The new HFP chat thread – Thursday 2nd July

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

• AndyW says:

  2 Jul2 July 08:29

  Virgin cc upgrade vouchers – any experience of when they hit? Was expecting it to be a line item on my account this month with the points (went way over the required spend) but nothing there. Can it take some time to appear?

  • Gringo says:

    2 Jul2 July 08:59

    It’s not overt like the BA voucher. It is a line item in your statement

  • Travel Strong says:

    2 Jul2 July 12:46

    In march, I received the line item in the App, when clicking to view all activity.
    I received it the same time as that month’s points posted.
    It was 1 month in to my card year, certainly not at the end of the card year.

• Olly says:

  2 Jul2 July 09:01

  Anyone know or want to hazard a guess when the BA lounges will reopen?

  • Rhys says:

    2 Jul2 July 09:05

    This weekend (hopefully). We’re waiting on a press release from BA.

    • Olly says:

      2 Jul2 July 09:45

      Darn it, we’re flying tomorrow morning so sounds like we’ll just miss them

      • Rhys says:

        2 Jul2 July 09:45

        Yes, a day too early!

  • Lady London says:

    2 Jul2 July 14:52

    what happened to the plaza lounge at T5?

• Chris says:

  2 Jul2 July 09:10

  The Virgin Vouchers seem to be issued at the end of your card year now.
  Interesting to read of the gesture from BAPP with eligold’s near miss. I had a similar situation but with the Virgin £20k target. Missed by £500, but when asked for a few days grace period, was told it wasn’t possible. Nice to hear of someone having better luck.

  • Eligold says:

    2 Jul2 July 12:47

    Thanks. Sorry that it didn’t work for you.
    Differences might be that they could see the pending transactions which then didn’t go through, also AMEX themselves hassled me with a security check. Or maybe just good luck. Who knows

    Anyhow, if you do it again make sure to upgrade for a day to BAPP just before you hit £10k and then downgrade again

• Michel29 says:

  2 Jul2 July 09:11

  Any help would be appreciated here. I had a return flight booked for my family LHR – LAX at the beginning of August with Virgin Atlantic booked with Flying Club points. My first leg was moved from a morning to afternoon flight sometime last week. Now my account is not showing this flight anymore, rather it is showing OPE – NKT on December 31st at 12.00 with the same booking reference.

  I would obviously like to cancel this flight and would like to know what the most convenient way of doing this is. Texted them a couple of days ago that I wanted to cancel but have not yet heard anything back and apparently some people have been waiting for hours to speak to them over the phone. Anyone has a better way?

  In addition, I assume that because they moved my flight from a morning to afternoon one that I would be within my right to receive all my points and taxes back without incurring a cancellation fee. Can someone confirm?

  • Rob says:

    2 Jul2 July 09:16

    You should get a reply to the text in the next 48 days (it took 3 days, I think, when I cancelled by text). Once they reply you are done and dusted within 10 minutes.

    • Michel29 says:

      2 Jul2 July 10:02

      Thanks Rob!

      Am I right in assuming that no £35 cancellation fee is payable considering they moved my flight?

      • Luckyjim says:

        2 Jul2 July 11:24

        I had a similar situation with Virgin. My flight was cancelled and we were all moved to a later flight. They initially tried to pass this off a ‘schedule change’. If the flight number has changes it is a good indicator that the original flight was, in fact, cancelled.

        I phoned up to request a refund. This was spproved with no fee but its now in a queue to be processed. It might take up to 8 weeks to receive the refund (of taxes and fees) and for my miles to be credited back to my account.

        • MinR says:

          3 Jul3 July 12:13

          I was also told by Virgin it may take up to 90 days. I put in an S75 after 30 days, and promptly received the credit whilst Amex investigated. Dispute status eventually changed to ‘closed’

    • @mkcol says:

      2 Jul2 July 13:37

      48 days?!

      • Rob says:

        2 Jul2 July 14:37

        Hours!

  • Lady London says:

    2 Jul2 July 14:12

    yes you should get everything you paid back if they cancel and defo no change fee

• Andrew says:

  2 Jul2 July 09:15

  See above thread – the staff have been recalled for training and the South lounges will be opening ‘soon’. But Concorde Room won’t be reopening for now, but a Concorde Bar (like in Dubai etc) has been created on the balcony of the First lounge – so presumably you can still get a glass of LPGS but won’t get fine dining and have to make do with the burger.

  • Anna says:

    2 Jul2 July 10:02

    I hope it’s open by next April! It was bad enough having to move our F flights from MIA to JFK so can’t now try the Cathay First lounge. 😪

• Graeme2 says:

  2 Jul2 July 09:38

  A question for any curve users who have a moment – I just tried to make a payment to NS&I for the first time. It came up immediately on the NS&I website as declined, but is still showing up on my Curve app as a transaction – is there normally a delay before the curve app reflects declined transactions? Sorry if this has been answered before – I’ve been reading these pages for a while but don’t recall this specific question.

  • Andrew M says:

    2 Jul2 July 10:30

    Was IHG the underlying card? If so, you might have to call Creation and have a chat with their Security Department to get it unblocked. You could try a small transaction with IHG on it’s own to confirm whether or not that is the issue.

    • Graeme2 says:

      2 Jul2 July 10:45

      I was trying to use the Miles & More card – hoping that all transactions being passed through as MCC 6999 at the moment would allow it to work. I’m still quite a novice, so I guess I got the wrong end of the stick on that.

  • Genghis says:

    2 Jul2 July 10:54

    NS&I website relies on cookies and very occasionally occasionally it shows as declined on website and email confirm even though payment was actually taken. A rec is performed at t+1 so if not showing at t+2 but monies taken from card, you need to call up. It’s happened to me twice.

    • Nick_C says:

      2 Jul2 July 12:43

      +1

      NS&I website is very buggy. Failed deposits are normally credited credit next day, but sometimes refunded to the debit card.

      I generally use Chrome as my browser, but for NS&I I always use MS Edge and have the browser set to clear cookies on exit. Not had a problem since adopting this approach.

  • memesweeper says:

    2 Jul2 July 11:48

    I had a similar issue with NS&I and it got sorted out, by itself, in the end. The transactions just disappeared from curve and the underlying card.

  • Graeme2 says:

    2 Jul2 July 11:57

    Thank-you all for the feedback, much appreciated

• Reeferman says:

  2 Jul2 July 09:41

  Incorrectly posted this elsewhere – apologies for he duplicate
  Have an issue with a package holiday
  Am trying to help friends of mine who have a package holiday booked with Loveholidays for departure 14th July to Lanzarote. The flight is with Ryanair (I know!) and is operating.
  Loveholidays are unreachable (only responding to online chat which is impossible to connect with). I rang the hotel and they told me it is shut and they will be put in a sister property which, they say, is of a superior standard. This is not reflected when you search for the hotel online, however.
  The package holiday rules suggest you can cancel if there is a change of “resort” but it is unclear what is meant by “resort” – the “town” or the “hotel resort complex” for example?
  They have been forced to pay the final balance for fear of nullifying the contract (and as per Loveholiday instructions), but are not keen to go. Their original hotel was connected to a water park. The replacement one requires a (free) courtesy bus – more hassle with 2 young children.
  Anyone any thoughts on their chances of getting a refund (cash or credit)?

  • Lady London says:

    2 Jul2 July 14:35

    this sounds like really bad news. I would want out of this contract. Have you got the name and location of the hotel they are planning to substitute? I think you will find it is miles away and not near the amenities you chose your hotel to be near.

    Work out the differences and why the new proposed hotel is not suitable for *you*. Call the ATOL Helpline (i think there is one). Check your t’s and c’s in case there is anything there to bite you.

    I think I would pre-emptively send an email to hotel, package provider (if loveholidays was only a broker/agent) and loveholidays saying you have been informed the hotel you specifically chose as suitable is closed (dont give the reasons why suitable in this) and you therefore request a full refund within 14 days as per the package holiday regulations/ATOL and if this is not received in that time you will report them to the regulator and take whatever other action is necessary. State that in particular, you will not accept a change of hotel. Also refer to the fact that they have been impossible to contact despite several attempts.

    I’d probably also send a registered letter to loveholidays and the holiday provider (if different) with a signed and dated print of this as IIRC a registered letter counts as received in many circumstances even if not signed for. Check there’s nothing in their ts and cs about how to communicate with them that you’ve not done.

    Do the work above and then contact cardco for a chargeback or if that would fail a Section75
    .

    • Reeferman says:

      2 Jul2 July 17:36

      Many thanks LL – very helpful, as always!

      Will follow-up on this as you suggest – albeit can’t send a registered letter to them as they are now stating the offices are closed and all such letters will be declined. What a Company!!

• Lee says:

  2 Jul2 July 09:43

  Anyone used Santander consumer as car finance provider? Just noticed they accept debit/credit card for payment. I may switch DD to online payment if there is no additional charge for credit card or curve fronted.

  • Anna says:

    2 Jul2 July 10:07

    Lee – yes, we have a biggish car finance agreement with Santander. After the first couple of DD payments I cancelled it and now make a monthly payment on my IHG card which obviously earns points. You just have to remember to do it each month! You need to find the “manage my account” page on the Santander website and follow the instructions, you need to enter your agreement number, date of birth and postcode and then it will ask for card payment details. Request an email confirmation so you have a payment trail in case there are any queries, but I’ve not had an issue in 12 months.

    • Lee says:

      2 Jul2 July 12:07

      Great, thanks Anna.

    • Lee says:

      2 Jul2 July 12:41

      Just tried to make a payment, I don’t have Agreement Number which is a 14 digit number beginning with 100. Seems Volvo car has different Agreement system.

      • Anna says:

        2 Jul2 July 13:05

        It’s worth speaking with Volvo or Santander then and asking how you get round this. Santander accept credit and debit card payments (not Amex, sadly), this is completely separate from your agreement with Volvo. At a push you could get Santander’s bank
        details and transfer funds from Revolut if you use it.

    • MInR says:

      2 Jul2 July 13:49

      Are you aware of any other car finance provider that accepts credit card as payment instead of DD?

      • Lee says:

        2 Jul2 July 14:50

        Paid another car with curve today, it’s PSA finance. Hopefully no extra charge.

      • AndyGWP says:

        2 Jul2 July 18:06

        Audi (so probably all of VAG) do…

        … but annoyingly it’s not working for me on the website at the moment and they want me to phone to do it (just a hassle really so haven’t bothered)

      • TGLoyalty says:

        2 Jul2 July 23:32

        Bmw accepted Amex.

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