The HfP chat thread – Friday 9th April

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• Bobri says:

  9 Apr9 April 09:01

  Any recommendations on an account that is quick to open but useless to have to have it as a burner for a switch? Monzo and Starling come to mind but might theoretically use them one day

  • Grant says:

    9 Apr9 April 09:06

    A second current account with your existing bank.

    • Bobri says:

      9 Apr9 April 09:11

      Thank you

• Steven says:

  9 Apr9 April 09:22

  IHG free night voucher from IHG premiun CC: I should have got my IHG free night voucher from mid last year but still have not reached my IHG account. Having complainted many times but always been told that the communication between Creation and IHG had problem during Covid. I now need the free night voucher to book the hotel, so annoyed and frustrated. Did anyone else receive the free night voucher or only me? Thanks.

  • Benilyn says:

    9 Apr9 April 09:31

    Me and Mrs both got it Q4 2020.

    • Steven says:

      9 Apr9 April 09:35

      Thanks. When your free night voucher was triggered? Mine has been over 6 months now still nothing…

      • Jill (Kinkell) says:

        9 Apr9 April 09:39

        My anniversary date was March, free night already in account.

        • Steven says:

          9 Apr9 April 09:44

          Thanks. I forgot to mention that I did cancel my CC at the end of the year but was told that it would not affect the free night voucher. Yet still not see any voucher over 6 months even after numerous complaints!

      • Benilyn says:

        9 Apr9 April 10:33

        One triggered some few months before anniversary, one in the last month. Both received few days into the first week or so of the new anniversary year

  • Anna says:

    9 Apr9 April 09:44

    It seems that if the system is working you get the voucher just after your anniversary statement. However, for a number of people this isn’t the case, in which case it appears to be extremely difficult to resolve with complaints to the FOS in some cases. I would ask IHG to make the booking for you and claim the cost as part of your action against Creation.

    • Steven says:

      9 Apr9 April 10:19

      Thanks Anna, do you mean to pay to book it now via IHG then claim the cost back as the complain to the FOS? Just chased again and the line was cut off by the staff, really fed up now.

      • Anna says:

        9 Apr9 April 10:39

        No I would book a pay later rate and then put in your complaint that you expect it to be honoured as though it was booked with the free night.

        • Steven says:

          9 Apr9 April 10:43

          Will do, thanks very much.

  • Lol says:

    9 Apr9 April 10:42

    I had the same problem and got nowhere. My anniversary date was March 2020. In the end I submitted a formal complaint through Creation’s own procedure and eventually got £150 compensation and told I may receive the free voucher when the problem between Creation and IHG is resolved. I also cancelled the IHG card the month after the anniversary date and that did not affect my entitlement.

    • Anna says:

      9 Apr9 April 11:17

      You gave up far too soon, should have taken it to FOS.

      • Lol says:

        9 Apr9 April 18:19

        Sorry for delay in replying, I’ve just seen your comment. I’m fairly new to this and have a lot to learn! I’ve just looked up FOS, and found a good explanation on the moneysaving expert website. I’ll remember for future problems.

      • kitten says:

        9 Apr9 April 20:11

        FOS now costs a conplained-about company £650 for each complaintq

• Anna says:

  9 Apr9 April 09:22

  Ooh. F seats now available for BOS end of next March, currently priced at off-peak rate. Do I book the outbound now to avoid a possible “adjustment” of the avios price while I wait for the return to be released and incur the aggravation of having to call to add the return so as not to be ripped off with taxes/fees?

  • Anna says:

    9 Apr9 April 09:38

    Booked! The general lack of F seats being released just now and the 12,000 avios saving swung it.
    Thanks to the reader who identified the anomaly the other day (meta or Jody, sorry for my terrible memory?!)

    • Anna says:

      9 Apr9 April 09:39

      Also just realised I might get away with calling YouFirst to add the return leg!

    • Babyg says:

      9 Apr9 April 10:05

      I missed the anomaly? what was it – sounds like a 12k Avios saving/mistake? Is it just BOS or are there other 12k savings?

      • Anna says:

        9 Apr9 April 10:07

        The last week in March on all routes is currently priced as off peak when it should be peak (it’s the school Easter holidays in some areas). Someone posted the other day that they’d called BA to make a booking; the lower price was honoured but BA said it was a mistake and that it would be adjusted soon! Hence jumping on it before it changes!

        • Anna says:

          9 Apr9 April 10:08

          Saving is 12k based on paying 68k avios for 2 using 241 rather than the peak price of 80k.

        • Nadeshka says:

          9 Apr9 April 10:27

          That was me – the first weekend is showing as peak (26/27 March) but after that it has reverted to off-peak on the BA website & app. So far just the 28 & 29th are open after that.
          Call centre were insistent that it should be peak based on their system & supervisor confirmed it and that they would be updating the website asap. But yes in the meantime they honoured the lower price even though I called, and I imagine it will be tough to retrospectively demand more avios for completed online bookings.

        • AndyGWP says:

          9 Apr9 April 16:06

          School hols are 11/4 (for 2 weeks) here 😒

      • Grant says:

        9 Apr9 April 10:07

        The BA calendar is (or was) out. Some normal peak dates were showing as off-peak.

      • Nadeshka says:

        9 Apr9 April 10:29

        I saved 30k avios (4 people, 2x 241s) coming back from Japan in business. Saving would be whatever difference between Peak and Off peak prices for that route.

        • Anna says:

          9 Apr9 April 10:43

          Apologies Nadeshka! Thanks again for the tip off.

  • Chris Heyes says:

    9 Apr9 April 10:33

    Anna “Aggravation of having to call” what aggravation your retired did you forget ?
    No “aggravation” anymore just think of it as a call, to save you some taxes/fees
    Looks like my Denver Trip can go a head (if US let us in)
    Quietly confident, but factored in £260 each for testing going and back.
    I Think that’s a reasonable amount to pay extra to finally go
    Not really a lot in the scheme of thinks, i think most are horrified at paying extra for a test but will gladly pay £100 for a meal.
    If it’s £260 so be it, well worth it, any less a bonus

    • Anna says:

      9 Apr9 April 10:42

      Retired or not, calling BA is up there with trips to the dentist and trapping your finger in the door! (Unless it’s YF)

• fivebobbill says:

  9 Apr9 April 09:26

  Morning folks. I was asking for some Dubai hotel advice last week and took a lot of it on board for a possible trip the coming September, thanks again to all. My final 3 nights I have provisionally booked the Grosvenor House on the Marina, if I recall correctly I think it was Anna has a special fondness for this particular place but feedback from anyone would be appreciated. I’m Marriott Platinum and have booked an entry level room, the next level up is either a one bed apartment or Exec room, can I assume I’ll get a decent upgrade and breakfast? I also note you can use the LRM facilities and pool as well which is nice. Any other tips, looks like a lovely hotel.

  • fivebobbill says:

    9 Apr9 April 09:27

    Oh forgot, do I also get lounge access?

    • TGLoyalty says:

      9 Apr9 April 09:41

      Yes you do and pre Covid it was a highly regarded lounge.

      The breakfast at the restaurant was pretty decent too

      • fivebobbill says:

        9 Apr9 April 10:39

        Thank you TG, sounds like a plan 👍

  • Anna says:

    9 Apr9 April 09:41

    Alas, I never got to find out though other readers did recommend it (in fact we should be there now 😢)! Hopefully get a chance to try it at some point, it looks very nice.

    • fivebobbill says:

      9 Apr9 April 10:42

      Ahhh, sorry Anna. If I ever get there I’ll be sure to let you know what it was like 😊

  • Yuff says:

    9 Apr9 April 10:00

    Not available on points but we like Atlantis mainly due to the proximity of their water park, which has just been extended, it was pretty good prior to the refurb.
    In normal times I would use hotel.coms vouchers to reduce the cash price but these aren’t normal times.

• Benilyn says:

  9 Apr9 April 09:34

  Is Trading212 closed now to new accounts completely? Or can I get in via referral?

  • Grant says:

    9 Apr9 April 10:09

    You can try mine, but I think there is still a pause on new accounts

    http://www.trading212.com/invite/HXoavWNe

  • Anuj says:

    9 Apr9 April 10:22

    Nope, even a referral only leads to a waiting list

• Hanif says:

  9 Apr9 April 09:37

  Probably already known, thought I’d share, I opted for point booster with VS when I booked a flight with them, flight got cancelled, booster points still landed in my account.

• MattB says:

  9 Apr9 April 09:55

  Slim chance but here goes….

  We have a flight booked later this year, return leg downgraded from F to J. We haven’t responded in anyway to the email from BA yet. I understand my options are accept the downgrade or possibly move to a nearby airport that still offers the F cabin.

  But could I instead move the dates or would there need to be availability? (which there isnt)

  • TGLoyalty says:

    9 Apr9 April 10:00

    Best to phone Youfirst but my understanding is you should be able to rebook for a later date without needing Avios availability (guessing that’s what you meant) but there would ofcourse need to be first seats available 🙂

    • MattB says:

      9 Apr9 April 10:06

      Yes I meant avios availability 🙂

      Thing is I want to move both legs even though only the return has been downgraded.

      • TGLoyalty says:

        9 Apr9 April 10:08

        That’s usually fine.

        • Stu N says:

          9 Apr9 April 11:37

          Just a warning – they can be funny about downgrades and are much less flexible than cancellations. We had a downgrade from F to CW and weren’t allowed to make change unless there was Avios availability on new dates. We left it without “accepting” the downgrade and the flight subsequently got cancelled anyway.

  • Lady London says:

    9 Apr9 April 11:18

    If you are invountarily downgraded then from F to J you can claim compo at rate of 75% of the costs you paid for your F seat to be reimbursed to you. Includes each seat including 241 seat at the rate duplicated ftom the first seat, sale price seats, discounted avios seats etc.

    So in any comunication keep it clear that it’s not voluntary and above all do not acept any refund ( not even partial) before you do the flight and make the claim. Quite a bit in this in this daily thread although last incidents prob 8-4 weeks ago.

• The real John says:

  9 Apr9 April 09:58

  Since Vanguard can’t be bent I was looking at other providers and I see Fidelity has no fees at all for Junior ISAs.

  Does bending work with Fidelity? The reason I need it is that my dad (not in UK) wants to give my son some money but the only way he will do it is via a supplementary card for me to bend

  Or does anyone want to speculate if vanguard will regain the ability. I tried it again and it’s like the transaction just vanishes after approving it on the bendyapp, doesn’t even get submitted to the underlying.

  • Reney says:

    9 Apr9 April 10:05

    I can use Bendy backed by creation with Fidelity. Not AJBell thou, I tried, and forgot that I had anti embarrassment mode set up so instead of rejecting my transaction it did the transaction on another card that charges a cash fee! Even though I went back in time I still got charged cash fee (this has not been auto reverse out despite the transaction got posted and then refunded back to back. Not bothered to argue it down yet. chalked it up as education fee and quickly turned off anti embarrassment mode)

  • G says:

    9 Apr9 April 10:05

    Vanguard does have a every little helps policy if you have one of those cards

  • fivebobbill says:

    9 Apr9 April 10:08

    Never had a problem paying Vanguard with bendy linked to Hilton. However the bendy app has never ever worked properly for me, no matter who I pay, so I just use the text message option and it goes through first and every time.

    • Triath5 says:

      9 Apr9 April 14:53

      Is this with a Premium Bent plan? Does it not charge you the % fee?

      • The real John says:

        9 Apr9 April 19:58

        When it worked, I was never charged a fee.

        If you turn off fronted and it wants to charge you the fee, it will decline and tell you so.

        The problem for me is that it doesn’t even decline – actually vanguard says payment successful, but nothing appears in the transactions on both sides nor does the credit limit available reduce

        • Joints&Piles says:

          10 Apr10 April 09:38

          Same

  • Bobri says:

    9 Apr9 April 11:54

    Someone mentioned that HL can be bent with the proper underlying card, but for me HL rejects bendy right away without even trying to authorise a transaction

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