TESCO - Important changes to their Deals - read this!!!

[Mel B]

With effect from 6 December 2010 you will no longer get 4 x the face value of the Tesco vouchers when exchanged for Deals vouchers, instead it will only be 3 x the face value.

 

So for every £2.50 currently exchanged for a deal (eg for Eurotunnel, Irish Ferries etc), you get the equivalent of £10.00, but from 6 December 2010 you'll only get the equivalent of £7.50.

 

So, if you're planning a trip using your vouchers, better to get something booked by 6 December, otherwise you'll lose out.

[euroserv]

Probably due to Tesco spending a fortune telling everyone that they don't do sponsorship; Just expensive TV and billboard ads.

 

Do they think we is stupid?

 

Nick

[Klyne]

euroserv - 2010-10-18 5:30 PM

 

Probably due to Tesco spending a fortune telling everyone that they don't do sponsorship; Just expensive TV and billboard ads.

 

Do they think we is stupid?

 

Nick

 

Over the years I have failed to understand how the Tesco offer could be so good. Even at 3X its a lot better than most. Apparently reducing the times they up the value could well bring more people on board so it will be interesting to see how things develop.

 

David

[Mardee]

The leaflet I got said they were continuing with double points so even at 3x face value it is still better than 4x on single points

Margaret

[PJay]

Mel

Thanks for that tip. I have collected vouchers to use on tunnel, was going to wait until next year to exchange them. I still can't decide whether to use them or not, as we live 10 mins from Portsmouth Ferry, and three hours from Folkestone/Dover. When you work out the cost of the trip to Dover,(Fuel) plus the travel on the French side, as we go to Brittany first then Spain, then the trip home after, we may just as well pay the extra for the fast cat, (be in Cherburg in 3 hours) It is also less hassle for us.

We have never been on/in the Tunnel, so was thinking of going , just for the experience. Will have to think about it before dec ember.

PJay

[Mickt]

Note that when buying fuel from Tesco in future , from 1st Nov, you will only get 1 point for every £2.00 spent instead of the 1 point for every pound.That is unless you use your Tesco credit card then you will get 2 points for every £2.00

[Mel B]

Mardee - 2010-10-18 10:05 PM

 

The leaflet I got said they were continuing with double points so even at 3x face value it is still better than 4x on single points

Margaret

 

I agree with that, however, we've been saving up our points (gained singly in most cases) so we'd actually lose some of their value if we don't spend them before 6 December.

 

I can feel a trip to Ireland and France coming on in the new year!!! B-)

[Mardee]

I've just checked on Tesco Rewards website. The Reward vouchers are valid for 6 months once issued so 4x vouchers can be used to book until May

Margaret

[Den]

Tesco are very clever they have the largest slice of business by giving the customer what he wants, and then when hooked, partially pull the plug and make even more enormous profits to fund there overseas investments.

[Mel B]

Mardee - 2010-10-20 9:41 AM

 

I've just checked on Tesco Rewards website. The Reward vouchers are valid for 6 months once issued so 4x vouchers can be used to book until May

Margaret

 

Hi Mardee

 

You are indeed correct ... the only problem is you need to know by 6 December WHAT you want to spend them all on!!! :D

[lennyhb]

Air miles have been reduced as well but double points are here to stay.

 

 

[Brian Kirby]

Mel B - 2010-10-19 7:34 PM

Mardee - 2010-10-18 10:05 PM The leaflet I got said they were continuing with double points so even at 3x face value it is still better than 4x on single points Margaret

I agree with that, however, we've been saving up our points (gained singly in most cases) so we'd actually lose some of their value if we don't spend them before 6 December. I can feel a trip to Ireland and France coming on in the new year!!! B-)

Yes, maybe Mel, but will you really regain that value by making trips merely to secure it?  If you were planning the trips in any case, I agree.

But making trips merely to maximise the benefit, in terms purely of the channel tunnel crossing cost, seems a bit perverse to me.  What about all those other costs, like fuel, food, incidentals etc?  You'll still incur them. 

Sounds a bit like the bloke who claimed he'd lost a thousand quid, because he'd for gotten to put £10 on the 100:1 winner at Cheltenham.  :-D

[Mel B]

I'm not that daft Brian! 8-)

 

We are wanting to do a trip to France/Germany next year and a trip to Ireland too, as we usually have 2 long holidays (2-3 weeks duration) but at the moment I can't say for sure about the Ireland trip because we need to be able to take Lily up into the passenger area (in a suitable carrier) because we cannot leave her in the motorhome, or put her in one of the kennels on the car deck. :-(

 

When we went on the ferries last year she was traumatised and we now have a dog that frets (panting and shaking) when we travel in the motorhome and if she see an overhead gantry (such as on a motorway), or a bridge etc she get really worried - believe me this is no fun, for her or us, when we're driving for over 5 hours down to Dover/Folkestone! At the moment I'm waiting for Stena Line to confirm whether or not I can be guaranteed that I can take he up to the passenger area on their Stranraer-Belfast crossing (leaving Romy in the 'van as she's fine on ferries). Until I know that I can't make a booking on crossing with them as there is simply no way I can risk having to leave her. I don't know what happened whilst she was down in the van on the ferry last year, but it was obviously a terrifying experience for her. :'(

 

So, I'm not just looking to spend for spending sake - seeing as we know we'll be doing at least 2 'over the water' holidays next year I might as well exchange them now rather than leave them and lose some of their value, but until I know what we're doing for sure I don't know how many to exchange and for what exactly ... :-S

 

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Stena will say it's okay ... otherwise we won't be going to Ireland any time soon!

*-)

[Brian Kirby]

Dear Mel, that quip was very much tongue in cheek!  :-)

Sorry to say, but if you do want to save money, Ireland is probably best avoided.  Even the Guinness costs more than in UK!!  Very pretty, in a damp sort of way ("soft" is the Irish term, which somehow implies a frequency I should prefer to avoid), but generally very expensive.

[Mel B]

Yes, Brian, I know you were kidding, I wouldn't have thought anything else! :-D

 

As for Ireland, I know food can be more expensive, especially meat. The return ferry crossing will be around £200 (£50 in vouchers), but that's it. To go to France costs us about £140 for a return trip on Eurotunnel (£35 in vouchers), then it's another £30 each for the dogs, plus the return vet visit of at least £30, making at least £90, with the dogs' travel and the vet having to be paid for in hard cash, so on the face of it going to Ireland is quite a bit cheaper and the money we'd save on the dogs and vet would go towards covering some ove the extra expense in Ireland. Wild camping is a possibility, albeit not as common as in France with the aires network, so the biggest expense would probably camping.

 

But cost isn't the only consideration as Ireland is somewhere we've been wanting to go back to when we've got more time to do it justice (3-4 weeks) so it's got us thinking about it again ..... :-S

 

Oh ... and I don't drink Guinness anyway! :D

[lennyhb]

We did 2 weeks in Ireland in June one of the cheapest holidays we had.

 

It can be expensive but if you are careful can be very cheap, forget about eating out that really eats into the budget 20-25€ is the norm for a main course, take away fish & chips for 2 16€. Generally food prices in shops was OK meat was very cheap especially lamb, a packet of hobnobs was expensive over £2 in Tesco but on average it balances out.

 

Fuel is cheaper, LPG at garages rare & expensive (99cent/Lt)

Wild camping is the norm so no site fees & we used Airmiles for the ferry & as a bonus 2 weeks without rain I've been to Ireland 10-15 times over the last 2-3 years first time ever without rain, off there again next month (working, trying to retire but people keep offering me work).

 

 

 

 

[cleo]

Hi Mel. Sorry your dog doesn't like travelling perhaps you can visit your vet who might be able to give lily something to ease her anxiety. Worth a phone call if nothing else. *-)

[sheer lunar-see]

Hi Mel, Hi all, we got the same info from clubcard, but must say its still a good deal, especialy as I drive a works van, fuel payed for by the company I work for, spend anything from £75- £120 on fuel per week, and will drive out of my way to "Tescos" to get it, still very good for me. Only gripe, we still have to part with cash to pay for the dogs on the tunnel, never mind eh.

[Mel B]

cleo - 2010-10-22 11:36 PM

 

Hi Mel. Sorry your dog doesn't like travelling perhaps you can visit your vet who might be able to give lily something to ease her anxiety. Worth a phone call if nothing else. *-)

 

Hi Cleo

 

We've had a chat with the vet recently when Lily went in for her annual booster, so next time we're going on a long trip we're going to try a sedative, don't really want to zonk her out, but it's got to be the lesser evil.

 

The only good bit of news is that today we went out to a car boot in the camper and went over the 'dreaded' metal framed bridge and flyover a couple of times which she hates. On the way there, she wasn't a happy bunny but on the way back, she still wasn't happy, but not quite as bad and didn't pant - had we not been rushing back home to see someone, I would have turned round and gone back over the bridge a few times to try to see if doing so would let her see again and again that nothing nasty was going to happy and desensitise her to it. Will try some other time instead.

[Mel B]

Well, after a couple of emails to Stenaline, I've now had confirmation that we can take Lily 'up top' in a carrier on the Stranraer to Belfast crossing so I've redeemed a load of Tesco vouchers for Stenaline vouchers and will get that crossing booked when they arrive. I checked with Stenaline before doing the redeeming (?) and the fare is the same as the Flexi fare (you can't have the economy one with Tesco vouchers) and you then have to add on a £10 admin/booking fee which you can also pay for with vouchers. I found an alternative phone number to their 'pay' one, so if you need to contact them you might like to use it too: 028 9074 7747

 

I then exchanged a load of Tesco vouchers for Eurotunnel ones but will wait a while before using them for a booking as want to go later next year, possibly for the German Christmas markets, but the booking dates only go up to the end of August 2011 at present.

 

But I did 'spend' some Eurotunnel vouchers we'd already exchanged earlier in the year, and booked a crossing in July 2011. If anyone is interested, rather than ring the 0844 797088 number for Eurotunnel bookings, you can use the number 01303 282061.

 

I got the alternative phone numbers off the wonderful alternative phone number site given below, which is ideal if you have a mobile phone and the only numbers you have are 'pay' ones which can be extortionate on a mobile phone:

 

http://www.saynoto0870.com/search.php

 

 

 

[Mel B]

Forgot to say yesterday ... be careful what card you pay the balance of Eurotunnel costs with!

 

I got my booking done with the nice French lady, quoted my credit card number, and then the expiry date ... nope, no good, it expires the month BEFORE the travel date and, as you have to use that card to 'prove' who you are when you turn up at the Chunnel, obviously it wouldn't be valid anymore, so I had to use a debit card instead that didn't expire until well after the travel date (the don't charge for using a credit card though).

 

Thought I'd mention this as some people may find that all of their cards (debit and credit) expire before their travel dates so you'd need to get a new one issued BEFORE you could book your crossing - could be fun if you've left it to last minute to use your Eurotunnel vouchers! 8-)

[Madmaggott]

Last time we used Eurotunnel the card that we had booked with had been cancelled and a new one issued by the provider so we hadn't got it anymore.  But we have never had to produce it anyway as the number plate recognition system brings up the booking details anyway.

[t5tripper]

Hi Mel

 

On the subject of your terrified dog on the ferry I can sympathise, our dog is not a good traveller, he hates the car, he pants and shakes on our daily route to work, we have tried everything. He is the same in the van, however once it is stationery he is as happy as a cricket - he has realised that van = extra walks and outside time !

 

I think it's awful that pets have to be kept in the car/van/vehicle on crossings, I couldn't do that to our boy he would be in a terrible state. I know on the Isle of Wight crossing he was allowed on deck which was lovely.

 

:-S

[David B]

I have checked the information on the Tesco website re Stena Line bookings and can't find the answers to the following.

 

Does anyone know if you can use Tesco travel tokens against Stena Line ferries operating in Scandinavia?

 

We are planning a trip to Sweden and Norway and thinking of using the Harwich - Hook of Holland route, then driving up to Fredrikeshaven, Denmark and taking the Stena ferry to Gothenburg or Oslo. Can we use Tesco tokens on either of these two routes?

 

Thanks.

[Petra]

HI Mel

 

We have never used Tesco vouchers for deals and not really sure what is involved. Am I right in thinking that if you want to use them you need to convert your vouchers to rewards vouchers and then they are valid for 6 months but can be used for bookings after that date. For instance if we wanted to used them for Eurotunnel at 4x rate we would need to swap for rewards vouchers and then book before May. How long after that date could you travel up to. We are not sure what we are going to do next year re travelling and may not go to Europe until September.