Tesco vs. Asda and acceptance of Coupons

Polly

My local Tesco are really picky and won't take vouchers for anything I haven't bought. Even tried to refuse a £3 voucher from KP crisp as the packs I had bought came to only £2.18. Don't seem to have any luck with them and no other stores for miles.

pursestring

My local Tesco are really picky and won't take vouchers for anything I haven't bought.  Even tried to refuse a £3 voucher from KP crisp as the packs I had bought came to only £2.18.  Don't seem to have any luck with them and no other stores for miles.

You're not alone, Happychick; of the two Tescos near me one doesn't take any vouchers at all unless you buy the item. The other store only takes one voucher per transaction.

I find Asda in Clapham is far better and I don't shop in Tesco's anymore as a result ;D.

By the way, the two Tesco stores are Dean Street (off Oxford Street) and Warwick Way in Pimlico.

scoper_2

My local Asda will take any vouchers up to £5 on each transaction whether you buy them or not.

waverley

Has anyone any thoughts as to what can be done to get the big supermarkets to stop having different coupon rules not only per branch, but per check-out! It's not rocket science to produce a few simple rules surely.

I'm fed up being the cause of delaying other customers in the queue due only to the inefficiency of the stores.

It's their industry that makes it possible for us to have the coupons in the first place. If their business was run in the same chaotic manner they would be bankrupt.

Tim_L

This has been discussed here:

http://!!!!!!.com/6834v Moderator action:- Link shortened.

lulabell

I had a mixed result in tesco this morning. The lad took the whisky voucher and a £5 off £50 spend voucher from sainsburys - even though I only spent £48 but would only accept ONE of my other vouchers as I hadn't bought any of the items BAH!:( so I only got £8 off instead of £18. It's like a lottery every time I go to tesco, sometimes it pays off and sometimes it doesn't. This morning was worth the 5 mile bike ride though to use them!
An exhausted Lulabell :P

quoia

Has anyone any thoughts as to what can be done to get the big supermarkets to stop having different coupon rules not only per branch, but per check-out!  It's not rocket science to produce a few simple rules surely.

I'm fed up being the cause of delaying other customers in the queue due only to the inefficiency of the stores.

It's their industry that makes it possible for us to have the coupons in the first place.  If their business was run in the same chaotic manner they would be bankrupt.

To prevent "I'm fed up being the cause of delaying other customers in the queue due only to the inefficiency of the stores" I suggest you read the terms and conditions of all the coupons and vouchers you hand in and ADHERE to them.
Buy the product concerned and present the coupon before its expiry date. Then there will never be a problem.

Alternatively if you are trying to get SOMETHING FOR NOTHING you could go to the customer service desk and show them all your coupons BEFORE you go shopping. Remember the name of the supervisor you speak to and if there is a problem at the checkout get the operator to speak to the same person.


I'd suggest you do not rock the boat otherwise this discount bonus could quite likely vanish altogether.

As for:
"It's their industry that makes it possible for us to have the coupons in the first place. If their business was run in the same chaotic manner they would be bankrupt"

Firstly if Heinz produce a coupon it is not the concern of Asda or Tesco with regards to its redemption and they do not have to accept any coupons at their checkouts if they do not want to. In fact I believe there are some store chains that have a "no coupon" policy. I think you are confusing manufacturers with retailers.

With regards to being "bankrupt", I'd suggest that most of what they do is to PREVENT this happening and it is your actions that is more likely to cause this.

Heinz might produce a coupon to promote a new range or increase sales on a product (especially if they have a temporary reduction in production costs - eg. bumper harvest of the bean crop etc.) but that is no good to them if you use the same coupon to effectively buy a dozen of Asda's own brand eggs.
You will see that many coupons actually state that if they are redeemed without purchasing the product under the full terms and conditions this constitutes FRAUD !

If Asda or Tesco want to take them and throw them in the bin, then that is up to them and may well vary from store to store at the manager's discretion depending upon turnover and sales margins etc. and what can be cosidered to be an acceptable level of wastage.
If they have an agreement of some sort with the manufacturers (eg Heinz) about having coupons "honoured" when accepted outside the terms and conditions printed on them, then that is to our benefit.
If both Asda and Tesco redeem 100,000 fraudulenty accepted £1 Heinz vouchers each month for a year, that would cost Heinz almost £2.5million.

How did I come up with 100,000 a month?
Sounds a lot doesn't it? Far too high ?
Well 100,000 a month is about 3300 a day.
I'm sure that both Asda and Tesco have quite a few more than 330 stores each nationwide, but working on this figure, that equates to 10 per store per day.
Given the long hours of opening that is 1 coupon about every 2 hours !!!!!!
Not very often really is it?

Double the number of stores and double the redemption rate to about 1 an hour and Heinz would get a "fraudulent" bill of about £10 million !!!!

Maybe to recoup this sort of money Asda and Tesco "take a chance" that there are no questions asked by the manufacturer about how they were accepted. Especially if Asda and Tesco know they both sell 2 or 3 million tins of Heinz beanz EVERY DAY.

Maybe Heinz or Kelloggs or other giants of the food industry accept that there will be a level of illegal redemption but in the great scheme of things, promotions and advertising etc.., this is "small change" and would cost more (or at least a very significant proportion) to police and regulate to a worthwhile position.
This may be closer to the truth since I presume the recent Try Me Free by Nestlé of certain Aero and Double chocolate products, must have very high additional costs.
Yes, there is no way around not buying the product since you need the special wrappers and till receipt in some instances, and Nestlé will refund the full amounts paid. BUT, they are paying for a FREEPOST address for all applicatons, they have to pay for all labour in processing each individual request (not a single weekly/monthly pre-processed totalised "bill" from Asda/Tesco) checking multiple "same household" addresses, and pay bank charges for the thousands (maybe millions) of cheques they will be sending out.
All that to me says VERY EXPENSIVE - proabably at least 2 or 3 times more than just giving it away in the first place.

Just be thankful that some checkout operators at some places take some coupons sometimes !

MOTTO.

If they do, they do.
If they don't, they don't.
Try again another day
Change the coupons.
Change the store.
Don't argue or complain, accept it.

Scottish_Saver_2

Hi,
After having e-coupons refused by Tesco, I asked Tesco for a definative statement about acceptance of coupons.
I subsequently received a letter giving the same answer as the many e-mails in various chat forums. However the advantage of this letter is the fact that the reply is on Tesco letterhead which should help if one has to argue at a store.

I have put a .jpg of the letter if anyone is interested at

http://junk.paulm.com/TESCO_LETTER.JPG

littlemisscheap

Update Upton Park store (just turn left out of station and walk 50 yds):-

Now official policy of this store is to take 5 coupons per transaction....

jellyhead

asda's rule is ten percent. they have it printed in their literature. i tried to use luncheon vouchers to buy lunch and wasn't allowed to because you have to spend £10 to redeem a £1 voucher. it's a definite policy, the ten percent one and you have to admit it's a pretty good one. my asda don't accept internet coupons but if you can get hold of nappy vouchers, etc. they will take them up to the value of ten percent of the shopping. that's a pretty hefty saving i think, definitely not to be sniffed at. you do sometimes find a checkout operator who takes more than ten percent but not often. i always hope to get a saving on my bill and don't expect more than ten percent.