The HfP chat thread – Tuesday 3rd November

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Martha says:

3 Nov3 November 02:42

Spend £2,500, get 1,300 bonus Membership Rewards points
- Baji Nahid says:
  
  3 Nov3 November 02:55
  
  I got spend £1000 get 500 points.
  - mkcol says:
    
    3 Nov3 November 04:07
    
    I got spend £1100 get 600 points.
    
    Not used that card for about 5 months.
  - Sina says:
    
    3 Nov3 November 04:08
    
    Got spend £5500, get 5500 MR! 😒
  - George K says:
    
    3 Nov3 November 05:00
    
    Spend £3,500, get 1,800 bonus Membership Rewards points
    
    Had this before. Didn’t trigger it then, sure as heck won’t do it now…
    
    No Harrods offer either…
  - Jack says:
    
    3 Nov3 November 05:11
    
    I got spend £600 for 600 MR points, but I’m trying to meet a Chase Sapphire Preferred SUB so I won’t hit it. Not bad compared to some of these other ones…
    - TGLoyalty says:
      
      3 Nov3 November 08:25
      
      Same here with £600 for 600MR
- Nick_C says:
  
  3 Nov3 November 05:12
  
  I’ve got spend £200, get 200 points on my ARCC. Its not much, but every little helps. I’ve got 71 offers on my BAPP, none of which are any use to me.
- Andrew says:
  
  3 Nov3 November 05:39
  
  This offer is based on how much you normally spend – the higher your normal spend, the higher the target and bonus.
- Harry T says:
  
  3 Nov3 November 05:49
  
  Spend £5900 get 3000 MR on my Platinum card. Not as good as the retention offer on my Gold card so this may well be ignored!
  - MD says:
    
    3 Nov3 November 08:11
    
    I got spend £6500, get 3300 MR, how generous. Clearly Amex think I’m made of money! 😂
    - Harry T says:
      
      3 Nov3 November 08:40
      
      I’ve spent bugger all on the Plat for the last few months too!
- BS says:
  
  3 Nov3 November 07:50
  
  Spend £700 get 400 points. Humph!
- stevenhp1987 says:
  
  3 Nov3 November 08:21
  
  I’ve gotten spend £2,400 got 1,100 points.
  
  Note that the offer runs from 11th November to 11th December.
- Andrew (@andrewseftel) says:
  
  3 Nov3 November 08:33
  
  Spend £5 (sic) get 1000mr on a particularly inactive card!
  - BS says:
    
    3 Nov3 November 08:58
    
    Now that really is worth buying a £5 amazon voucher for
- Manny_D says:
  
  3 Nov3 November 09:32
  
  Anyone received any MR point offers on their Green card? Still have had no new offers this week either.
- Super Secret Stuff says:
  
  3 Nov3 November 10:06
  
  I got spend £1,900, get 1,000 MR points. Completely unrealistic, I saved it to my card but am 99% sure I won’t hit that unless I find a way to resell a RIMOWA case with marginal loss
- Mouse says:
  
  3 Nov3 November 12:28
  
  Spend £1,500 get 1,500 points on platinum. Effectively 2 points per pound when combined with the regular 1 point.
Baji Nahid says:

3 Nov3 November 02:58

Also since international travel is getting banned from Thursday, I would suggest anyone with a booking to get their stuff sorted as it’ll end up being long holding times on the phones again.
- Rob Saw says:
  
  3 Nov3 November 08:00
  
  Rules around this seem to be poorly defined at present – lots of sites saying they will again ban “non essential travel”, but getting insurance to cover that is trivial. (Cost me an extra fiver on my annual Europe only policy)
  - Lady London says:
    
    3 Nov3 November 08:50
    
    Which insurance provider, please? was your policy already in place before covid?
    - Rob says:
      
      3 Nov3 November 09:14
      
      My old (pre covid) policy covered covid, but not travel against the government advice.
      
      New policy with Staysure covers travel against government advice but not the reason for the advice – Covid in most instances, so I had to buy individual covid cover for my trip last week. (Turkey government backed scheme).
      
      Just seen Europesure who appear to offer packages covering both for less than 100 quid for both of us although I haven’t read the small print.
      - Lady London says:
        
        3 Nov3 November 10:08
        
        Tx @Rob S
    - Pete says:
      
      3 Nov3 November 11:07
      
      I’ve been using: https://www.battleface.com/
Baji Nahid says:

3 Nov3 November 03:49

Also did you all get your Harrods offer?
- MQ says:
  
  3 Nov3 November 04:01
  
  No harrods offer for me 🙁 Im really annoyed
- Harry T says:
  
  3 Nov3 November 05:53
  
  No.
- Jonathan says:
  
  3 Nov3 November 07:42
  
  How do you all know that you haven’t got it? I was told by Brighton CS it’s on my account although no letter & it doesn’t appear in my saved offers.
  - Harry T says:
    
    3 Nov3 November 07:53
    
    Because it’s not in my offers. Personally, I don’t believe anything I’m told until I see it in my account. I haven’t received a letter or email either.
  - ao40 says:
    
    3 Nov3 November 16:36
    
    I also do not have it in my offers, and did not receive a letter or email. Webchat seems certain I am enrolled, and even copied and pasted the full terms and conditions when I asked. I think that is enough to give it a go!
- Kevin C says:
  
  3 Nov3 November 08:12
  
  I got the Harrods letter but it isn’t shown on the account.
  - DB2020 says:
    
    3 Nov3 November 11:24
    
    Nothing for me. Not had any offer at all since the double MR points a few months back.
Sina says:

3 Nov3 November 04:42

Has anyone used Tide Cashb@ck account?

I was offered two months free (or if you spend £35k/m, next month is always free!) and made almost £200 in my first month!
- Ryan says:
  
  3 Nov3 November 20:56
  
  How do they fare with PayPal? PayPal’s card was very “generous” with 0.5% on pretty much everything
Observer says:

3 Nov3 November 06:03

Please not another day of people complaining about the Harrods offer! It’s an offer not an entitlement. I didn’t get it, a bit disappointed but I haven’t moaned once and I will definitely not be calling Amex. So many people have contacted and ultimately they will stop doing these generous offers. It has always been the case that not everyone gets the same offer; you win some and you lose some.
- Rob says:
  
  3 Nov3 November 08:31
  
  But Amex has been telling some people who called that everyone was getting it ….
  - Lady London says:
    
    3 Nov3 November 09:28
    
    which will be the case unless someone is one of the few thats not getting any offers or referral rewards.
    
    Rather than let this one go I would spend on something returnable and expect it to pay out. Amex was doing regularaey of promos each year with Harrods practically before promos were invented. Longstanding close marketing partnership.
cinereus says:

3 Nov3 November 06:15

What’s the latest on activating dark mode?
- Optimus Prime says:
  
  3 Nov3 November 06:31
  
  +1
  - Rob says:
    
    3 Nov3 November 08:30
    
    We have tested it, it works but it is not 100% perfect. Rhys is trying to tweak the code.
    - cinereus says:
      
      3 Nov3 November 13:25
      
      I’d make sure you get a designer to determine the precise palette otherwise it could be worse than nothing. There shouldn’t be any code though, it’s just CSS tweaks.
Anna says:

3 Nov3 November 06:29

I’ve got spend £500 on gold at Rimowa (luggage, apparently), and get 7000 MR points!
- Anna says:
  
  3 Nov3 November 06:39
  
  Though looking at the website, £500 barely gets you a cabin bag!
  - Andrew says:
    
    3 Nov3 November 06:53
    
    “Apparently”? Rimowa is one of the oldest and best known luggage brands in the world. Now owned by LVMH. High price, high quality. Offer isn’t overly tempting though as the rebate isn’t much.
    - Anna says:
      
      3 Nov3 November 07:33
      
      Not known by me, I’m afraid! Though good to know that the quality matches the prices.
      - Anna says:
        
        3 Nov3 November 07:41
        
        Also up to 10 avios per £ on the e store so it could be worth it as long as they don’t fall victim to claw back!
      - AJA says:
        
        3 Nov3 November 08:36
        
        Rimowa is very good quality and has been going for years. Never bought from them though as i prefer Tumi which is excellent and has a true aftercare for life policy; I have a 15 year old bag which is still going strong and doesn’t show it’s age but in Feb (my last flights) one of the zipper pull tags snapped off so took the bag into their Westfield Shepherds Bush store and they replaced it and 2 other tags that were looking a bit worn for free.
      - Lady London says:
        
        3 Nov3 November 09:35
        
        Recent purchases Tumi (from sometime few years back) dont have the lifetime guarantee though.
        
        Briggs & Riley did have lifetime guarantee – used it quite a bit over the years when airlines damaged even their really ‘hard’ luggage – but even they stopped except on Baseline range (luckily the range I have).
        
        For luggage repairs paid or under guarantee, I cant recommend K2 in Maidenhead enough. Contracted with practically every airline, walk-in if you can and you will get the best advice and help.
      - Aston100 says:
        
        3 Nov3 November 11:47
        
        Will any of these luxury and/or quality bags survive Turkish airports baggage handlers?
        I very much doubt any bag will come out unscathed if that surly bunch are having a particularly miserable day.
      - AJA says:
        
        3 Nov3 November 11:58
        
        @ LL I did not know Tumi had ended the lifetime warranty. Just looked at their website and warranty is now 5 years. I still think their luggage is great and it appears I’m still covered, mind you, not going anywhere at the moment and as my bags are still going strong I’m not in the market to replace them just yet. 🙂
    - Jonathan says:
      
      3 Nov3 November 07:48
      
      I’d be sceptical the quality will persist after being bought by LVMH, a group who have no interest in selling ageless products that last a lifetime. They’ll be cutting build quality, increasing production (probably through outsourcing), investing in marketing not the product & hiking margins. Look at what happened with Church’s shoes after Prada got their hands on them!
      - Andrew says:
        
        3 Nov3 November 08:05
        
        But Prada has not affiliation to LVMH. And I’m not sure your prediction is totally justified – they’ve had Rimowa for a few years now and continue to be excellent and their namesake company Louis Vuitton has the highest manufacturing and quality standards in luxury retail.
      - Lady London says:
        
        3 Nov3 November 09:38
        
        +1 on LVMH. the definition of ‘fake luxury’.
        
        Whereas Chanel has bought a number of businesses and preserved those busineses’s craftmanship.
      - Lady London says:
        
        3 Nov3 November 09:39
        
        @Andrew sorry but absolutely not true about LV
      - Rob says:
        
        3 Nov3 November 09:52
        
        Bizarrely, despite everything, I find Hermes to have the lowest quality standards of any luxury goods group. I don’t think there is anything I have from them (although we’re only talking a handful of items) which is not damaged or badly constructed in some way. The LV stuff I have (mainly t-shirts and belts) is done to a high standard. There is a belt I have been wearing regularly for about 20 years and it is still in decent shape.
      - Lady London says:
        
        3 Nov3 November 09:42
        
        PS @Andrew quite a few times I’ve noticed an old brand’s quality drop markedly, marketing sometimes also increased, and known without even looking this is another brand LVMH has grabbed.
      - Rob says:
        
        3 Nov3 November 09:49
        
        It is worth doing some reading into the luxury goods industry. For example, the Italian Govt was lobbied (successfully) to change the law so that ‘Made In Italy’ can be stamped on a product as long as the bulk of the value is added in Italy. This allows a bag to be made in China by low-wage workers but the handle sewn on in Italy. The person sewing the handle is paid more than the people who made the bag, so it can be labelled ‘Made In Italy’.
      - Lady London says:
        
        3 Nov3 November 10:18
        
        France does the same Rob. Surprised to hear that about H. stuff. But then I’ve hardly bought anything there since their production, leather at least, moved out of the St Honore building to Bercy. I once got the chance to look on the workshop floors at St H and Im sure Bercy is different.
        
        LVMH has done an excellent job of managing some brands however LV quality itself fell off a cliff some time back.
        
        Estee Lauder does same job im cosmetics – look around Harrods cosmetics hall and a lot of what you’re looking at is owned by Estee Lauder.
      - Doug M says:
        
        3 Nov3 November 10:40
        
        @Rob- Exactly about Italy made. The number of so called high end Italian bikes (cycles) that sell for thousands. Frame made in Taiwan, Japanese groupset, then paint the frame and final assemble in Italy for a ‘Made in Italy’ bike at £5K.
    - Lady London says:
      
      3 Nov3 November 08:52
      
      cheapest to buy in Germany
      - Pete says:
        
        3 Nov3 November 11:13
        
        Agreed – there are also some German e-shops that are good value (e.g. https://www.kofferworld.de/), especially when they have sales on. I find Rimowas excellent quality, personally.
- Super Secret Stuff says:
  
  3 Nov3 November 10:10
  
  Any creative ways to use this offer?
  
  I can’t find any discount codes etc. Only the Avios portal.
  - Super Secret Stuff says:
    
    3 Nov3 November 10:12
    
    I forgot to add, how likely is a resale opportunity?
  - Rob says:
    
    3 Nov3 November 10:41
    
    I doubt you’re going to make anything reselling a suitcase, esp in the current climate! If it was £250 back on £500 spend there might be an angle.
    - Super Secret Stuff says:
      
      3 Nov3 November 10:49
      
      I agree, personally I have rules out any profit making opportunities.
      
      I am hoping to be able to find a solution that allows me to “buy” Avios for less than 0.2 per point.
BuildTheWall says:

3 Nov3 November 07:12

10x points on Amex Marriott card for spending at their hotels – would it be triggered on supplementary card as well?
- Harry T says:
  
  3 Nov3 November 07:59
  
  Yes.
  - Harry T says:
    
    3 Nov3 November 07:59
    
    I should clarify – it has done for my supp cardholder.
    - MD says:
      
      3 Nov3 November 08:03
      
      Did you get any bonus for taking out a supp on the Marriott card?
      - DJ says:
        
        3 Nov3 November 08:07
        
        No bonus point for taking out additional card holders.
      - Harry T says:
        
        3 Nov3 November 08:08
        
        No.
      - MD says:
        
        3 Nov3 November 08:46
        
        Bummer, thanks.
  - BuildTheWall says:
    
    3 Nov3 November 11:03
    
    Thanks Harry.