Tesco now imposing the 30,000 points per quarter cap on Clubcard points

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A couple of years ago, Tesco changed the rules of their Clubcard scheme. A cap was brought in, with the maximum number of points you could earn per quarter capped at 30,000 (so 72,000 Avios or 75,000 Flying Club miles).

This cap was never enforced, though. Everyone assumed that Tesco had brought it in to cover its back if it discovered abuse of the scheme, so that it could strip people of points if it wanted.

This quarter, though, it IS being enforced. Not for everyone, but for some people. There are a number of reports on paidtoshop and Flyertalk of people having their balances reduced to exactly 30,000 points and receiving just £300 of vouchers.

Tesco Clubcard

Frankly, this is a bit of a poor show by Tesco, since the rule has never been imposed in the past. It is difficult to know if you would have any recompense against them, given that the rules do state this clearly.

There is at least one lesson to learn here, though: do not transfer TopCashback cashback to Clubcard until it is nearly at the end of a Clubcard quarter.

A number of people have had TopCashBack funds removed from their Clubcard account. This seems very wrong – Tesco is effectively taking real money away from you in this scenario, as you could have cashed out that TopCashBack money for real cash.

(Read this article if you are not familiar with how to earn Clubcard points – and thus very cheap Avios points – by transferring TopCashback cashback to Tesco Clubcard.)

If you are considering moving TopCashBack money to Tesco, leave it until late in the quarter. If a great Tesco promotion comes along to earn Clubcard points very cheaply, you can fill up your account to 30,000 points that way and hold off from doing a TCB conversion until next quarter.

(You should, though, do a very small TopCashBack transfer to Tesco as soon as you can, since it starts the clock on the one year anniversary at which point the £50 cap resets.)

Even weirder, there are examples of Tesco taking away ‘change’ from Clubcard vouchers issued in a previous quarter! (If you redeem a £20 voucher for a £5 redemption, the £15 ‘change’ is credited back to your account and reissued next time.) This seems even crazier, since these points were clearly originally earned in a different quarter.

It will take some time before the dust settles on this and we can be clear about what is going on. At the moment, though, go above 30,000 Clubcard points at your own risk.

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Category

Tesco Clubcard

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

Sideysid says:

7 Aug7 August 07:32

I personally think Tesco will tighten their belts in regards to the Clubcard, at the end of the day, their favourite type of Clubcard user are those that accumulate points through their weekly shop. I think the days of Clubcard points opportunities (i.e. the ink cartridge recycling) are seriously numbered.
Y says:

7 Aug7 August 07:43

I’ve had my account close entirely.
- S says:
  
  7 Aug7 August 10:21
  
  What reason did they give? Are you the chap on paidtoshop who reported this happened to them?
  - Y says:
    
    7 Aug7 August 22:51
    
    I am, Can’t believe it communicating with them at the moment to try and get a resolution.
Nodrog says:

7 Aug7 August 08:14

I have 3 cards. I appreciate they could combine them but until they do that do you think there is any danger they will impose the limit on a per person basis?
JimmyG says:

7 Aug7 August 08:23

Tesco use the value of the club card vouchers issued in their sales figures, effectively over stating them even before people have spent them.I don’t think Tesco can afford to stop all of the opportunities to earn points.
The previous quarter I had earn’t over the £300 and had no problem, however the most recent quarter, I have gone a little mad with the “Diablo 3” glitch and had earn’t £430.
£130 worth of points have been removed and now have the problem, as I have cancelled the orders their system is taking the points off again, spending my current total into negative!
I have called Tesco and they cant seem to work out how I earn’t over £20 worth of points for a £40 game in an attempt to get the points added back to the account.
I am certainly not going to go over the quarter cap anymore.
- Mr Bridge says:
  
  7 Aug7 August 09:25
  
  KEEP COMPLAINING! as you point out their customer service don’t even understand.
- Mark says:
  
  7 Aug7 August 21:07
  
  Don’t be greedy James Youhave had plenty of points in the past
Mr Bridge says:

7 Aug7 August 09:22

Tesco are watching the pennies.
I am a very savvy shopper, i split my shopping into 3 transactions, cheaper at tesco, cheaper at asda and cheaper at sainsburys. , this is to benefit from their price promise.But i have caught them out several times, where they compare incorrectly, or multibuys don’t get included when they should. (i could write weekly blog on tesco price promise). Customer service has always put things right financially, but sometimes they quote their t+cs, which they obviously don’t understand themselves QUOTING THEM INCORRECTLY!!
So if you have a scenario as in the main post….COMPLAIN…COMPLAIN..COMPLAIN.
- Sir Stamford says:
  
  7 Aug7 August 12:33
  
  Given that there is opportunity cost to my time (I value them highly), I must admit that the thought of having to split my shopping and going to different supermarkets just to save a bit of money does not appeal to me.
  
  Sir Stamford
  - squillion says:
    
    7 Aug7 August 16:05
    
    Fair enough but I actually quite enjoy it.
    
    I must have made a few thou out of the savvy episode – plus I’m paying less for food shopping now than we were 3 or 4 years ago with no difference in quality.
    
    It does help having a few different outlets within 10 mins.
    
    Plus the online resources naturellement 😉
squillion says:

7 Aug7 August 09:24

And get double the difference for misprices. DTD policy still valid, on display in all/most Customer Service desk areas.
xcalx says:

7 Aug7 August 09:25

Are these the same people that have been bragging on PTS about cancelling the Diablo orders after the points have been awarded.. If so I have no sympathy.
- Mr Bridge says:
  
  7 Aug7 August 09:29
  
  tesco always remove points from cancelled orders, that is at least the case with cd and dvd
  - xcalx says:
    
    7 Aug7 August 10:57
    
    People have been opening dummy Tesco accounts then using that card for returns, thus sending that card into negative points whilst keeping the points on the actual card used.. seems the game is up for them now. cant say Im upet for them . PTS has examples of this practice.
    - Kathy says:
      
      7 Aug7 August 13:36
      
      Raffles’ post about Diablo 3 even warned people off trying to get more than one, since tesco will lookd for oddities and cancel points if they think you’ve abused the system.
      
      I seem to have inadvertantly got points for a pre-order I cancelled – I did a pre-order for Diablo 3 and Iron Man 3 at the same time, and then immediately realised I’d ordered the DVD when I wanted the Blu-Ray, cancelled it and started again, expecting to only get one lot of bonus points for each product. The points for the cancelled order posted and I have received my vouchers now. But then, I only earnt £60-odd worth of vouchers this quarter, so doubtless Tesco focus on the people that have earn hundreds per quarter and look for discrepancies in their acounts.
      
      If Tesco later realise the glitch and take £20,000 points off my account, sending me into a negative balance, then fair enough – I’d still regard it as a bonus as I’ll have the vouchers to hand should an avios conversion bonus come along in the next quarter.
    - Rob says:
      
      7 Aug7 August 14:43
      
      They were offering 25,000 for a mobile phone contract recently, so its not so hard to legitimately go over 30,000.
      - Kathy says:
        
        7 Aug7 August 14:57
        
        Wow, will have to keep an eye out for one of those when my contract expires in January!
      - Sir Stamford says:
        
        7 Aug7 August 15:13
        
        Kathy
        
        Have a look at this excellent post from November 2012:
        
        https://headforpoints.com/2012/11/09/up-to-25000-clubcard-points-with-pay-monthly-phone-contracts/
        
        Sir Stamford
- Stephen says:
  
  8 Aug8 August 12:39
  
  How does one obtain membership for PTS? Mine has been pending approval for a while.
  - Steve says:
    
    9 Aug9 August 19:18
    
    you need to make posts in the none restricted areas
Mr Bridge says:

7 Aug7 August 09:27

hope this is ok raffles:

tesco managing director:

philip.clarke@uk.tesco.com
- zark says:
  
  7 Aug7 August 09:52
  
  Perhaps a better one for the top is :
  ceo.customerservice@tesco.co.uk
  
  I had an issue a couple of years ago. This reached CEO’s complaints / communications team (as I imagine would the direct email to Mr Clarke) and after a bit of chasing, they were very professional with resolution.