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The HfP chat thread – Friday 18th September

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

Historically, the daily ‘Bits’ articles were the de facto repository for random comments and questions.  With the news flow being lighter, we are running fewer ‘Bits’ articles.

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 at home, we want the HfP community to have a place to chat.

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Comments (158)

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

  • rams1981 says:
    18 Sep18 September 11:26

    Another update on Curve and duplicate transaction issue which led to £12 fee with Creation for going over limit. They offered me 1 months free curve metal as compensation originally. I said that was not sufficient and asked for 4 months. They have now offered 3 months free. I think that seems reasonable.

    • mark2 says:
      18 Sep18 September 11:58

      Well done! I will try the same in the unlikely event that I ever get a response, although they have refunded the overcharge.
      For the record, Creation customer service was excellent.

      • rams1981 says:
        18 Sep18 September 14:00

        did Creation refund your £12 fee or indicate how it may impact your credit report etc?

        • Crafty says:
          19 Sep19 September 13:17

          I had the same issue. I had to push very hard for the £12 to be refunded, even though this was no fault of mine. They also refused to engage in any discussion about credit report and said that whatever they reported to the agencies would be “correct” as I did exceed the limit. I resolved to pursue the matter further if I could find any impact on the credit reports I can see; but I found no marker on either Experian or TransUnion.

          On Curve’s part they credited me £12 to Curve Cash and gave a cursory apology but they really didn’t seem to get why it was such a big problem!

          A very poor show from Curve and it’s extremely concerning to now see this has happened to numerous others, again without proper resolution.

  • Sav says:
    18 Sep18 September 11:28

    Hi all, new to posting on this chat thread. I wondered if anyone could advise which hotels in central London offer the best value if I wanted to use my IHG points for a long weekend in October or November please?

    • Andrew (@andrewseftel) says:
      18 Sep18 September 11:56

      CP City. Indigo Tower Hill or Paddington are good value but flexing the definition of ‘central’, doubly so IC O2 and Staybridge Stratford. Fitzroy is charming but the entry level rewards rooms are miniscule. CP Kensington worth a look if you want to do Kensington museums.

      • DJ says:
        18 Sep18 September 13:24

        Both CP City and Tower Hill are very nice.

        I was upgraded to then club room, and the city view room when I had my long weekend.

    • memesweeper says:
      18 Sep18 September 19:14

      Depends what you like. The communal areas in the Friztroy are unbeatable. But the rooms are small… so where will you be spending your time?

  • Makrxx says:
    18 Sep18 September 11:32

    £1k short to trigger the BAPP voucher, hoping to do it by this month with the 6 months extension. Understand it’ll be issued right away once £10k is hit. So is it possible to buy something that cost £1k then have it refunded after? If so, any retailers that one might suggest?

    • Anna says:
      18 Sep18 September 11:59

      The stock response is gift cards which you would use anyway, or order something from Argos then cancel without collecting the item. You need to be spot on with your timing on the latter option, though.

    • GaryC says:
      18 Sep18 September 12:19

      Seeing multiple threads like this about ordering goods with no intent to keep or collect, in order to manufacture spend, am I alone in finding them distasteful? We’re in the middle of a pandemic, businesses and retail are struggling. Do you not think at all about the effect of having them incur extra operational costs without revenue, or do you just not care? Would you appreciate your “customers” doing this to you if you were running a business?

      • Rob says:
        18 Sep18 September 12:37

        You can do this virtually with no cost to anyone – book a flexible BA flight, cancel it for the £15 fee the next day. No need to go around ordering sofas!

      • Vit says:
        18 Sep18 September 13:49

        I see the point you made there — to me not too much about the additional operational cost but the carbon footprint that is caused by my action and that’s why I tend to top it off by just buying GC. Have too many now haha! 1.2k of Morrisons, a few hundred B&Q, and some on John Lewis to use! 😉

        • Polly says:
          18 Sep18 September 19:04

          Am finally out of the above GCs, so now waiting for a further Morrison’s 10% off offer..

      • Connor says:
        18 Sep18 September 14:23

        I wouldn’t exactly say the Home Retail Group aka Argos are struggling at the moment. There’s no real cost to reserving an item and then cancelling, all it’s doing is reducing the number of stock available on an item by 1.

      • GaryC says:
        18 Sep18 September 20:55

        “Virtually” no cost, “it just reduces the stock by one”, “book a flex flight and cancel it”, yada yada. It’s hardly constructive behaviour, and in extremis (get credit card, manufacture £10k spend, cancel) would kill the benefit for all. I’m not sure why people can’t just buy some Amazon vouchers or the like.

  • sloth says:
    18 Sep18 September 11:33

    Melia – For anyone who completed the survey sent out last month, I have chased them 3 times and finally got the promised 5k points, but more importantly these points have extended my overall points expiry date.

  • Rob says:
    18 Sep18 September 11:40

    I am clearly getting old. An attractive young woman just came over to me in WeWork and said ‘Are you Rob Burgess?’. ‘Yes I am’, I said. ‘My Dad is a big fan of yours’ she said ….

    • AJA says:
      18 Sep18 September 11:48

      That’s funny! 🙂

    • Sina says:
      18 Sep18 September 12:00

      😂 depends how you look at it, I’d say you’ve became a celebrity!

      • Rob says:
        18 Sep18 September 12:12

        I was also spotted walking my son to school on Tuesday, so that’s twice in a week!

    • Anna says:
      18 Sep18 September 12:01

      Ha. I am currently designing a course to deliver based on my doctoral research of 20 + years ago, target audience is Year 10 and 11. Pondering how I am going to explain to them about doing a research degree in the Before Times of “no internet”.

      • AJA says:
        18 Sep18 September 12:12

        Anna, ask them to spell encyclopaedia (or the current spelling dropping the a after the p) and then say that’s what existed pre-internet. That was Wikipedia and Google and was found in libraries or if you were lucky your parents had a set.

        • Optimus Prime says:
          18 Sep18 September 12:50

          Some will need an explanation as to what a library is…

        • Anna says:
          18 Sep18 September 19:30

          I imagine they’ll spell it however it comes up on spell check! But they all know what a library is as that’s where you get free internet/wifi.

  • Vit says:
    18 Sep18 September 11:44

    RE — Opting-in multiple BA FTV into a single BA eVoucher.

    I’ve got an email from BA stated that I can do that online however the link provided via the email does not work.

    Call BA this morning through the generic number provided (0800 727 800 — don’t choose any option). Was put on the queue for less than 5 mins before speaking to a CS agent which was very helpful. She needed her supervisor’s approval to do this but without any problems.

    Received eVoucher (combined value of 3 FTVs) in an email just a moment after the call. Will do dummy booking to see if the eVoucher does actually work!

    • Anna says:
      18 Sep18 September 12:03

      Was it purely a cash voucher or were there avios involved? Do the same people still have to travel?

      • Vit says:
        18 Sep18 September 13:28

        @Anna, it was purely a cash booking (hence, cash voucher). I tried a dummy booking and the eVoucher does work. However it needs to have the last name of the main passenger on the original booking as stated below (not sure the made up to 4 days before departure means):

        Enter the details from your eVoucher email
        For security reasons, the original eVoucher holder must be travelling on any booking made up to 4 days before departure

      • Vit says:
        18 Sep18 September 13:31

        See the FAQ below from the BA website:

        Does the booking have to be made in your name?
        No, eVoucher holders don’t need to travel on a booking made using their eVoucher. Although for security reasons, bookings made within 4 days of departure must include the eVoucher holder.

        I guess it means if you make a booking to travel within the next 4 days, eVoucher holder must travel as well, but anything future travel outwith the next 4 days, you are fine.

  • John says:
    18 Sep18 September 12:08

    Curve not working paying Amex with HH underlying. It just fails. That’s Amex and Monese now. Are Barclays blocking the MCC?

    • John says:
      18 Sep18 September 12:16

      If you turn off Fronted are you promoted to turn it on to use Amex?
      In my case, it fails in both cases. I confirm in the App and then it says Payment Error on Amex.

      I think with all the wirecard issues that Amex was working without Fronted?

    • mark2 says:
      18 Sep18 September 12:18

      I just was declined paying Ernie with Curve/HH

      • John says:
        18 Sep18 September 12:24

        When you say decline do you mean it shows in your timeline or just didn’t work and there’s no evidence of the transaction occurring? I am the latter. A regular decline it is not.

        I’ve been able to top-up Rev with HH directly, if there was any MCC they would block it would surely be that…

        Plus Barclays say they’re not blocking anything and Rev seems proof of that.

        • John says:
          18 Sep18 September 12:28

          I should point out that even with a Halifax Visa Debit selected in the App it still fails with Amex.

          • FFoxSake says:
            18 Sep18 September 12:35

            Amex maybe blocking all Curve?

          • John says:
            18 Sep18 September 13:34

            Not in everyone’s case. I’m wondering if there is a systemwide block of legacy BIN and if it can be narrowed down to whether you have a personal or corporate Curve.

            I’ll probably take this to the Curve forums. Support is useless. I wanted to air it here first.

          • The Urbanite says:
            18 Sep18 September 16:59

            Works fine for me. Whilst not wishing to speculate what’s going on here, there are definitely other places where Curve Personal doesn’t seem to work but Curve Commercial does.

          • John says:
            18 Sep18 September 17:44

            I’ve had the same commercial card for a few years now and it has worked for me this month, it’s just the past 10 days it does not.

          • The Urbanite says:
            18 Sep18 September 18:37

            Just tried it and it works fine.

          • John says:
            18 Sep18 September 21:24

            Personal or Corporate?

          • d4ve says:
            18 Sep18 September 17:35

            How do I know if I have a Personal or Corporate Curve card?

    • Jane says:
      18 Sep18 September 16:01

      also not for me, hasn’t been for a while now.

  • Optimus Prime says:
    18 Sep18 September 12:16

    So Gareth Bale is arriving from Madrid today. Will he have to self-isolate for 2 weeks?

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