How to redeem your Virgin Points at Greggs – a step-by-step guide!

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This is actually a serious article, although I accept that you may have your doubts ….

When the Virgin Red app launched earlier this year as the new ‘home’ for your Virgin Points, the ability to redeem your points at Greggs became – for better or worse – the highest profile redemption.

Whilst most Head for Points readers would see redeeming for ANA’s amazing new business and First Class seats to Tokyo to be the ultimate redemption, it was Greggs that people were talking about.

If you are not a Virgin Red member, you can register for free here.

How do you redeem Virgin Points at Greggs?

I was interested to see how the redemption process works and how smooth it is.

Whilst the areas where I live and work are Greggs-free zones, a trip to Bath this week gave me an opportunity to test it out.

The first thing to say is that Greggs redemptions are not great value. You are basically getting 0.5p per Virgin Point when you redeem, and 0.5p per Virgin Point is weak.

You can smash this with a business class flight redemption, especially Delta’s £4 taxes flights from the US to Europe or the ANA redemption to Japan I mentioned earlier.

A Greggs sausage roll costs £1, at least in Bath, and it requires 200 Virgin Points. You’re getting exactly 0.5p.

Redeeming via the Virgin Red app

Assuming that you have registered for Virgin Red and then downloaded the Virgin Red app and linked it to your Virgin Atlantic account, the first thing to do is find Greggs products on the long list of redemptions. Unless you filter by ‘Food and Drink’ it will take a while.

This is what you are looking for, if a sausage roll is your goal:

Click into it and you see a big ‘Redeem’ button:

The points are deducted from your account and a QR code created. It pops up on screen, and I would recommend saving it as a screenshot in case you have reception problems when you are inside the store:

The voucher is valid for a month. You can also see it inside the ‘Vouchers’ section of the Virgin Red app:

There is some small print which is emailed to you after you have redeemed. Here are the highlights:

Code is only valid for either a single Sausage Roll or Vegan Sausage Roll
Code is redeemable with Greggs up until the ‘Valid Until’ date noted on the code
Only one code can be used per person per visit
Subject to availability and while stocks lasts. If there are no Sausage Rolls or Vegan Sausage Rolls available, an alternative product may be supplied by Greggs (at equal or lesser value) but this is not guaranteed.
Valid for take away only – product cannot be consumed in store
Virgin Red codes are not valid / accepted at Greggs stores located within service stations
Code is non-refundable, non-transferable and has no cash value
Codes do not qualify for a Greggs Rewards stamp and they cannot be added to the Greggs Rewards app

How does it work in practice?

It is a slick process, I have to admit.

Having tracked down a branch of Greggs, I asked for a sausage roll and scanned the QR code on a scanner at the till when asked to pay.

It scanned first time and I was left with nothing to pay.

Caffe Nero redemptions with Nectar points work in exactly the same way. Using 350 Nectar points for a Caffe Nero drink – any drink, any size – is the best way of spending Nectar points. This offer comes and goes, however, and is not currently available.

Conclusion

Using your Virgin Points at Greggs isn’t a great way to redeem if you’re looking to maximise the value you get.

However, I am impressed by the technology behind it and by the way that Virgin Red has got it working. I’m sure there are other retailers who would be interested in similar spontaneous redemptions, especially those who – like Pret – already have QR code scanners in place at their tills.

What Virgin Red needs to do is find someone like Caffe Nero who is willing to offer outsize value in the hope of picking up additional sales. It’s the croissant or cake you buy with your coffee that encourages Nero to offer such a good deal to Nectar in the first place.

You can find out more about Virgin Red, and register for free, here.

How to earn Virgin Points from UK credit cards (December 2021)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Virgin Points from UK credit cards. Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses.

You can choose from two official Virgin Atlantic credit cards (apply here, one has a bonus of 15,000 points):

Virgin Atlantic Reward Mastercard

The UK’s most generous free Visa or Mastercard at 0.75 points / £1 Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

15,000 points bonus and the most generous non-Amex for day to day spending Read our full review

You can also earn Virgin Points from various American Express cards – and these have sign-up bonuses too.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is FREE for a year and comes with 20,000 Membership Rewards points, which convert into 20,000 Virgin Points: