Tesco Delays Its Changes To Its Clubcard Rewards System After Backlash

Weirdly, in this day and age, some people actually choose to have Tesco Clubcards and display such brand loyalty to the supermarket that they manage to get a fair amount of points on them.

Well, it turns out that angered Clubcard users have won a great victory today, as Tesco agreed to honour their Clubcard points after they changed the rules unexpectedly.

Monday brought bad news for those hardy few Clubcard users when Tesco announced that they were going to change the way the Clubcard works.

PA

If you don't know how a Clubcard works, basically, you get points when you shop at Tesco and you can redeem these points for money off or for vouchers from other places.

Tesco decided to alter the rewards process the other day, saying that while all orders for rewards made already will be honoured, users won't be able to cash in vouchers they have saved.

The upshot of this is that some rewards have changed in value and things that could have been ordered with a certain number of points a few days ago no longer can be. In fact, vouchers that were worth four times their face value just went down to just three times face value. Shameless profiteering.

As it turns out, the kind of people who purposefully collect points on a wee card that they got from the shops to save up for a trip to Chessington World of Adventures are somewhat resistant to change. Who saw that one coming?

Luckily for them, Tesco has today announced that they will be (sort of) backtracking on their decision, delaying the drop in reward value until June - giving Clubcard users extra time to order their day out to Bekonscot Model Village or wherever.

They'll also be refunding everyone who cashed in their Clubcard points at three times their face value during the confusion.

PA

Martin Lewis, the founder of Money Saving Expert, championed the U-turn as a victory for the humble shopper.

"They've done the right thing and they're giving those people who have been saving up to get their four-times vouchers some time to redeem them," Lewis said.

It's a small victory against a relentless, oppressive cog in the larger machine of big supermarket dominance. Then again, as we all know, every little helps.

Topics: UK News, Shopping, News, Money, Tesco

Tom Wood

Tom Wood is a freelance journalist and LADbible contributor. He graduated from University of London with a BA in Philosophy before studying for a Masters in Journalism at the University of Salford. He has previously written for the M.E.N Group as well as working for several top professional sports clubs. Contact him on [email protected]

@TPWagwim