The HfP chat thread – Saturday 5th December

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David says:

5 Dec5 December 14:54

Anyone know if the selfridges Amex offer is now – in practice – working in store as well as online?
- Andrew says:
  
  5 Dec5 December 19:11
  
  There is the option to buy online and return for an “exchange” or gift card in store.
  - Youllnever says:
    
    5 Dec5 December 21:19
    
    Does this really work? When I asked them over the phone, they said that they can only do a full refund back to the originating card, and not put the amount on a gift card.
    - David says:
      
      5 Dec5 December 21:59
      
      Indeed, the info they have published online, suggested they only refund to original payment method.
      - David says:
        
        5 Dec5 December 21:59
        
        Would be keen to hear of any experiences
    - TGLoyalty says:
      
      5 Dec5 December 22:42
      
      Yes really works and that’s not what the Instore t&cs say. you can have any sale including those from online exchanged or refunded to a gift card.
- Andrew says:
  
  5 Dec5 December 22:45
  
  From the Selfridges website:
  “How to exchange your purchase:
  You can exchange your purchase in any of our four stores.“
  
  So therefore anything bought online can be exchanged in store without being refunded. So you can just exchange it for whatever you want in store that you can’t get online. Just say it was a gift given to you and so you don’t want a refund to the person that bought it for you but you want to exchange.
Gareth says:

5 Dec5 December 16:52

Apologies for another downgrade question. We’ve just had notification of first to club world downgrades for holiday to Toronto. Booked as a BA holiday so only deposit paid so far. We are waiting for a callback from BA Holidays as we had to respond to an automated text within 72 hours or the booking would be automatically cancelled. I assume our holiday will be repriced with the new club world seat price? Will we still eligible for downgrade compensation after we fly?
- Jonathan says:
  
  5 Dec5 December 19:28
  
  If your holiday is repriced then you won’t get downgrade compensation. I’m not sure of the exact rules in this scenario with a package holiday booking but they do have the right to cancel your whole trip & give you a full refund which is not the case for flight only bookings.
Jack says:

5 Dec5 December 17:30

Just to double check, there is no way to do the PCR test in the Canaries in the Canaries, right? It has to be done beforehand? Kinda makes a last minute getaway expensive. Grr.
- Michael C says:
  
  5 Dec5 December 19:49
  
  Must be done beforehand and include your passport information.
Andrew says:

5 Dec5 December 18:19

Let’s leave racism out of this forum where possible.
- LB says:
  
  5 Dec5 December 22:37
  
  …where possible???
  - Andrew says:
    
    5 Dec5 December 23:02
    
    My comment was in response to a racist comment which has now been deleted.
Mo says:

5 Dec5 December 23:15

I assume LB was saying that “where possible” was an unnecessary part of comment, as it implied racism would be okay under certain conditions.

I’m just guessing as to what they meant, I am sure you didn’t mean that.
- Andrew says:
  
  5 Dec5 December 23:49
  
  Well no quite, there is no place for it at any time and I didn’t mean for it to be misinterpreted – it was more that I was just trying to not be too school teacher about my response to the initial comment, but at the same time wanted to call out inappropriate behaviour.
meta says:

5 Dec5 December 23:18

@Lady London Just saw your question on the other thread regarding my BA flight back from Portugal (not Italy). BA requested more time twice now. Apparently you can’t refuse them more time anymore. Next Friday is their absolute deadline to respond. Court wrote that they won’t be grant any further extensions. In the meantime, out of their own will and without me ever requesting, they returned the Avios and money. I have not heard a thing from BA at all up to know other than messages from court. I think they honestly don’t know how to defend this case as my main piece of evidence is their agent admitting liability in writing and at the same time refusing to pay up telling me to claim from my insurance! I think the agent clicked the wrong button when selecting standard responses. 😂
- Lady London says:
  
  5 Dec5 December 23:47
  
  so they returned the avios and in money? normally that would be less than most people’s costs they would be claiming under duty of care.
  
  Perhaps they will now pay you the costs you claimed as well….. I think you are right so it will be interesting to see what they come back with.
  
  Please let us know how it goes and make sure they pay in full as they wasted a lot of your time in an open and shut case.
  - meta says:
    
    6 Dec6 December 00:41
    
    We’ll the costs between my partner and I are 4x that incl. interest, so they will need to pay the difference if they want us to drop the case.
Lady London says:

6 Dec6 December 14:49

Good. Dont forget statutory interest 8%pa pro rata till received and a sweetener.

BA refusing you your rights and leaving you stranded having to spend your own time first arguing with them them then left by BA to having to use your own money and spend more time to find an alternative means of getting home after BA cancelled your flight… should not result in BA paying out at the end only what they should have anyway and no extra.

I would probably have stayed the 4 extra days and nights out there until the next flight on BA 4 days later in the full knowledge that BA would, out of their own choice of not putting me on the TAP flight 1 hour later, ended up paying for hotel and all meals. Their decision !

If they pay up with a sweetener which is the only reason for accepting a gag order, please at least post about the existence of a gag order and a settlement even if you are barred from telling us how much.
Lady London says:

6 Dec6 December 18:11

Which do you think a store would prefer for a returned purchase :-

– refunding the money back to the card, thus losing that money, or

– if you dont want an exchange, offering you a gift card for the value, thus keeping the money in the firm and knowing there will be some sort of profit when you spend it.

Answers on an Amex please to PO Box 100.