The HfP chat thread – Thursday 7th January

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• Phil says:

  7 Jan7 January 14:40

  I have had the Amex Platinum charge card since 2014. I retained it through 2020 as the Amex Offers, AL Credits, Travel Insurance, Car Hire Insurance and Travel benefits just about covered the fee. However, with no travel likely until Q2/Q3 2021 and the Amex Offers drying up (I didn’t get the Marriot £400, Harrods or recent PayPal and had to ask them to load Shop Small onto my card). I am struggling to justify retaining the card. I’d potentially consider retaining if a retention bonus was offered, but one wasn’t offered when I cancelled my BAPP in October. Could somebody explain the process they followed to achieve a retention bonus and whether there are likely to be any criteria that would increase the propensity for one to be offered?

  Any help or advice gratefully welcome.

  • Tom says:

    7 Jan7 January 14:47

    Some agents will offer it without bringing it up yourself but others will not. Just straight up ask them if there are any retention offers they can offer to persuade you to stay.

    • Phil says:

      7 Jan7 January 14:49

      Precise and to the point, thanks

    • Peter K says:

      7 Jan7 January 14:50

      As a data point. I’ve just cancelled my Gold business Amex. I rang just before and just after the yearly fee was taken and no retention offer was made. I asked the time before the fee, but didn’t ask this time.

  • Ste Cox says:

    7 Jan7 January 15:07

    I just phoned up about half an hour ago.

    Me: I just want to see what the options are for cancelling my card are since i dont seem to be getting much value out of it at the moment.

    Them: Let me check, have you had a look at the offers on your card recently?

    Me: yes but i havent been able to use them

    Them: ok, you can either have 50k in MR or can down grade to gold and get the first year free.

    Me: i will take the points thanks.

    I may have paraphrased a little but that was the gist of the conversation.

    • Ste Cox says:

      7 Jan7 January 15:08

      *also mentioned that i am due to renew in less than a month

    • Andrew says:

      7 Jan7 January 15:10

      Was that the first time you have been offered a retention offer since the start of 2020? With some exceptions, the general experience is that if you were offered the retention offer in April/May when Rob wrote about it, then they aren’t offering a second one now.

      • Ste Cox says:

        7 Jan7 January 15:15

        I phoned up over the summer (just after the start of the first lockdown i think, probably when Rob wrote about it) but the only thing they offered me then was to downgrade to gold – said i will go and have a think and then didnt get back to them.

    • TGLoyalty says:

      7 Jan7 January 15:25

      Had the same convo this morning and was also offered 50k (no previous retention bonus on plat)

      I took the points but yet to post.

      • Ste Cox says:

        7 Jan7 January 15:25

        I was told it would take a couple of days as it needs to be authorised.

        • TGLoyalty says:

          7 Jan7 January 15:36

          Ah she didn’t say that. I will report back in a couple days 🙂

        • TGLoyalty says:

          7 Jan7 January 16:59

          Well looks like I don’t need to wait 2 days. 50k now posted on my account 🙂

    • Not Angry says:

      7 Jan7 January 16:01

      I was only offered a downgrade to gold.

      Anyone had a different response when calling another time? Is a retention offer at the whim of the person you talk to or will it be pre-determined by the computer based on your spend history etc?

  • Anthony Edwards says:

    7 Jan7 January 15:11

    I cancelled 4 months ago after getting the first 20000 points retention bonus, so have now saved £200 cash. I’m pretty happy with that and will enjoy the £50 a month until travel resumes and I reapply

  • Super Secret Stuff says:

    7 Jan7 January 15:43

    I have found do not go straight to the point.

    They’ll look straight thru it and see what you’re doing. Say it without saying it? Ask “is there anything you can do? It just doesn’t make sense for me”

  • Diydegsy says:

    7 Jan7 January 15:58

    I received 20,000 bonus in may but rang up again the other day as I am due to renew and she said the best they could do was to offer another 35,000 MR so I took them. 55k in total so not too bad.

    • Andrew says:

      7 Jan7 January 16:04

      That’s good to know, I got 20k in May and due to renew in March so I’ll try again in a few weeks and see if they top up to 50/55k.

  • Phil says:

    7 Jan7 January 17:20

    Just called up, advised I was considering cancelling my card and I wanted to understand my options. Was offered 35k points or Gold. I am approx. halfway through the membership year. Decided to take the points and will re-evaluate the situation on renewal. Was advised the points will take 48 hours to post.

    I mentioned one of the reasons being issues with Amex Offers (Marriott £400, Harrods and PayPal). The CS agent proactively said that these had been targeted but publicised widely, Amex were aware that it had led to customers feeling under appreciated and they do intend to roll out other broader offers in the coming months, especially if travel restrictions stay in place.

    Thanks for all the great advice.

  • Ming The Merciless says:

    7 Jan7 January 23:19

    I’ve been offered £250 statement credit on business platinum. Apparently everyone who renewed late last year is getting it… did I miss something?

• LEWIS says:

  7 Jan7 January 14:55

  Does anyone know if crowne plaza lounges are open? Got to travel with work and wondering if its worth booking an executive room or not.

  • DJ says:

    7 Jan7 January 14:58

    Not sure if it had changed, but I’ve been using crown plaza in London city and Nottingham before the full lockdown. The club lounge weren’t open and you don’t even get replacement breakfast 🙁

  • Anna says:

    7 Jan7 January 15:01

    Some are, some aren’t, you need to enquire with the individual hotel. I would imagine not many are open in the UK from this week.

  • TGLoyalty says:

    7 Jan7 January 15:19

    If you mean in the UK they’ll be closed.

• Jody says:

  7 Jan7 January 15:00

  Just called up easyJet to apply for a refund (there was more than one set of flights on the same booking and didn’t want all of them cancelled, which is why I called rather than did online). Was amazed to get through in less than 10 seconds, albeit the line was appalling and I really struggled to hear!

  Anyway, my flights to Verona, which easyJet had changed to a different departure airport that wasn’t suitable have been cancelled, should be refunded within 14 days apparently.

  • JohnT says:

    7 Jan7 January 17:10

    When looking for the EasyJet refund on your statement it will POST with the Posting date the date they send it back, but the Transaction Date as the original booking date! I have just spent a lot of time on the phone to find out I already had my refund as showed completely out of sequencer (ie for Virgin Money online transactions show Transaction date – but list is sorted by Posted date – Helpful NO!)

    • Jody says:

      7 Jan7 January 17:26

      Thanks for this. Unfortunately my refund is to a cancelled amex card, and even more annoying that card was removed from my online account because they thought it was causing problems with the new card I got (long story), so I can’t even look online to see if it’s been refunded or not!

      Guess I’ll maybe give it 3 weeks to be sure, then give amex a ring.

      • Bill says:

        7 Jan7 January 18:00

        My recent easyjet refund took about 2 weeks

        • Bill says:

          7 Jan7 January 18:01

          They have a refund form online

• Human7 says:

  7 Jan7 January 15:35

  This might be one for Shopperpoints or MSE, but thought you savvy bunch might know anyway.

  Summary: Has anyone been able to negotiate a good deal with their broadband provider whilst being an existing OUT OF CONTRACT customer? I see new customer offers which are much better than what I’m currently on, but I’m not eligible for…

  Detail: I’m being gouged by Virgin Media, am on a rolling monthly contract for broadband only (original contract expired 5+ years ago), am unhappy with their services and I just never got around to switching mainly because they are the fastest ISP in my area by far unfortunately (and I’m certain they’re exploiting this). I’ve just received a letter of prices going up yet again (did a quick calc and it represents a 8% CAGR for the last 7 years!!) and am really beginning to lose it. I don’t need TV services, just fast, cheaper broadband but my only options seem to be paying Virgin more which I do not want to.

  Any ideas? I get agitated just thinking about the experiences I’ve had with them but the broadband infrastructure in this country leaves a lot to be desired…

  /rant over.

  • Buxton says:

    7 Jan7 January 16:15

    Not had any experience but have always been able to negotiate with BT and others, like EE even out of contract.

    I usually go in being upfront about wanting to contract to get the price down and that you’ve seen a price for a package you want. If they try their best and you’re nice I cant see why they’d not want the guaranteed business.

  • Anuj says:

    7 Jan7 January 16:19

    With virgin until you put the 30 day notice (even for a rolling contract) through they won’t offer anything good. Check anyway and if they don’t offer anything good cancel and make sure your contact number is up to date. After a week they will ring once with terrible offers which you reject and then ring a few days later with much better. Eg I negotiated £15pm for 100MB. When asking for offers once they offer around £20ish pm ask what the cost will be without landline and that’s when they go down to £15. Hope that helps

    • kitten says:

      7 Jan7 January 16:28

      Sounds a bit like Three. Their retention offers are usually pants as it seems they want to lock you in for 2 years but somehow they are never equipped with an offer that is any better than you know the market is going to be in about 5 months for a max 12month signup.

  • kitten says:

    7 Jan7 January 16:24

    moneysavingexpert dot com editorial and forums will have info on who got what with Virgin broadband / tripleplay. Sometimes to get the deal you have to take the tripleplay and only use part.

    Basically it’s worth terminating them then the deals are there when you come back. The threat to leave may be enough but you may have to do it if they are relatively stronger in your exact postcode.

    Basically it sounds like you’ve let yourself be ripped off for years and it’s time to put a stop to it. They hate Sky but others may work as a threat too. pretty sure loads of info on specifics of what they did against which competitor on MSE

  • Nick_C says:

    7 Jan7 January 16:49

    Have a look at https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5480640/virgin-media-retention-deals-post-your-haggling-successes/p211

  • Aston100 says:

    7 Jan7 January 17:21

    I always manage to negotiate a better renewal every year or so with VM.
    If it helps to gauge things, this is my current deal:
    Lowest Phone Package / 2nd highest TV Package / 100mb Broadband / 2 Tivo boxes / Sky Sports Collection.
    For under £47pm inc (i.e. no additional line rental etc).

  • kitten says:

    7 Jan7 January 17:26

    replied for pete next page. wordpress loses the positioning of replies – it just times out. silly.

  • 747_Brat says:

    7 Jan7 January 17:43

    I work at the Sky Group, and as part of my employment I can refer a limited number of close friend & family for employee discount. Basically, the discount for family and friends is identical to the employee discount. You will be paying A LOT LESS than the market rates, if you use my discount codes. In some cases, you would be paying UPTO 50% LESS than the market rates!

    Here’s how it works:

    1. Send me an email on: nrg7333 [at] gmail.com

    2. I will get back to you with the list of current discount and offers. The offers change frequently, therefore I can’t list them all here.

    3. You can choose the Sky TV/Broadband/Mobile package you would like to apply for, and let me know.

    4. I will generate a SPECIAL EMPLOYEE DISCOUNT CODE, which you can use to register for discounted packages.

    *** At no point, you will be required to share any personal information with me. I will generate the special employee discount code, which works on a special link. I will share both the code and link with you. You will fill the form for a new connection on your own, without divulging any Personally identifiable information (PII) to me.

    *** For full disclosure, I DO NOT get anything out of this. No monetary or non-monetary reward. I am not a Sky customer myself and I do not work in sales either, so I am not helping myself here in any way. It is just that I get a limited set of special employee discount codes every quarter, which were going to waste. Since I have benefited a lot from amazing people here on HfP, it is my way of returning the favour!

    • Ste Cox says:

      7 Jan7 January 17:50

      would this work for current sky customers?

      • 747_Brat says:

        7 Jan7 January 18:57

        Yes, existing customers also qualify. Have replied to your email with the existing customer offers for this quarter.

    • Aston100 says:

      7 Jan7 January 18:00

      That is very good of you.
      I’m on a really good retention deal with Virgin else I’d be in touch.

      • Sina says:

        7 Jan7 January 18:18

        If anyone is interested, I’m a customer of Hyperoptic and they are fantastic and my monthly fee went down after my contract ended and speed went up! I’m getting 100Mbps for £24/m! If you use my email address as the referer, we both get £25 account credit each!
        ahadipour at me dot com

        • BuildBackBetter says:

          7 Jan7 January 20:08

          Had hyper optic 2 years ago when they were rolling out in london. Good customer service. Recommended.

  • Optimus Prime says:

    7 Jan7 January 18:10

    Yes – Hyperoptic always offers me to renew on the same T&C’s as new customers.

  • Colin MacKinnon says:

    7 Jan7 January 18:16

    Don’t you have a partner, kids, friends on Virgin at another address etc.

    We have two properties in the family with Virgin broadband. Each year, daugher moves out of one into the other, and I move the other direction. Cheap monthly deal and a wee bonus with Voldemort! Makes it about a tenner a month for fast broadband.

  • DANi says:

    7 Jan7 January 18:24

    With virgin media…I’ve found threatening to leave didn’t work..u have to leave, then in the cancellation period they will call… And I said ‘too little too late’. Either you go thro the procedure of joining the main providers thro ‘an old phone line’ and ditch virgin or suck them up… Shame..but that’s how they worked with me.

• ZW says:

  7 Jan7 January 15:37

  I haven’t been reading all the comments recently, does anyone know if there’s any charge from HSBC WE card when I used it to pay Amex via Curve? Thanks.

  • ZW says:

    7 Jan7 January 15:38

    I’m hesitating if I should pay the Curve metal or not.

  • Eric says:

    7 Jan7 January 16:01

    It dosen’t ever work for me. Amex always rejects my Curve.

  • BuildBackBetter says:

    7 Jan7 January 17:22

    No charges

    • ZW says:

      7 Jan7 January 19:47

      Great! Thanks! I just did a £100, was charged £1.5 by curve.

      • TGLoyalty says:

        7 Jan7 January 20:49

        Yup. Should be No charge from HSBC when it clears.

        No 1.5% charge with metal.

  • memesweeper says:

    7 Jan7 January 22:17

    No charge, but I’ve failed to get my PREM WE added to curve at all. Many attempts.

• Mark says:

  7 Jan7 January 16:06

  im looking to get some funding through my Amex to get hit our sign up bonus target and wanted to pre-fund some of my EDF gas and electric via a payment online…how easy is it to then get EDF to drop your direct debit amount down if you make a one off payment onto your account so I dont end up sitting with a large surplus at EDF later in the year…thanks!

  • Anuj says:

    7 Jan7 January 16:09

    Octopus energy let you do it and drop to £1 for direct debit. They may be the cheapest in your areas but aren’t in mine

    • Alan says:

      7 Jan7 January 18:53

      Outfoxthemarket is one of the cheapest providers has good feedback and accepts Amex

      I switched recently and every thing went smoothly, no referral bonuses are available but still the best deal could find.

  • 747_Brat says:

    7 Jan7 January 18:01

    I recently switched to Igloo. They offer lower rates than Bulb & Octopus, and allow Amex top-ups keeping the direct debit to just £1. The cherry on top is that they pay 3% interest on the account credit! 🙂

    Their Trustpilot reviews are also very very good.

    In case you would like to switch to Igloo, here’s my referral link. We both get £50. Thanks.
    https://refer.igloo.energy/neerajg3609

    • Mr. AC says:

      7 Jan7 January 20:00

      How did you manage to get the direct debit down to £1? It’s not editable online or in the app (unlike Octopus). I even contacted them about it, they refused to change it from the “default” £100 pcm.

• Pete says:

  7 Jan7 January 16:26

  Could I get people’s views on the likelihood of success of a CEDR claim against BA before I submit it? My boyfriend was due to fly back to Berlin from London on 3/Jan, the flight was cancelled. The earliest flight they could offer was on 8/Jan, which didn’t work as he needed to be back for work. When we spoke to them they wouldn’t offer re-routing or anything other than a flight on 8/Jan or later, a FTV or a refund. He travelled by train in the end, which cost 350 Euros and we’ve asked for that back. They are saying “we are not liable in this situation,” which doesn’t feel right under article 8 of Regulation 261/2004. As I mentioned the other day, unlike BA, EZ, FR and LH have been flying since 1/Jan – BA wouldn’t rebook onto those either. Any thoughts warmly welcome 🙂

  • Rhys says:

    7 Jan7 January 16:30

    Sounds like a slam dunk to be honest!

    • Pete says:

      7 Jan7 January 16:43

      Thanks – glad I am not going crazy! Three email exchanges with BA made it look like this is the most outrageous thing I could ask them for…

      • Anna says:

        7 Jan7 January 16:59

        Typical nonsense from BA! I found CEDR extremely helpful and efficient when I submitted a delay claim in 2019 (after getting a simiar response) -they will need some confirmation that you have reached a stalemate with BA. An email saying that this is their final position or words to that effect, and directing you to mediation, is usually sufficient.

• Anthony says:

  7 Jan7 January 16:27

  Hi all, I have a orthodontic appointment next week abroad, as the treatment costs much less than here, would I be able to fly? I tried to contact BA, but no answer. Thanks

  • Tracey says:

    7 Jan7 January 16:36

    Yes on the grounds that it is very unlikely that anyone is going to stop you from going, but also you have evidence of a medical appointment booked. The fact it is cheaper over there is irrelevant, border force are not in a position to decide where you go for treatment.

  • Anna says:

    7 Jan7 January 17:00

    You are allowed to leave your home for medical treatment and it’s not specified that it can’t be outside the UK. I would imagine the biggest problem would be either leg of your flight being cancelled.

    • Anna says:

      7 Jan7 January 17:03

      I was having a bit of a dilemma over my son’s eye test tomorrow; I’m not sure if this counts as “medical” but he needs new glasses and can’t really function if he can’t see properly! I’m assuming that the optician would have cancelled if there was any issue.

      • Pete says:

        7 Jan7 January 17:07

        Definitely counts as medical, Anna.

      • ChrisC says:

        7 Jan7 January 17:12

        Anna Optician visits are fine.

        Comes under the ‘Healthcare and Public Services’ category of exemptions.

      • BuildBackBetter says:

        7 Jan7 January 17:32

        My son has an eye test too next week. The bigger issue is avoiding infection at hospital.

        • kitten says:

          7 Jan7 January 17:42

          that’s why I cancelled my really-quite-needed medical appointments that were 2 days after Boris’s announcement.

          Yes I may be in the stats of all the other important health things that are being delayed due to Covid. But faced with the risk of things getting worse if delayed or a filthy infected environment generally or a medical lication possibly just vacated by someone infected, for now I’ll just take my chances.

  • The Savage Squirrel says:

    7 Jan7 January 19:40

    Not strictly relevant, but given the need for many repeat appointments, and so the time and cost factor of flying abroad several times, compared against the typical cost of orthodontics, I find it very hard to believe there is any saving there at all, unless you are comparing apples and oranges.

    • Mr. AC says:

      7 Jan7 January 20:06

      There’s absolutely a saving to be had… Just had some dental work done abroad for (the equivalent of) £185, top quality (did 2 crowns with the same guy 10 years ago, no issues at all). Flights were 200 on top (direct BA, could’ve easily flown for 50 via lowcoster or indirect) + hotels at £27. The fact that I got double nights from Hilton so well on my way to Gold from scratch is a cherry on top…
      Was quoted £1500 in one practice in London and £1300 in another for the same work.

      • kitten says:

        7 Jan7 January 20:42

        could you share?

        was it Poland? I know Savage really knows about this stuff and that often work is not done well and the UK dentist ends up picking up the mess, in but your case seems to.have gone well and somewhere further East might turn out easier for me to reach this year.

        • TGLoyalty says:

          7 Jan7 January 20:51

          East of Barcelona perhaps?

    • Aston100 says:

      7 Jan7 January 23:49

      There’s an entire dental tourism industry operating in Antalya, Turkey.
      Several times cheaper than the UK (I was quoted a little over £3k for work that would vs cost me around £15k in the UK).
      Massive savings to be had, and you get a holiday or two out of it too.

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