What Are The benefits Of Obtaining A Tesco Card?

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I shop at different Tescos in BKK pretty regularly, and can say that they clearly do NOT have a POLICY of charging Dynamic Currency Conversion against all foreign card transactions.

It comes down, rather, to how the clerk keys in the transaction on the card processing machine. I have had a FEW transactions at Tesco over the years where they clerk has presented me with a DCC slip, and I've told them no, and asked her to void it and re-ring it in Thai baht. No problem with that. The vast majority of the time, they simply automatically give me a charge slip rung in Thai baht.

As for card benefits, I would say Tesco seems to be the most miserly compared to Tops/Central and even Villa. I regularly get general cash voucher coupons and product discount coupons in the mail from Central for my ONE card, and Villa does a 100 baht cash discount once you reach 500 points in their tally system.

With Tesco, usually, the best I've gotten is a couple 25 baht cash discount coupons, and a bunch of product coupons for things I never have bought or used, so not sure why they're sending them to me.

Although, I guess Big C is just as bad or worse, in that their cash register receipt cash discount coupons typically are small amounts, usually expire pretty quickly after the date issued, and typically/always? have the fine print details written in Thai (which I don't read).

The best thing about Tesco, I would say, is their online ordering/home delivery service and using that to maintain an online shopping list, where you can quickly log-in and check to see what things on your list are on sale at that point in time, and then easy to order the discounted things at good prices. (Trying to run around the store and physically check for sale prices on all the things you might buy could take the entire day, but online, it's 5-10 minutes and done).

Usually when I do a Tesco delivery order, most of the things I order end up being their sale items, and they're pretty good about having regular and recurring discounts on the routine products we buy and use. So when one of my regular purchase items is on-sale, I stock up and then wait until the next sale to re-purchase. They probably can afford the sale discounts, because their regular day-to-day store prices are higher than they could/should be. But usually when they do put something on sale in terms of groceries, the sale prices are pretty good/competitive.

[Duncan Donut]

You need Thai I.D. to get a card to get one. You did recently anyway and as stated get discount coupons.

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Nonsense I don't have a Thai ID but I have a Tesco card. You need a passport.

Although our Tesco is on the daugthers name (Thai) I would be surprised that a foreigner can not get a card.

At TOPS (Khon Kaen) I got a card without a problem.

Both Tesco as well as TOPS send coupons per snail mail (at a certain threshold).

TOPS even noticed that my purchases went down significantly and sent me some "come back" offers.

All my cards, Tesco, Tops, Makro, are in MY name.

I did have to produce my passport on application, but I do not have a problem with that.

Linking it to your Passport means you willingly offer-up Where and When info. Your wife could use your card, so the Who is not entirely reliable info, but Big Brother's computer could reasonably assume it is indeed you, and so might be interested in tracking your address and in-Country movements. As is usual with 'free' services, you are not the Consumer, you are the Product, and your personal info is being shared and sold.

[Pib]

Tesco is not doing it. It is the banks. I have never had them put it in THB without asking me. I always tell them USD.

Yes, it's the vendor/store. They have the choice what setup they have with their local processing bank...but many local processing banks will push/recommend the DCC approach because it earns them a little more profit also. But a non-greedy store will know charging DCC transaction is going to piss-off many farangs...and if a store has a hard core policy accomplishing only DCC on foreign cards even when you tell them to process in Thai baht, well, for this farang (i.e., me) I will never use that store again unless I absolutely have not choice.

If you take a close look at the processing bank name on the receipt you get from store X you may see it's the same bank as to what another completely different store may use, but one store defaults to DCC and another don't although the same processing bank. Why? Because it's the store's choice.

Like one store uses Bangkok Bank...another one Kaiskorn Bank...another one Siam Commercial Bank...another one Thai Military Banks....etc. But lets say two completely different stores use the same processing bank...one store may default to using DCC for foreign cards and another one defaults to using Thai baht. It purely up to the store. Just like this example with Lotus stores.

And you have it completely backwards about what to tell the cashier...if you have been telling the cashier to charge USD then you have basically been telling them to do a DCC transaction and you have been getting a lower exchange rate of approx 4%....and I expect your receipt is then reflecting both USD and Thai baht which means it was a DCC transaction...if it only reflects Thai baht then it was not a DCC transaction.

You'll been shooting yourself in the foot. Tell them "Charge Thai Baht; Not U.S. Dollars."

[ginjag]

I have had the Tesco card for 4 years and never received anything from them . Maybe they got the wrong address? Do they send out coupons to your e-mail address?

Go to customer services and ask about you mailing address, confirm it. If your not receiving---maybe check your local post office---something wrong ??

[HHTel]

I have had the Tesco card for 4 years and never received anything from them . Maybe they got the wrong address? Do they send out coupons to your e-mail address?

They send coupons to your physical address. The trick here is actually buying something from the store!!

[55Jay]

Besides the coupons in the mail, there's the stamp collection game leading to proud ownership of a new umbrella, or a coffee cup designed for midgets, or some other shit that sits on the counter collecting dust for 6 months.

We do most of the heavy lift at Makro and buy in quantity, which usually reduces the unit price. Do go to Tesco and Big C on occasion, just to have a look around, they often have sales and promos going, and that's alright too.

[lopburi3]

I have had the Tesco card for 4 years and never received anything from them . Maybe they got the wrong address? Do they send out coupons to your e-mail address?

They send coupons to your physical address. The trick here is actually buying something from the store!!

You also have to present you card for scan each time to get credit for purchase.

[KhonKaenKowboy]

You can go to the front desk, and redeem your points for about 1% of previous purchases, excluding alcohol. I caught them trying to charge me in USD a few months ago....it had neber happened before...they changed it. I've also caught them on scanner accuracy issues over 100 times. I live near a very poorly managed "Express." They have about four empty shelves in the beer section, and basically chang or leo....also, the store almost always smells terrible, and by saving 1 sm of plastic wrap; their meat packages leak that added liquid all over the place, which is a fairly serious health risk.

[William C F Pierce]

You get sent a few discount vouchers by post.

Not everyone does. I signed up with them in 2011. I never received anything, even after complaining to there UK head office. So I stopped using Tesco Lotus. There are plenty of other Supermarkets to choose from.

[William C F Pierce]

I have had the Tesco card for 4 years and never received anything from them . Maybe they got the wrong address? Do they send out coupons to your e-mail address?

Go to customer services and ask about you mailing address, confirm it. If your not receiving---maybe check your local post office---something wrong ??

The problem with Tesco customer service it is not often you find one that speaks English. At Big C no problem. balo's experience is the same as mine, with some of my other friends experiencing it and they speak fluent Thai.

[lopburi3]

You get sent a few discount vouchers by post.

Not everyone does. I signed up with them in 2011. I never received anything, even after complaining to there UK head office. So I stopped using Tesco Lotus. There are plenty of other Supermarkets to choose from.

If they have correct address you should get coupon every 3 months or so for points earned when you buy and present card - but if you do not present card there would not be any points earned so probably no letter sent.

As for plenty of other supermarkets - few offer as much and most much less and even then there is often only 2 or 3 real choices in most locations.

[Celer et Audax]

I have had the Tesco card for 4 years and never received anything from them . Maybe they got the wrong address? Do they send out coupons to your e-mail address?

Go to customer services and ask about you mailing address, confirm it. If your not receiving---maybe check your local post office---something wrong ??

The problem with Tesco customer service it is not often you find one that speaks English. At Big C no problem. balo's experience is the same as mine, with some of my other friends experiencing it and they speak fluent Thai.

Why would they speak English? In case you haven't noticed your are in Thailand

Let's just pretend your home country is the Uk how many Tesco customer service staff in your local Tescos speak Thai?

Just a thought!!

[Cinderella Man]

Number of people here said how expensive Tesco is... what is the cheaper option then? I haven't found one

[55Jay]

Number of people here said how expensive Tesco is... what is the cheaper option then? I haven't found one

Wife and I made a bit of a comparison effort when we moved here full time 3 1/2 years ago, and generally found Makro to be slightly less expensive on most things in our basket. Admittedly, haven't paid much attention to it since but I have noticed an increase on a few of my routine items at Makro.

[seedy]

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