Tesco Coupon policy Complaint thread

Domthemon

LizzieS wrote: »

1) I'm not moaning.
2) Correct title is complaining about TESCO withdrawing THEIR policy
3) First few pages are full of accusations directed not at Tesco, but at your (that is a a collective your, not just you personally) idea that you own the information and Martin should not have published it on GMTV
4) There is the odd comment mixed in about how a few abused the scheme.
5) Everyone responding to you (again not meaning you personally) has tried to widen your vision and correct a few statements.
6) You have no right to dictate what people post or insist people should only post if they agree your (as before) opinion.
7) There has been a lot of constructive comments to help fill the hole in your lost budget.
8) Despite repeated attempts, some are still making the same nasty comments instead of looking constructively at how Tesco may be encouraged to re-introduce a smaller scheme.
9) Certain comments on here will be doing nothing to encourage Tesco to change their mind.

I think you are missing the point that whilst yes people have suggested ways to 'fill the hole', many of us are peeved that there is a hole there and think its not coincidental that the hole appeared just after you-know-who appeared on TV.

A decent moneysaver, a champion of MSE, would utilise ALL ways of saving money, so when one goes, they then lose a way to save money.

Yes on average many will have saved more through other methods from MSE and/or PTS and/or UKHD that they ever saved in MOC's alone. They are still however not saving as much as they were because of what's happened.

Not moaning either, just explaining. I'm amused that people think the keen couponers wouldn't be aware of other ways to save!

Domthemon

moggylover wrote: »

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

If this is the best response you can make to a well put case against what you have written then the only word that comes to mind is 'troll'

tescoisace

Coupon-mad wrote: »

BTW, those who were not regulars on the printable coupons thread would not be aware of this:

About 2 months ago, several of us emailed 'SmartCoupons' (a classic oxymoron if ever I saw one!) when we spotted their new system was flawed.

And some on the coupons threads also emailed the manufacturers who had started using these new-style coupons. This was before Pedigree even got on the same system.

They were all very clearly warned that the system was allowing coupons to be duplicated, when that shouldn't have been possible. Pedigree was also emailed by several members here - the potential for fraud was obvious.

I don't think SmartCoupons replied at all.

hi coupon mad,
no i don't think they did reply.....but at least we tried!! greed from the abusers, smart coupon site, tv, and even tesco themselves (they could have blocked the coupon, like they did with mitchum) .......were all contributing factors, and of course it was all made available to the public, and offered to them on a plate.

LizzieS_2

[QUOTE=Coupon-mad;25788049Can I correct a couple of statements from earlier? Please forgive me if any of these were not from you, if so my mistake but still worth putting right:

1. It was stated as if it was fact, that Asda allowed coupons 'years ago' but changed the policy 'long before sites like this existed'? Strange, on the moc thread we all knew that Asda in fact only changed their policy a few months ago. This time last year they were still allowing coupons without product purchase.

2. Then it was said on this thread that 'Tesco changed its policy about a year ago to 2 coupons per product not purchased'. Completely wrong info - from a Tesco employee as well! The policy never actually 'changed' at that time, a many-years-old policy was simply clarified in a CS Update and that was over 2 years ago (June 2007). And the policy was never '2 coupons...blah blah', it was 1 of each coupon if not buying the product.

HTH
[/QUOTE]

The first one was mine and was stated from a past experience.

LizzieS_2

DomtheMon wrote: »

I think you are missing the point that whilst yes people have suggested ways to 'fill the hole', many of us are peeved that there is a hole there and think its not coincidental that the hole appeared just after you-know-who appeared on TV.

A decent moneysaver, a champion of MSE, would utilise ALL ways of saving money, so when one goes, they then lose a way to save money.

Yes on average many will have saved more through other methods from MSE and/or PTS and/or UKHD that they ever saved in MOC's alone. They are still however not saving as much as they were because of what's happened.

Not moaning either, just explaining. I'm amused that people think the keen couponers wouldn't be aware of other ways to save!

Dom, people offered those ideas in kindness. Yes you may already be aware and using them, but it is not right to throw it back in their faces as you have just done.

LizzieS_2

Dom. Post 150.

I have answered many of the points you raise there, just not done all in one single post.

moggylover

DomtheMon wrote: »

If this is the best response you can make to a well put case against what you have written then the only word that comes to mind is 'troll'

I did not find it particularly well put but I found the accusation of slander entirely rich considering that the couponers here mostly appear to have come on to slander Martin Lewis for doing exactly what his terms and conditions of use of HIS site allow him to do!

moggylover

DomtheMon wrote: »

What amazes me about this thread is this:

A lot of us have legitimately used coupons, following tesco's not advertised policy, for many years. Many of us have asked for clarification (like me) and got it in writing (like me). We have then worked to this policy.

We have made reasoned arguments why we are unhappy about Martin spouting off on MSE, my main one being this was not advertised by Tesco, was not sustainable for millions to do. Its been on here and PTS for years, where those who take the time to read and look find it and apply it. Relatively few, a few thousand probably, it was sustainable. Not a secret, its here if you want to find it, and has been for years: sustainable. Telling millions about something its not sustainable for even tens of thousands to do is just pointless because it leads to it being withdrawn from the few that used it, so nobody saves. Simple, reasoned argument.

In response we get accused of fraud, accused of having no lives, told to get jobs or find other ways to save money!!! Why on earth should those of us like me, who work full time, earn cashback and shop around (and yes I thank Martin for that), save where I can..... why on earth can I not also use coupons when I have a letter from Tesco telling me 'we are happy to...' take coupons to the full value of the shop?!?! This is Moneysavingexpert - why shouldn't I save as much as I can?!

What also amazes me is those who are making these silly arguments against those who use coupons, and saying of course Martin should proclaim every offer to everyone in the land..... but cannot come up with a well argued point against what I have said above, ie that some things are indeed by Martin's own admission, loopholes. By definition some 'loopholes' are not sustainable for hundreds of thousands of people (those that have been reported on boards and happily exploited by a small number of members that have found them, reported them knowing a small number will bother to read up and find the info and enjoy it too, its ok to share with a few but if thousands do it theres either not enough stock or the cat will be out of the bag and it gets pulled) - I simply don't understand why Martin wants to get such things to a big audience, when in these cases not only is most of that audience going to be disappointed but those who found the information and posted it, or those who diligently spend time searching the site will then be disappointed too.

Naturally more people will keep things quiet and just tell a few friends privately.

Lets look at the perfume 500 points on £8 spend. It was on PTS and lots of us were getting them no problems. It went on here and still they could be found. Those keen moneysavers who regularly bother to trawl the boards found the offer and took advantage. Next week it went into the newsletter email. Within 24 hours we couldn't find them anywhere.

Now if I am selfish for not wanting such things presented to the masses on a plate then OK, yes, I am selfish. BUT then wait for it, Martin then says on here I want it kept secret, members say I want it for me, me, me and others say he should publicise it. Fact is it was here, fact is this board is open to all who bother to join and then bother to look up the offers. Fact is those that hunt the treasure get the prize.

The problem is Martin seems intent not only to go on TV and publicise MSE generally and talk about general stuff we can all enjoy (0% cards, cashback, claiming stuff back, shopping around for utilities etc) but wants to excitedly say to an audience of millions 'there is some buried treasure, enough for 1000 people, and it is buried at this point here (waves a map around). The 1000 people on here and PTS, UkHotDeals etc who have just found the buried treasure through bothering to read and work out where it is, are then swamped by hoardes who have been handed it on a plate by Martin and take it from in front of them.

Can you not see the argument, and can you not try and understand why we feel a bit peeved? So Martin wasn't the catalyst to it being withdrawn you say? Well after 10-15 years its a big coincidence it goes just after his TV appearance! But even if it was coincidence, why spout about it when it was never something Tesco wanted to advertise to the masses anyway, and were clearly never going to allow the masses to use?

I've made a well argued case but I don't see any well argued responses, just insults from non-couponers waffling about fraud and me,me,me and not wanting to share, all of which has been calmly and factually refuted. The impression I can only gain is that those people, Martin included, do not have a valid argument against our complaints?

Actually, that one does seem fairly well put to me! However, I do not think that there was anything wrong with the use of the coupons in the circumstances of Tescos policy and their terms and conditions. I also do not think there was anything wrong with Martin publicising it in view of his terms and conditions. What I DO think is wrong is people coming onto HIS site to [EMAIL="sl@g"]sl@g[/EMAIL] him off! Simple really - if you don't like his terms and conditions (or haven't bothered to read them) then do not come to his site:D.

I don't always agree with everything he suggests: I do not consider that gives me the right to slander him because of it! Seems that others on here did not like it when they felt that someone might be slagging them off either;)

LizzieS_2

The audience of GMTV (as explained earlier) was statistically not going to make Tescos scheme unsustainable.

Martins appearance on GMTV is co-incidental, not a guarantee that he was the reason for the change as many posts suggest.

You couponers know how to push the boundaries (not saying you personally actually do so), so do many thousands more who read this site and other sites.

Pedigree chum was a voucher that could be abused (or cleverly legimately used) and had a good value attached to it (not the usual circa 50p).

No-one other than the people who began their shopping rampage actually knows how they came to know.

Couponers are naturally disappointed.

As I have said earlier, can we just leave the history and focus on trying to encourage Tesco to re-introduce some form of scheme?

Domthemon

moggylover wrote: »

I did not find it particularly well put but I found the accusation of slander entirely rich considering that the couponers here mostly appear to have come on to slander Martin Lewis for doing exactly what his terms and conditions of use of HIS site allow him to do!

Doesn't make it right or acceptable. Next response is 'well dont come on here then'. Actually some couponers don't come on here. However they have been affected by the change of policy, badly affected. The info wasn't excusive to MSE, coupon users weren't exclusive to MSE. It is not some Martin Lewis/MSE exclusive information that he owns. I find it laughable that people think he is above recriminations simply because he runs this (profit making) website, and that he can do as he likes regardless of how his actions impact on others simply because he runs this website.