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The HfP chat thread – Wednesday 2nd June

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We are running this daily chat thread on Head for Points during the coronavirus outbreak.

Historically, the daily ‘Bits’ articles were the de facto repository for random comments and questions.  With the news flow being lighter, we are running fewer ‘Bits’ articles.

The comments under this article are where you should post questions about travel and, indeed, anything else on your mind.  At this tricky time, and given that many of you are at home, we want the HfP community to have a place to chat.

Please only comment under the main articles on the site if your comment is directly related to the topic of the article.  This has long-term benefits as it keeps the commentary relevant for people who read those articles in the future.

Old chat threads are hidden from the HfP home page.  If you want to look for something in an old thread, click here.  This brings up all the articles in our ‘General’ category which includes the chat threads.

Comments (331)

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

  • Tim says:

    Any HfPers bought a car via Cinch or Cazoo before? Would love to hear how it may have gone.

    • Dan says:

      Just ordered a runaround from Cazoo. Admin was minimal, had a nice walkaround video, quick handover, car as described. All in quite impressed. What do you want to know?

    • BP says:

      Nope but just ordered a new car via Motorfinity/Blue Light Card. Almost £9.5k off RRP and £4k cheaper than my local dealer. Impressively good service.

  • Amy says:

    O/T Can someone recommend a good vacuum please. The Dyson ones are way too expensive and not sure if they are worth the price tag!

    • Super Secret Stuff says:

      GTech, we love ours. Have a non K9 version and i can deal with my SOs very long hair, all around very good

      Not sure on any points angel’s but a great vacum cleaner

      (P.s. thank you for not calling them Hoovers, it drives me up the wall)

      • Optimus Prime says:

        We bought a G-Tech AirRam plus the Multi-handled 7 years ago. Very happy with them.

      • Richster says:

        That’s good to know – my SO also has very long hair (down to knees!) so de-tangling the brush bar is a common passtime here 🙂

      • Number9 says:

        I hope you see this but gtech you can buy through ba executive avois store loads of extra points. I’ve got lots of their products.

    • Mighty Hunter says:

      I would go with a Dyson, but one of the older models to save money.
      I think the best compromise battery/weight is the V8 Animal, £299 Currys etc.
      It’s much better than our old V6, and I can’t see how it could be much improved on.
      The new models are too big and no improvement, IMHO.

    • Rhys says:

      I like my Miele 🙂

      • Pete M says:

        Seconded. Our cleaner makes all her clients buy Miele 🙂

        • Memesweeper says:

          Thirded

          … but consider a robot too. Eufy home is doing the legwork in my house now.

          • WaynedP says:

            +1

            Former sceptic won over to the extent that we now have an upstairs and a downstairs Eufy. Not as ridiculous as it sounds, I promise.

            Now, if only they made robotic lawnmowers (Eufy, I mean, I know alternatives are available but they remain untried and untested from my perspective)

      • BP says:

        I like my Miele too. Had it for about 10 years and it’s still going strong. Few Dysons last that long.

      • Bill says:

        Another vote for Miele
        Dyson and Wetherspoons are on my boycott list

    • David says:

      SeBo or Roborock

    • Wally1976 says:

      Henry or Hetty all the way!

      • Genghis says:

        We’ve had our Henry for years now and it’s still going strong. Not exactly small or cordless but it works.

      • Yorkie Aid says:

        +1 I have a Henry now and would never go back to Dyson Animal

        • Sam G says:

          My mother has always sworn by a Henry. We got a very expensive Dyson Animal last year and I am not at all impressed – I have a 45 quid Titan vacuum from Screwfix that does a better job. We also have a robovac that goes around every day

      • Lady London says:

        +1 Henry

        Have you seen the ads, apparently for people to ‘influence’ on social media, that apparently looked awfully like they were for one of the brands mentioned, apparently the roles had something to do with Wiltshire.

        • Bill says:

          Alot of the builders round my way use Henry’s

        • Lord Doncaster says:

          Wiltshire Farm Foods? The dinners of choice for old biddies

    • KP says:

      Vax blade cordless

    • Nigel W says:

      Recommend Miele Triflex and Sebo here.

      Dyson’s i find really poor quality, especially the plastic used.

    • BuildBackBetter says:

      Shark has got good reviews and isn’t expensive like Dyson.

      • trader363 says:

        I second Shark – we got this one from Costco when they used to do them and it’s the best thing since sliced bread (and Avios!)

        The amazon code is B082QJK1D9 to find it

        • Pauline says:

          Agreed shark and roborock (otherwise known as Hugo in our house)

    • Amy says:

      Thank you all for these overwhelming recommendations. My OH & I are having a great time looking into these suggestions.

      I have a question on the type of vacuums if someone can help please. We don’t have pets at home, but found some of the animal vacuums are cheaper than the normal ones. Can we use an animal vacuum in the same manner as a normal vacuum?

      Thanks again for the lovely suggestions.

      • Anuj says:

        I would go for a robotics s5 alongside a Chinese brand cordless, such as the ROIDMI R20 on Amazon. Currently £99 and just as much suction as a dyson v10

      • trader363 says:

        We don’t have any pets and the one I just mentioned above works really well. Have never had to clean the hair off it either and my SO has long hair too

      • Andrew says:

        You can. They are just designed to be better at picking up hair.

        I have a Sebo Felix. It’s essentially bullet proof and is the pretty version of their commercial upright. You can feel the weight of the solid German engineering.

        If you choose a Miele, don’t forget to check out the prices at their Abingdon warehouse.

      • Paul says:

        Generally the animal versions just come with a driven brush accessory, everything else is the same but in a different colour or style. Personally we’ve just changed from Vax animal upright corded to Vax blade 4 cordless. The cordless bit was the winner for me, as to do the whole house took 4 changes of plug position, which doesn’t sound terrible, and isn’t the end of the world, but not having to plug in then move plug is actually a lot quicker and easier. This matters to us, as with animals galore, we vacuum at least every other day. My wife says it’s a bit heavy, but manageable, and overall it probably doesn’t seem to have the absolute suction/cleaning power of the corded, but is plenty strong enough for us. Also Vax customer care is excellent, usually just sending a new replacement unit if any problems, and yes I’m aware that implies there are problems, but I still recommend Vax.

      • BJ says:

        My sister has tried them all over the years. She currently uses Shark and claims it is way better than the others. My partner uses a SeBo we got way back in 1996, I love it but that’s probably because I rarely ever use it myself 🙂

      • AJA says:

        I have a Roomba robot vacuum cleaner. It’s brilliant. Goes around on its own every couple of days. Helps that I don’t have stairs. Sends messages to my phone when it needs emptying and when it’s heading back to the base to charge or when it’s finished.

    • Peter K says:

      Our Miele is brilliant. Had a Henry before and it was poor. The older Henry’s were great but newer ones are not good.
      We have a cat and dog attachment and it is brilliant on carpets, but we need to use the normal attachment on the kitchen floor.

    • Alan says:

      Our G-tech is 7 years old now and still going strong with no sign of the battery ageing.

      Shark seems to get best independent test reviews, I think it was the Which top scorer in their most recent tests.

    • Alekun says:

      I would recommend Shark after the dyson packed in and the cordless V6 suction wasnt that powerful – the shark was sucking for dear life the amount of dust it accumulated on its first tryout I just couldnt stop hoovering.

  • Super Secret Stuff says:

    Ahhhh, reminising about when I used to be able to use my Amex at a local night club and earn shop small on it when it’s my round. Good times

  • Phil says:

    Apologies – this might be a repeat question but I can’t find the answer.

    Do Harvey Nichols sell gift cards?

  • Laura says:

    Anyone having problems logging into the Amex website?

    I’ve had the same message since opening my account

    “Unable to process your request
    We are sorry our system is temporarily unavailable. Please try again later.”

    • Youllnever says:

      No issues here – looks like it might be an issue with your account. Try calling them.

      • Laura says:

        Thank you!

        I was trying to log in with the same details as the App and it didn’t like that. I have registered on the website and I’m in ok.

        Confused why they aren’t the same log in details!

    • Phil says:

      I had a similar message for the offers on one of my cards. Logging out and in again fixed it for me.

  • AnotherUser says:

    Anyone seen any good Edinburgh hotel deals from Friday this week to Monday next week? IHG points nights are expensive or sold out, and prices seem generally high…

  • Martha says:

    Anyone have a 1p Mobile referal code?

  • Doommonger says:

    I’m off to Edgbaston next week to watch the cricket and get pissed before we all get locked down again. Any suggestions as to a half decent Hotel , I’ve heard the Hyatt and the Radisson are ok.

    • Degsy says:

      Yeah I think you’ve picked the top two there. The Hyatt is where away football teams often stay when playing Villa. Then down from that you’ve got things like Malmaison & AC. I find the HGI is perfectly acceptable too

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