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Tesco imposing the 30,000 points (72,000 Avios) per quarter cap on Clubcard earning

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About four years ago, Tesco changed the rules of the Clubcard scheme.  A cap was brought in, with the maximum number of points you could earn per quarter capped at 30,000 (so 72,000 Avios or 75,000 Flying Club miles).

This cap was rarely enforced. Everyone assumed that Tesco had brought it in to cover its back if it discovered abuse of the scheme, so that it could strip people of points if it wanted.  There is also an exception for people who earn points from Tesco Bank.

About two years ago, Tesco did have a period where it began to randomly enforce the rule.  A number of people reported having their balances reduced to exactly 30,000 points and receiving just £300 of vouchers.

Tesco Clubcard

It all went quiet again.

Frankly, for the last year, it has been very difficult to earn more than 30,000 points per quarter.  However, the emergence of pay.com virtual Visa cards – which I described in detail here – means that it is suddenly something that a lot of people could achieve relatively easily.

Last week I had a worrying email from reader Simon.

Simon had a substantial VAT bill to pay – almost £20,000.  pay.com cards were freely available where he lived, and he bought as many as he could over the last few weeks.  He ended up with 65,000 Clubcard points.

Just a few days before balances were zeroed out last week, he noticed that his balance had dropped to exactly 30,000 points.

When he rang Tesco to ask what had happened, he was informed that Tesco was imposing the 30,000 points per quarter cap that was outlined in the terms and conditions for the Clubcard scheme (clause 24 if you want to look it up).  It was not willing to give him any further information.

There is very little that Simon can do.  The rules are the rules.  It is difficult to claim he was ‘abusing’ the scheme – buying the pay.com cards meant that he could pay his VAT bill with a credit card whilst avoiding the HMRC 1.4% surcharge, which seems a good enough reason to buy the pay.com cards.  Unfortunately, he has fallen foul of Tesco’s ‘catch all’ rule to weed out what it sees as bad behaviour.

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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 (157)

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

  • Tilly71 says:
    28 Jul28 July 13:40

    New avios suitcase stickers available today, easy 130 avios ☺

  • Froggitt says:
    28 Jul28 July 13:40

    Unlucky Simon. I didn’t know there was a limit either. Most punters would have a go like you did given their circumstances……..I wish I had found Tescos with cards at the time I paid my Corporation Tax last year.

  • sarah says:
    28 Jul28 July 13:49

    Thanks for coming on and sharing Simon, I imagine all of us have made some form of mistake when collecting/ redeeming points, so I’m glad of the advice. Hope its smarts less over time

    • Simon says:
      30 Jul30 July 16:49

      Cheers, Sarah. 🙂 The pain is diminishing a little… albeit slowly, ha.

  • Alan says:
    28 Jul28 July 14:13

    Hi
    I’ve tried everywhere for these 3V cards and rarely find more than 4 in any store (I live in borders of London/Surrey). I find I’m torn between admiration for your luck in finding/clearing so many cards – and also jealousy that I couldn’t find them myself. I do think there’s a bit of inconsistency in the story though – originally it was said the £20k was to settle a VAT bill – how on earth can someone not know they are due to pay such a bill? Either you’re VAT registered or you’re not.
    Either way I think Simon is very lucky to have kept £300 of Tesco points as the big No No where Tesco is concerned seems to be buying anything for business use. VAT is not payable as an individual unless you’re carrying out a VAT registered business – so Tesco could easily have decided to award you zero points for your troubles 🙁

    • TimS says:
      28 Jul28 July 16:38

      True, but Tesco wouldn’t have known the 3V cards wre being used to settle a VAT bill as Tesco only see the transaction purchasing the 3V cards, not the transaction where they are spent.

      Unless Simon declared his intentions for the 3V purchases to Tesco, Mr T wouldn’t have had any idea what they were being spent on.

  • JQ says:
    28 Jul28 July 14:24

    50+ cards in Hatfield Tesco

  • 2bad4ya says:
    28 Jul28 July 16:07

    So say somebody did have a big tax bill to pay – what is the best strategy for paying it off maximising points etc?

    • Tilly71 says:
      28 Jul28 July 16:22

      Use pay.com cards if you can find them, split the purchases between other accounts to not exceed.
      Some have used gospendit cards from tesco also but they carry a fee.

    • CV3V says:
      28 Jul28 July 16:32

      and don’t wait till the last minute to pay it, start paying towards it as soon as you can.

      • Simon H says:
        28 Jul28 July 17:55

        If its due quite soon try buying half before this month end and the other half next month. That way you’ll split your fuel save into 2 months. At the beginning of the year (Jan payment on account self assessment) I ended up with about 400p off a litre that I didn’t fully use even with friends and family using my clubcard. I’ve spread further tax payments across months fairly equally to get around this happening again.

        • square2 says:
          28 Jul28 July 18:13

          Expires

          • Simon H says:
            28 Jul28 July 21:41

            Yes it does expire at the end of August. I should have explained this in more detail.

            I was suggesting that if 2bad4ya has a tax bill that is due now then do half before the end of July which means the fuel save has to be used by the end of August. Similarly the August spend that generates fuel save has to be used by the end of September.

            n.b. Fuel save collecting is due to end on 31st Aug 2015; redemption of fuel save is therefore due to end on 30th Sep 2015

    • Rob says:
      28 Jul28 July 18:54

      Use pay.com cards! There is no other card (unless you want to hit a target spend bonus on a Visa or MasterCard ie IHG Premium Visa free night for £10,000) where the 1.4% fee justifies the return.

      You could open a Tesco current account and settle it with the debit card on that. You get 1 Avios per £8. Personally I couldn’t be bothered though.

  • Ross Parker says:
    28 Jul28 July 18:29

    For me, the rules are part of the fun of this game.

  • Liz says:
    28 Jul28 July 20:22

    I can’t remember if anyone has mentioned before but can you pay your BT bills with these. I just managed to pay one £25 card but now it is declining them!

    • Fenny says:
      28 Jul28 July 20:37

      I’ve been using them for BT easily enough. The only recent BT payments I’ve made were last week when I used up a few odd balances.

    • mark2 says:
      28 Jul28 July 21:02

      BT does not let you pay in advance in my experience. I find it will let me pay each month a sum roughly equal to that month’s charges. Unlike power and council tax where you can usually get well in front.

      • Fenny says:
        28 Jul28 July 23:22

        I do it. I have paid in £150 up front previously, then discovered they won’t let you pay the Line Rental Saver out of your prepaid balance. As long as your bill is not due for payment, just go to the Make a Payment link and pay in £25, or any amount as left on a 3V card, at a time.

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