The HfP chat thread – Saturday 28th November

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• Paul says:

  28 Nov28 November 07:48

  Well done Virgin Atlantic.

  I booked 2 x upper class seats for next august.

  Lon to mia at a total points cost of 210,000.

  Virgin currently have a half price points offer.

  I emailed 2 CEOs and the executive office sprang into action and within 48hrs have cancelled my flights and rebooked at the better rate.

  A refund of 105,000 points heading my way.

  Thank You Virgin

  • Johnny Tabasco says:

    28 Nov28 November 08:29

    I’m surprised they have done this to be honest and they certainly didn’t have to. Nice bit of PR I suppose.
    That great news for you but essentially isn’t this how sales work everywhere and the risk you take when buying products ?
    Kicking up a fuss when it doesn’t go your way won’t always work (quite rightly) but I’m glad it did for you on this occasion.

    • Paul says:

      28 Nov28 November 09:05

      Fantastic bit of PR to be honest.

  • TGLoyalty says:

    28 Nov28 November 08:58

    So you emailed the CEOs rather than pick up the phone to the call centre and perhaps have to pay £30 per person rebooking fee?

    • Paul says:

      28 Nov28 November 09:01

      Haha ive submitted the forms etc but zero response. I also spent 58 mins on hold to speka too.

      • Johnny Tabasco says:

        28 Nov28 November 09:24

        58 mins is nothing lol. That’s Bittersweet Symphony just 5 times.

        Still you threw your toys out the pram when you had no right to and got what you wanted. A win is a win I guess.

      • RichW says:

        28 Nov28 November 10:14

        I used their WhatsApp service for the same thing to get a family of 4 upper class in school holidays, nice result 😁
        WhatsApp worked well rather than waiting around and messaged back and for refund then just booked again online with fee though , don’t mind that to get the points back, we only booked 2 days before the offer came in

  • babyg_wc says:

    28 Nov28 November 10:51

    Gawd emailed the CEO…. Snowflake

    • paul says:

      28 Nov28 November 14:48

      want to know the best news, that will upset you more?

      the return flight was outside their “grace period” for cancellations but they sorted it.

      what’s even better is they refunded the full 210,000 points and not just the 50%

      maybe they will notice, maybe they wont.

      winner winner chicken dinner

      • Jonathan says:

        28 Nov28 November 19:25

        Just to warn you, lots of reports of people thinking they’d got away with not being charged for upgrades, adding return flights etc with BA until they get to airport & are refused boarding.

        Tempting as it is I’d come clean on this if you definitely want to fly as chances are it will be picked up on at some point as they reconcile transactions.

        • Paul says:

          28 Nov28 November 22:22

          Theyve emailed to confirm points refunded (ok so they refinded double) and confirmed date change of return flight and seats still the same.

          They’d have fun trying to argue against their own emails at the airport.

          They, not me, refunded too many miles so would be intetesting if they quoted their error to stop me flying.

  • Coucou says:

    28 Nov28 November 11:04

    Oh I see. You are one of those…

    • paul says:

      28 Nov28 November 14:54

      if you mean Im one of those who write to the CEO after trying their whatapp, phone and email and not getting any response after several days, then yes I’m “one of those”

      as we had to confirm our return flight as a matter of urgency, in order to change a cruise booking due to CDC legislation, we didn’t have the luxury of hanging around.

      VA got our booking, good press and loyalty, our cruise line got to keep our split booking and we got to keep my wife’s 50th birthday on track, so no matter your thoughts we’re all happy.

  • tom1 says:

    28 Nov28 November 11:35

    I called at 7am this morning and got through straight away.

• Chelseafi says:

  28 Nov28 November 08:01

  I’m trying to find more info on the eVouchers from BA Hol deposits I’ve cancelled. My understanding is you can book a new holiday online pay cash for deposit, then provided you were already in receipt of voucher/vouchers before making booking you can add the voucher to the booking at a later date via phone? Can anyone confirm this, plus is it up to 3 vouchers can be added to a booking? I want to make a family booking, I have 1 voucher in the name of my adult sons and 2 in mine and OH name, can I add these 3 vouchers to a booking all four of use will be traveling? Thanks for any advice.

  • Jon G says:

    28 Nov28 November 10:58

    Why not just do the booking over phone so you can use the vouchers to cover the deposit at the same time?

    Can confirm that vouchers can be added retrospectively – however not sure if I was able to do it only because the phone agent wasn’t able to price my flights correctly and I had to do it myself.

• Mike says:

  28 Nov28 November 08:40

  Have flights booked on BA for Istanbul 1st week Jan. Would it be worth booking hotels now or waiting it out? Marriott/Hilton double nights promo etc all ends in December so nothing really going on for January at the moment.

  • Harry T says:

    28 Nov28 November 19:12

    Just make flexible bookings if the price is right. Unsure about Hilton but Marriott usually counts existing bookings during promo periods – no new booking required.

• Craig says:

  28 Nov28 November 08:46

  Data point for the Esso offer, transaction on the 23rd, no confirmation email, offer now showing as recently redeemed so expecting the credit to hit in the next day or so.

  • Vit says:

    28 Nov28 November 21:10

    did you pay “at pump” or at cashier?

• Munch says:

  28 Nov28 November 09:07

  Read all the recent comments on Curve changes. Completed a transaction on Thursday to NSI, noticed the verification had changed and defaulted to using the app. Selected confirm by SMS as usual and transaction completed.
  Not sure if the transaction will now attract interest so paid off the full balance immediately (Creation).
  Has anyone actually confirmed that the recent changes are attracting interest on NSI type transactions?

  • stevenhp1987 says:

    28 Nov28 November 11:11

    No fees

• Linda says:

  28 Nov28 November 09:14

  Excellent tip the other day about calling virgin at 7am. Been on hold for ages last week, and didn’t get through . A lovely woman picked up 1st time at 7am and 2 for 1 upper class to Atlanta fixed in about 8 mins.

  • tom1 says:

    28 Nov28 November 11:41

    Yes, me too. 7am this morning also.
    The lady wasn’t completely au fait with the CC vouchers but was very pleasant and willing.

    • Ronald Jeremy says:

      28 Nov28 November 12:40

      7.00am pleasant and willing!!! You gotta love it.

• Fm says:

  28 Nov28 November 09:18

  Any tips on feeding Charlie Stan, they don’t play ball with MC?

• The Streets says:

  28 Nov28 November 09:37

  It’s quite amusing reading a number of different newspaper articles running stories on the recent woes of NS&I and how their readers will never put their money there again.. clearly not hfp readers

  • ChrisC says:

    28 Nov28 November 10:33

    It seems that those HfP readers only put their cash into premium bonds for the minimum amount of time as a way to generate miles not as a long term investment.

    And then do it again and again

    • Rob says:

      28 Nov28 November 11:03

      If you’re a 40-45% taxpayer, Premium Bonds remain the most generous cash saving.

      At the full £50,000, you are statistically almost guaranteed to hit the 1 in 34,500 odds for £25 prizes. (Ignore the other prizes, just look at the £25 ones.) This means you win £434.78 per year TAX FREE. It’s the equivalent of 1.58% for a 45% taxpayer.

      • Sundar says:

        28 Nov28 November 11:18

        Is it 50K max or per year(like Isa is 20K/year) ?

        Ofcourse understand with rotation, it does lead to lots of points…

        • AJA says:

          28 Nov28 November 11:49

          Its £50k max. Not an annual allowance.

      • ChrisC says:

        28 Nov28 November 11:18

        Yes but only if you keep the money in the premium bonds for an extended time and it appears some people aren’t doing that

      • Doug M says:

        28 Nov28 November 11:23

        The 50K in Premium Bonds is an investment/savings. The points can easily be done through the Direct Saver with less hassle and concern for timing.

        • TGLoyalty says:

          28 Nov28 November 13:04

          🙂

      • Genghis says:

        28 Nov28 November 11:29

        If you’re a 40% tax payer you still get a £500 interest income allowance (of course 45% don’t get anything).

      • Bazza says:

        28 Nov28 November 13:32

        Handy if the government just lent your 50 large

    • memesweeper says:

      28 Nov28 November 11:25

      Err, I don’t. I buy a ton of ERNIE and leave it there. Been buying for family and friends too. I’ve done one (large) withdrawal in two years maybe?

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