Wombling

What is Wombling?

The term ‘wombling’ conjures up images of Uncle Bulgaria and the gang on Wimbledon Common but it’s also the name of a new money saving craze, helping shoppers to save money at the supermarket.

Wombling is where you collect up old discarded supermarket receipts from in and around the store and collecting the points left on them.

But before you start scanning the floor for discarded vouchers, the rules around how to womble are pretty grey and some supermarkets are not on board.

 Several supermarkets, such as Tesco, Morrisons and Asda, offer price guarantees. So if you shop at a rival supermarket and it’s cheaper, you’re able to claim the difference back. To do this you have to take the receipt into the shop and either scan it at the checkout or enter the code from the receipt online to get a voucher for the difference.

 At these supermarkets, if a comparable food shop at rival stores is cheaper you’ll be given a voucher for the difference plus a percentage. Different stores have their own limits.

What the womblers do is collect other people’s discarded receipts, and in essence claim the points and the cash for themselves. By doing this you can make quite a bit of money.

What can I womble from Tesco?

Typically, Club Card points are added at the point of sale. Tesco are usually happy to add them after the sale if you forgot your card. This leaves Tesco open to people claiming points from discarded receipts. If you find a receipt from Tesco and it says ‘you could have claimed — points’ then you can take the receipt to the Customer Service desk and have them add the points to your card. Obviously, you have to be a bit tactful here and perhaps claim that you forgot your card. Members who forget to do this may have their points added manually up to 14 days after the transaction upon production of a valid receipt. Points may only be claimed for up to two receipts per day.

What can I Womble from Asda?

What can I womble from Sainsbury?

Sainsbury brand match ended on 26th April 2016 in order to bring customers lower prices. Unfortunately, all brand match coupons had to be redeemed by the 26th April 2016 so if you still have any outstanding you would need to dispose of them. This doesn’t mean the end for saving on your shopping at Sainsbury, you can still check for unclaimed Nectar points and have them added onto your own Nectar card if you notice any. Plus, be sure to save your receipt for the receipt hog app.

Is Wombling legal?

Technically, collecting a receipt is not illegal; nor is comparing the cost of the shopping. The grey area is the bit where you redeem the difference. Since you are not explicitly claiming that receipt is yours (the websites don’t yet ask you to confirm this), you are not misleading anyone.

As of yet, there are no known cases of either Tesco or Asda refusing to honour their pledge to refund the difference, no matter who claims it. The system is automated and issues a refund voucher, which you can print off.