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The HfP chat thread – Thursday 10th September

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We have decided to run this daily chat thread on Head for Points during the coronavirus outbreak.

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General

Comments (163)

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

  • rams1981 says:
    10 Sep10 September 13:51

    Curve – there was mention of duplicate transactions earlier this week – I have had one for £500. I raised it and more than 24 hours later somebody from their customer service replied to say to try the transaction again and sometimes transactions decline! Unreal. And had no further reply 24 hours later after pointing out their error. Is there no other way to escalate this other than to reply to their email? Seems wholly inadequate

    • Anup says:
      10 Sep10 September 14:07

      Interestingly on the update to Ts&Cs email yesterday it mentioned they are now going to record calls, so I’m guessing there must be some way of speaking to them?

    • mark2 says:
      10 Sep10 September 14:08

      On 24 Aug, a payment of £424 from IHG via Curve appeared twice on my IHG statement. I took it up with both and neither was very helpful.
      I have just noticed that a credit has appeared on my IHG account yesterday with no contact from either. So who will refund the £12 over limit charge? answers on a postcard.

      • rams1981 says:
        10 Sep10 September 14:12

        my issue as well and doesn’t it impact credit score?

      • Riccatti says:
        10 Sep10 September 15:29

        They will tell you to use a proper debit card. Both sides. Though I imagine Curve staff has more things to do now that they are the issuer.

        IHG cards (Creation) are well-aware about Curve and are likely to be annoyed that transactions are put via Curve — and not with them direct. Even from a risk-management prospective.

        Paying off IHG with Curve card also not encouraged.

        • BJ says:
          10 Sep10 September 16:11

          ISTR that almost every time I see a comment about duplicate transactions IHG is also mentioned. Is this the only backing card affected? I’ve never had a problem with Hilton or Virgin.

          • stevenhp1987 says:
            10 Sep10 September 21:55

            Because if you have an IHG card, you won’t use any other card with Curve.

            Personally I’ve never been double charged with IHG and Curve.

          • Peter K says:
            10 Sep10 September 21:58

            Not quite. Capital on Tap with curve is a winning proposition!

          • BJ says:
            10 Sep10 September 22:09

            I have but I don’t use it.

          • The Urbanite says:
            11 Sep11 September 00:35

            @stevenhp1987 it depends how hard you work the IHG card. If you push it to the max there’ll be days you can’t use it and linking another card will increase overall points earning!

      • The Urbanite says:
        10 Sep10 September 16:36

        Watch out for that overlimit charge on IHG cards. Creation can get really upset about you going over your limit. Get them to reverse the charge and the default notice that will appear on your statement if you can.

    • Charlieface says:
      10 Sep10 September 15:59

      One of the chargeback reasons you can give to your underlying card is that the transaction was charged twice. Maybe just try that

  • Pangolin says:
    10 Sep10 September 14:21

    Hilton status question: what is the earliest you can qualify for Diamond status in 2021 and have that status last for all of 2022 as well?

    My understanding is that if you got Diamond in January (e.g. from rollover nights in 2020) then the status would only last till March 2021, but if you achieved the status in Feb or later you would have it for the whole of 2022 also.

    Is this correct?
    My plan is to get v. close to the 60 nights figure this year (using the double nights promo) and then trigger Diamond next year with a couple of nights at the right time.

    • Andrew (@andrewseftel) says:
      10 Sep10 September 15:02

      Hilton accrual is calendar year-based and expires on 1st March.

      If you earned Diamond in Jan 2021, it would last for all of 2021, 2022 and expire at the end of Feb 2023.

  • Mike says:
    10 Sep10 September 15:10

    I’m finding Curve is declining my top-ups on Monese and Starling (to wife’s acc). I confirm in the App but its declined. This is happening for 48h now.

  • Anna says:
    10 Sep10 September 16:24

    I’ve just been looking at a couple of HI’s in France for next summer and noticed that they add an “extra adult” charge per night for any number over 1! I thought it was just Germany that did this? It’s also very sneakily not included in the headline price with is surely illegal in the EU? I wonder if you could just book for one and get away with sneaking the family up after dark?!

    • BJ says:
      10 Sep10 September 16:38

      Don’t think it is illegal if the clearly stipulate it. They used to do this at IHG hotels in Thailand but totally stopped it some years ago as far as I know. I haven’t come across it personally for at least a decade.

      • Anna says:
        10 Sep10 September 16:59

        They don’t exactly stipulate it, it’s tucked away on the “room rate” screen. It doesn’t even show on the booking page, you just see a higher price than initially quoted. If a hotel is being advertised in the EU, all charges are supposed to be clearly displayed with the headline rate.

        • BJ says:
          10 Sep10 September 17:19

          It was clear enough for Anna to find it… so … 🙂 It never hit me until I got a larger than expected bill on checking out HI Bangkok. The ensuing argument with both the Duty Manager in person and IHG in writing was exactly related to clarity of rates and terms as you describe. I paid up but IIRC I ended up with something better from IHG but I cannot remember what.

    • Aston100 says:
      10 Sep10 September 17:47

      I’ve had this happen at the HIX at Paris CDG and a CP somewhere in Turkey too.

  • Jody says:
    10 Sep10 September 16:46

    I’ve just taken out a new American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Card. Not had my own in around 6 months, husband referred me from his (we tend to do this every 6 months or so).

    I’ve just activated my card, and it’s show a negative membership rewards balance of over 3000 points.

    My previous cancelled card did end up in negative points because I had so many refunds from cancelled holidays, but I thought this was linked to the specific card, not the person.

    Have Amex changed how they deal with this?

    • Jody says:
      10 Sep10 September 16:48

      Just to clarify, I had already cancelled my card way before I started getting holiday refunds, it wasn’t the case that the card was still active and I then cancelled. No idea if that makes a difference or not.

      • BJ says:
        10 Sep10 September 16:54

        I doubt they have suddently changed policy. Looks like they failed to properly close your MR account when you closed your last remaining MR card.

        • Jody says:
          10 Sep10 September 17:47

          I take it I’m going to need to call then? Hopefully they’ll just reset it to zero.

          • BJ says:
            10 Sep10 September 18:03

            Yes, nothing else you can do Jody. Not the most comfortable call to make but given how many accounts they have closed with very substantial negative balances it would be unkind of them not to oblige you. If it was 3000 exactly, that rings a bell from one of the bonus promotions and not £3k refund. If so then even more likely they will let you off and reset it. At the end of the day they were supposed to close your account.

          • Jody says:
            10 Sep10 September 18:26

            It wasn’t 3000 exactly, bit over. Weirdly it has all the transactions on there too dated the date I applied for the card (8th September) then shows others going back to May that were refunded. All a bit strange really.

  • AJA says:
    10 Sep10 September 17:07

    Oh bugger! Portugal back on the quarantine list for England from Saturday!

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-54108049

    • BJ says:
      10 Sep10 September 17:22

      i have no plans until Xmas, I feel it’s simply not worth the hassle at the moment.

      • AJA says:
        10 Sep10 September 17:29

        Right now I have no plans at all. As you say simply not worth the hassle.

      • DK says:
        10 Sep10 September 17:36

        My earliest booked holiday is Easter’21

      • Aston100 says:
        10 Sep10 September 17:48

        I’m wondering if I should just take the full refund that the airline is trying to force on me for South Africa at Xmas & New Year.

      • Harry T says:
        10 Sep10 September 18:18

        I’m just travelling within the UK until it all blows over a bit. Although I’m theoretically still going to Hong Kong…

        • Mart says:
          10 Sep10 September 18:28

          We thought that but took a last minute to Cyprus
          Really enjoying it
          Missed travelling

          • Harry T says:
            10 Sep10 September 19:28

            I’ve been to Portugal, the Netherlands and Czechia but I’m fed up of trying to outrun covid quarantine. Cyprus would be wonderful and the covid numbers are low but I’m not sure it would work for me logistically from my local airports. Glad you had a good time.

      • Andrew says:
        10 Sep10 September 18:33

        +1 travel seems way too much hassle and probably not even enjoyable – the fun has been taken out of all this for the time being. Hopefully next summer I’ll be up in the skies again, but until then, UK it is.

  • John Caribbean says:
    10 Sep10 September 18:48

    Does anyone know what the last possible moment to claim a future travel voucher is?

    • Nick says:
      10 Sep10 September 18:59

      Before check-in closes for the flight concerned. Ideally slightly earlier because then they don’t have to remove your ‘no show’ flag first (which can delay voucher issue).

  • ee says:
    10 Sep10 September 19:36

    @tgloyalty

    Re my question yesterday I called the Premier Inn and there was no automatic offer of compensation – in fact the inference was they were doing me a favour by honouring the original rate given the alternative property is more expensive to book (because of the short notice.) When escalated to a manager they agreed the comp. breakfast – so definitely a case of don’t ask don’t get!

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

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