The new HFP chat thread – Saturday 30th May

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We have decided to run this new daily chat thread on Head for Points.

Historically, the daily ‘Bits’ articles were the defacto repository for random comments and questions. It is unlikely that the news flow will be so big over the next few weeks that we will need many ‘Bits’ articles, however.

The comments under this article are where you should post questions about travel and, indeed, anything else on your mind. At this tricky time, and given that many of you are stuck at home self-isolating, we want the HFP community to have a place to chat.

Please only comment under the main articles on the site if your comment is directly related to the topic of the article. This has long-term benefits as its keeps the commentary relevant for people who read those articles in the future.

By default, HFP shows the last page of comments under the article. If you want to see the first page of comments and read them all from beginning to end in order, click here: https://hfp2022.headforpoints.blog/2020/05/30/the-new-hfp-chat-thread-saturday-30th-may/comment-page-1. The page will refresh with this article but the comments will now show the first page and not the last page.

We will continue to monitor how this is working. Let’s see how it goes. Take care!

Category

General

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

Liz says:

30 May30 May 09:33

Is anyone else having trouble doing a manual payment to BT. I’ve been trying for the past 3 days but no joy. I put in the payment amount and press continue but it just times out saying btsecure took too long to respond. Tried on chrome and safari.
- Spk says:
  
  30 May30 May 09:35
  
  Paid my bill 2 days ago with no issues. Try using the link from your BT app.
  - Liz says:
    
    30 May30 May 09:41
    
    OK thanks. Just downloaded the app and it says “sorry we haven’t been able to log you in – try again later” It’s beginning to p… me off ! Been doing this every month for years….
    - Liz says:
      
      30 May30 May 09:51
      
      Now got logged in to the app but it is doing the same thing – won’t let me proceed to the page where you put in your CC details – it just times out.
      - Lady London says:
        
        30 May30 May 14:33
        
        could they be doing weekend maintenance? it’s also the end of the month which would hint that. in any event I’d delete all my cookies after such a failure before another attempt.
      - Lady London says:
        
        30 May30 May 14:35
        
        PS I find Firefox sometimes overcomes a website incorrect functionality that might occur in, say, Chrome. Incognito in Chrome can sometimes free up things too
      - Liz says:
        
        30 May30 May 15:03
        
        Finally got it to work on my app with my wifi switched off – I don’t know why that would work but it did.
- BJ says:
  
  30 May30 May 09:44
  
  OT @Liz,haven’t seen you online for a while so good to see you back 🙂 Hope all is well.
  - Liz says:
    
    30 May30 May 09:49
    
    Yes all well here in sunny Broughty Ferry! Not had anything to contribute – been reading HfP and trying to keep up with all the comments. Not booking anything in the future at the moment – just sitting tight to see where this all goes in the next few weeks and months. Hope to maybe see a bit more of Scotland in the caravan later in the year but that will be about it for us this year. Looking out for 87 yr old MIL who is now on her own following FIL passing in Feb. Should be in the USA now!
    - Fred says:
      
      30 May30 May 11:52
      
      Broughty Ferry….aka Dundee 😂
      - Liz says:
        
        30 May30 May 15:03
        
        Yup! Nicer end of town!
    - BJ says:
      
      30 May30 May 15:06
      
      Sorry to hear of your loss Liz but good to know you are otherwise well.
Spk says:

30 May30 May 09:34

Have to say impressed with Curve customer service. Upgraded to metal and changed address on same day. Didn’t receive card and I emailed them after a week. They said it could be due to postal delays. Emailed them after 3 weeks again, pretty sure it was sent to old address. Got a reply in a couple of hours that a new card is on its way in a tracked mail. Also got one month fee refunded. And the limits get reset once I receive the card!
- Genghis says:
  
  30 May30 May 09:41
  
  Is that good? Right first time with speedy delivery would have exceeded expectations but to be impressed after putting right failure?
  - TGLoyalty says:
    
    30 May30 May 10:26
    
    That’s where CS really shine though service recovery with priority tracked service and a proactive refund vs computer says “a new card is only the way please wait 5-7 days etc. Bye”
    - illuminatus says:
      
      30 May30 May 12:27
      
      +1, good customer service is not about if a company makes no mistakes, but about how those mistakes are dealt with, and in the above example imo it was handled extremely well
- ChrisBCN says:
  
  30 May30 May 10:10
  
  So they messed up by processing the address and upgrade in the wrong order, you were without it for 4 weeks, bare minimum they could do is refund you for the 4 weeks you didn’t have the service!
  
  I do admire your positive outlook!
  - Lumma says:
    
    30 May30 May 10:23
    
    If it was an upgrade the old card will have still worked with all the metal benefits until the replacement was activated.
    
    There won’t have been that many opportunities to “impress” someone with a heavy blue, red or pink card during the 4 week’s wait
    - Blindman says:
      
      30 May30 May 12:16
      
      Well I’m not impressed with their CS.
      
      Still waiting for replies to emails chasing a chargeback after two weeks.
      
      Can’t see any alternative to email or App contact.
      
      A phone number would be good.
Barry says:

30 May30 May 10:18

We’ve had a couple of season ticket refunds on our BAPP and now our Amex avios account balance is -7,700! Any suggestions on what we can do here? We have about £8k left to spend until we earn the 241.
- TGLoyalty says:
  
  30 May30 May 10:26
  
  Cancel the card and start again in a few months 🙂
- Anna says:
  
  30 May30 May 10:39
  
  You’ll have to spend the refund amounts as well on top of your £10k, or have you already factored that in?
- MattB says:
  
  30 May30 May 11:01
  
  I was in a similar position, -11k avios and a few £k in refunds. Ended up cancelling the card, will reapply in a few months ( with referral from the wife’s gold).
- Chris Heyes says:
  
  30 May30 May 12:19
  
  Barry@ Refer Partner (if possable) then cancil your card get parner to get supl card for you
  that’s prob your best bet
  - Barry says:
    
    30 May30 May 15:10
    
    Thanks all. Just annoying if we reapply in a few months we won’t be eligible for any sign up bonuses!
  - Genghis says:
    
    30 May30 May 16:55
    
    Hey, where’s my comment? Half of it suggested asking HfP for a referral! 🙂
- Harry T says:
  
  30 May30 May 15:11
  
  Cancel the card and cut your losses. There’s no point spending thousands to achieve a 241 whilst not accumulating any avios. You can just cancel it and get a referral for a new one from your partner.
Anna says:

30 May30 May 10:40

Date point – Reward Flight Finder. I emailed them recently about availability not showing correctly across multiple destination/classes, and I’ve had a reply now saying that this was a data issue related to them re-launching the site and it should be resolved now.
- Polly says:
  
  30 May30 May 11:02
  
  Tnx for update, their site has been a bit weird of late.
  How does it feel 1st day of retirement then?
  - Secret Squirrel says:
    
    30 May30 May 21:23
    
    Same as Seatspy, all over the place!
  - Anna says:
    
    30 May30 May 22:09
    
    Pretty awesome! No-one can tell me I can’t have the day off any more 😂
Tanya Wade says:

30 May30 May 13:18

I am trying to get a no show email from air Asia. Having no joy for several weeks and getting really frustrated. When I raise a case I get an email with reference number but that is where it ends. Have tried to connect to a live agent but keep getting disconnected. Has anyone had any joy with them?
- Clive says:
  
  30 May30 May 16:39
  
  Hi Tanya, I have been run in circles with them and have basically given up trying to be polite and correct. I gave them a final 7 days to give me an answer regarding a refund which of course did not materialise so initiates a charge back.
Andrew says:

30 May30 May 14:05

It seems no one is getting the “used the offer” email regardless of if it’s gift card purchase or supp card purchase or a main card products purchase. So I wouldn’t worry that is an indicator that it won’t credit.
Heather says:

30 May30 May 14:17

Just trying to cancel a BA miles flight online but am only getting offered vouchers as my refund.
Will I have to call to get refund to my credit card?
- AndyW says:
  
  30 May30 May 14:49
  
  Yep
  - Andy says:
    
    30 May30 May 14:51
    
    Should clarify, that’s if it’s impacted by all the cancellations etc. A future flight not impacted should still be normal rules apply.
  - Tom says:
    
    30 May30 May 15:12
    
    If you cancel an Avios redemption and get given a voucher, what does the voucher give you? Would the new booking need Avios availability?
- Lady London says:
  
  30 May30 May 15:19
  
  yes
memesweeper says:

30 May30 May 14:53

@Rob I know you think there’s nothing to worry about with the login problems for Virgin Flying Club, but they appear to have vanished as a transfer partner from American Express Membership Rewards too. 🙁
- Peter K says:
  
  30 May30 May 15:17
  
  Just had a look and I can confirm that they are no longer there for me either.
  - Sandgrounder says:
    
    30 May30 May 15:40
    
    I sent 100k to Hilton on the 16th, fingers crossed……
    - memesweeper says:
      
      30 May30 May 15:42
      
      I’ve 200k in Virgin and wasn’t going to cash out to Hilton. Might live to regret that decision…
  - philco says:
    
    30 May30 May 16:13
    
    My guess is that Amex probably pulled the transfer option because either it wasn’t working (because the FC side was down) or folks were transferring points and then realizing they couldn’t book anything and complaining to Amex. Having customer facing functionality down for more than a week like this points to some combination of a rather serious issue and/or incompetence.
    - philco says:
      
      30 May30 May 16:27
      
      Also it looks like they have been pulled from US Chase portal. It is now showing “temporarily unavailable” for FC.
      - Rob says:
        
        30 May30 May 16:59
        
        I will drop Mr Woodman an email ….
      - philco says:
        
        30 May30 May 17:14
        
        Just to round out the US transfer partners:
        
        Citi: Looks normal for transfers to VS FC but didn’t try to transfer.
        US Amex: Notes transfers are temporarily disabled.
  - Alan says:
    
    30 May30 May 17:46
    
    Hmm, glad I transferred 200k out, although still have 100k there and just earned another 22.5k on the card – wouldn’t like that all to vanish.
  - TGLoyalty says:
    
    30 May30 May 18:13
    
    I couldn’t send points to my FC account through Marriott or Amex last year. Just continued to fail.
- Dezbez says:
  
  30 May30 May 15:56
  
  The plot thickens, although Virgin FC is still showing as a partner with Tesco Clubcard