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TopCashback has just announced that they are removing the ability to transfer cashback into Tesco Clubcard Points.
The change is coming in on 31st July 2016, so ensure that you make any transfers before that date! Until then, the usual £50.00 annual transfer limit remains.
As we have covered many times before, Tesco Clubcard Points are extremely flexible and worth at least 2 x face value. They are also easily convertible to Avios and Virgin Flying Club miles at an extremely generous rate. Being able to easily and reliably earn £50.00 worth of Tesco Points (per family member, per year) from TopCashback was a great benefit, and this is a substantial blow for Points/Miles collectors (and other savvy travellers/shoppers) here in the UK.
It is also quite a big blow for TopCashback too, as the Tesco Clubcard transfer option was something that really set them apart from other cashback sites like Quidco.
As you can see from their statement below, TopCashback seem to be aware of this and tried hard to get Tesco to reconsider:
“Tesco has recently made some alterations to its Tesco Clubcard scheme and as a consequence from the 31stJuly 2016, Tesco Clubcard points will no longer be available as a payout method. We realise this may be frustrating for members and we did everything we possibly could to keep Tesco Clubcard as a payout method on site…
…We are continuously working with retailers and brands to ensure all of the offers, tools and facilities meet members’ needs and will always look for the optimum way to provide the best deals and biggest savings. Currently, we are exploring new ways to enhance our payout offer and will hopefully have some exciting news to share soon.”
This is a very disappointing change, and to be honest I can’t really see any potential silver linings.
What do you make of it?
A bitter blow. I wonder who the prime mover was in this? And the reason for it?
Looks like Tesco, and I’m not convinced that future changes to Clubcard are going to be overwhelmingly positive either.
I have £138 in Tesco vouchers to convert but was holding out for a 20% bonus, as was offered last December with BA. Also waiting for half of the life insurance points (2500) that I won’t get until the next couple of quarters. Hopefully the avios option sticks around…
Only joined TCB recently and amassed £15 and was working towards th £50. Had to cash it in to Tesco vouchers today since the Avios or BA exec club conversion is poor. Shame.
My annual payout time occurred recently, I’ve lost out on 2600 points due to TCB incompetence and not stating exclusions on payouts by certain merchants hosted on their site, then I read the latest news yesterday and now do not have enough time to get any cb to go payable by end of July.
We should vote with our feet and go elsewhere, Matt their reply on FB keeps telling people you can still cashout to avios but doesn’t seem to grasp that you only get 1 mile per person penny and not the clubcard rate 2.4x.
Matt also handles their Twitter account and I have made the same point to him about the better clubcard rate.
Let’s hope for some good news shortly, whether that be Quidco picking up the slack, or a better conversion rate to Avios with TCB.
The only plus I can potentially see now for TCB for us point collectors are if you needed some spare avios to make up a total needed, however at 1p a mile I would of thought you could buy them direct from BA or Avios at that rate?
You can still abuse the schemes by joining us to each and every life insurance or gambling sites cashback but you may as well do this and take the cash instead of converting at a penny per mile.
Yep – with ‘Avios+Cash’ awards you can do even better than that.
There’s a minor use still for topping up to a required amount maybe, but buying Avios for 1p just isn’t a usually a very good deal these days (there are always exceptions of course, but generally speaking).
A combination of cheap, regular, Business Class sales (from better airlines), Avios devaluations, and BA’s surcharges mean that you could almost definitely do better keeping the cash in most situations.
I didn’t realise until I just checked on avios and baec that they charge £31 for 1000 avios miles? This makes TCB redemption rates good if you really need a few extra thousand for some reason.
As I said on the forum, fully agree that on occasion (i.e. when you really must buy some to complete a booking) it is a good way to buy Avios at a relatively low cost.
I’d never pay £31 for 1k avios to be honest. Much easier to get them for free via E-Rewards or Rewards For Thoughts. On a good day, I can get them from the latter in a week!