The HfP chat thread – Tuesday 10th November

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Karl says:

10 Nov10 November 13:48

Has anyone received the 5,000 bonus pints for 3 Marriott stays yet?
- Karl says:
  
  10 Nov10 November 13:49
  
  Or even points!
- Harry T says:
  
  10 Nov10 November 14:52
  
  No. I’ve also earned over 30,000 points due to the 2500 per stay, so they can’t argue that I haven’t done the stays! Apparently the extra 5000 will be credited 6 weeks or so after the promotion ends.
  - Karl says:
    
    10 Nov10 November 22:28
    
    Thanks Harry
Baji Nahid says:

10 Nov10 November 13:49

Rob i seen your comment on the first page about the announcement that it’s something to do with veganism?

Im thinking that its qatar airways (most likely but could be completely wrong) that have recently created a fully vegan onboard menu. Or could be another airline of such
- Andrew says:
  
  10 Nov10 November 13:58
  
  That was weeks ago that QR announced that.
Clive says:

10 Nov10 November 13:54

May be of interest to travelers planning on visiting Thailand

https://youtu.be/1c1dNaXv0mM
- BP says:
  
  10 Nov10 November 15:34
  
  Interesting. Have speculatively booked Thailand for mid-February during the 50% off avios sale. Not expecting it to go ahead but maybe there’s some hope if the quarantine can be reduced to 5 days. I expect UK cases to skyrocket over winter and we’ll be banned from entering.
Harry T says:

10 Nov10 November 14:13

Anyone want to cancel some flights from Tenerife to LHR for the first weekend in January so I can book another trip for Christmas? 😂
- Lady London says:
  
  10 Nov10 November 15:11
  
  I thought you had a bargain at Turnberry?
  - Harry T says:
    
    10 Nov10 November 15:25
    
    I do, I just really like my hotel in Tenerife! I suspect we will aim for Turnberry, as the covid test requirement they are bribing in this week will make it very hard for us to visit Tenerife (no easy way to get a private test).
    - Harry T says:
      
      10 Nov10 November 15:28
      
      Bringing
    - DK says:
      
      10 Nov10 November 15:39
      
      What’s the hotel if you don’t mind sharing?
      - Harry T says:
        
        10 Nov10 November 15:57
        
        Ritz-Carlton Abama
    - Anna says:
      
      10 Nov10 November 16:07
      
      It’s just been announced on the news that health care staff are to be tested twice a week (though I realise that might not mean anything coming from Matt Hancock!). You just need to arrange your flights accordingly.
      - Harry T says:
        
        10 Nov10 November 16:12
        
        Aha good thought 😂
      - Andrew says:
        
        10 Nov10 November 17:32
        
        They are being *invited* to self-test twice weekly. It’d be impossible to force staff to be tested, firstly it’s almost impossible to sack NHS staff who’d refuse to test, and secondly no Minister would ever want to sanction penetration without consent.
        
        (I’ve been tested fortnightly since May.)
      - Bazza says:
        
        10 Nov10 November 18:14
        
        North and East Herts NHS trust have enforced mandatory testing for the past 6 weeks and I have it in writing from Equality Advisory and Support Service that the trust are following government guidance on this and (although they agree this is a forced pathology test) are within their rights to do so.
- Aston100 says:
  
  10 Nov10 November 17:23
  
  Are you sure you are a doctor? Seems you are permanently on holiday somewhere or other!
  - Harry T says:
    
    10 Nov10 November 17:42
    
    Just used up most of my leave for the last year in August (they run September to September), and I’ve used about a third of this year’s allowance during this current block.
  - KBuffett says:
    
    10 Nov10 November 17:58
    
    The higher up you get in the NHS…….
    Still happy to go on strike though
    - Harry T says:
      
      10 Nov10 November 18:11
      
      I’m not very high up and I’ve never been on strike!
    - Bazza says:
      
      10 Nov10 November 18:17
      
      The London Weighting is the disgrace of it all. The more you earn the more you get!
      - Lucy says:
        
        10 Nov10 November 23:27
        
        Not exactly Bazza. Yes London weighting is based on income but this is not some infinite sum – its 20% of your base salary but only up to around 6k max.
        
        Other than inner/outer London weighting, NHS agenda for change pay scales are consistently the same across the country. I have been on the same band for a couple of years – first in Cardiff and now in London. I can comfirm that the London weighting supplement doesn’t mean I’m suddenly cashing in. Far from it!
        
        The same banding and base salary in Cardiff gave me a much more comfortable lifestyle – London weighting would have to be a *lot* more to get me anywhere close to that again. There’s a reason why London hospitals have notorious challenges with recruitment and retention. It may seem desirable to work for a big teaching hospital but the realities of London rent, travel costs etc make for a very different proposition long term. Just a few thoughts from me!
KP says:

10 Nov10 November 15:27

BA gold advisor would not let me rebook into revenue Club seats when Avios booking LGW-SKB 14/11 cancelled and there was no option to change online. I left it overnight and woke up to find BA had cancelled return leg 5/12 which then allowed me to rebook online and get my second choice of dates for February 🙂 Thanks Rob for your 5 May article that convinced me there was a way to access revenue seats.
Harry T says:

10 Nov10 November 15:40

Just received an email from Monese to say they’ve blocked my account and will be closing it. Seems a bit odd because I haven’t actually used the account for anything in months. The whole business seems a little shady because they’ve asked me to send them all the account details to them via email to return any funds (honestly can’t remember if I was carrying a balance). Anyone else received this? Doesn’t seem secure or GDPR compliant to ask me to send all my account details via insecure email!
- Harry T says:
  
  10 Nov10 November 15:42
  
  You know what – I’ll take them to the FOS and let you guys know what happens 😂
- Nick_C says:
  
  10 Nov10 November 16:12
  
  Monese closed me down in February after 7 months. I had done 7 Amex top ups totalling £800, 3 gift card purchases, one foreign purchase, and two foreign ATM withdrawals. All pretty innocent (compared with some of the other Fintechs I (ab)use!). I guess they just weren’t making any money out of me. Luckily, I had a zero balance at the time.
  - Harry T says:
    
    10 Nov10 November 16:13
    
    That’s the thing, Nick – I know for a fact that many people are using the system more “creatively”. I genuinely haven’t done anything untoward in the last year or so.
    - mark2 says:
      
      10 Nov10 November 16:37
      
      I have used mine very creatively, especially when you could load £5,000 at PO and £5,000 at PayPoint every month. They did recently email and ask some questions. I replied saying that I assumed that this was an automatic query as the answers were in their records and I have heard nothing since.
      But I never leave more than a few pounds in this type of account as they have a nasty habit of freezing the funds without notice.
      - Harry T says:
        
        10 Nov10 November 16:45
        
        @mark2
        Wise thing to do!
        
        I’m surprised they have just decided to close me down, without asking questions as I have never done anything near the levels you’re talking about.
  - TGLoyalty says:
    
    10 Nov10 November 17:07
    
    I expect ill be next then LOL
    - Ali M says:
      
      10 Nov10 November 17:11
      
      empty account quickly TG 😛
      - TGLoyalty says:
        
        10 Nov10 November 20:29
        
        It’s always emptied very quickly 😉
- The Urbanite says:
  
  10 Nov10 November 18:01
  
  That’s a standard request when they close accounts! I’ll be opening a fresh account with them when opportunities make it worthwhile.
  - Secret Squirrel says:
    
    10 Nov10 November 20:11
    
    Think you need a different mobile number as every time I attempted to open a new account they knew me already!
- Secret Squirrel says:
  
  10 Nov10 November 20:08
  
  Had this happen to me a while back. I had to wait 3 weeks to get my £500 back.
Ryan says:

10 Nov10 November 15:51

Hi everyone,

In regards to the Lloyds / Halifax Everyday offers, what’s the best way in getting some decent ones (Co Op for example) to appear? Some regular small shops in supermarkets? Never like spending on the Debit Card as it wastes several layers of c/b!
- 747_Brat says:
  
  10 Nov10 November 16:44
  
  I had the same question, so probably I can help.
  
  It looks like LBG group of banks roll out offers based on the usage. Since I wasn’t using my Lloyds & Halifax accounts much, I wasn’t getting any offers. Now I have started using the debit cards for small purchases, with a hope to receive the offers. I haven’t had any success yet! But I will report back when I start receiving offers.
- Andrew says:
  
  10 Nov10 November 17:21
  
  I use mine daily in the staff restaurant.
  
  (Today it was a totally nom crispy beef with egg noodles, chilli sauce, and stacks of fresh vege bits, followed by chocolate sponge pudding with chocolate custard – £5.04).
  
  They don’t take Amex so there’s no loss there.
  
  But I don’t just spend on 5812.
  
  For other transactions, as I use Airtime, it’s worth my while putting a broader range of transactions through my Debit card instead of Amex as there’s the usual 10% back at Morrison’s, 8% back at Primark, 5% at Boots, Crew, Wilko and Matalan etc on top of any rewards from Hfx.
  
  Even at Sazbo’s I pay into my Spree card using my Debit card as I approach the checkouts, so I get the 3% return.
  
  More use, drives more offers.
  
  My view is that if an Amex point is worth 1p, and I can get 10p by using a Debit card, then it’s 10 times better to pay by Debit Card.
  
  Obviously that will change considerably in January when MBNA joins the party and I’ll probably switch from Debit Card spend to Horizon spend.
  - ankomonkey says:
    
    10 Nov10 November 17:37
    
    Chocolate custard – haven’t seen or heard of it for years! Was it good?
    
    I gave up on Spree when I couldn’t work out a way to benefit from it and their customer service seemed completely clueless about their offers.
    - Andrew says:
      
      10 Nov10 November 18:05
      
      Everything prepared fresh onsite daily. It’s always good.
  - KBuffett says:
    
    10 Nov10 November 17:59
    
    Surely you don’t shop at Primark or Matalan?
    - Andrew says:
      
      10 Nov10 November 18:32
      
      Primark – With the fairest of skin, disposable fashion is perfect for using with Factor 50 sunscreen on holiday.
      
      Matalan – It’s great for kids stuff. Always pays to be picky, but the men’s stuff I’ve bought is good too, homeware is excellent.
      
      The world has changed. I mix and match from top brands and economy brands.
      - Harry T says:
        
        10 Nov10 November 18:34
        
        Good point, wish I’d bought some cheap clothes before my holiday. Being Sun Smart isn’t fun when it wrecks your clothes.
  - Ryan says:
    
    10 Nov10 November 22:17
    
    Thanks Andrew, much appreciated!
    
    I’ll try and get some many but small shops through it, there’s no fast way / methodical way of getting them?
    
    I did have a 10% return via Airtime at Morrisons but not anymore since March, have you recently signed up? Or are they back up again? Places like Boots is ideal with a quad dip (Curve grandfathered card)
    
    With scope at Co-Op, anything around 5-10% there would be huge
mutley says:

10 Nov10 November 15:58

Has anyone had any problems with points posting from Radisson? I stayed in late October and they still haven’t posted the bonus 5000 or base miles, despite emailing them twice and getting a reply saying they would sort it out!
- Alan H says:
  
  10 Nov10 November 17:39
  
  I stayed on 13 October and the points including the bonus were posted with a couple of days.
- Rob says:
  
  10 Nov10 November 18:03
  
  I know that Radisson has decided that some sale rates are not going to get any points, despite not telling people this at the time.
  - mutley says:
    
    10 Nov10 November 18:45
    
    Maybe, that could be the case, although in one of their replies they mentioned they had an IT problem, and were unable to check clients out. In my case I only stayed a night, but they still had me checked in a week after I left the Hotel!