1
thesaver79 says:

31 May31 May 17:50

Has anyone bought Spotify gift cards and used to activate a premium subscription for 5 months?
Buddy says:

31 May31 May 17:56

Just out of interest I was buying some of these the other day and a confused assistant asked me if i wanted to top it up. A bulb lit up in my head and I went back with two I had already used to see if it was in fact possible to recharge them and if it would trigger the 150CC bonus. I was hoping that would be the end of the search for the cards and I could just recycle them.

The answer is NO :). It’s not possible. The tills cancel them as having already been activated. Not sure i would have shared it if it had worked :))).
- xcalx says:
  
  31 May31 May 18:26
  
  Wow 3 posters now in the same thread, all geared up to self, sefl, self. Sign up to blog take all the info and share nothing. Great work.. Lets hope Raffles never adopts this attitude. Some people are spoon fed the deals then think they are exclusive to themselves. Sorry for the rant Raffles but 3 selfish posts in 1 thread did it for me.
  - richie says:
    
    1 Jun1 June 00:26
    
    well said.
    - Mr Bridge says:
      
      1 Jun1 June 11:58
      
      I am sorry I am taking some offence to this! I have been contributing to HFP since september last year, and have shared a great deal, either directly on the forum, or by private email to raffles. i also support the forum by using the affilate link on HFP 9 just bought £100 amazon gift cards, contributing £6 to the overheads for the HFP site.
      
      And I thought mentioning hiding of 3v cards given there aparant shortage was a useful tip for HFP readers.
  - Buddy says:
    
    1 Jun1 June 18:10
    
    I would relax a bit. My comment was meant in jest. Had it worked my plan was to let Raffles know to decide what to do with it. I wouldn’t have shared directly because the idea is a bit high risk if the top ups screwed up and people lost money.
    
    Plus a blog isn’t a forum. There’s no expectation to give back info if you’re not so inclined.
JenniSue says:

31 May31 May 20:44

just bought £200 from the Tesco in Dingwall, Scotland today – lots more remaining. I acknowledge this location is not easy for many – thought I would mention it… Thanks.
What's the Point says:

31 May31 May 23:39

Glad I found £1,000 worth of the 3V cards before I went away on holiday. Not to worry though, just recommend the good wife to an Amex Gold Rewards card (9,000 extra points for me) We will then buy £2k worth of normal visa cards = 4,000 points (double points for supermarket spend) on the Amex spend + 22,000 sign up bonus + 14,400 points from Tesco Club card = 50K Avios. I can live with the activation fees of 50 x £3.95. Although with a few Tesco spend x get y off, it will be even cheaper!
richie says:

1 Jun1 June 00:31

don’t know if its a help to anyone but Cambridge Tesco had at least 20 in stock this lunchtime, i dont have anything to spend them on , so they are no use to me.