Are you looking to learn how to redeem Tesco Clubcard Points?
Redeeming Tesco Clubcard Points for food doesn’t give you the best value for money.
In fact, you can get 2x – 5x the amount by converting them into vouchers to spend at associated retailers.
However, what services might you need from the Tesco Clubcard offer that you can exchange your vouchers for, and how complex is the process.
We exchanged multiple different Clubcard points into different service offerings to find out.
Contents
16-25 Railcard
Why I Purchased It
My girlfriend Helen and I are doing a lot of domestic travel inside of the UK in the coming months.
So we figured we’d take advantage of the 16 – 25 Railcard for the final time (we’re now 25 and won’t be able to apply for this particular card next year)
Product / Service Details
The railcard can be purchased for £30 and lasts one year. It provides you with a third of all rail journeys (and on the London Underground).
Considering the sheer cost of public transport on our national rail system just a handful of trips can quickly add up to a small fortune.
In fact, in the past, I’ve been known to save more than £30 on one journey. Making it worthwhile to purchase the railcard for that one ticket alone. CRAZY!
Price / Value
In this case, a saving of 1/3 wasn’t going to amount to more than £30. So, I really wanted to find a budget alternative to picking up the card – and I did. Thanks to Tesco Clubcard.
The card costs £15 worth of points. Meaning you get double your points in vouchers. This is by no means the best value for money when it comes to exchanging your points.
Exchange Process
Once you’ve selected the type of railcard and quantity you would like to exchange. Selected the points you’d like to spend and received the voucher you’ll receive an informative email explaining how to set up an account on the railcard website.
From there you’ll fill in your details as usual. Once you’ve completed your application you’ll be forwarded onto the payment page.
It’s here you can add you Tesco Clubcard token. This will then be deducted and reduce the cost of your basket to £0.00. From here you can go ahead and complete your order.
I personally opted to have my railcard within the Railcard mobile application (suitable for both iOS and Android).
This meant that I’d never misplace and / or lose it and have it available at all times. It also meant that I could use the railcard immediately. Without waiting for it to be delivered by post – which can take up to 14 days.
Megabus
Why I Purchased It
I find that Megabus is pretty much always the cheapest coach service inside of the UK. Made cheaper by the fact you can exchange Tesco Clubcard points for credit!
We had an upcoming trip from Manchester to Leeds that was going to cost upwards of £20 on the train (despite our 16 – 25 railcard) or £11 on National Express. Meanwhile, Megabus was willing to offer the same one-hour journey for just £3.
Price / Value
Exchanging your Tesco Clubcard points for credit to spend on Megabus isn’t the best value for money. In fact, they’ll only double your money. Alternatively, some restaurants will offer up to four times the voucher in credit.
However, we-we’re looking to take this journey regardless and Megabus was already the cheapest option. So, in this scenario, we figured – why not…
Exchange Process
Already in the process of booking our trip. I was really pleased to get our voucher delivered to our email instantly allowing us to continue booking our trip.
The vouchers are rounded. So while our booking came to £5.40 I could only use £2.50 to convert into a voucher for £5.00. Which did mean we had to pay £0.40. Sure, it’s not a huge deal but it’s certainly worth knowing.
Entering the code that Tesco emailed me couldn’t be made easier thanks to a dedicated button for Tesco Clubcard Token on the payment processing page on Megabus.com
All you have to do is enter a couple of details (I assume this is for security) and the voucher will be dedicated from your total amount.
Prezzo
Why I Purchased It
Helen and I don’t eat out much when in the UK. However, with an exchange value of four times (that’s £5 Clubcard vouchers into £20 credit) for most restaurants available via the Clubcard programme it seemed like the most fitting way to spend at least a small amount of the points I have.
Exchange Process
We chose to dine at Prezzo, an Italian chain that we’ve eaten at in the past. We changed £5 into £20 and received our electronic voucher by email almost instantly (huge bonus!).
Product / Service Details
The electronic voucher could be spent at any time (at the time of writing, it’s always worth checking the terms and conditions before confirming your purchase) so we used it that very Saturday evening at our most local Prezzo, at the White Rose Shopping Centre in Leeds.
As can be expected the voucher is not redeemable alongside any of the other promotional offers currently available at the restaurant. So we were left to choose from the traditional main menu.
Luckily, that left us with A LOT to choose from. Albeit I started to wish I’d changed a little more than £5 into £20 as I knew this wasn’t going to cover us.
I opted for the Tropicana pizza (yes I am one of those people that eats pineapple on a pizza). The thin hand-rolled base was fantastic and the fact it was cooked in a traditional pizza oven in the front of the restaurant was a lovely added touch.
Helen opted for the traditional beef lasagna. Her detailed review consisted of the following quote “Despite not looking picture perfect (you can say that again!), it was actually really nice, well… Nicer than it looks at least. I’d have liked a little more meat – especially on one side where it seemed to just be lasagna sheets”.
While we both opted for soft drinks, although there were an extensive cocktail and alcoholic menu to suit all tastes.
Price / Value
In total, our £20 voucher from £5 Tesco Clubcard vouchers brought our total cost down to £5.40.
Sure I’d have loved to paid £25 in vouchers and just £0.40 but really, who can complain about a restaurant meal for two costing just £5.40? – Not me that’s for sure.
Conclusion
This is a post that will be growing as we continue to make our way through our mountain of points.
However, in the meantime, we’d love to know how you spend your Tesco Clubcard points.
Do you have any words of advice for us?
Let me know in the comments below.