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The HfP chat thread – Monday 15th February

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Comments (183)

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

  • Hotelier says:
    15 Feb15 February 02:27

    Saw mentioned in yesterday’s chat about Sainsbury’s Pet insurance going for around £8 (London based). Tried a few times with different information and can’t get it lower than £10.5/month. Also, can you just insure a ”fake” pet?? I do have two cats but they already have proper policies and their actual details (pre-conditions…) won’t give the cheapest results by far so doing this just for the 8000 NP bonus.

    • lumma says:
      15 Feb15 February 06:58

      I doubt Sainsbury’s will send someone around to check that an animal exists. I think the cheapest cover with the earlier Tesco deal was for two year old female moggy house cats.

    • Andrew says:
      15 Feb15 February 07:56

      On my nectar app it only shows 7000 points – is the 8000 targeted?

    • Wally1976 says:
      15 Feb15 February 08:13

      I got it below £8 a month for a 3 year old female moggy with my West Midlands postcode. And yes, there’s no problem with “inventing” a pet although some on here find the morals of this a little questionable.

      • Sandgrounder says:
        15 Feb15 February 09:26

        Fraud: ‘Wrongful or criminal deception intended to result in financial or personal gain.’ The chances of getting caught and prosecuted are arguably minimal, but it’s never been something I have seriously considered worth it.

        • TGLoyalty says:
          15 Feb15 February 13:01

          unless you make a claim for the fake animal there is zero chance of being prosecuted of anything

    • Ryan says:
      15 Feb15 February 08:49

      Think that was me!

      I played around with the details, got about 30 quotes to fine tune it…

      In the end, I had a Moggie female cat who was under 2 years old in a Bristol postcode for £7.44

    • Aston100 says:
      15 Feb15 February 10:22

      **Also, can you just insure a ”fake” pet??**
      There are points earning opportunities which skirt boundaries, and there is just straight fraud. I feel your request falls into the latter category.
      Don’t feel too bad though as there are several people here who defend this kind of fraudulent activity, and did so last year when the Tesco Pet insurance promo was doing the rounds, so you won’t be alone.

      • KBuffett says:
        15 Feb15 February 11:51

        How is this fraud? People are routinely underinsured, or over insured, or no insured.

      • Ryan says:
        15 Feb15 February 12:25

        That’s your opinion and I see your reasoning for it…

        However, myself and others who do game these kinds of things don’t. By the technical definition, I struggle to see how it is fraud, given that there will be 0% of us making a claim and they have advertised the offer for a reason: To get more customers.

        Now, are they losing money on my policy? Yes. Will it be a problem if everyone does this? Probably. Are Sainsburys Plc shareholders going to lose sleep from this? Of course not.

        We are gaming the offers but there’s no difference with this to opening a bank account, taking their £100 bribe and then closing the account… do you consider that to be fraud? I hope not…

        • Harrier25 says:
          15 Feb15 February 13:17

          The good thing about insuring a fake cat is that when someone visits to check you’ll easily get away with saying that the cat’s out. Harder to get away with for a dog, due to them only normally being out when you are. 😀

        • luckyjim says:
          15 Feb15 February 13:18

          It is fraud i.e. deception with intent to profit. When taking out the policy, you will have made declaration confirming that the information given is true and accurate. That is the deception part. And you profit from the points earned. Deception+Profit=Fraud

          I’m not judging. I’ve done similar myself. People just need to be aware that they are taking a risk, particularly if they try to scale it up.

        • ken says:
          15 Feb15 February 14:04

          “but there’s no difference with this to opening a bank account, taking their £100 bribe and then closing the account… ”

          There is every difference.

          It would fall under Fraud by false representation (Section 2 of the Fraud Act 2006).

          Are you going to get caught ?
          Nil chance, but its the kind of thing that could finish your career depending on what your job is.

          • Charlieface says:
            15 Feb15 February 14:59

            Can you not legitimately insure someone else’s cat?

          • Rhys says:
            15 Feb15 February 15:19

            Hoping to get a cat myself (pending landlord approval) if anyone wants to insure mine 😉

          • Hotelier says:
            15 Feb15 February 18:49

            Thanks everyone for the comments! I will stick to insure my own cat for around £10. We do have a PetPlan policy £25 for one & £45 for the other, highly recommended, have claimed over £k++ in vet fees when things went wrong last year and no issue.
            If anyone looking for cat vet in London, can thoroughly recommend the London Cat Clinic in Bermondsey (and they are shop small!!)

    • Aston100 says:
      15 Feb15 February 10:25

      I tried Sainsburys pet insurance, but it was coming out at more than £10 per month. Cancelled within the 2 week period and went back to Tesco who were charging less than £6 per month and had a lower excess fee and a higher overall claims limit.
      I guess Sainsburys have calculated that my cat lives in quite an adventurous postcode area.

  • Baji Nahid says:
    15 Feb15 February 04:20

    BJ, I think it was yourself who wrote some time ago about LNER being nippy about wanting to extend your rail vouchers, did anything come of that at all? Im going to pursue another extension with them from next month (got a years extension from April 2020).

    LNER to be honest have really dropped standards in keeping customer loyalty, they mis-sold me a ticket that i bought on their website and are refusing to honour the price or give me a refund of the difference and have literally just dropped all liability. I’ve had to resort to a chargeback from the bank but its now been 2 months and nothing as of yet.

    • BJ says:
      15 Feb15 February 06:57

      They never budged. Ultimately I got round it. I just booked two very expensive advance tickets and then planned to change them for the £10 admin fee. However, lockdown happened, trains were cancelled due to temporary timetable. Requested a refund via the online options for the first ticket. No fee was charged, new voucher valid a year from date of cancellation, valid for any journey on any UK operator not just advance tickets on LNER. I cancelled second ticket by calling LNER CS with the same result. The CSA on the phone were much more pleasant than those I contacted by email or twitter. Hope you get sorted, simplest solution would be to cancel due to issues related to covid ( I am not suggesting you pretend to have it before others start thinking that, just that travel, timetables etc are all impacted by restrictions).

      • EwanG says:
        15 Feb15 February 07:15

        @Baji they were slightly helpful in extending mine. They gave me an extra 6 months, quite explicitly saying they would not give me any further extensions after that (even if there were further restrictions on travel, as have subsequently come to fruition) however the best thing is they removed the ticket type restriction so I can book anything, rather than just Advance fares. Worst case scenario I book an expensive flexible fare and cancel…
        Contact was all via Twitter private messages.

  • Mco says:
    15 Feb15 February 05:26

    Used the last minute dot com cancellation insurance recently. Very impressed. Had the voucher for 90% come through in seconds which I used to book new flights. Saved a ton versus paying change fees on the airline. I normally don’t book via 3rd party agents but will be putting most of my no changeable flights through them going forward.

    • Baji Nahid says:
      15 Feb15 February 06:09

      Whilst I applaud you with your result. Dont bother going near last minute. Im sure they’ve some insolvency proceedings going and still owe £1MIL in refunds. Avoid the plague!

    • BuildBackBetter says:
      15 Feb15 February 07:44

      Avoid!

    • Ali M says:
      15 Feb15 February 12:03

      oh no…
      I have had one refund through and waiting for the second one.
      They have been quick with my claims but then it was the flights that were cancelled by the carrier and we knew weeks in advance. refund amount is less their admin charge unfortunately

    • Sarah says:
      15 Feb15 February 14:57

      Avoid lastminute like the plague. I was unable to get them to return my money on a fully refundable hotel booking – had to do a chargeback through Amex in the end. The gov.uk site has a webpage stating “Lastminute.com will face legal action unless it repays over £1 million to customers it committed to refund after their package holidays were cancelled.”

  • JohnT says:
    15 Feb15 February 07:56

    Sim cards for use abroad (feeling just a little more optimistic)? Now that Three are repricing their 3 2 1 tariff, which included their roam at home countries, any suggestions for PAYG travel SIMs? Eg for US/Canada.

    • DJ says:
      15 Feb15 February 08:02

      EE and Vodafone both have roaming add-ons, which allows you to use your existing plan allowance abroad.

      • TGLoyalty says:
        15 Feb15 February 08:09

        Europe/US/Canada/Mexico included up to 25GB per month which is nice

        The rest like Qatar/UAE £6 a day with Vodafone isn’t bad but not great for the odd call.

    • Dave says:
      15 Feb15 February 08:11

      O2 have a travel inclusive zone bolt on. Free on some tariffs

    • IanM says:
      15 Feb15 February 08:19

      Roam Mobility were great but not sure if they survived the covid

    • Joseph Heenan says:
      15 Feb15 February 08:33

      If you only need data and have a phone that supports eSims then try truphone.

      The Three plans were good on paper but in practice data always seemed much slower than it should be so I gave up on them.

      • Joseph Heenan says:
        15 Feb15 February 08:34

        (Most iPhones in the last few years support an eSim.)

        • idrive says:
          15 Feb15 February 09:29

          As we are talking about phones..Can I ask for some little help? I need to buy a new phone and would like to use some Nectar. What is the best way to use as little cash as possible? Argos, Argos via Ebay, Amazon?
          Considering the max 50k points per month cap and the max voucher limit, what is the best way to do that (and the most value out of the nectar points/voucher)?
          The phone would be anywhere between £399 and £700

      • idrive says:
        15 Feb15 February 09:33

        +1 in US Three was soo slow, ok for email/whatsapp but not really more than that. A bit better in HK though

        • Lady London says:
          15 Feb15 February 10:41

          yeah was 2.5G speeds last time I waa there. It varies v my greatly by where you are though. I used wifi at Starbucks

      • idrive says:
        15 Feb15 February 11:18

        Lady London, are you saying on Ebay there is no cap and no voucher limitations (like an open tap). I would stick to a reputable seller for a new phone with full 360 days Warranty from manifacturer.

        • Lady London says:
          15 Feb15 February 11:38

          you could check. i think vouchers can be £200, and someone said can use multiple and this blocked for cars not sure about phones

    • Craig says:
      15 Feb15 February 08:34

      Have I missed something from Three? They are still showing go-roam on their website?

      • JohnT says:
        15 Feb15 February 08:46

        Still there but rates going up!

        • Lady London says:
          15 Feb15 February 10:36

          500% increase on call charges out of the blue last month.

          Ans a nasty, nasty inflation PLUS about 4.2% automatic price increase every year included in the small print of their contracts now. I didn’t renew and no plans to
          go back.

          • Lady London says:
            15 Feb15 February 11:43

            actually correction call price multiplied to 330% of what it was.

            It was texts they multiplied the cost to 500% of what it was from 2p to 10p and data also multiplied overnight from 1p to 5p so £10 per Gb to £50 per Gb

    • Mikeact says:
      15 Feb15 February 08:45

      Dead easy, purchase over there…loads of offers if you hunt around.

    • PabloEscobar says:
      15 Feb15 February 09:17

      Buy an O2 321 payg sim on ebay for 20p. Europe zone rates are the same as UK. For anywhere else you’re usually better off buying a local sim. https://www.o2.co.uk/help/pay-as-you-go/classic-pay-as-you-go

    • Stuart Evans says:
      15 Feb15 February 09:30

      Once you are outside Europe, you need to watch out. So, for example, there are many options in the US, but both Canada and Mexico are excluded AFAIK from Three’s ‘Go Roam’ tarriffs.

      They also worked fine in Australia but not in Singapore.

      • mzb says:
        15 Feb15 February 10:27

        Go Roam works in Singapore (used it pre-Covid). You can always check which countries are included here: http://www.three.co.uk/go-roam.

        • Michael C says:
          15 Feb15 February 10:35

          I’ve often not been able to call with Three from the countries it includes, but the Internet connection has almost always been great. Also includes EU tethering.

          • mart says:
            15 Feb15 February 11:16

            warning about three
            we went on a Alaska cruise
            USA was included but we skirted past Canada my phone connected to data and maxed out my bill £250 ive never got over it 🙁

    • Lady London says:
      15 Feb15 February 10:32

      Yes it’s funny Three stated they would not increase tariffs for roaming in EU after Brexit and there they were 2 weeks after Brexit introducinfmg increases of up to 500% on their tariffs that would be used by people roaming in Europe.

      I have noticed Three is
      great to deal with in good years but when profits come under stress they flip and become really mean. This after dealing with them for many, many years now. Basically I just stopped using my Three phone after this change especially as the pink flamingo is gone.

      • idrive says:
        15 Feb15 February 11:21

        are you on some plan and you went out of your allowance? this 500% increase, what does it refer to?

      • Callum says:
        15 Feb15 February 11:59

        The 321 tariff was obviously never intended to be something people only use for roaming in Europe. It’s hardly fair to link the two things together.

        As to them being “mean” and “really really nasty”, that’s a bit ridiculous… They’re still a very cheap network, even if they no longer do the specific tariff you like. The landscape has changed since I last checked, but very few come close to their roaming coverage either. I’ve used mine across North/South America, Asia and Australia/NZ with no extra charges – who else lets you do that on a non-premium tariff?

        • Lady London says:
          15 Feb15 February 14:37

          @Callum I’ve had a variety of different contracts and PAYG with Three over nearly 20 years now.

          I know @Anna was always being questioned and contradicted by one particular poster and wonder am I a flake or are you always on my coattails.

          • Callum says:
            15 Feb15 February 15:52

            So what? What’s that got to do with anything?

            You post prolifically, often with ridiculous hyperbole, and I disagree with a huge chunk of them. Trust me, I could be replying to so many more!

            I have absolutely no idea what this has to do with Anna, unless you’re referring to me arguing against her pathetic Covid conspiracy theories which she was demanding everyone should believe without evidence a while ago?

      • Andy says:
        15 Feb15 February 16:08

        I am on 3 and have been for a few years now. Each time my tariff comes up for renewal it gets cheaper! Sim only 12 month 30GB data, unlimited calls and texts, go binge in 71 countries, call to the US 3p a minute, all that for £11 a month.

        • Lady London says:
          15 Feb15 February 17:26

          Yes if you know where to buy you can still just about be ok with a contract if you need one. Beware the new embedded inflation+over 4% as well, that your comtract.will go up by automatically every year now.

          PAYG is where the swingeing increases I’m complaining about occurred in January.

    • Andrew says:
      15 Feb15 February 10:40

      Why not just have a standard plan with a roaming add on?

      I’m with EE, they do a 200Gb with unlimited text and minutes for £25 a month. You can then choose a “Smart benefit” to “roam further” which includes USA and Canada along with others to use your allowance.

      If you are PAYE, chances are EE (or Vodafone) do a perks deal with your employer to cut the price by 20% too.

      You can swap which smart benefits you have. I can’t find it, but from memory the swaps take effect from the next billing cycle. So pretty sure you can’t just switch off Britbox and turn on roam further immediately before you board

      • The real John says:
        15 Feb15 February 15:18

        Why should I pay £25 a month when I currently pay £3.50 a month for my usual plan and £5 per year for my 3 PAYG SIM?

  • Alex B says:
    15 Feb15 February 08:13

    The flights for my BA Holiday in April have been cancelled. I have been given new slightly with about 10 hours earlier the same day outbound and about 3 hours inbound. Am I able to get a refund on the whole package? I was planning on converting the deposit anyway to a FTV but cash would be better….

    • stevenhp1987 says:
      15 Feb15 February 08:21

      Yes,

      You can cancel for a full refund.

      You will probably need to call as BA only show a big “accept flights” button online.

  • Mikeact says:
    15 Feb15 February 08:23

    Had an overnight message from my son in Australia.. Going forward it looks like Amex are thinking of dropping the signature strip, going by a questionnaire he received. Looking in my wallet, I have not signed any of my cards….what’s the point? When did you last have your signature checked ? Even the embossing is going out of fashion…with ‘flat’ cards taking over. It would be easy enough to suggest that we don’t need a card at all…store everything in your phone like I’m sure many of us do already ….forget plastic, get the card issuer to download direct to the phone.

    • TGLoyalty says:
      15 Feb15 February 08:30

      I would love it if every retailer had their card machines correctly set up to use Apple Pay to more than the £40 limit.

    • Jay-Marc says:
      15 Feb15 February 09:50

      I received a similar Amex questionnaire recently which I think also indicated transferring much of the account information to the back of the card except the 4 digit code.

    • Andrew says:
      15 Feb15 February 10:50

      Last had my signature checked when I bought a souvenir at the gift shop at Annapolis Naval Academy in January 2020.

      They also used a traditional zip-zap machine

      • RussellH says:
        15 Feb15 February 11:01

        The in-house LAN went down at a restaurant we were in in Dover about 18 months ago. It took them around ten minutes to find the imprinter and a bit longer for staff “training” as most of them had never seen or used an imprinter before.
        This was NOT a power-cut…
        I would guess that there are small businesses in some remote areas that still regularly use imprinters. I myself was not provided with a terminal by WorldPay until around 2005 IIRC.

        • Charlieface says:
          15 Feb15 February 15:01

          There is such a thing as an offline payment. They just need to connect every day or two for settlement. Airlines used to use this.

    • Callum says:
      15 Feb15 February 12:02

      I got lectured about it by a cashier somewhere when they saw my card wasn’t signed (can’t remember if it was here or abroad though) who refused to let me use it.

      It does seem very pointless nowadays (and I don’t help things by having a very easy to copy signature anyway!).

    • Charlieface says:
      15 Feb15 February 15:03

      I have a friend who always used to use his card in a certain country which had never heard of Chip+Pin. No-one there bothered signing, whenever he was asked to the he signed it Void (and the back of his card wasn’t signed either)

  • krys_k says:
    15 Feb15 February 08:34

    Priority Pass lounge Heathrow T2.
    Has anyone been through there recently? Am travelling on Wednesday and need to get to airport earlier for test and was hoping it’s a spot that I can relax at. Thanks

    • Rob says:
      15 Feb15 February 09:37

      Rhys reviewed the Plaza Premium lounge late last year, so if it is still open then I think that review should still be current re covid catering etc.

    • Lady London says:
      15 Feb15 February 11:48

      pretty sure T2 airside is the only pp lounge open at LHR right now.

    • Blair says:
      15 Feb15 February 12:15

      It is open and pretty normal. Same food as before but handed to you rather than self serve. Cans and drinks dispensers still self serve. The lounge is not busy per se but quite a lot of Virgin passengers used to the Clubhouse hanging around the place looking bemused by the surroundings.

  • Aston100 says:
    15 Feb15 February 10:18

    Qatar have extended the dates for the Healthcare Professionals promo – the one where they gave out 100k ‘free’ tickets.
    This was previously rumoured, but is now confirmed.
    Book by 30 September 2021 and travel by 31 March 2022.

    https://twitter.com/qatarairways/status/1360941774919892992

    Waiting to see if they extend the Teacher promo in a similar manner, given teachers and other school workers have quite a limited range of dates they can utilise.

    • 747_Brat says:
      15 Feb15 February 12:32

      Thanks for posting this Aston. Hope they extend the teacher’s promo too. Fingers crossed!

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