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Tesco has lost the auto-convert Avios transfers – that’s why you’ve not got your miles

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It would be funny if it wasn’t for the fact that you will now have to get on the telephone and sort it out.

Last month, Tesco ran a promotion offering 1,500 bonus Avios points if you converted your Clubcard points to Avios AND set your account to auto-convert.

I did this. It was an easy 1,500 Avios for nothing, as you can easily turn off the auto-convert feature afterwards.

Tesco, unfortunately, made a big mistake.

When it sent the list of auto-convert names to Avios, they were formatted as Initial/Surname. They were meant to be formatted as First Name / Surname.

This meant that the names failed to match up with the Avios database.

This meant they couldn’t find your Avios account.

This meant that most people (perhaps everyone) who selected auto-convert have had a new Avios account opened for them, even though they already have one.

I don’t know if Avios or Tesco are going to manually go through the names or not. At the moment, all you can do is ring Avios and ask them to find your duplicate account. They will then merge it with your main account. Avios is aware of the problem and the agents can deal with it quickly, although it will take 24 hours to merge the accounts.

Do NOT ring them on the main 0844 number because you are then paying them via a premium rate for their own mistake. Ring the non-UK number instead, which is 01925 848 693, and keep pressing 1 to confirm that you are ringing from outside the UK. You appear to queue jump with this number as well.

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2024)

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

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

Huge 30,000 points bonus until 12th May 2024 Read our full review

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

Category

Tesco Clubcard

Comments (24)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • shorthauldad says:
    24 May24 May 07:43

    I think Avios.com can resolve this kind of thing via webchat, so no need to use the phone 🙂

    • Rob says:
      24 May24 May 08:14

      I did, by the way, ask Tesco via Twitter for a comment on this. I was promised a reply by the end of yesterday but nothing turned up.

  • MaltapointsTom says:
    24 May24 May 08:27

    Spoke to Avios at length this morning. It seems that not everyone (inc. me, although they confirmed that I am eligible) has had the bonus (in the duplicate account) confirmed by Tesco yet – apparently Tesco are doing this in waves of communication with Avios. All should be completed by 31 May.

    So drill is to phone up ASAP to get all your Avios accounts merged (I had three – one normal, one set up by Tesco, and another set up by Shell), but if you then still have not received the bonus 1500 by 31 May, you need to get back on Avios’ case and they will follow it up with Tesco.

    • Rob says:
      24 May24 May 08:32

      Yes, I am a little concerned about my 1500 bonus ever arriving now as well! Although I haven’t heard of anyone getting the 1500 ‘first time auto-convert’ bonus to post yet.

    • ME2 says:
      24 May24 May 11:30

      I also spoke to Avios this morning.

      As previously noted It seems that not everyone has had the bonus (in the duplicate account) confirmed by Tesco yet

      All should be completed by 31 May, so I was advised to check again after 1 June.

  • Steve says:
    24 May24 May 08:51

    In the long term having more than one Avios account could be useful for any future bonus conversions.

  • James67 says:
    24 May24 May 08:58

    Thx, just sorted mine via online chat but agent told mr bonus points will not be credited until end of month.

  • The_Pope says:
    24 May24 May 09:35

    If you get a message that says “the number you have dialed is for customers calling from outside the UK. Please redial using 0844…”

    Just put 141 in front of the number and call 01925 848 693 and their poxy system won’t be able to detect that you’re calling from the UK and you’ll go straight through.

    Handy if you’ve got a “free UK evening calls” plan on your landline 🙂

  • Robert says:
    24 May24 May 10:59

    Well after reading this I contacted Avios via web chat and the helpful agent couldn’t find a duplicate account and suggested I contact Tesco. I spoke with Club Card and it appears my points never got transferred to Avios so they have put them back onto my Club Card. Will have to wait for another offer to come along.

  • flyforfun says:
    24 May24 May 11:12

    Wouldn’t it be easier if Tesco got people to enter their BAEC/Avios account numbers instead of relying on a database match up working? It isn’t that hard to cut and paste your account number into the Tesco screen is it?

    Had a similar thing happen to me with MBNA when I opened an AAdvantage card. Told them to sort it out as it was there fault not mine. They wanted me to contact AAdvantage and do it. Complained and got some compensation.

  • steve says:
    24 May24 May 11:54

    Thanks for the heads up. I sorted mine out via online chat this morning, and the points are already in my account approximately 3 hours later. I was told the same as everyone else regarding the bonus – it should arrive by 31 May.

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