Dad launches protest outside Tesco after gift card fault

Brian McDonough bought a £50 gift card from Tesco Extra in Andover on September 24, but when he went to use the card in January, he was told there was no value on it, and it couldn’t be used.

He spoke to customer service but to no avail, so on February 10, he staged a protest outside the store, warning shoppers not to buy Tesco gift cards.

Brian said: “It’s driven me mad. It scanned, and I paid £50, it’s there on my credit card. I was gutted it’s not worked.

“They’re just robbing people, they’re robbing our community. Unless people talk to one another or publicise, they blame individuals. They must be raking it in.”

Brian McDonough outside Andover Tesco (Image: Brian McDonough)

The shop was unable to help Brian as he no longer had the receipt, and they said they were unable to verify his transaction, despite him knowing which till he bought it on and having the barcode of the gift card.

He spoke to their in-store customer service team, where a staff member admitted that the shop often has issues with gift cards, but he was unable to get the value of the gift card back.

He said: “I worked in retail myself and know they can easily verify a £50 transaction was made on that date, with my card. But they don’t want to help because it’s making them money for nothing- it’s a rotten scam.

“The Tesco store staff say they get lots of issues all the time, and it appears there are many customers paying £50 for a useless piece of plastic.”

Andover Tesco (Image: Google Maps)

He detailed that he believes Tesco didn’t activate the card and is blaming customers instead.

He said his friend Maggie was gifted a Tesco gift card from a friend and experienced the same problem.

Tesco declined to comment and sent Brian a £50 Tesco moneycard.