The HfP chat thread – Thursday 11th February

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• Lady London says:

  11 Feb11 February 15:32

  Nectar’s been offering me the same stuff pretty much every week. went from 30-70 points to this week 10 points on pretty much the same 5 items.

  I’m not near a Sainsbury’s and was thinking of making a special trip. But I’m not sure why Sainsbury’s and Nectar think 10 points on anything motivational.

  I’m heading back to Waitrose.

  • Aston100 says:

    11 Feb11 February 15:42

    Hello Lady Kitten.
    Seems there are a few of us not receiving any decent nectar offers.

    Glad I’m not alone.

    • meta says:

      11 Feb11 February 16:02

      I’m actually getting good offers, but I am not impressed by the variety and quality at Sainsbury’s. It’s even worse than Tesco or Asda (can’t compare with Lidl or Aldi as never shopped there). After this week’s delivery (my partner had another 3x points offer), my main weekly delivery will continue to be Waitrose or Ocado as before. I’ll only do top ups at Sainsburys for the offers because it’s only a few minutes further than my usual Co-op. Actually, I’ve also noticed that for about half of the food items I regularly buy, Sainsbury is actually more expensive than Waitrose!

      I also understand this is pretty much down to personal preference.

      • Anna says:

        11 Feb11 February 16:23

        @meta you need to try Aldi and Lidi now they both accept Amex. Very little beats the thrill of a trolley full of smoked salmon and other delicacies (often marked down by 30 – 50 %) which you then get charged about £27 for at the checkout 🤣.

        • meta says:

          11 Feb11 February 16:42

          Sounds like I should give it a go. How is their kefir? I judge supermarkets by the quality and variety of kefir. 🤣

        • mutley says:

          11 Feb11 February 16:44

          I was sent out to shop by Mrs mutley with a specific list earlier this week. We tend to use different supermarkets and shop three or four times a week, it depends on where we are. Monday I decided to visit a new Lidl the shop came to £42.10 for 30 items. As I am bored at home at present I decided to do a comparison, Sainsburys basket was £48.42, Asda £43.97, Waitrose £66.94!! I will do Morrisons, Tesco, M&S, and Aldi tomorrow. Ok, it won’t stop me using Sainsburys as they are the cheapest for fuel where I live, and they churn out 400 points coupons for £35 of diesel, and also utilising the Amex Plat deals in Waitrose, but it makes me think are in store nectar deals worth it?

        • Lady London says:

          11 Feb11 February 16:53

          @meta if you dont mind mass branded kefir then Polish supermarkets often have a choice.

        • BJ says:

          11 Feb11 February 16:53

          But you have to go into Aldington or Lidl … not worth it if you dislike shopping.

        • meta says:

          11 Feb11 February 17:00

          @Lady London yes, I tend to pop to local Polish supermarkets now and again, but Ocado has good ones too. However, nothing beats locally produced ones in Eastern Europe and beyond…

        • Anna says:

          11 Feb11 February 18:00

          @meta well this is the north and they stock accordingly so I’ve never been able to find actual kefir in either, even though they obviously do stock a lot of continental products! I need Asda/Morrisons for that, and other “exotic” foodstuffs.

        • Tiff says:

          11 Feb11 February 18:35

          Lidl for croissants, egg custards, other bakery, tomato soup.
          Aldi for gin and razor blades (sounds like it could be an Oasis single).

        • Harry T says:

          11 Feb11 February 19:11

          My gf loves shopping at Lidl because they often give you a fiver off your shopping through the app. I think their quality is better than Aldi. We’ve even been to Lidl in Berlin and Tenerife (we are the odd balls who stay at five star hotels but buy a lot of food and drink from the supermarkets!)

        • Anna says:

          11 Feb11 February 19:56

          Oh Harry T, you need to go to Mercadona when you’re in Spain, it’s the first place I head for once we’ve settled in!

      • Stephan says:

        11 Feb11 February 16:38

        I’ve also noticed that quality being poor compared to tesco.

      • stevenhp1987 says:

        11 Feb11 February 16:39

        There are two Sainsburys within walking distance of me.

        We prefer to drive several miles to Asda or Morrisons due to the poor quality food in Sainsburys!

      • BJ says:

        11 Feb11 February 16:50

        @Meta, can depend on the store they use for deliveries. My closest store in Edinburgh is Craigleith which is a good size but for online deliveries they use Murrayfield which is rubbish. I think prices between supermarkets vary locally. Buying a very limited selection on a regular basis isn’t going to do it. You need to train it to provide incentives for a decent shop.

    • 747_Brat says:

      11 Feb11 February 16:10

      I am with you guys too – same offers every week (up to a max of 200-250 additional points) even with an increased spending since last month, when the Avios partnership was announced!

      • Super Secret Stuff says:

        11 Feb11 February 16:40

        It takes time to build up, give it a few weeks and stay with with it

  • Super Secret Stuff says:

    11 Feb11 February 16:38

    Nectar is like a game. The more you use them, the more you get. Go every week and have a shop of what you genuinely need, you’ll get better and better offers

    Leave it for ages, the offers will go down and down.

    (P.s. welcome back. Much prefer this name 🙂 )

    • Aston100 says:

      11 Feb11 February 17:42

      ***Nectar is like a game. The more you use them, the more you get. Go every week and have a shop of what you genuinely need, you’ll get better and better offers***
      I feel you’ve said this a few times recently.
      How long do you think is a reasonable time for the offers to improve?
      I’ve done 4 shops in under 4 weeks, at £100 or more each, and I still keep getting offers for 6 items for 300 points or so.
      Not a very fun game thus far!

      • Super Secret Stuff says:

        11 Feb11 February 18:32

        Yes I’ve said it a lot, keeps coming up. 6 weeks minimum. Remember the targeting is data driven, the more data, the more offers

      • John says:

        11 Feb11 February 19:22

        5 months for my second card

  • r* says:

    11 Feb11 February 16:40

    For the first time ever I saw a delivery slot at sainsburys and even tho the nectar points on offer seem pretty terrible (total of like 80 across 4 items) I put an order through as they have some items tesco dont.

    Then find that not only dont they deliver in bags they wont even let you choose ot use bags or any option other than having to stand there and transfer items upon delivery. As I’m used to a nice zero contact delivery where stuff is just left outside, I shall not be bothering with sainsburys lol

    • Number9 says:

      11 Feb11 February 17:36

      Tescos don’t deliver in bags either.

    • Aston100 says:

      11 Feb11 February 17:38

      ***For the first time ever I saw a delivery slot at sainsburys and even tho the nectar points on offer seem pretty terrible (total of like 80 across 4 items) I put an order through as they have some items tesco dont.

      Then find that not only dont they deliver in bags they wont even let you choose ot use bags or any option other than having to stand there and transfer items upon delivery. As I’m used to a nice zero contact delivery where stuff is just left outside, I shall not be bothering with sainsburys lol***

      I’ve been getting home deliveries from Sainsburys recently and am surprised by all that too.
      The delivery person stands outside while we carry the crates into our kitchen and unload them. His hands have been in contact with the crates and he doesn’t wear gloves.
      This wastes so much time, and is a bit of a risk too.
      Not too mention a couple of the crates have been pretty heavy and I wonder how an elderly person would cope.
      I feel the home delivery system needs reviewing and amending.

      • TGLoyalty says:

        11 Feb11 February 18:00

        The risk from contact transfer is extremely low the issue for me is the rush factor. Rather they just left it bags and buggered off while we put the shopping away in peace.

        • Aston100 says:

          11 Feb11 February 18:17

          Yeah the rush factor bothers me.
          I’m the sort of person that thinks about others, so I feel uncomfortable that there is a driver standing in my drive way, in the cold while I’m unloading my stuff.
          I can imagine there are people who might even put all the shopping away entirely before handing the crates back but I just can’t do that. Hence it is not a good experience, rushing to unload stuff all over the kitchen in order not to inconvenience the driver or delay the next customer.
          This needs sorting out. I don’t care if I have to pay an extra few pence per bag to have the shopping pre bagged and dropped in my porch, the way Iceland do it.

          Which reminds me, @Mutley, are you going to add Iceland to your comparison list?

        • Igloo says:

          11 Feb11 February 19:39

          When we had Covid last month we actually found a way around this… if you leave your own bags out the door step the driver puts your shopping in your bags and disappears and then you can take it in and sort it out at your leisure.

          But we found Sainsbury’s fresh produce to not be up to Morrisons/ Waitrose/ M&S quality.

          We’ve also been shopping in Lidl a bit recently, their bakery stuff is really good, but I tend to find that they don’t have everything we need so end up having to go to another supermarket in addition.

      • Callum says:

        11 Feb11 February 20:42

        Hands aren’t necessarily any dirtier than gloves are. Especially when they aren’t used correctly (how sure would you be that those gloves were fresh from the box and hadn’t touched anything?).

        • TGLoyalty says:

          11 Feb11 February 21:00

          Yeah for most anti bac and proper washing is best.

      • Capt Hammond says:

        11 Feb11 February 21:20

        Why are you carrying the crates into the kitchen? The easiest and quickest thing to do is have a few bags/boxes ready in the hallway so you can just transfer everything into those.

        • Tony says:

          11 Feb11 February 23:49

          Iceland always have delivery slots available – and deliver in bags ( 50p charge )

  • BJ says:

    11 Feb11 February 16:41

    You need to train Nectar at Sainsbury’s!

  • Jill (Kinkell) says:

    11 Feb11 February 17:53

    I’m for Tesco. Not doing a trip of 50 miles for a few paltry points.

  • Martin says:

    11 Feb11 February 20:10

    Got 590 nectar points of offers today from Sainsbury’s – all on stuff we have been buying from them since switching when the nectar / Avios tie up started

• Roselin says:

  11 Feb11 February 16:14

  Just called BMW finance – they told me they’re unable to take DD from credit cards? No option to do this on the direct debit mandate online either, how did you all go about changing this??

  • Navara says:

    11 Feb11 February 16:18

    Cancel DD then ring every month and make automated payment

    • Anna says:

      11 Feb11 February 16:24

      That’s what I’m planning. If you go to the BMW finance website there’s a FAQ page covering this stuff.

  • MinR says:

    11 Feb11 February 16:40

    I have been told the exact same thin when I got in touch with Customer Services.

    However, I plan to cancel my DD, and make the monthly payments over the phone instead. As Anna points out, their FAQ section specifically states:

    How can I make payments?
    Direct Debit – To make payment by direct debit please call us. You will need to complete a Direct Debit Mandate Form to confirm your new account details. Please be advised that we may ask for additional information if the bank account is not in your name.

    Card Payment – This is the quickest way to make a payment – simply call our card payment line via Customer Services. We accept the following credit or debit cards at no additional cost – Solo, Switch, Maestro, Visa Electron, Visa Debit, Visa, MasterCard, American Express. Please note that we do not accept payment by credit card for final payments or settlement.

  • TGLoyalty says:

    11 Feb11 February 17:05

    As usual the person on the phone doesn’t even both to read the FAQ about the products on their website.

    Usually “we don’t” means “I have no idea if we do and I’m Not bothered about finding out”

    • Anna says:

      11 Feb11 February 18:04

      The chap who normally arranges our leases was tearing his hair out because VW finance kept telling him they don’t accept cc’s and he knows I’ve been paying them that way for 2 years. I told him to ask to speak to the person who actually processes payments (who may in fact be the only person at VW who knows this) and sure enough, they said, “Oh yeah, we do take credit cards.”

      • kitten says:

        12 Feb12 February 03:08

        Be careful. It may be their view that card paynent is by exception only and if there is too much noise management may choose to reinforce.

  • Allan says:

    11 Feb11 February 23:20

    This is a COVID issue because they are working from home they can’t take card details.

• Ash Raj says:

  11 Feb11 February 17:21

  I recently booked the royal suite in the Park Hyatt Dubai in the great relocate offer. The room was priced the same as the entry level Lagoon View Room. Got an email today from the reservation team to inform me “The current booking is not valid and we are pleased to offer you the Lagoon View Room with the same rate”

  I knew it was too good to be true!

  • Lady London says:

    11 Feb11 February 17:51

    Does that translate as “We’ve sold your suite for a higher price now so we’re booting you out”. I think it does.

    Are you going to do a Harry T and write back expressing your surprise and disappointment and ask if they are prepared to include any amenities or meals since you’re now paying the same amount for a worse suite?

    • Anna says:

      11 Feb11 February 18:06

      Would the original booking not constitute a contract, LL? You’re normally an expert on these things!

      • Ash Raj says:

        11 Feb11 February 18:15

        Sorry I should have probably added the first line of the email :

        “In regards to your upcoming booking, Please be advised that we are facing some system glitch in which we are currently addressing and working on fixing it.”

        • kitten says:

          12 Feb12 February 03:30

          Ah, now that confirms it

          That old be chestnut “system glitsch”. Really? Nope.

          Such a cr*p excuse. That would make my first message back to me them much tougher. Something that clearly translates back to “Don’t try this on with me”.

          ….”whilst you have mentioned a system problem on your side, I booked your specific accommodation offered, namely your …., Suite, in good faith and the level of the suite was important to me. I can quite understand you might now wish to have the opportunity to sell the accommodation I completed my booking for, elsewhere, however this would leave me in inferior accommodation to that which I have booked and I would request to be informed what price adjustment you will be making for the changed accommodation you are now proposing”

    • Harry T says:

      11 Feb11 February 19:12

      Ha how is that a Harry T? 😂

      • Ash Raj says:

        11 Feb11 February 19:31

        @ Harry T – no Hyatt status unfortunately. I will email them back to express my disappointment and see what they offer. Will keep you guys posted. Thanks for the comments

        • kitten says:

          12 Feb12 February 03:37

          wording above.

          they’re trying it on. they were desperate, but now they think they can sell it so you’re getting booted It’s only a question of the price/freebie offer now. Don’t let them get away with it gratis.

          You’re a pussy if you take this lying down. Such a transparent try-on.

  • Harry T says:

    11 Feb11 February 19:13

    A hotel of that calibre should honour their mistakes rather than inconvenience a guest – they should at least find a way to make it up to you if they won’t provide the room you booked. Do you have any status with Hyatt?

• Tarmohamed says:

  11 Feb11 February 17:25

  £210 per person for the day 2 and day 8 Covid test.

  Hotel quarantine £1750
  £650 for each additional adult and £325 for children between 5-12.

  Can only arrive at 5 ports, 3 of which are London based, 1 Birmingham and 1 Farnborough. I’m sure northerners will be annoyed.

  • TGLoyalty says:

    11 Feb11 February 17:45

    £210 is quite frankly a piss take.

    • Lady London says:

      11 Feb11 February 17:53

      Is this to fund backhanders to the UK Government’s friends?

  • Alex M says:

    11 Feb11 February 17:51

    Birmingham is North, no? At least it is to north from London…

    • Lady London says:

      11 Feb11 February 17:53

      Na. It’s in the middle.

    • Aston100 says:

      11 Feb11 February 17:57

      Luton is also north of London…

      No, Birmingham is in the West Midlands.
      The region name should suggest it is not in the North.

    • TGLoyalty says:

      11 Feb11 February 18:02

      North 😂 is this the old Watford gap joke!

  • Aston100 says:

    11 Feb11 February 18:00

    Farnborough?
    I’ve not kept up to date on any of this, but surprised to see Farnborough mentioned as a port of entry.

    • Lady London says:

      11 Feb11 February 18:07

      private jets.
      not sure about military

    • Anna says:

      11 Feb11 February 18:08

      Presumably if one’s arriving in one’s Lear jet. Not sure if one’s going to be spending 12 days in a Britannia hotel though!

      • Anna says:

        11 Feb11 February 18:09

        https://www.farnboroughairport.com/
        There’s been a lot of muttering in some Caribbean islands that the rich and famous have been coming and going in private planes and not being made to observe quarantine and other Covid procedures like the hoi polloi.

        • Magic Mike says:

          11 Feb11 February 19:25

          I live under the Farnborough flight path and while there have been fewer learjets than usual, there’s still a fair number…

      • Lady London says:

        11 Feb11 February 18:10

        you can bet certain other private jet airports will not have such requirements.

        • Super Secret Stuff says:

          11 Feb11 February 18:37

          I think the point is that you won’t be allowed to enter at any other entry point.

          Not sure how it’ll work tho

        • TGLoyalty says:

          11 Feb11 February 22:16

          At checkin “Have you been to any of these countries in the past 10 days”

          Nah

          “You sure”

          Honest

          Unless they are going to check every page of every passport for every passenger.

• Aston100 says:

  11 Feb11 February 18:24

  @Anna, may or may not be of interest but I had 5 missed payments to VWFS showing on my credit report. My credit rating on the experian site had tanked!
  All because I switched from DD to credit card payment when my lease was informally extended.
  This despite having agreed to the arrangement with VWFS.

  They are so slow to respond, and phone calls rarely get answered in reasonable time.

  Just had it overturned the other day after giving them a final deadline and a threat of the financial services ombudsman.

  I’m sure you’ll be fine with your card payments to BMW in place of direct debit, but you never know.

  • Anna says:

    11 Feb11 February 20:02

    How bizarre, I have been paying VW finance with Amex via Billhop for 18 months now and not noticed anything untoward, still getting accepted for Amex cards etc.
    Quite a few people on here have also said they make car payments with cc and never mentioned any effect on credit rating.
    Was it definitely that?

    • Anna says:

      11 Feb11 February 20:10

      Just had a quick panic and checked both our credit scores on Experian and they’re both 999 so I don’t think the car payments are considered a problem!

• Chris says:

  11 Feb11 February 18:49

  Thinking of stepping up from my Gold Amex to either the Platinum or the BA Premium one, probably will spend about £25k per year so triggering the 4-2-1 is not an issue, but also won’t be going for the heavy Club World tickets. Flying to Europe quite often so the Priority Pass would be a nice to have.. Is there any big difference in insurance cover between those two cards? Should I just stick with my Gold? Would give my partner a supplementary card but mostly for the benefits, not for the additional spending.

  • Harry T says:

    11 Feb11 February 19:18

    Why not spend 15k on your gold card to hit the yearly bonus (10,000 membership rewards) and put 10k through a BAPP per year to earn a 241? However, the 241 would have limited use if you mostly fly short haul.

    The Platinum card has much better insurance than the other cards but you need to read the insurance documents to see if it would cover your unique needs. If you’re flying from Heathrow to Europe, then BA status could be worth pursuing rather than a priority pass (although plaza premium T5 is very good, but entry there is courtesy of the platinum card itself rather than the priority pass). If you fly from the regions or prefer low cost carriers, then a priority pass with the platinum card could make sense. However, unless you’re flying for work, you won’t be flying to Europe much for a few months at least, and most third party airport lounges are closed or have reduced hours.

    Ultimately, you have to decide what points you want to earn and what benefits fit your needs. There’s no use pounding the BA cards if you mostly travel short haul, prefer to fly EasyJet and live in Manchester.

    With that level of spend, it’s worth considering whether you could put some of it through a non amex card such as the Virgin Rewards Plus. 10k a year would earn you a VS voucher. Again, the usefulness of the points and the voucher depend on your flying habits.

    • Harry T says:

      11 Feb11 February 19:23

      For example, I live in the north east and travel for leisure. I have plenty of Avios and really find them hard to use, especially as I have some flexibility over holiday timings. My Avios are now going to be spent on the limited direct BA flights from Edinburgh and Manchester, or used to upgrade long haul. Moving forward, I’m interested in pluripotent points currencies such as Membership Rewards and Bonvoy points. As I’m Marriott Bonvoy Titanium and enjoy staying in their higher end hotels, I find earning Bonvoy points or MR most desirable at the moment. I used to have the Platinum card but scrapped it due to being unable to use most of the benefits and being able to find better hotel deals elsewhere (healthcare rates and medium to high status in several chains makes FHR fairly useless).

      • Anna says:

        11 Feb11 February 20:12

        There are no direct BA flights from MAN any more (except to LHR and LGW), I’m not optimistic about them ever re-starting either!

        • Harry T says:

          11 Feb11 February 20:51

          I saw some to Mykonos later in the year 🙂 no bloody Avios availability though!

        • Anna says:

          11 Feb11 February 22:30

          I think they’re cancelling them as they go along, Harry, there certainly doesn’t seem anything in July & August now. My NCE flights for the start of September were re-routed via LHR so I assume that’s what they’re doing with all the MAN routes.

      • Aston100 says:

        11 Feb11 February 21:58

        I still don’t know how you are managing to generate so much avios without any MS. BAPP supplementary cards give only 3k and I guess you can’t easily churn them for the referral bonuses – at least not without Amex getting suspicious.

• Alan says:

  11 Feb11 February 19:49

  I have Virgin Gold status via the status match offer, does anyone know if the 60% airmiles bonus will apply to the booking I had prior to the status match.

  • Rob says:

    11 Feb11 February 19:57

    Yes, you will be Gold in the day you fly.

• Chris Heyes says:

  11 Feb11 February 20:56

  Lady London, if your still on line ? I replied to your question (page 3) lol

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