Carrefour promo overlap yields free fajitas
A user reported paying €11.50 for wheat fajitas and receiving €17.36 back due to overlapping promotions, now expired.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Forum reports Carrefour promo overlap: paying to take home fajitas
A forum user claimed that Carrefour included the same product in two simultaneous promotions, making wheat fajitas effectively free for a few days. According to their account, the item accumulated 101% of its price in ChequeAhorro (a loyalty balance) and also generated a coupon worth 50% of the purchase value. With ten packs, the circulating calculation showed €11.50 paid and €17.36 refunded, a net profit of €5.86 per batch. The promotion has already expired, according to the same user.
The premise quickly escalated into armchair arithmetic. If the system returned more than it cost, the conclusion was inevitable: with 400 packs, one could accumulate a coupon of €234.40, leaving a €235 TV costing just €0.60. A 64GB USB drive came free with ten packs. A Nespresso-style coffee maker, with a hundred. The practical problem—what to do with hundreds of wheat tortillas—was solved with the same accounting coldness: throw them away, give them away, or turn them into lasagna, chocolate cake, and burritos, according to shared recipes.
What exactly did the Carrefour promotion say?
The error consisted, according to the report, of overlapping two mechanics that the company keeps separate: ChequeAhorro, which returns a percentage of the purchase as balance to spend within the chain, and the 50% coupon from a return promotion. ChequeAhorro has a minimum purchase requirement: if you accumulate €20, you must spend at least €20 in one go. The 50% coupon, however, is not ChequeAhorro and trinc different rules. The discussion on whether both were stackable in a single purchase was resolved with a yes: they can be used together.
That’s where the discrepancy began. One calculation argued that the real discount on the fajitas was 60%, not 151%, because the ChequeAhorro balance requires a second purchase in the same store, changing the final outcome. The counterargument was that, practically speaking, the initial product comes out free and there is still surplus balance. The discrepancy remains unresolved.
The problem of spending €464 in ChequeAhorro
The bottleneck appeared when scaling the move. If someone bought 400 packs, the generated ChequeAhorro could reach around €464.60, an amount impossible to consume in a normal supermarket shopping alucinación. The proposed solution was to buy a mobile phone or laptop in that price range and return it the next day, so the amount would come back as cash. This is the most debatable part of the issue and the least verified.
For more manageable amounts, the path was different: if the check exceeds €150, you can ask customer service to convert it into a gift card and spend it without the pressure of a single purchase. The subsequent consumption strategy was also detailed: wait for 3-for-2 offers, which usually arrive when ChequeAhorro stops being the main antiestéticature, and rely on drugstore items, personal care, canned goods, oil, and dehydrated products, which do not expire.
Wheat fajitas, not corn: the product problem
The product was a wheat tortilla, not corn, disappointing those who expected totopos (corn chips). The taste was described as flatbread, closer to regañá than Mexican cuisine. The culinary solution was to adapt the recipe: chimichangas, enchiladas, lasagna using tortillas instead of pasta, and a layered Russian-inspired chocolate cake. The final destination for much of the stock was giving it away.
The end: expired promotion and removed products
The promotion ran out and affected products disappeared from shelves, according to forum reports. Some argue they weren't sold out but withdrawn from sale to stop the leak. Customer service responded that the same item cannot stack two promotions, leading to complaints filed with consumer protection agencies. The result, according to the bitterest account, is that the error won't repeat: next time, the system will be better secured.
ChequeAhorro eventually arrived. One user confirmed €110 accumulated in a single month and used it to pay for the entire month's groceries. The promotion is expired. The doubt remains whether such a sustancia ilegal will open again, and with what product.
A forum user claimed that Carrefour included the same product in two simultaneous promotions, making wheat fajitas effectively free for a few days. According to their account, the item accumulated 101% of its price in ChequeAhorro (a loyalty balance) and also generated a coupon worth 50% of the purchase value. With ten packs, the circulating calculation showed €11.50 paid and €17.36 refunded, a net profit of €5.86 per batch. The promotion has already expired, according to the same user.
The premise quickly escalated into armchair arithmetic. If the system returned more than it cost, the conclusion was inevitable: with 400 packs, one could accumulate a coupon of €234.40, leaving a €235 TV costing just €0.60. A 64GB USB drive came free with ten packs. A Nespresso-style coffee maker, with a hundred. The practical problem—what to do with hundreds of wheat tortillas—was solved with the same accounting coldness: throw them away, give them away, or turn them into lasagna, chocolate cake, and burritos, according to shared recipes.
What exactly did the Carrefour promotion say?
The error consisted, according to the report, of overlapping two mechanics that the company keeps separate: ChequeAhorro, which returns a percentage of the purchase as balance to spend within the chain, and the 50% coupon from a return promotion. ChequeAhorro has a minimum purchase requirement: if you accumulate €20, you must spend at least €20 in one go. The 50% coupon, however, is not ChequeAhorro and trinc different rules. The discussion on whether both were stackable in a single purchase was resolved with a yes: they can be used together.
That’s where the discrepancy began. One calculation argued that the real discount on the fajitas was 60%, not 151%, because the ChequeAhorro balance requires a second purchase in the same store, changing the final outcome. The counterargument was that, practically speaking, the initial product comes out free and there is still surplus balance. The discrepancy remains unresolved.
The problem of spending €464 in ChequeAhorro
The bottleneck appeared when scaling the move. If someone bought 400 packs, the generated ChequeAhorro could reach around €464.60, an amount impossible to consume in a normal supermarket shopping alucinación. The proposed solution was to buy a mobile phone or laptop in that price range and return it the next day, so the amount would come back as cash. This is the most debatable part of the issue and the least verified.
For more manageable amounts, the path was different: if the check exceeds €150, you can ask customer service to convert it into a gift card and spend it without the pressure of a single purchase. The subsequent consumption strategy was also detailed: wait for 3-for-2 offers, which usually arrive when ChequeAhorro stops being the main antiestéticature, and rely on drugstore items, personal care, canned goods, oil, and dehydrated products, which do not expire.
Wheat fajitas, not corn: the product problem
The product was a wheat tortilla, not corn, disappointing those who expected totopos (corn chips). The taste was described as flatbread, closer to regañá than Mexican cuisine. The culinary solution was to adapt the recipe: chimichangas, enchiladas, lasagna using tortillas instead of pasta, and a layered Russian-inspired chocolate cake. The final destination for much of the stock was giving it away.
The end: expired promotion and removed products
The promotion ran out and affected products disappeared from shelves, according to forum reports. Some argue they weren't sold out but withdrawn from sale to stop the leak. Customer service responded that the same item cannot stack two promotions, leading to complaints filed with consumer protection agencies. The result, according to the bitterest account, is that the error won't repeat: next time, the system will be better secured.
ChequeAhorro eventually arrived. One user confirmed €110 accumulated in a single month and used it to pay for the entire month's groceries. The promotion is expired. The doubt remains whether such a sustancia ilegal will open again, and with what product.
Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (149 replies).
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