The HfP chat thread – Thursday 6th May

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James says:

6 May6 May 02:34

Harvey Nichols offers appeared on my Amex cards: £30 back on £150 spend BAPP and £50 back on £200 spend on Plat, by 6 June.
- Andrew says:
  
  6 May6 May 06:45
  
  On all my Platinum supps too. Great that the other department stores are matching the Harrods offer from a few weeks ago – just need Selfridges to make the hat trick!
  - KBuffett says:
    
    6 May6 May 06:50
    
    I still haven’t managed to spend the gift cards I used to make advantage of the AmEx offers last December!
    - Andrew says:
      
      6 May6 May 07:12
      
      I certainly have. And was waiting for the next offer before going shopping again. Hopefully there will be a 10% weekend soon too.
    - Kai says:
      
      6 May6 May 08:59
      
      Remember that you can always order online and email customer service for a refund with your GC
    - BSI1978 says:
      
      6 May6 May 12:46
      
      Gift cards/vouchers appear to be excluded from this offer?
- Eligold says:
  
  6 May6 May 09:04
  
  They recently began offering free delivery for gift cards too
  Don’t forget to get avios store points on top of it
Dave says:

6 May6 May 06:28

What’s the maximum number of amex cards I can have at a given time?
- BJ says:
  
  6 May6 May 06:48
  
  Most people seem to be able to get 4 primary but there were suggestions recently that this might have been cut to 3. I don’t believe there is an actual rule on this personally, I think it just comes down to your circumstances and track record with amex. At one time I had 5 primary cards but now only 1.
- ScienceTeacher says:
  
  6 May6 May 07:05
  
  I held four in February and my friend currently holds four.
- Chris Heyes says:
  
  6 May6 May 07:34
  
  Dave If you are looking at the Maximum Amex you can hold “you are looking at it wrong IMO”
  We have two but not for long Gold until 10k extra hits 13 months from £15k spend
  We only value Gold as a one year one month points earner
  We value Platinum more although last time we had it was only for 6 weeks max
  before that we had it longer though
  We rate BA Premium more for the 241 but we do use them
  There are 3 of us playing the game though, so getting points is very easy the way we play
  Two of us at the moment have Gold plus BA Premium one just has BA Premium
  just cancelled Gold after hitting £15k target
  other two hit it but points not arriving until June/July
  Everyone plays it differant you just have to pick your way ?
  Rob did a very good article how to really maximise the Cards “READ IT”
  We used it at the beginning, then amended it to how we do it now
  Although to answer how many you can or could have at a guess 6/7 but why would you ? Probably 3 would work at a push
  I’m not counting supplementary cards
  - Steve says:
    
    6 May6 May 13:05
    
    With the current boosted referral bonuses I can see why one would want to maximise the number of cards to get that 24k MR points (if referring from Platinum)
    - Chris Heyes says:
      
      6 May6 May 13:51
      
      Steve but you can only do 3 (and half) referrals from Platinum ?
      Unless you are like us three Adults with a Platinum “each” ?
      Worked for us because we could hit target spend two within a month, the other 6 weeks then cancel saved around £1500 between us but got the benefits for 18 months in practice for longer.
      Plus shed load points from 9 referrals (well 10 actually)
      As i said earlier post works for us might not suit all
- George K says:
  
  6 May6 May 08:44
  
  As a data point, I have five. And one companion card, so going over the offers on a daily basis is a bit of a chore…
  - KBuffett says:
    
    6 May6 May 09:44
    
    As is remembering what offers one has on what card
- Jonathan says:
  
  6 May6 May 11:15
  
  Rob recommends taking out the free MR card even if it spends most of its life in a desk drawer at home, since it’s highly useful if a holder of a Platinum or Gold (MR) cards decides the fees are no longer worth paying for.
  
  A general rule is no amount of credit cards is too many, but it’s more a case of do you really need / want that 5th or so Amex card ?!?
Froggee says:

6 May6 May 06:43

And an FT one I don’t remember- a straight 25% off. If you pay for your own subscription that is quite significant.
- BuildBackBetter says:
  
  6 May6 May 07:00
  
  Do they have a print sub for the weekend edition only?
  - Harrier25 says:
    
    6 May6 May 07:12
    
    Yes they do. I took the weekend print subscription out towards the end of last year when the offer was £20 off a £25 spend.
  - Rob says:
    
    6 May6 May 07:57
    
    Yes, I have one.
KBuffett says:

6 May6 May 07:08

Does anyone know of retailers that allow online orders to be returned in store and fail to deduct Avios collected on said purchase through the BA shopping portal?
- Andrew says:
  
  6 May6 May 07:15
  
  John Lewis – they tend to process as a standard in store scan item and insert card refund and a cross-out on the order confirmation as if it’s a store receipt.
  - Jonathan says:
    
    6 May6 May 07:37
    
    I’ve had Avios clawed back for refunds in JL (including partial refunds which are often the weak spot).
    - KBuffett says:
      
      6 May6 May 07:41
      
      Were those definitely online purchases returned in store?
      - Jonathan says:
        
        6 May6 May 08:28
        
        Yes
  - Christoph says:
    
    6 May6 May 11:31
    
    John Lewis haven’t done this for nearly 2 years.
    Online orders will get processed in store, but not refunded in store.
- Chris Heyes says:
  
  6 May6 May 07:48
  
  KBuffett A few stores will allow you to return goods to a non Amex Card if you paid with Amex (Debenhams was a good one)
  But some would in one town but not another town ?
  One store would let me run a bill of 3k plus on Amex on furniture and refund to MasterCard (but I did know him personally)
  order never left the store
  - TGLoyalty says:
    
    6 May6 May 07:58
    
    So not one store but rather a dodgy employee who was your mate.
    - Chris Heyes says:
      
      6 May6 May 08:37
      
      TGLoyalty Any Debenhams store would let you return to another card just needed to say not got that card with me or no longer have it.
      TG The store wasn’t a Debenhams I Wouldn’t call him a dodgy employee either
      He owned the store at the time, but yes was a mate
    - Roger W says:
      
      6 May6 May 08:48
      
      Think the wife would ban me from churning if I started that. She had a very poor view of me getting an online Mail Equity Release quote. Felt sorry for the guy phoning me up to discuss. The 10000 nectar was sweet though.
  - Andrew says:
    
    6 May6 May 08:50
    
    Got to watch those.
    
    They appear on the Merchant Reports as Orphan Transactions and are flagged as potential fraudulent transactions to the business and the service provider’s fraud teams.
    
    So a small business risks higher fees from refunding to wrong source frequently. In a larger business, employee risks interview without coffee.
    
    Loads of employees think that no-one will notice. £500 charge to Amex, refund to Debit card as a payday loan. Sell aggregates or copper for drug dealers cash on a Friday, refund to Debit card on a Monday before delivery as a cancelled order. (Less “restocking fee”).
Andy D says:

6 May6 May 07:12

Got an EasyJet booking to Turkey at the start of July and not confident that the trip should happen at the moment. Typically, how long before the flight do EasyJet cancel due to Covid in the event that they decide to cancel?
- Phil W says:
  
  6 May6 May 08:41
  
  easyJet are odd in this regard. I’ve just had flights to Munich cancelled in Q4 but previously had flights cancelled the week before when it was obvious it wasn’t departing.
  easyJet often remove the flight from sale by showing as No Seats Available weeks before they inform you the flight has been cancelled. Might be worth doing a dummy booking.
TokyoFan says:

6 May6 May 07:47

Good morning all!
Apologies if this has been discussed – I’ve been away from hfp for a while.
My question is…has the 4000 bonus avios offer on the BAPP been withdrawn? Last month I was merrily racking them up and this month I haven’t. *And* it seems the offer has disappeared from my saved offers. I’m quite sure I didn’t hit 4000 avios total (according to my statement anyway).
Any ideas?
- TGLoyalty says:
  
  6 May6 May 07:59
  
  No it’s still there and I earned some on a transaction made a couple days ago.
  - WaynedP says:
    
    6 May6 May 08:14
    
    +1
    - Andrew says:
      
      6 May6 May 08:34
      
      +2. Still there, still earning.
      - Pete M says:
        
        6 May6 May 09:44
        
        A bunch of us got a new email last week, but it’s been inconsistent on whether you could add the offer again. They added it manually for me, but added the wrong one (there’s an option for the free card and the paid card)… Waiting for a call back on my complaint about this.
      - AJA says:
        
        6 May6 May 14:06
        
        +3 Still paying out on both mine and OH’s card although we are now concentrating spending on OH card to get to the £10k spend threshold for the next 2-4-1.
Sarah says:

6 May6 May 08:21

Does anyone know how long it usually takes for Radisson points to transfer to BA? I got an email confirmation from Radisson immediately but points haven’t posted yet.
Before anyone says anything, I know it’s not the most efficient use of points but I was only slightly short for a BA redemption and not enough points for a hotel stay so unlikely to use them at Radisson therefore it was best use of points for me. That is if they go through and the redemption seats are still there!
- Bobri says:
  
  6 May6 May 09:03
  
  Took 4 or 5 days last time around
  - Sarah says:
    
    6 May6 May 09:59
    
    Thanks, this is Day 6. I’ve sent email and completed online form but no response. I will try giving both Radisson and BA a call as not sure where hold-up is.
Andrew says:

6 May6 May 08:34

Not sure if it’s a new offer – but a notification on my IHG app for 5k bonus points if I stay one night before 29 July.
- Wollhouse says:
  
  6 May6 May 08:42
  
  Where do you find these offers? I never seem to get anything I see mentioned? I think it was Anna who mentioned freebies for her bookings?? I never seem to get those either! Perhaps I’m looking in the wrong place??Unless it’s targeted and I didn’t get as I already have 2 upcoming bookings??
  - Andrew says:
    
    6 May6 May 09:02
    
    Extra benefits tab on the account page
  - WaynedP says:
    
    6 May6 May 09:16
    
    First, check that you have permitted notifications (emails, text messages) to be sent to you by IHG in your account settings.
    
    Second, if you log into your IHG Rewards Club account on laptop, the banner at the top of the page that starts “IHG Rewards” on the left hand side has clickable options on the right hand side, in order My Account .. Stays and Events .. Preferences .. Points .. Offers .. BOOK
    Click on Offers to reveal all offers IHG is currently running for (I presume) all members.
    
    If you’re using the app, at the top left hand side on the opening page (after login) there is an icon comprising three horizontal stripes, like a capital E without the vertical. If you select it, “Offers” will be one of the options that comes up on the displayed menu.
    - Andrew says:
      
      6 May6 May 09:30
      
      This offer isn’t showing in my offers list, but is showing in my Extra Benefits bit from the account page in the app (as well as 3k points and 35% off Hertz)
      - Pete M says:
        
        6 May6 May 09:55
        
        I am not sure there’s a requirement to register, though?