Tesco Goldsmiths Exchange x4 Excuse not to honour

hdiuk_com · 4 December 2012 at 1:08PM

I am a very loyal customer of Tesco, Very Loyal. I spend a lot of money withthem in store, Online, Buying petrol and most of all, I am one of the originalTesco Platinum Credit card customers who earn a whopping 1 point for every twopounds spent on the card. Hewould love that card

Tesco do not offer that card anymore so I am Lucky I kept it and stillbenefit from the original offer.

So I like to collect points. Every time I get a voucher or an offer fordouble points, I play the game and in return Tesco pay up with masses of clubcard points. The most are as I said above earned from my using the credit card.I mostly pay using the TPC (Tesco Platinum card) and simply pay it off rightaway. Nothing wrong with that, They offer 30 days interest free if you do thatas do many other cards. They earn money from merchant processing fees, I earnpoints and everyone is happy.

Sometimes I use the card to pay for business things and then pay it off aswith everything else. I did previously have a run in with Tesco Bank wherebythey were putting payment hold on the money I way paying back. They explainedthat because I was paying back in one month more than my total credit limit,the payment holds were automatic. I did tell them I sometimes used the card forbusiness bills and they said there was no problem as long and I keep payingthem back. HAPPY DAYS THEN!

So now after a year of hardcore collecting clubcard points, I see the magicx4 exchange promotion on my beloved Goldsmiths Vouchers. Wow, I got just over£1000 worth of clubcard points I have been saving up and X4, that's a lovelyChristmas gift.

So I go to the Clubcard exchange website and buy my exchange with just a fewhours left to get the X4 rubbing my hands with glee. I have had GoldsmithsVouchers three times before and have purchased some lovely watches to keep forlife. A Brilliant promotion that has seen me become very very loyal to Tesco fortheir generosity.

As I write this, I am still hoping Tesco sort it out as I still have lovefor them

OK Yesterday as I was in the middle of doing an Export to the USAat work when the Phone rings. "Hello Mr Saunders, This is Kerry Bestcalling from Tesco Exchange, Regarding your recent booking for Goldsmithsvouchers, Because of the size of the exchange I want to do a securitycheck".

OK, I told her, I am fine with that. After all, I have earned the pointsfair and square, I haven't done any dodgy dealings that might have awarded mewith a million stolen points. Of course, I said what can I tell you.

Mr Saunders, We noticed that you paid for some business things on yourCredit card blah blah blah and clubcards cannot be earned on Businesspurchases. So the outcome is we are not willing to exchange £280 of your totalrequest into Goldsmiths Vouchers although we will refund them back to yourclubcard and you can use them to spend in store.

So she is saying, I can still have the points that apparently I earned frombusiness and shouldn't have had but I cant exchange them to Rewards.

Hold on I said, I earned those points for using the Credit card it was theactual use of the card. It does not matter what I bought, its using the cardthat earns the points 1 point for every two pounds spent. Nowhere did it eversay except for when you pay a bill related to a product or service that couldbe considered as a business expense.

Now Remember that Tesco probably earn at least 1% from everything I spend onthat card. For every £100 I spend, they probably get at least £1 from merchantfees, that excludes any interest they might sneakily charge me because I wastwo pounds short on a full months repayment or went over the limit and they chargeme £12 etc.

So they get £1 for every £100 I spend and I spend Thousands The value of thepoints they give back equals 50p for every £100 I spend so They reward me touse the card. SIMPLE. It is good for them and they show their appreciation bygiving me points on what I pay for no matter if thats a box of chocolates or aBox of packing tape.

You get the jist...

Now it comes to my taking advantage of the Exchange to Goldsmiths vouchersand Tesco have decided that they will find an excuse to deny me the reward theyencouraged me to earn.

While trying to make my point to this Kerry Best, I just clarified that itwas her decision to upset a loyal Tesco customer and she admitted yes it washer decision. OK, Fine I said keep the order open while I email to customerrelations.

she wanted to refund the total order back to my clubcard. Remember that thex4 is now x3 as the special limited time exchange has passed. Anyone wouldthink that they don't want to give me my x4 reward because they didn't expectsuch a high exchange. No, I will keep my order open while I complain thankyou..

Customer relations email only [EMAIL="customer.relations@tescofreetime.com"]customer.relations@tescofreetime.com[/EMAIL]

Apparently they will reply within 24 hours but now I have written and sentthe email, it takes 48 hours.

Anyone would think they are hoping I will give up and not make a fuss.

I called Tesco bank and asked for a copy of the original TOS for the TPC andthe agent told me that he saw nothing that related to Clubcard and what I couldand couldn't spend on my card, I asked him "Do you think Tesco would liketo lose my business where I use the Credit Card as he could see what I spend"He advised me to write a complaint to Head office.

Remember that if I had an Amex card, I would also get rewards for spendingon it. I suggested to Tesco bank, maybe an Amex reward card would be moresuited to my needs? Oh no sir, We are happy you are a customer please do keepusing your Tesco card.

I then called Clubcard who are apparently a different department fromClubcard rewards Tesco Freetime. The Clubcard agent said that I have earned thepoints, they were my points and that I should be able to exchange them fair andsquare. He did say that although they are clubcard, it is this Tesco Freetimewho make decisions on Exchanges.

So I called Clubcard rewards (Tesco Freetime) back and demanded to speak toa manager who I thought would have more of a professional attitude towardsTesco customer loyalty and customer resolutions etc. After all, Tesco make ahell of a lot of revenue from my loyalty.

Hello Mr Saunders, I am Tess, I am a Jobs worth Team leader here at TesoClubcard rewards Blah Blah. Sorry your not entitled to the exchange as my colleague(Friend) has told you etc etc.

OK I said, I explained my loyalty, explained how much I spend etc and Icannot understand how you can say I am not entitled to the clubcard points BUTyou will refund them.

The reply I got to that was along the lines, Unless you accept it and goaway, we can revoke the points you earned etc.

Attitude is, Although I could resolve this to your satisfaction, I am notgoing to because I do not have to and I am not going to keep going over this.Go on, Write to customer resolutions because they wont help you either. We areThe Great Tesco Freetime.

The funny thing I saw this morning on the Tesco customer servicesrecruitment website was that Tesco strive to build Lifetime brand loyalty. Theylove their customers and will do anything for them. Customer is always rightespecially when they actually are!

What a Tangled web they weave.

The upshot is now, I am waiting for a response from my email to theircustomer relations. I CC'd customer service but apparently they are a differentdepartment who cannot help.

What is sickening to me, Tesco didn't mind me spending and using my card toearn the points. They made a lot of revenue from it. Now when I try and takeadvantage of the Goldsmiths promotion where they will have to pay somethingback, They are starting to quote from Terms and conditions that could probablybe argued in court as sketchy to say the least.

Here is hoping that the CEO of Tesco will contact me personally and send mea voucher for 20,000 extra points on my next shop of £10 or more in store oronline but if he did, I probably would run into trouble exchanging the pointsto vouchers because he wasn't entitled to give me the points in the firstplace.........

Yes I do still love you Tesco, You pain my heart making me write this!!!

avstar · 4 December 2012 at 1:25PM

Might be better moving this somewhere else as it's not a grabbit.

Tesco don't like hard core points collectors, they like the average shopper who collects a tenner in points per quarter and maybe gets a meal out of it or spends in store. And they are quite strict on no clubcard points for business transactions.

funnyguy · 4 December 2012 at 1:29PM

good post though for those suffering from insomnia

sinw · 4 December 2012 at 1:29PM

This is one that not going get sorted overnight, you will have to fight. Email CEO direct, keep all paperwork etc try to communicate though paper or email only. Contact consumer direct, the papers any anyone who will listen. You must flagged up on the system, you say you had some nice watches in the past, they not cheap so you must been big points earner. Paid to shop would be your best place for advise they have a good thread on bonus ponts.

Philip.clarke@uk.tesco.com

veruccasalt · 4 December 2012 at 1:32PM

As my daughter would say: "Loooooool"......

parklaneshaz · 4 December 2012 at 1:37PM

I understand your need to vent, but in the process of reading I probably missed out on a few genuine GRABBITS! lol
Thanks you probably just saved me a whole 20 minutes of spending time = a massive saving if my recent days are anything to go by!
Hope you get it sorted.

houseofpat · 4 December 2012 at 2:30PM

I looked on the Tesco website for clubcard terms and conditions

http://www.tesco.com/clubcard/clubcard/terms.asp#clubcard_terms

If you click Clubcard tems and conditions, item 10 says.

"The scheme is only for personal and consumer use. Clubcard cards and key fobs cannot be used for any business transaction or purpose"

I know this probably doesn't help but this is probably the t&c's they will refer you to.

hdiuk_com · 4 December 2012 at 3:24PM

sinw wrote: »

This is one that not going get sorted overnight, you will have to fight. Email CEO direct, keep all paperwork etc try to communicate though paper or email only. Contact consumer direct, the papers any anyone who will listen. You must flagged up on the system, you say you had some nice watches in the past, they not cheap so you must been big points earner. Paid to shop would be your best place for advise they have a good thread on bonus ponts.

[EMAIL="Philip.clarke@uk.tesco.com"]Philip.clarke@uk.tesco.com[/EMAIL]

Rhanks for that email address, I will forward a copy of the mail I sent to Customer services. Also let him know I contacted Watchdog

pinkteapot · 4 December 2012 at 5:41PM

So they still converted £720 of vouchers into £2880 of Goldsmiths vouchers? That'll still buy you a nice watch.

pinkteapot · 4 December 2012 at 5:43PM

p.s. 50p back per £100 spent is just 0.5%. Even quadrupled through the voucher exchange, it's only 2% and you're limited to one particular shop for spending them. Have a look at Martin's best buy cashback credit cards. We get 1.5% cashback on most of our spending with the Amex Platinum Card (had ours for a few years so not sure if it's still available or still a best buy). Would rather have cash than faff about with Tesco's...