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Despite the risk of InsideFlyer beginning to seem more like InsideNectar these days, I just wanted to quickly flag up a potential issue that Avios collectors who aren’t (yet) used to Nectar may not be aware of.
When I tried to log in to my Nectar account a few weeks ago, a screen popped up saying that the account had been deleted because I hadn’t earned or redeemed any Nectar Points for 12 months. This wasn’t a big problem for me as I didn’t have any Nectar Points in the account, so didn’t lose anything. Two minutes later, I had a new account – all good.
It did make me wonder though, what would have happened if I did have some points in the account? The rules (paragraphs 9 and 18) seem pretty clear that your points could be at risk,
“Points have no expiry date but are lost if the relevant Nectar Account is closed or the Nectar programme ends..”
“We may close any Nectar Account on which no points have been earned or redeemed for a continuous period of at least 12 months.”
Admittedly, it’s a “may’ rather than “will”, and it is possible that even if it did happen you could get the points reinstated. But, that’s an unnecessary hassle.
Bottom line
Make sure that you earn/redeem Nectar Points regularly so as not to risk losing them. Or, transfer them to British Airways Avios (you can always transfer them back), where they can be safely stored for up to 36 months before you have to earn or redeem.
Easiest way of continuing to earn Nectar points is to link your eBay account with Nectar. 1 point per £. Who doesn’t use eBay?
I doubt this is a problem to most people – how many eBay orders do you do in a year? Link your nectar card to eBay and you collect nectar points when you make purchases. Do you travel by train buy tickets via GWR as they give nectar points when you buy tickets. I am lucky as Sainsbury’s fuel is the cheapest around here. 🙂
Normally, I’d agree it wouldn’t apply to many people. But, the combination of COVID lockdowns and Avios collectors joining Nectar for the first time makes it worth noting I think. If you already had Nectar linked to everything like ebay etc, you’d likely be fine. In my own case (in a support bubble for someone in a high risk category) I’ve avoided (almost all) train travel and haven’t been in a shop since last March. I probably have used ebay a few times I think, but hadn’t linked the accounts.
People think nectar is Sainsbury’s only but forget about the other places Esso now gives away nectar, if you are close to 12 month period a single ryde St. John’s to ryde esplanade will cost £1.60 and get you 2 points bought via gwr website. I do understand as I am CEV.
Yes – great point on booking a throw-away ticket if there’s nothing on ebay that takes your fancy.Transferring in Amex MR points is also nice and easy. Now that I’m actively collecting Nectar, I can’t see there ever being a problem again.
Was caught out by this a while ago. Lost about 6 fig.
Ouch! – No luck in asking for them to be reinstated?
It was a few years before I realised so unfortunately not 🙁
I had an old account from about 12 years ago. They transferred the balance to my new account which was about 8000 that I would have lost.
How did you manage that? They told me they were all gone (and I tried HUCA).
I dont know if you still have the problem anymore but if you create a new account and contact the nectar help team, they can begin the process of transferring the points from the old account to the new account so you can use them again. I’m currenly in the midst of the process myself, and they said it would take up to 28 days but i would get my points back.
Last month (before the Avios link was announced) I made an online purchase at Argos. I entered my Nectar number, which was rejected (I hadn’t used it for years). I pursued this using the links online and was told my old account had been closed but I could open a new one and then they would transfer the old balance (>1500pts) across. So I did and it all went through smoothly.