Eurotunnel withdrawing schemes

[Eskenazi]

Eurotunnel is about to withdraw not only its 'Property

Owners Club' but also its 'Points Plus' scheme + all

the other little perks such as using Club check - in /

free coffee at Pret a manger / dedicated parking /

unlimited flexibility of travel.

These were excellent perks & we made at least a dozen

journeys last / this year because of them. I would like

to get together with any others who feel we should put

pressure on Eurotunnel re. this matter. I don't believe

a word of their stuff about the 'new improved' style.

They are already losing money - and now stand to lose

many previously loyal customers.

[CeeJay]

Funnily enough I have only just booked two very long term crossings with Eurotunnel for 2005 at £98 each, return.

I normally travel,and have done so for years with P & O, but at £98 return I think this is very good value and am very pleased, long may it continue

[Alane]

With their offers now being cheaper than the Property Owners Club tickets I imagine they felt compelled to do something to change the schemes although abandoning the whole Points Plus loyalty scheme seems a bit drastic. I'll wait and see. I spoke to them yesterday and they suggested I didn't go ahead and purchase a tranche of tickets until details of the new scheme were available in November, pointing out that if I didn't think the new scheme was as good I had until Feb 05 to purchase tickets which would be valid for 12 months.

 

Like you I'm sceptical and as a frequent traveller will probably go elsewhere if they become uncompetitive as a result. Our property is in Normandy and if the Eurotunnel prices go up then the P&O season tickets will become a better bet.

 

Best Regards

A.

[Cacknanty]

This is bad news, there is nothing like steaming past long queues of cars to joing the v.short or no Q at all at the 'Club' check in.

Having said that, the last two trips were very quiet affairs  in what should have been peak season.

£98 for a return trip is good value for the convenience, if it gets better than that for frequent travellers so much the better.

We shall wait and see !

[Fay]

Do you mean the Points Plus scheme as a whole is going? I haven't heard anything about this, but I am just a normal PP member not a POC one...

It would be a shame, though since they stopped doing points at the Carrefour in Cite Europe we don't get enough points for a free trip each year any more. (On the plus side it meant we never had to shop in CE again!)

[Alane]

Yes Points Plus is also ending although you have until February to exchange points for a ticket which will be valid for a year.

It's a brave company that messes around its frequent customers in this way - let's just hope that the new deal is nearly as good or better. I agree that a real downer will be the loss of the right to check in via the Club queue although it has to be said that at really busy times they don't enforce the rules anyway.

 

Best Regards

 

A.

[Eskenazi]

The problem with those £98 fares is that they are not fully

flexible -

you have to pay to change, & for us the great bonus

with the property owners' one was its total flexibility, so that we could, say, arrive 3 hours early or 1 hour late or even change a booking weeks ahead.

[Francoise]

I am dismayed by this news. I have just commited myself to

keeping my job in the UK which will involve a weekly commute.

I based my decision on the current fares and points system after discussing it with eurotunnel.

does anyone know the date when points plus will cease

[Francoise]

I am dismayed by this news. I have just commited myself to

keeping my job in the UK which will involve a weekly commute.

I based my decision on the current fares and points system after discussing it with eurotunnel.

does anyone know the date when points plus will cease

[Francoise]

I am dismayed by this news. I have just commited myself to

keeping my job in the UK which will involve a weekly commute.

I based my decision on the current fares and points system after discussing it with eurotunnel.

does anyone know the date when points plus will cease

[Milly]

I too am a Points Plus member and have been since it's introduction.  It's all a bit confusing, but most of the questions are answered on the Eurotunnel website under frequent travellers FAQ's.

However, the gist of it is, as I understand it, you cannot enrol or renew membership after 14th September.  Points are redeemable up to 25th Feb (I think), no points will be issued for bookings made after 15th November (I think).  Have a look at the website to confirm the above.

However, the good news is, that they are still offering fares at £98 return for 2005, travel out of UK after 1400hrs and back in from France before 1400hrs. So hopefully, that will compensate a little.

 

Milly

 

[Coco]

Is this £98 offer available in reverse? ie France - uk - France?

[Francoise]

Thanks for the information.

I have tried to get on to the eurotunnel website but without success.

I rang them up and they seem pretty muddled about the whole thing. They will be operating a property owners club of some description but the points system will go.

They have assured us that there is a letter in the post for all points plus and property Owners.

Francoise

[Baz]

If Eurotunnel follow the same lines as P&O, you can be certain that the new scheme will not be as good as the old one. When P&O intoduced their new Frequent Travellers scheme earlier this year the discounts were far poorer than before. Whilst it appears the companies want to be seen favouring their regular travellers, they are trying to get away with the minimum cost to themselves.

Hopefully Speedferries will continue in their efforts to reduce fares across the Channel and maybe one day the others will follow.

Baz

[bixy]

I also tried to renew POC for the forthcoming year and was told about the demise of the scheme. The person who I spoke to me told me that once the new scheme was publicised - in November some time- I would have the option of using the new scheme, if it offered better value or booking tickets at the old prices. Mmm, we shall see.

Prompted by postings on this site, I decided to look at my Points Plus account. According to the website points will no longer be collected after November and need to be redeemed before 31 December 2004.

Patrick

[Alane]

Things seem to be changing and the web site has been updated. A couple of weeks ago it said that there would be a new better value scheme and this was confirmed by the rep I spoke to when I tried to renew my membership on the 15th. The site now says that "Currently there is no plans for a direct replacement". At that time they were also saying that the POC tickets would be available to book for existing members until the 28th of Feb - this has now been brought forward to the 13th of Jan.

The site makes the statement "We are developing a new simpler pricing policy for 2005 to ensure all our customers can benefit from a more flexible, attractive pricing structure". Given that their early booking offer for 2005 (book before Nov 3rd) is a rerun of the £98 return for travelling off peak perhaps this gives some clue to the level of prices.

Regards

Alan.

[Eskenazi]

Eurotunnel have now confirmed that, despite

what they said on the site, there will be

NO REPLACEMENT scheme either for Property Owners

or Points Plus. They said that 'all customers'

would 'benefit from' 'new fares structure.'

I don't think so... they seem not a jot perturbed

at losing customers in droves.

By the way that £98 fare depends upon departing UK

AFTER 5 PM and returning BEFORE 11 am which is

totally useless to us and many others. It is also

non-changeable. A poor deal.

[peebee]

I rang Eurotunnel Points Plus this afternoon to get a 'definative' answer as to how long I had to use up my accrued points from my 'points plus'.  I was informed by them that we have until 13th January 2005 to book any travel with the accrued points and this travel must be taken by the end of 2005.  We are travelling over next week and he said that this will still attract 'points plus'.

As my 'Points Plus' card expires in 2 days time I asked about its validity after that date and he said that anyone whose card expires between now and January would be given extended membership without fee.

I said that I was disappointed that no-one had thought fit to email members and inform them of the situation and he said this was in the pipeline and would be done shortly also that there was a new scheme coming out after Christmas and ''there maybe discounts for 5 bookings or more''.

Hope this helps

Pat

[Cacknanty]

Eurotunnel have updated the info on the website re POC etc. It would appear that they are replacing these schemes with ..... nothing.

They are "developing a new, simpler tariff for 2005 to ensure that you can benefit from more flexible, attractive deals at any time"

Time will tell.

 

[sueyh]

We only found out last night when a friend rang to warn us to use up our points by the middle of January.  What annoys me is that we have booked up until April and the points that we would have gained on these trips will not now be valid under the Privilege plus membership due to the fact that they are not added until you have travelled, despite having paid for the trips last April!

It is a shame that Eurotunnel did not have the courtesy to write to us, as privilege plus members to let us know.  What happens about the years membership that we have paid and the joining fee?!  I feel sorry for those who have only recently joined.