The HfP chat thread – Tuesday 9th March

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Optimus Prime says:

9 Mar9 March 15:34

So OH had her first vaccine appointment today and I decided to tag along and see if they had spare ones. They did! 🙂
- stevenhp1987 says:
  
  9 Mar9 March 15:37
  
  Lucky for some!
  
  Had mine last month (group 4), my other half (group 6) is getting hers in 2 weeks!
  
  Didn’t even think of having her tag along…
- Tarmohamed says:
  
  9 Mar9 March 15:48
  
  I had the AstraZeneca last week, was shivering that night.
  - Colin MacKinnon says:
    
    9 Mar9 March 16:27
    
    I always think when I feel grotty after a vaccination that it is just as well I have had it – because if I have that reaction to the vaccine, imagine what it would be like if I got ill from the real bug!
    - Dan says:
      
      9 Mar9 March 16:50
      
      This. I had the same – glad for it!
    - Harry T says:
      
      9 Mar9 March 23:17
      
      I probably felt worse after my second Pfizer jab than when I had covid, to be honest. But I’m glad I’ve had it.
- Dominic says:
  
  9 Mar9 March 16:41
  
  Out of interest, did you openly just ask if they had spares? This doesn’t sound like a bad idea…
  - Optimus Prime says:
    
    9 Mar9 March 16:57
    
    Yes, I did. Initially the guy that checked her in said there weren’t any spares left. I decided to wait with her on the queue instead of going back home and 5 minutes later another NHS volunteer came over and told us they did have spares and asked if I wanted one. So being patient for once paid off 🙂
- Anuj says:
  
  9 Mar9 March 16:52
  
  What time was your appointment out of curiosity?
  - Optimus Prime says:
    
    9 Mar9 March 16:58
    
    15:00
    - Optimus Prime says:
      
      9 Mar9 March 17:36
      
      BTW this was the latest time we found for today. It’s on a vaccination bus and today was the first day in 2 weeks that my OH found availability.
      - Aston100 says:
        
        9 Mar9 March 19:03
        
        Did the bus still have traces of the £350m a week for the NHS painted on the side?
Genghis says:

9 Mar9 March 15:49

What’s the min holding period for Revolut metal?
- raz says:
  
  9 Mar9 March 16:37
  
  minimum period is 10 months to be able to downgrade without fees, or 2 months fee if you cancel in the first 10 months.
Bam says:

9 Mar9 March 16:09

I had tried to book a holiday with BA this morning for Dubai next Feb. Could not do it online as I have a voucher so had to call BA. was part way through the booking and BA systems crashed and the BA lady (who was excellent) had to call me back later. In the time the systems were down, the price went up £190. BA are saying tough, but I feel that I am being penalised for having a voucher. I would have been able to book online early this morning if I had the ability to input my voucher in the booking or not have have had a voucher in the first palce. Is it worth complaining or is there anything I can do ? – thanks in advance
- BSI1978 says:
  
  9 Mar9 March 16:54
  
  Sure more experienced posters will proffer some useful advice but that rise in such a short space of time is stark. I’ve heard of a few pounds within the space of an afternoon but that level (unsure what the total cost is) seems rather punchy….
  - Blenz101 says:
    
    9 Mar9 March 17:35
    
    You can complain and BA may be willing to throw you some goodwill but without an actual booking in place you have no legal recourse. Could equally have gone down in price.
    
    Don’t suppose it involved a Hilton did it? I booked a UAE Hilton here in the UAE late last night had to make a minor change this morning and it repriced at over 200AED / £40 a night more.
    - Lady London says:
      
      9 Mar9 March 17:54
      
      This is why some posters here always book their hotel stays each night separately. Then any change is less likely to result in an unwanted reprice.
      Also useful to ensure awars nights are not lost after any changes involving other nights.
      
      They always have the option to inform the hotel ahead of the stay that they’d like to stay in same room throughout (or at checkin but personally I’d do before).
    - Anthony Boyton says:
      
      10 Mar10 March 07:59
      
      Thank you for the quick response.. no not Hilton .. was the Jumeirah Creekside for a week 2 adults 1 child. So overall £190 is a little per night. But very frustrating as it was not my fault BA systems went down or I had to jump through all the hoops because I had a voucher
      - Rob says:
        
        10 Mar10 March 08:04
        
        Creekside is troublesome – one side overlooks the Irish Village where late night music and partying is guaranteed. Did one night there on the way to the airport once and would not repeat.
      - SteveD says:
        
        10 Mar10 March 09:09
        
        We stayed there a couple of years ago and found the soundproofing to be very good (no balcony), though we overlooked the creek not the village. There was no traffic noise. If you’ve booked a room with lounge access, check their child policy – they had just changed it, I think, to no under-12s(?) when we went.
  - Anthony Boyton says:
    
    10 Mar10 March 07:55
    
    Thank you
- ChrisC says:
  
  9 Mar9 March 19:08
  
  There is always the option – as per the voucher email – of booking on line and paying the deposit as normal and then at a later time calling in or replying to the voucher email asking them to apply voucher ABCDEF for £ x pounds as payment towards your new booking ref of GHIJKL.
  
  You are not required to phone in to use your voucher.
- James Vickers says:
  
  9 Mar9 March 21:15
  
  I found out this week is an indirect way of using a voucher towards a holiday online. You can book a new holiday and pay the deposit and then contact BA on online chat or phone and they will refund the deposit and apply the remaining value of the voucher to your balance..
Mike says:

9 Mar9 March 16:27

Has anyone else’s Hilton rollover nights dropped from their account this afternoon? I had 60 rollover, and they’re gone but points + stay history looks good.
- Mike says:
  
  9 Mar9 March 19:17
  
  It seems they finally fixed the erroneous credit of rollover for Lifetime members which contributes nothing given rollover doesn’t contribute to Elite Status gifting and Milestones.
bafan says:

9 Mar9 March 16:32

I want to do the FirstDirect £100 switching bonus, can I do it from Revolut or Monese? I’m happy to throw those accounts overboard. I have Monzo and Starling but I quite like those banks…I could do Metro Bank I guess.
- Andrew (@andrewseftel) says:
  
  9 Mar9 March 16:39
  
  Neither Revolut nor Monese are part of the Current Account Switching Service required to get the £100. Monzo, Starling and Metro are.
  - bafan says:
    
    9 Mar9 March 17:34
    
    Thank you – Metro Bank it is then. Can I just transfer in £1000 to get the bonus, do you know?
    - Sandgrounder says:
      
      9 Mar9 March 18:35
      
      It looks that way, they scrapped the minimum monthly funding requirement for free banking a couple of years ago.
BJ says:

9 Mar9 March 16:40

Datapoint: Completed the Virgin Money CA switch yesterday and have just received an email code to claim wine not 15k points. I’ll report back later on experience resolving this issue.
- Bee says:
  
  9 Mar9 March 17:09
  
  I got the same email last week (virgin wines and Virgin Money giving).
  I called customer services on Friday and the agent i spoke to emailed me afterwards to say it was escalated to the bundles team. I chased it today and it is still being worked on.
  - BJ says:
    
    9 Mar9 March 17:49
    
    Update: just off the phone with them. They were friendly enough both on general and after being passed through to switching team. However, they wouldn’t budge, they said I had to apply via app but I applied via Virgin Red website. T&C state both are ok and the link on the website goes to the 15k application page. I have screenshots and offered to send. They were not interested and escalated it to a formal complaint. I was told somebody would contact me within 3-5 days.
    
    BTW, just went to look at my scrolling screenshots in my android gallery. Something has changed and I don’t know how to scroll through the full screenshot anymore. When I try it brings up a details panel from the botton of the screen instead of rolling down the full length of the screenshot. Can somebody please advise? Thanks.
    - Grant says:
      
      9 Mar9 March 17:59
      
      All very frustrating. I’m sure I eventually completed my application and switch via the app so we’ll see what, if anything, arrives for me in the next few days. I’ll wait until my DDs debit from my account then contact them if I’ve not had my code.
      - BJ says:
        
        9 Mar9 March 18:21
        
        If you haven’t received it within 14 days I would contact them then if I were you. The DD definitely don’t need to have been paid out.
    - Anuj says:
      
      9 Mar9 March 19:23
      
      What you described to me sounds like the screenshot isn’t a scrolling one at all. Are you sure there isn’t another screenshot you took?
      - BJ says:
        
        9 Mar9 March 20:13
        
        Yeah, that’s what is confusing me Anuj. I took a scrolling screenshot but it looks like it isn’t for some reason. Doesn’t appear like it did in the past and the details shade/papner appearing from the bottom is hew to me too, never seen that before, it is only appearing when I take a scrolling screenshot. Figured it was all new. If I don’t have a scrolling screenshot then I’m going to have a problem with the T&C if Virgin Money dig their heels in.
      - BJ says:
        
        9 Mar9 March 20:56
        
        Thanks again Anuj, had another look and you are right. Not sure what changed but I used to tap the scroll option and it zipped through the whole screen, now it seems I have to keep tapping away until it reaches the end. Unfortunately I’m missing the full screen when I applied but have now got them for today and the T&C remain unchanged so hopefully all ends well.
- Grant says:
  
  9 Mar9 March 17:26
  
  Disappointing. When you say completed the switch, do you mean you had done all the things listed as conditions in the terms – £1,000 in savings and 2 DDs, etc?
  
  Had either or both the DDs been debited from the account yet?
  
  I completed the swtich earlier last week, have £1k in savings and 2 DDs set up but neither debited yet. No code yet
  - Bee says:
    
    9 Mar9 March 17:34
    
    Switch was completed and yes I did all the things listed as conditions in the terms – £1,000 in savings and 2 DDs, etc
    
    For me one of two direct debits came out yesterday.
    
    So I guess, I will watch it for a week or so before I contact them again.
  - BJ says:
    
    9 Mar9 March 17:52
    
    Sounds like you have a problem too Grant. I did all the things on the list and as described by Rob. The DD were transferred from TSB but not paid since arriving at VM.
    - BJ says:
      
      9 Mar9 March 17:56
      
      @Bee @Grant, not sure if this is important but I put £1000 in the savings account by both internal and external transfer because I was unsure if it mattered which.
      - Secret Squirrel says:
        
        9 Mar9 March 18:13
        
        @BJ: how long did your switch take?
- Lady London says:
  
  9 Mar9 March 17:55
  
  Oh dear. Poor Virgin Money 🙂
  - BJ says:
    
    9 Mar9 March 17:58
    
    Huh 😀
    - BJ says:
      
      9 Mar9 March 18:26
      
      @Secret S, I request switch completed yesterday and I got an email the previous Monday saying they had started the switch so the 7 days it was supposed to take.
      - Secret Squirrel says:
        
        9 Mar9 March 19:21
        
        Thanks BJ, I set up 2 x DD on Saturday. Got a letter from a charity today but no DD still set up in my VM account? I thought DD only took a couple of days to show?
      - BJ says:
        
        9 Mar9 March 20:59
        
        I’ve had some DD take up to two weeks to appear on some accounts.
- TGLoyalty says:
  
  9 Mar9 March 19:22
  
  How could anyone have possibly had 14 days since their switch?
  
  I applied day of the promotion launching and The first day I could switch was 25th Feb. 14 days isn’t until Friday.
  - Grant says:
    
    9 Mar9 March 19:24
    
    It does say within 14 days of completing the required conditions
    - BJ says:
      
      9 Mar9 March 20:19
      
      31 days to complete the required conditions then IIRC.
    - TGLoyalty says:
      
      9 Mar9 March 22:10
      
      Yeah switch was the last step for me. But again it doesn’t matter as that is still the earliest possible moment you could trigger all the criteria.
      
      I won’t be chasing for a while yet.
  - BJ says:
    
    9 Mar9 March 20:17
    
    I meant after the 14 days have passed Friday for Grant too IIRC from yesterday’s comment..
Paul465 says:

9 Mar9 March 16:52

Had a response from Curve regarding my card charging and then declining at Amex and other places. Apparently the 3DS Curve use after an update isn’t compatible with the merchants and they said to manage my expectations they aren’t giving a timeframe for it to be fixed. They have processed refunds to all my underlying cards.
- Anna says:
  
  9 Mar9 March 17:50
  
  My kid’s lunch money account and OVO energy currently the only things working for me!
Eric says:

9 Mar9 March 17:01

Had the paid version of the BA Amex card, downgraded to the free one few months back. Is there any reason to continue keeping this card? I don’t travel on BA too much so that 1 extra Avios for BA spendings isn’t a game changer. Was thinking might as well cancel it so I can reset the 2 year clock sooner…
- AJA says:
  
  9 Mar9 March 17:08
  
  The only two reasons I can think of is
  1) Spending on it earns Avios which keeps your existing pot of Avios from expiring (which only happens if you have no activity for 3 years)
  2) If it is your only Amex card you can use it to pay the Taxes and Fees on any BA 2-4-1 vouchers you redeem. But that doesn’t matter as long as you use someone’s Amex card to pay the fees. It doesn’t have to be yours.
  - FFoxSake says:
    
    9 Mar9 March 18:00
    
    Another reason to keep might be if it has a chunky credit limit on it.
    Other new cards might not match the limit in these troubled times…
    - AJA says:
      
      9 Mar9 March 18:21
      
      True. A chunky credit limit is useful though there is no guarantee that Amex won’t reduce it on a review.
      - Eric says:
        
        9 Mar9 March 20:50
        
        Thanks all. Will get Amex to transfer my limit to the Gold and cancel the BA card.6