Tesco's Coupon Policy - Confirmation Please

phill_4 · 24 June 2005 at 2:46PM

From reading this forum (and the experiences with my Mother) I was under the impression that the official policy for coupons at Tescos was as follows:

* They will accept any coupon even if you didn't buy the product (but so long as they sell it)

* They will accept any coupon even if it is for use in a rival supermarket

* The total worth of coupons cannot come to more that 25% of the total bill (unless you have a coupon for a free packet of X and that's all you buy).

Can anybody here who works/worked for Tescos please confirm or correct this?

(Basically I was told that you had to buy the product to use the voucher by a narky checkout guy and refused to call over his boss)

bluep · 24 June 2005 at 3:06PM

Head Office confirmed to me what you were saying with the exception:

They only accept rival supermarket coupons that are total spend i.e. £5 off if you spend £50...NOT specific product coupons from rivals i.e. Sainburys 50p off coke etc...

They will accept any manufacturers coupon as long as they stock the product, its in date and you present ONE of each type of coupon - any more and you have to buy one of the product for each additional coupon

Internet-printed coupons are at the individual's store's discretion (but I haven't had any accepted in teh last few months so I think they have all stopped doing this)

Head Office said there was no % of the total bill it had to come to but in store I was told at that store it was 10% (really annoyed me), I went down the road to the next tescos for my main shop and promptly had 50% of my bill taken in coupons - w00t!

I have this on Tesco's printed letter paper that I asked Head Office to send through to me but the problem is their communication with individual stores and then down to cashiers isn't great. However, at least you know you are in the right if you have your facts straight. I can never be bothered to kick up a huge fuss though and delay the queue behind me to get Customer Services to phone through to head office etc... I will however get the cashier to clarify that they can accept coupons without you buying the product - that's quite a fundamental part of their policy. The rest - % etc.. is difficult to argue at individual stores and I figure that I am luckier some times (50% LOL) than others (10% bah).

Hope this helps

Addy · 24 June 2005 at 3:50PM

I find it varies enormously from store to store and even cashier to cashier within the same store.

Tesco HO seem to have a fairly consistent policy that they quote, but each store interpret it differently and then apply their own rules!

My store is generally currently only taking one voucher per visit - yet CS at the next one further down the road reckon it's 3 vouchers per visit - although this isn't applied at the tills

I can't be doing with the hassle tbh - so end up at Asda where at least I know where I stand - all cashiers in there are aware of that stores' 10% policy.

If you find a Tesco that happily takes your vouchers - cherish it, nurture it and never let it go :rotfl:

whitty · 24 June 2005 at 9:07PM

My local Tesco used to take manufacturers coupons until a couple of months ago, normally saved £5 to £10 on weekly shop. Now they will only take them if you buy it and the tills won't scan the coupon unless the product has been scanned through. Try to get to Asda instead when ever possible at least they still accept up to 10% of the total bill.

lee__48 · 24 June 2005 at 9:26PM

Here's the reply I got from their customer services:

"Any coupons, which display the Tesco logo, are Tesco specific. We only accept these if the products referred to on the coupons are purchased. This is because we negotiate savings with our suppliers on the condition that these actual products will be purchased.

With regard to coupons from brand name manufacturers, we are happy to accept one, even if you have not purchased the product. However, the coupon must be in date and Tesco must sell the item. If you present more than one identical coupon, then you must purchase the same number of products.

This also applies to coupons printed from the Internet. These will only be accepted at the discretion of the Store Manager."

...

"I can confirm that you do not have to buy 2 identical products to use 2 identical coupons, you cannot however, purchase just 1 item and use 2 coupons. So for instance you can use 2 coupons for cat food and buy a bottle of wine and a loaf of bread, as long as you buy the same number of products that you have coupons."

Hope this helps!
Lee

bagby · 25 June 2005 at 4:01PM

I went into Ingleby Barwick Tesco and tried to give them my coupons from the Zing magazine but they wouldnt scan - the girl said Tesco were getting a bit picky about the coupons so ended up paying full price. Im off to Asda again.

hellofreebies · 25 June 2005 at 9:11PM

my asda is infamous for being the most profitable in the whole of southwest england..it so ram jam it really is a war zone at weekends!! anyway to the point a few cashiers have claim that they are only allowed to scan through coupons for under £1 unless you have purchased the item....it was suggested theres nothing stopping me from bring a wad of smaller value coupons...yeah right and keep smiling with the person behind you!! its nearly as silly as the rule of only 3 vouchers per shop..though theres is nothing stopping you from queueing up several time to utilize your vouchers!! to me i think its a case of hitler cashiers or managers that are unhappy that there employee discount is only 5% or whatever menial amount it is and grudge you for making a saving.......

user1234_2 · 25 June 2005 at 9:30PM

It's all really well saying what the Head Office official policy is, it's another matter trying to get a checkout girl and her friend the superviser to know this policy.

Just look at all the posts about people having to argue about mispricing policy at Tesco even though there are hugh posters behind the server's back stating the offical policy!

At the end of the day it is like playing the lottery when you hand those coupons over.

berry_2-2 · 26 June 2005 at 3:29AM

I used to work for tesco ( i was nice honest!). I can safely say that we were not supposed to accept ANY coupons for products that weren't bought. And then one voucher per product.
You could use as many clubcard vouchers as you wanted though, and as many general vouchers as you wanted as long as you satisfied the terms on the coupon. There was no % rule.
If you got someone on a good day, they might take other, extra, vouchers but it really wasn't worth our while as transactions could be checked and if they found out you were doing it there'd be trouble!

I'd agree though that the policy is varied and not that well communicated. If you are in doubt go to customer services. ( you could tell them you forgot to hand over the coupons...) But don't do it too often or they will cotton on.

KG · 26 June 2005 at 11:25AM

We had a running battle with our local tesco last year. So much so that the (very polite) checkout staff started to get to know us and say 'oh yes - you're the ones with the vouchers aren't you'.

Sometimes staff wouldn't even try and put the vouchers through, other times they would be of the attitude 'well if the vouchers scan okay and the till takes the money off we can accept them as payment'.

And that's the key really - try it with a voucher that isn't valid (i.e. from another store or for a product they don't stock) and their tills won't accept the voucher. Try it for an item that store stocks and the till will take the money off. This isn't coincidence, the tills are set up this way because of the policy.

In the end, after speaking to the duty manager, having the matter brought up at the managers meeting, and speaking to the general manager we finally got an email from head office (they're very obliging and will send you an email to confirm their policy - no problem at all).

After this our local store has (reluctantly) accepted that, whether they think the logic is correct or fair, we can use our vouchers. However, the policy does state that the amount of vouchers to be accepted is 'at the magager's discretion' and we are now allowed to use a maximum of 3 vouchers per shop (including valid internet vouchers).

The main problem is that staff aren't told about the policy. When I was a Tesco Till Tart I was never informed of any of the policies and you were just expected to pick them up as we went along. More training is needed I guess.

KG

philldutton · 26 June 2005 at 1:20PM

The staff at my local Tesco make the rules up as they go along. One day i'll go in and use 3/4 vouchers no problem, the next day i'll go in and they will only accept one voucher for the whole shop.

Went in on Friday and the cashier refused to take any vouchers because I hadn't purchased the product. I asked for clarification of company policy and he said that they might accept a coupon from time to time as a "courtesy gesture" but he wasn't going to accept any. I asked him if he was sure that was company policy and he insisted it was. The look on his face as I produced my email from customer services was priceless. Never leave home without it these days.

Tesco's Coupon Policy - Confirmation Please

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