Savings Stories

What Have You Saved?

Now we've got a fantastic Members' Offers scheme with Countdown, we want to celebrate the savings that are being achieved by our members.

Maybe you've bought a new bathroom or the materials for a patio or fence from B&Q. Perhaps you've bought an item of furniture from John Lewis, a TV from Comet or a computer from PC World.

Alternatively, you may have saved on your weekly shop at Asda, Sainsbury's or Waitrose or benefited from a reduced family holiday through the new CSSC Travel Club.

Whatever way you've saved with Countdown - and the above examples are just a few of the great discounts available nationally - we want to hear from you.

Just click here and let us know what you've bought, who you've bought it from and how much you've saved.

A selection of the submissions will be featured on the website throughout the year.

Savings Stories 

Bob Wilden

"A new member, I have already made savings at Tenpin where I took my daughter and a friend of hers. Previously, I took my daughter on her own and, for two games, I paid £18.50. This time, with two of them, also for two games, I only paid £16.50. I was also allowed to buy an extra game for a further £3.00. So in all, I only paid an extra £1.00 for an extra 5 games. So I am already reaping the benefits. Thanks ever so much!"

Christine Mullen

"I have recently purchased a holiday to Haggerston Castle using the Haven link on Countdown. The holiday should have cost me £465 but, by using the fantastic Countdown discount, I saved £209.45 and also have been upgraded to a Superior Caravan for the same price as a Standard Caravan. I have already been telling other CSSC members to look on the Countdown website to see how much they could save!"

Kelly Durham

"I just saved £30 with Countdown. I bought a two car experience at Silverstone. It should have been £250 but it was on special offer at £150. Because of Countdown, I got it for £120! Woo hoo! I basically got two for the price of one."

Andrea Thomas

"I've only just joined CSSC and as luck would have it my washing machine died so I took advantage via Countdown of the "Up to 10% off" with Comet. It turns out that it is a full 10% and not "up to" at all. As I needed a new machine urgently I called at the store to select one and see if it was possible to just take it away after payment. Staff in store knew nothing about the Countdown scheme initially but they kindly called their Countdown Comet telephone number for me. They didn't have the machine I wanted in stock but it will be with me within a week. As a result of the Countdown scheme I got 10% off the cost of the machine and they threw in free delivery (worth over £19) plus free connection (worth over £30) and even took 10% off the cost of removal / scrappage of the old machine! I think I've just saved about 2 years' subscription fees before my first CSSC salary deduction has been made.

"By the way, I had also called into Currys (non-CSSC Countdown partner) just to see if they would give any discount or free delivery as they did have a machine I liked in stock. No offers whatsoever other than their in-store reduction. Clearly Comet are streaks ahead in the CSSC partnership stakes. Many thanks."

Elaine Miller

"Through CSSC, I applied for an Asda gift card. Every month I top up my card (either by phone call or email), usually about £300. Countdown then put an extra £12 on my card free. This gives me an extra £144.00 a year. This extra money I put onto an Asda Christmas Card. I find I am spending more than £300 a month so I will start to top up more, which will mean more savings for me!"

John Southway  

"I have today received ten anytime adult tickets for Cineworld for £43.50, inclusive of recorded delivery, having ordered them yesterday. We will use these tickets as part of our Christmas present to our Grandchildren."

Terry Brown - UK Border Agency

"I have just purchased a new bathroom from B&Q and, by using the vouchers from Countdown, have saved £270 on the price paid. That's almost ten years' worth of membership fees in one go."

Carolan Cherie - HMPS

Just dropping you a quick line to tell you about the brilliant discounts I received this week through CSSC. I fancied a quick spur of the moment break for this weekend (11 July '08). I looked through the internet and found nothing under £200. I then thought of CSSC. I rang Haven holidays and used my quote number and membership number. The person on the phone explained to me that the full price of the holiday for Friday and Saturday night would be £535.00. She then went on to tell me that I had naturally been upgraded to a 12ft caravan with a microwave and a flat screen TV. She then impressed me more by telling me that, because I was a CSSC member, the new price for my holiday with my discounts was £109.00. I have saved God knows how many years' membership on just one break. Thank you!"

Ruth Bentley - Business Development Executive

"As one of the Business Development Executives for CSSC I have, over the years, negotiated many offers and discounts for our members in the Midlands. This part of my role was always about trying to get deals for other people but now there's something in it for me.
 
"Having moved house recently, one of the priorities was to replace the "lovely" burgundy bathroom suite a la 60s. I had already decided to use B & Q as they have a massive 33% sale on bathrooms. Imagine my delight when reading through the Countdown book, that I could get a huge 9% bonus by ordering vouchers through them.
 
"It was so simple. I phoned the voucher line, placed my order and paid by debit card. The whole process took about 2 minutes. I received £162 worth of free vouchers and that equates to over 4 years' worth of membership subscriptions. It's the kitchen next!"

Sue Jarman - HMRC 

"I just wanted to say how easy it was to book HALF PRICE tickets for Alton Towers recently. Just a quick phone call - the telephone operator was polite and very efficient. We had a fantastic day and look forward to going back again in the summer now that it is more affordable (especially when there are five in the family to pay for!!)

"Many thanks for negotiating this brilliant deal!"

Ruby Sutton - HMPS Dover

"I am writing to say how pleased I was using my CSSC Countdown card recently. We are currently in the process of arranging a wedding for August 2008 and we visited Moss Bros. in Southampton to arrange the hire of the suits for the Groom/Best Man/Ushers, etc. Moss Bros. were very generous in the first instance as the Groom qualifies for free suit hire if five or more suits are being hired, so we were already lucky with their offer. When we came to pay for the hire of the suits I showed my CSSC Countdown card and the 15% discount voucher in the Countdown booklet. The Moss Bros. staff at Southampton were not aware of the Countdown card but they read the booklet and were happy to proceed with the transaction. It is possible to pay a deposit and then pay the remainder when you collect the suits but it was unclear if you could claim the 15% discount on the two payments. We decided to pay the full total at the time of arranging the hire of the suits and received the 15% discount on the total purchase and, by doing this, we made a great saving (enough to cover two years' membership fees to CSSC)."