The HfP chat thread – Wednesday 7th July

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• BrotherBear says:

  7 Jul7 July 10:14

  Assume chances of getting centre court tickets for Friday are now nil?

  Was going to take my mum but despite constantly checking yesterday I must have missed the release and then all the Amex ones had gone within 2 mins this morning.

  Cheers

  • TGLoyalty says:

    7 Jul7 July 10:28

    Keep checking through the day

    • BrotherBear says:

      7 Jul7 July 10:36

      Thanks – will do

      • MattB says:

        7 Jul7 July 10:45

        There is a single ticket just now for Friday centre, not much use unless you want to bin off your mum!

  • Grant says:

    7 Jul7 July 10:51

    They were released at some point during the football last night and disappeared pretty quick.

  • Mark says:

    7 Jul7 July 10:58

    Can you only buy 2 tickets for the entire Wimbledon or per day? Have tickets for Saturday and been refreshing constantly hoping Friday comes up!

    • MattB says:

      7 Jul7 July 11:04

      Entire but no reason why the 2nd person couldn’t have own account with separate card?

    • MW says:

      7 Jul7 July 11:34

      2 tickets per person and per card in one transaction. If you are attending with another person, you can book one with a plus 1 and they can book one with you as a plus one. You can attend multiple times as a guest, just not as the purchaser.

      • Zoe says:

        7 Jul7 July 11:56

        This has now changed (was correct for all of last week) now restricted to one pair of tickets per household. Not sure what would happen if 2nd person purchased from say 27a (non existent ) whilst living at No 27. If passport was used for ID?

        • MW says:

          7 Jul7 July 13:24

          I saw that. We bought the 2nd set of tickets anyway (I bought the first and my wife bought the second set), was not an issue.

        • Babyg says:

          7 Jul7 July 15:16

          i saw that changed (1 ticket per household)… doesn’t seem to be enforced, nor does your address need to match your credit card…

  • Rob says:

    7 Jul7 July 11:31

    Still a chance as tickets can be returned for a refund by others up to 24 hours before. I assume you missed the 10am Ticketmaster allocation this morning?

    • BrotherBear says:

      7 Jul7 July 12:09

      Was on there before on computer and on the dot on my phone but by the time I was in after 5 mins or so they had all gone.

  • Ian says:

    7 Jul7 July 19:06

    2 tickets available on Centre for Friday available online now. Worth keeping an eye out still!

• Peggerz says:

  7 Jul7 July 10:41

  Good morning.
  Advice please on Hilton hotels in London. I have a stay to arrange in London, late August.
  At my price point I have looked at the Hilton’s Euston, Paddington and Tower Bridge and have probably decided on the later due to location and transport links.
  Has anyone stayed at the Tower Bridge Hilton and have any thoughts please?
  I am Hilton 💎

  • DesignforHomes says:

    7 Jul7 July 10:55

    @peggerz Hilton Bankside has better rooms and is equally close to Borough market for all the food and drink offers, which run from late morning, extending in the evening to a sort of festival of eating and drinking thanks to some of the very best in the whole of London. Basement pool, comfortable exec lounge, outdoor seating area for drinks and food and very quiet for London (London Bridge is surrounded by the office blocks of More London). Bankside has lots of exec rooms with separate desk areas. Third option is is the Doubletree just behind Tower Bridge tube (again, another quiet street and usually cheapest of 3)

    • Lady London says:

      7 Jul7 July 13:04

      wondering Doubletree Greenwich? gets excellent feedback, although this summer weekend rates looked higher than usual.

      • BJ says:

        7 Jul7 July 13:33

        Isn’t the location a bit of a problem for getting around? ISTR reading that so I always avoided.

    • David says:

      7 Jul7 July 21:24

      Exec lounge currently closed. Given vouchers for drinks in bar ×2 and a bento box

  • Isherwood says:

    7 Jul7 July 10:59

    Happy to recommend the Tower Bridge. Stayed in May. Gold status acknowledged with upgrade, wine in room and drinks vouchers for the bar. Location is great and there are plenty of food options, including the M&S food hall only moments away. We made sure to book breakfast at check-in as, at the time, they were turning away any guests without a reservation. Breakfast choices were imaginative and well cooked. The ground floor bar is a bit of a corridor but I believe there are other options higher up (sadly closed when we stayed). Only negative was staff shortages at the bar meant a long 30 mins+ for our ‘free’ drinks. Hilton Points booking – 44k / 1 night.

    • Memesweeper says:

      7 Jul7 July 12:34

      +1

  • KP says:

    7 Jul7 July 10:59

    I’ve stayed there plenty of times as my office was next door. Good hotel with decent sized rooms. Upgrades can be hit and miss. Exec lounge was decent with good hot options and a good view; not sure if it’s open now. Breakfast options were vast in the restaurant. Not been at paddington but it’s definitely better than Euston (even after the upgrade)

    • Sandra says:

      7 Jul7 July 11:06

      +1 – used Tower Bridge quite often and always had a decent stay and when running normally the lounge has always been good for breakfast and throughout the day

  • The cyclist says:

    7 Jul7 July 11:12

    Good morning to you. I have been for a conference at Hilton Euston, which IMO is tired and lacking TLC, I wouldn’t stay. Paddington station Hilton is old style (was the Great Western Hotel way back in the day) I probably wouldn’t stay. Paddington Hilton Metropole quite nice , but don’t bother with the tower as these are the older bedrooms, stay in the newer west wing. Sadly Paddington area has quite a few aggressive beggars lurking, so beware. That leaves the Tower which is nice, with a good bar at the top, Obviously go for the best room your budget allows, as the rooms are not that big, but as diamond you should get an upgrade.

  • BJ says:

    7 Jul7 July 11:41

    Of those three definitely Tower Bridge. My favourite Hilton in London is DT Westminster. Looking forward to trying it since it became Curio. No idea if the lounge is reopening as Curio though as it was previously closed. Next month we are trying DT Angel/KGX for first time. Rates for points or cash are good, it has a lounge, reviews including status recognition are good, an it is just a short walk from KGX if you are arriving and departing by train like us.

    • Rhys says:

      7 Jul7 July 12:10

      I’m in the DT/Curio Westminster right now 🙂

      • BJ says:

        7 Jul7 July 12:32

        Cool, are we getting a review?

        • Rob says:

          7 Jul7 July 12:58

          Yes

        • BJ says:

          7 Jul7 July 13:37

          Look forward to it. As a DTbthis hotel had tge cleanest rooms I saw outside Asia. The lounge was a dire room but they compensated with decent snack and tge drinks flowed well in happy hour. Status recognition was excellent IME.

    • IanM says:

      7 Jul7 July 14:56

      DT ANgel not much good, pretty old. Hilton Angel far superior with Exec lounge that’s open

      • BJ says:

        7 Jul7 July 15:17

        Do you mean Angel or Angel/KGX ? There are two hotels, one gets poor reviews and the other reasonably good. I’ll chancebit anyway as I only paid 111k for 5 nights. Other nights at Staybridge Vsuxhall fir 22.5k/night.

        • BJ says:

          7 Jul7 July 15:21

          Just reread your comments and got it this time, your views are opposite to what I concluded from revirews though.

  • Peggerz says:

    7 Jul7 July 15:13

    Thanks to everyone for their thoughts. @LL I have spent 6 nights this year at DT Greenwich – which I rate highly – as I needed to be in the New Cross area, but I need something more central next month.

• r* says:

  7 Jul7 July 10:53

  What are the cheapest day 2 (and 8 if the requirements dont change later!) tests other than randox?

  Randox dont take amex and if Im gonna have to pay £100 to tick a box, I want it to at least go towards the card spend target 😀

  • Anthony says:

    7 Jul7 July 16:50

    https://nwp-online.co.uk/

    £40 day 2 and accepts AMEX

• DesignforHomes says:

  7 Jul7 July 10:57

  Anybody any experience of the Crowne Plaza London Docklands? Thinking 3 night stay next week…

  • Rob says:

    7 Jul7 July 11:29

    Is that the Excel one? Obviously bit of the way but on the ‘right’ side of Excel, ie where the shops and housing are. Short walk to DLR and the cable car to North Greenwich Jubilee Line. No idea what it is like inside though.

• Sam says:

  7 Jul7 July 11:06

  Are refunds for Wimbledon tickets that straightforward? I.e emailing in 24 hours prior to match day (does that mean 1pm or 12 midnight?)

  • MW says:

    7 Jul7 July 11:35

    They say you can cancel tickets up to 11am on the day of attendance. No idea how complex the process is though.

    • Barry says:

      7 Jul7 July 14:44

      I had court 12 tickets for last Saturday which I needed to cancel as my managed to bag court 1 tickets instead. I emailed the ticket office more than 24 hours before as advised in their FAQ. Immediately received an auto-generated reply with my support ticket number but I’m still waiting for an actual response.

      • Babyg says:

        7 Jul7 July 15:33

        you are supposed to be able to cancel them via mywimbledon, but it usally only lets you cancel one ticket not both, or none if you only have 1 ticket…. but use the webform – its better than email…also you need to cancel 24hours before the day according to the FAQ, not on the day…

• swifty says:

  7 Jul7 July 11:14

  hi anyone manage to successfully challenge Amex about the non posting of the bonus 50k avois for business gold or plat. Have achieved the requisite 5k spend. Only 25k avios posted. Spoke on phone at wkend and they said would refer to “back office” Applied before cut off but wasn’t approved til 12th april

  • N says:

    7 Jul7 July 11:16

    Online chat forwarded it to the right people for me and it was sorted within 48 hours.

    Make. Sure your spend calcs don’t include your annual fee

  • Sam G says:

    7 Jul7 July 11:29

    Got mine back, had to call and chat. It’s worth getting them to check the calculation, theirs didn’t quite agree with mine + with some refunds I was actually slightly under. Couldn’t see why put couldn’t be bothered to argue just spent a bit more

  • TGLoyalty says:

    7 Jul7 July 12:07

    Pretty sure the terms said accepted for not applied for the card. Stick with it though.

    • Sam G says:

      7 Jul7 July 12:15

      For the biz it said applied – which I believe is different from usual for Amex, probably why it hasn’t been auto posting

• Benilyn says:

  7 Jul7 July 11:17

  Maybe too early to start discussing, but planning to do Qatar 2022 World Cup. Anyone else looking to go, what travel partners are best to collect points for hotels & any other experiences that can be redeemed with points?

  • fivebobbill says:

    7 Jul7 July 15:42

    Was on a cruise around that part of the world last year Benilyn, and used the opportunity to hire a guy to show me around a number of the Stadia. Something else! All located in the greater Doha area and connected by a huge new monorail network. I noticed a Sheraton out on the oceanfront in Doha, and I believe there’s a Hilton about as well, otherwise not really looked into it yet. I’d stay somewhere with a lounge if you like a beer or two, coz I didn’t see too many pubs about!! 😳
    Oh, and pack a big f****** hat! 👍

  • njb says:

    7 Jul7 July 17:24

    I stayed in the IC Doha (beach) two years ago. We got a fantastic upgrade to large suite with dining room and the service in the club lounge was fantastic – and the offerings. Highly recommend.
    Also visited the St Regis next door and had a pool cabana for the day. Better hotel but a bit more stuffy/opulent !

• TJ says:

  7 Jul7 July 11:19

  Received a text from EE basically stating that they will be moving me from a legacy SIM-only contract to a pretty uncompetitive new contract with no roaming included. I’d like to retain free roaming so looking to move elsewhere…any views on Three as a provider or perhaps Virgin (which runs over EE’s network I believe).

  • MKB says:

    7 Jul7 July 11:24

    +1

    You can add roaming back as a Smart option or pay £10 for a month or £2 for a day, but it only seems to cover EU, not places like North America, Australia, New Zealand, that were previously included.

    Three are offering some very competitive 5G SIM-only deals without the need to keep haggling for a discount and their roaming works in 71 countries. I’ve been with Orange/EE for 20 years; think it’s time to jump ship.

    • Jimmy says:

      7 Jul7 July 13:07

      Three’s signal in central London is godawful, for what its worth. If you live in London then I wouldn’t go for anything other than Voda/EE (EE best)

  • Blenz101 says:

    7 Jul7 July 11:26

    Virgin are fine if you can find a package that you are happy with.

    Three can have some very variable coverage so you would do well to check locally on this.

    No point having a contract with roaming included if 20% of the time you find yourself without signal / call dropped when in the U.K.

  • Toby says:

    7 Jul7 July 11:27

    I’ve been with Three for years, largely because of the excellent roaming packages and low prices. They get a lot of criticism from people with poor coverage. For me, largely in London and the south east, it’s been fine. When 5G works it’s blazing fast, from what I’ve read once their 5G network is built it’ll be sector leading.

    But, if you’re haply with EE apart from this deal, I’d consider calling up and asking for them to match a deal you’ve found elsewhere and lock in a new tariff before their big changes start. Check out moneysavingexperts guide on SIM only tariffs, and if you want to look somewhere else HotUKDeals has good special offers.

    FWIW I’m quite interested in the new offerings from VOXI which runs on Vodafone so it might be worth checking them out.

    Also, final thought, BT have been offering us some wild deals, as we have broadband with them.

    (Can you tell I used to work at carphone warehouse….)

  • Jody says:

    7 Jul7 July 11:28

    I moved to three a couple of years ago from Vodaphone, and my husband from EE. We did it basically for the roaming abroad (prior to that I used to buy a three sim when we went to USA).

    In general very happy with it. We don’t get phone signal at our house, but we didn’t with our old providers either (newbuild estate). Three sent us a box for free that means we now get full signal, which is great.

    • Reney says:

      7 Jul7 July 11:58

      Didn’t realize three sent a box, handy to know for the future. I left them when I moved and there is no signal in my house which is fine until the internet and landline went down for a week and I may not be able to make an emergency call if I needed to.

      • idrive says:

        7 Jul7 July 12:46

        i believe an emergency call would go through anyway with any network

      • Jody says:

        7 Jul7 July 13:19

        Yep, they didn’t advertise it anywhere, but my husband phoned up and asked if there was anything they could do, and they sent us that. Been great ever since!

    • Brighton Belle says:

      7 Jul7 July 17:05

      But Three is reducing your roaming allowance from 20GB to 12GB as a Brexit Benefit. I use the data to stream UK TV. 12GB doesn’t stream many hours. If you just need basic connectivity the Three roaming country list is great and I’ve used it mostly in USA which saved a packet.

  • Genghis says:

    7 Jul7 July 11:29

    I got a text about 6 weeks ago saying the same. My wife and I were paying something like £9 each = £18. The best retentions could offer was something ridiculous so got my PAC code ready to move elsewhere. Then got a call later in the afternoon asking why we were leaving and managed to get my wife added as another number on my account with us getting more data than we were getting before for £14 in total. Be persistent.

    • DeB20 says:

      7 Jul7 July 12:27

      +1

      This strategy worked for me with Vodafone last March. They gave me a superb offer 12 days before my contract expired (had already received the PAC code to move), as a result of which it would have been foolish to move.

  • Andrew says:

    7 Jul7 July 12:25

    Better to check what current deals are first before they migrate you.

    If you have a fairly large employer with access to a perks site, are beloved NHS staff, or have a friend or family member who works for a large employer or the NHS then you can pretty much guarantee yourself 20% off the headline price on all EE contracts.

  • Lady London says:

    7 Jul7 July 13:25

    I think some kind of roaming setup might have fallen apart generically in the European mobile arena in past 2-4 months or so. Heard of not just the networks in the UK, but also France suddenly doing this to people – saying their existing package is no longer available and the only alternative suddenly has their roaming removed. Not sure if the common theme is Orange (EE=Orange+Deutsche Telecom’s T-Mobile originally).

    • Nick says:

      7 Jul7 July 15:34

      I’m very happy with three, no issues in the UK or abroad. Roaming great and worth it just for that. I’ve just (happily) extended for another year.

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