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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Category

Tesco Clubcard

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

dan says:

2 Jun2 June 21:07

oh and the 10k avios from LLoyds card…
- What's the Point says:
  
  2 Jun2 June 21:52
  
  Out of the £1,000 I bought, one doesn’t work. The activation code does not match the Tesco receipt. Has anyone had success in getting them activated retrospectively?
  - Mr Bridge says:
    
    2 Jun2 June 22:18
    
    count the number of cards you have, you may find one extra as they stick together
    - What's the Point says:
      
      2 Jun2 June 22:27
      
      I have checked all my little piles of 3V cards, and there is not a spare/unaccounted one in sight!
  - Sinizter says:
    
    3 Jun3 June 06:57
    
    If you have an activation receipt with the matching card number, you should be able to get a replacement or refund. They tend not to reactivate gift cards.
    If you do not, I am not sure how this will be treated.
    - What's the Point says:
      
      4 Jun4 June 22:05
      
      I got an email from 3V telling to take it back to the store and they can identify the date it was purchased and see if it was activated or not. As long as I have kept all the relevant receipts, etc. I should get a refund
      Problem….the Tesco is 50 miles from where I live!
      - What's the Point says:
        
        5 Jun5 June 20:36
        
        Took it back to the store and after about 20 mins trying to explain what might have happened, they just scanned the card back through the till and it activated the card again. Sorted!
      - Ed E says:
        
        6 Jun6 June 16:44
        
        Glad to hear it got sorted, well done!
Toddy says:

3 Jun3 June 07:55

If you have an activation code that doesn’t match the Tesco receipt, have you been given the wrong 3V card? Have you any ‘NOT activated’ Tesco receipts?

Something similar happened to me. I purchased 20 and the cashier had trouble scanning them, and I had to go get some ‘replacements’ from the shelves (for those cards that did not scan etc).

When I got home, somehow I had been one of the inactivated ones! I emailed customer services which lots of pictures and a detailed explanation and they sent me a £25 Tesco Money Card.
Mr Bridge says:

3 Jun3 June 10:33

you can buy m+s gift cards (not sold in tesco) from wh smiths online free delivery. other gift cards available
Steve says:

3 Jun3 June 12:44

Just to throw this in the mix.
I was the one who sent the email to Tesco and received the reply quoted in the main body above.
I was in the store in question yesterday and they had put another load out on display. I took 6 and left a few behind.
It would appear that even if Tesco have stopped stocking them they are still being restocked.

Not sure what to make of it all at the momen. Still, another month of bills paid off for June 🙂
Michael says:

3 Jun3 June 13:45

Is there someone here who can give some more explanation on how to use the 3V cards to order vouchers, i.e. the one you can use at Marks and Spencer and Waitrose? Does that always work and what is the process, i.e. would I need to complete 4 order for 100 pounds in vouchers, or can that go through in 4 process? Seems to take some time otherwise. I would need to get my hands on some 3V cards first anyway, all the big Tesco’s around me are out of them for some time.
- Steve says:
  
  4 Jun4 June 04:00
  
  The 3V ones are to use online. To order £100 of M&S Vouchers you would need to either order £25 4 times, or combine the balance of the 4 cards on to one, but there is a fee for this. You’d probably end up with about £96 after the transfer fees are complete.
Sinizter says:

4 Jun4 June 21:41

Can the ones with a fee (Gospendit.co.uk) ones be used to pay tax ?

HMRC have declined the first transaction I tried to put through, so I just wanted to confirm before I spent more time on it.
- Sinizter says:
  
  4 Jun4 June 21:50
  
  Sorted. Have to use the expiry date printed on the card rather than the one you get in the account.
stu says:

5 Jun5 June 12:54

Purchase of 3V cards counts towards Tesco’s current ‘Spend £40, get £5 off’ promotion which finishes Sunday. I got a till spit (along with the usual activation receipts) which has to be used by the end of next week for a fiver off purchases over £40. Ts&Cs do say the voucher can’t be used on gift cards, petrol, lottery etc. I’ve not yet tried buying more 3Vs with it!
- YL says:
  
  5 Jun5 June 20:08
  
  Probably can get away with it by purchasing gift cards with some grocery:-)
What's the Point says:

5 Jun5 June 20:37

Sorry if I have repeated a question, but has anyone activated and spent over the £650 limit on one account?
- James Ward says:
  
  5 Jun5 June 20:40
  
  I’ve done £1,000 so far. I think the limit is £1,650 before you need to prove your identity.