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The HfP chat thread – Friday 29th October

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Comments (484)

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

  • Ilou says:
    29 Oct29 October 03:06

    Hi everyone

    What’s the cheapest LFD provider that gives a locator form reference for England ?

    Many thanks

    • Rob says:
      29 Oct29 October 03:59

      simplytestme – although there are concerns about privacy given the level of data they insist you provide when you buy. The company has no background in testing and was only founded a few months ago. It is not a recommend Government supplier. You do receive a PLF number.

    • TGLoyalty says:
      29 Oct29 October 04:24

      Chronomics £17 via BA code.

    • NSL says:
      29 Oct29 October 06:55

      I can recommend SimplyTestMe as a service. Kits arrived on time, simple to use and results were confirmed within 90 minutes of uploading. Not sure if my data is now on the dark web, however…

      • Mike says:
        29 Oct29 October 08:10

        NSL – I will have a look for you

      • Sandgrounder says:
        29 Oct29 October 08:27

        I think I’ll stick to a provider with a proper track record, one that files accounts rather than dissolving the company and starting a new one every year.

  • Matt says:
    29 Oct29 October 03:21

    Planning an ex-EU redemption but would like to link the return back to London (so MAD-LIM-MAD-LON). Is it possible to book this on the Iberia website or do I need to phone? I can only see how to do this for a cash booking.
    Many thanks for any advice.

    • Gavin says:
      29 Oct29 October 08:06

      I did this in the past on the Iberia website by booking it as two one-way redemptions. So MAD-LIM, and LIM-MAD-LHR

    • Red Flyer says:
      29 Oct29 October 08:40

      Same here as I did MAD-EZE and GIG-MAD-MAN for next year. However, I booked on Avios.com as struggles to move miles from BA to IB Plus account.

    • Sam G says:
      29 Oct29 October 12:18

      worth checking the tax cost on BA, IB and Avios before you book – seems to vary between them

      • Matt says:
        29 Oct29 October 15:19

        @Gavin @Red Flyer @Sam G – thanks for your replies. Looks like it will cost £50 more (1p/avios ) in total than booking MAD-LIM return and RFS to and from MAD. Feels just about worth it to have bags checked through at the end of my holiday. Any thoughts about that? This is my first ex-EU.

  • WaynedP says:
    29 Oct29 October 04:50

    BA Holidays Double Tier Points:

    Used BA chat facility middle of last week to request manual credit of double TPs due from an eligible BAH with returning flight 2 Oct (bit cheekily premature of 4 weeks in T&Cs).

    Just had chat open on a corner of one of my screens for a couple of hours while it counted down my place in the queue and got on with work meanwhile.

    Received email from BA Exec Club agent yesterday afternoon confirming manual credit was done, and lo and behold, ‘twas true for both me and my wife, who was also correctly upgraded to Bronze level membership as a result.

    • Linda says:
      29 Oct29 October 09:46

      I used chat yesterday at 3pm. Started at no. 48, got down to 23 when the agent answered and sorted my flight change out.

      • Sam G says:
        29 Oct29 October 12:21

        Yep. Had a result yesterday actually – my BA metal A319 flight to Madrid got cancelled – managed to get through on chat pretty quickly and moved to the IB widebody that wasn’t available for Avios before + the time works better for me.

        Couldn’t select seats on IB but managed on Malaysian Airlines website (think I saw that tip on here, thanks if so)

        I’ve also got through 02079493086 a couple of times in the evenings pretty quickly recently though hopefully my interactions with BA are over for a little while now!

  • Michael C says:
    29 Oct29 October 05:32

    Morning all! Mini trip report Eurostar St. P-Paris return + CP République, in case it might be of use to 0.0001%!
    -Check-in London (Standard) was v easy. As Rob had kindly mentioned, nothing but a Pret inside, so we dithered a bit before entering. Whole process was 10 mins. Arrival in Paris was straight off train and onto metro.
    -Check-in Paris on return a bit of a nightmare: an hour and a bit? Then a couple more shops the other side…but nowhere to sit! Swings and roundabouts, etc…Getting off at St P was also tortuously slow. Maybe next time we’ll get train out and fly back. Oh, thought Standard Premier was totally worth it: more space to work, fewer Disney families (characters?!) and really ok food and wine.
    -CP République: this went far, far beyond any expectations. We chose it for direct metro to Gare du Nord (6 mins) and for spacious room (as there are 3 of us). Even with half the sofa open (which split into 2 single beds, or bed+sofa) it all felt v roomy, with large windows looking out onto the square. Lobby pleasant, and downstairs café fab for working – rows of work station plugs everywhere, meaning I could do a couple of hours at 5am before b/fast. B/f was pretty decent: great coffee and pastries, of course, egg station and the usuals.
    -Absolutely loved the location: Canal St Martin 2 mins’ walk away with interesting eateries and lovely evening strolls. Lots of shops around and about 30 mins walking to Île de P., etc.
    -Paperwork: so the famous “Sworn statement” was never even mentioned anywhere. NHS covid pass letter was fine for getting in places (museums, etc.: not requested in restaurants). PLF never requested at any point. We used Testing For All (GBP 19) which seems legit.

    Now I’m in the swing of things, will try a night at the newish Hilton Canopy in Madrid on Tues., as I have a dinner nearby!

    • WaynedP says:
      29 Oct29 October 05:43

      Great review, thanks.

      Judging by yesterday’s statement about Spanish train operator Renfe starting Eurotunnel services, we may be able to train it from London to Madrid and back in near future instead of fly.

      • John says:
        29 Oct29 October 06:44

        Renfe is not running to Madrid – it only plans to operate London to Paris

        O course you can still take the TGV to Barcelona and thence to Madrid if you can make the itinerary work

      • Pete M says:
        29 Oct29 October 10:51

        I am sorry to disappoint, but Renfe won’t realistically start running London-Paris in less than 5, more like 10 years, if ever. SNCF will put every obstacle in their way to stop it from happening, as they own most of Eurostar.

    • Red Flyer says:
      29 Oct29 October 08:45

      I did same trip out Monday and back Tuesday this week. St Pancras was a beeeze through border control but struggled to get a seat 45 mins before departure. Return from GDN was just as easy but again very few seats in departures. PLF not scanned and only given a cursory glance but Covid pass checked both ways and in Paris was masks and Covid pass checks every time we ate or drank inside.

  • Roger says:
    29 Oct29 October 06:11

    LHR T5 Parking question.

    Is Hounslow west still a good option to park my car for 6 days (£32 for a week as seen on their website) and take tube to T5.
    Arrival and departure times are sensible so taking a tube is an option.

    Looked at likes of just park and purples parking which are also not too far off with discount code etc.

    What’s HFP community recommendation for T5 Parking.

    I saw some free parking options around tube station but probably not worth the risk.

    • Amy says:
      29 Oct29 October 06:33

      Have you tried justpark?

      • Roger says:
        29 Oct29 October 07:58

        With just park plus bus or taxi fare it’s not worth it
        Might As well use purple parking.

    • H says:
      29 Oct29 October 06:44

      I do park there quite regularly – it is 6.50 a day but free at weekends – make sure you park in the correct car park though at the weekend – drive in and drive all the way round to near the exit. The first 2 car parks used to be used for a car boot at the weekend which is why the car parking is free then.

    • Red Flyer says:
      29 Oct29 October 08:48

      I just booked a space in the Thistle car park via your parking space and it was only £20 for 4 days and then I plan to jump on the pods to T5.

      • Ed says:
        29 Oct29 October 09:22

        Also done this, 6 days £30, will use pod or bus

      • Roy says:
        29 Oct29 October 09:25

        Do you pay extra for pod travel?

        • Red Flyer says:
          29 Oct29 October 09:49

          Yes I believe a code needs to be bought at reception for @£5 or if feeling cheeky you can walk in with a smile and offer to hold the gate open if they already have a code.

        • Red Flyer says:
          29 Oct29 October 09:50

          Yes I believe a code needs to be bought at reception for @£5 or if feeling cheeky you can walk in with a smile and offer to hold the gate open if someone else already has the code.

  • Joe says:
    29 Oct29 October 06:51

    With creation why dont we do some sort of class action?

    Surely if the regulators realise how many people effected it will look worse for creation.

    • NFH says:
      29 Oct29 October 07:12

      Class action is American. In the UK, we have group litigation. What would be the advantage of group litigation over individual complaints to the Financial Ombudsman Service, which each cost Creation a £750 case fee but cost the consumer nothing, and would result in compensation for poor service (which the courts almost never award) in addition to financial loss?

      • Track says:
        29 Oct29 October 07:43

        £750 case fee — no longer the case and for a long time.

        There is other schedule, dependent on the number of actual complaints accepted for adjudication.

    • JDB says:
      29 Oct29 October 07:58

      How would you propose to fund a group legal action? It wouldn’t look pretty when the other side of the story was put forward? The concept of misusing a product, getting caught, sacked and then demanding a leaving present might not play well in any court or arbitration setting? A counter claim for disgorgement of past ‘gains’? It would alert other financial providers? That’s for starters.

      • Andy says:
        29 Oct29 October 08:04

        But not everyone has been “misusing the product”. Unless you count any use connected to Curve e.g My sister who has had her card cancelled seemingly for using it with Curve on TFL

        • JDB says:
          29 Oct29 October 08:16

          Yes, I feel sorry for those innocents caught up in the wash of the ‘players’ who caused all this.

          • Joints&Piles says:
            29 Oct29 October 08:29

            Curve supplied a product specifically to make a credit card look like a debit card. People used it that way.
            Creation didn’t treat cash-like transactions as cash-like. People made use of that.

            Blaming only the “players” is just a little bit one-sided.

          • Rui N. says:
            29 Oct29 October 11:02

            Calling “players” someone using a product as it was advertised for is quite something. But I know, I know, Curve and the regulators are not in the wrong, it always the consumer fault. They not only need to know the T&Cs top to bottom, but also to be able to interpret all marketing messages the “correct” away and not assume they could use the products they paid for in the way the company receiving that money promotes them.

      • Genghis says:
        29 Oct29 October 08:36

        Not sure people are “demanding a leaving present”: simply asking for a refund of the card fee for the months paid for where Creation has not actually provided a service, for the free night if spent over £10k on the black card, and for the points earned during the cancellation period to be posted to IHG. Hardly a “present”. More for what is “fair” in the eyes of the customer.

        Creation can do business with whoever they want. They’ve been caught with their pants down and now they’re throwing their toys out of the pram.

        Your rhetoric on all of this is getting boring, quite frankly.

      • Char Char says:
        29 Oct29 October 10:00

        Back in Solihull today, I see JDB!

        Claiming people have been cancelled for bad reasons is wrong, firstly creation haven’t said that as they have no reasons and secondly they are clearly trying to pull a fast one on customers.

        Do you actually have a creation card?

        • Lady London says:
          29 Oct29 October 13:49

          No Char Char … are you actually implying JDB works for Creation? You are naughty….

          • Char Char says:
            29 Oct29 October 16:57

            JDB seems to be opposed to taking action against Creation more than Creation themselves, so….

    • Tw33ty says:
      29 Oct29 October 08:10

      Or get in touch with bbc watchdog

      • JDB says:
        29 Oct29 October 08:23

        I fully understand people’s indignation on here, but if you try the (whole) story on some sensible independent third party (or the BBC), I think there may be a question as to who the victim is. Is is Ernie, Creation, innocent card holders or is it the MS brigade? You might find the opprobrium pointing in a different direction than hoped.

        • Dave says:
          29 Oct29 October 08:40

          Perhaps JDB. Personally I feel Creation is in the right closing cards. In the wrong not issuing free nights for those people who have hit the spend AND had their card anniversary in the last month. Wrong for not transferring earned points over. Possibly right not refunding pro rata card fees although this does set a strange precedent (I could set up an annual fee credit card with an attractive proposition if you hit a spend target and give it you at the end of the year. Then I just cancel all the cards after people have paid the annual fee).

          I know some people have taken the piss, some people have been caught up in it who are pretty innocent and creation could have fixed all of this months ago if they’d wanted to. I doubt I’ll pursue it really as I’m out of pocket by £99 and a couple of thousand points at the moment. But my wife who has now paid two lots of £99 and hasn’t had her free night almost certainly will. (She was intending to phone up to cancel before they charged the second £99 but has been ill with Covid for a couple of weeks so couldn’t)

          • NFH says:
            29 Oct29 October 08:52

            Thanks Dave. Until you mentioned it, I hadn’t noticed that Creation hadn’t remitted the points to my IHG Reward Club account for October’s statement, in which I had spent almost £7k on retail purchases. This will be another complaint I have to make.

        • Char Char says:
          29 Oct29 October 10:03

          Again calling everyone a misuser.

          1. Creation haven’t said why
          2. Creation clearly abusing their power
          3. Many customers not done anything to be considered abuse, it is the action of a few perhaps
          4. The whole curve scenario was due to their lack of research and management of their product that could have been blocked easily.

          • Anna says:
            29 Oct29 October 11:01

            With JDB’s habit of throwing around baseless accusations of criminality (especially terms like “guilty” and “innocent”) plus emotive language and sweeping generalisations and inaccuracies (“FOS won’t investigate dozens of offences”) plus the amount of free time he seems to have to spend on here I very much doubt he is gainfully employed in any kind of investigative, judicial or regulatory industry.

          • David says:
            29 Oct29 October 11:24

            Anna, sometimes your comments really do go too far and have a very nasty and personal tone to them.
            JDB is offering his opinion, which you may not like, but it’s valid and he’s entitled to it. Rob himself has said at least a couple of times JDB knows what he is talking about and has professional knowledge of this field, if not the actual situation. You might want to think about that before before you continue to go any deeper down your current rabbit hole.

          • Alex says:
            29 Oct29 October 12:16

            Anna, you are a disgrace with those comments but to be honest that’s not a surprise considering your unethical views and how you are trying to game the system.

          • Anna says:
            29 Oct29 October 14:58

            And I’m offering my opinion. People who are involved in regulation or any kind of legal process should know better than to accuse others of criminal behaviour without evidence, or slander as it’s sometimes known. I’m certainly not the only person here who disagrees with most of what JDB posts.
            I’m not sure what either of you are actually here for if you’re not interested in what you call “gaming the system”, I certainly haven’t noticed many helpful comments from you, just the personal digs you are so keen to accuse others of.

          • David says:
            29 Oct29 October 15:45

            Just what I expected, Anna. Devoid of any reflection or feeling, and typical playground bullying towards those you perceive as disagreeing with you.
            I’ve also contributed plenty, thanks very much, over time… but, whatever.

          • SteveJ says:
            29 Oct29 October 16:30

            Wooah Nelly, bit heated in here. Without picking a “side” :

            – not all impacted are guilty. Creation just ignoring legit spend and refusing pro rata refunds is not on. The fact that the likes of me (the MS crew) ruined it for others is very true. Does not mean Creation should get away with punishing legit spend. If they are relying on Section 14 the right thing to do is for them to issue the certs and pro rata refund and legit spenders should go after them IMHO.

            – many (Inc me and Anna for what it’s worth) took the proverbial. To get all indignant about the plug being pulled is a bit rich. But they should’ve section 12’d us if the didn’t like what we were doing. The fact they have not means they’re not comfortable calling this a breach of Ts & Cs, so we end up back to the first point, if section 14 then hand over the vouchers. But tbh if they don’t it’d be pretty cheeky to go after them for it, get laughed out of FOS/MCOL.

          • Char Char says:
            29 Oct29 October 17:04

            It is clear from JDBs words that he assumes the majority of those affected are bad actors, he then clearly goes on to assume that people have done something wrong.

            Creation is labelling all customers as bad now and deciding to be the judge, jury and executioner to their cards without any regard for laws or customers.

          • Lady London says:
            29 Oct29 October 20:11

            Anna I think JDB is entitled to express his views and try to enlighten us based on his experience and it is clear that his experience is professional. It’s also clear to me that JDB has been personally been very successful professionally.

            However someone must be advising companies like Creation that do make mistakes and misassess things and decide to implement unfair policies which breach their own contracts or are illegal under statute, or perhaps companies whose management haven’t made the best decisions.

            Or knowing what they do is illegal or breach of contract, or just plain nasty, companies that decide ‘might is right’. Companies that ‘go for it’ and force the abused to challenge them legally (in UK. Whereas in many other places, might is indeed always right).

            All these have lawyers, no? Or some highly profitable legal practices serving them.

            I have a large order of popcorn for December.

    • memesweeper says:
      29 Oct29 October 08:23

      Group litigation might make sense if you were going to hire a lawyer to fight the case for you. The costs of this might be high, and if the amount of compensation being sought was equally high, the shared risk on legal costs could be worth it.

      I doubt anyone is going to sue Creation for above the MCOL limit, and they won’t need a lawyer to help with the case. MCOL (repeated many times over) is likely the best route in this case. From Creation’s point of view, it’s probably far more aggravation if they have to contest 1,000 individual MCOL claims than a single group action. I think the prospects of Creation being advised by their lawyers to just cave in and pay out on a tsunami of small claims is higher than one group action.

      IANAL

      • NFH says:
        29 Oct29 October 08:33

        MCOL is a means of issuing a County Court claim. The limit for MCOL is £100,000. Don’t confuse this with the upper limit of the Small Claims track of the County Court, which is £10,000.

        Why do you suggest that a County Court claim (initiated via MCOL) is the best route in this case, rather than the Financial Ombudsman Services, which additionally awards compensation for distress and inconvenience as well as poor service?

        • Craig Vassie says:
          29 Oct29 October 10:19

          I’m familiar with MCOL, but have no experience of FOS. I’m happy to follow the recommendations for action of someone with more experience of such claims, but would think that it might help if we had a “model” FOS submission to use. Thoughts?

    • Mouse says:
      29 Oct29 October 08:29

      Sometimes you just need to take the L

    • J says:
      29 Oct29 October 08:35

      Just out of interest, did anyone have Curve mentioned in their account closing letter? If it weren’t for HfP, and people phoning up, I’d have no idea that was the reason for closure.

      • Rui N. says:
        29 Oct29 October 08:53

        There were people that got the letter than haven’t used Curve.

      • Char Char says:
        29 Oct29 October 10:04

        No

      • Melonfarmer says:
        29 Oct29 October 10:27

        Not in the closing letter. I emailed them as my card wouldn’t work anywhere and they brought up the Curve topic. I wrote as a reply to a later comment that they also cited Section 75 protection as a reason for their decision.

    • Chrism20 says:
      29 Oct29 October 09:18

      I haven’t chimed in on the Creation nonsense mainly due to my account being closed circa 18 months ago by mutual agreement with them.

      I do however recommend recording every phone call you have with them. They denied phone calls existed with me when I took it to the ombudsman.

      Both Creation and the Ombudsman were astonished when I offered to send my copies which proved they were lying through their teeth.

      I’ve never seen a case come to conclusion as quickly in my life.

      • Joe says:
        29 Oct29 October 11:01

        If recording a call do I need to tell them before hand?

        • Anna says:
          29 Oct29 October 11:04

          No – you are acting as a private individual so can record whatever you like.

          • Chrism20 says:
            29 Oct29 October 12:18

            As Anna says you don’t need to tell them.

            I had recordings of them swearing at me and telling me I was an idiot.

            They said they couldn’t find the recordings or any trace of the calls but suddenly found them when I offered up my copies.

            Easily one of the most arrogant, nasty and inept institutions I’ve ever had the misfortune to deal with.

      • QFFlyer says:
        29 Oct29 October 14:35

        This doesn’t surprise me at all. They really are deplorable in their conduct and handling of complaints and CS. They operate like a backstreet money lender.

    • Char Char says:
      29 Oct29 October 10:06

      No however I think a dedicated online resource to help people might be very useful, Rob doesn’t seem to want to post a pinned thread on this (understandably)

      • Tw33ty says:
        29 Oct29 October 10:24

        Isn’t that because curve was actively promoted on here via pinned stories etc

    • Clubx says:
      29 Oct29 October 12:27

      Called Creation regarding points not being transfered. After checking my IHG Rewards number was correct the agent said this is a ‘known issue’ and it will be resolved asap. Got the letter and IHG Black.

      • Char Char says:
        29 Oct29 October 17:06

        It is known they aren’t paying them when select people did receive them

    • NFH says:
      29 Oct29 October 14:55

      I just spoke to IHG Rewards Club. They said that Creation are closing all accounts, and that IHG is looking for a new credit card partner.

  • Mark says:
    29 Oct29 October 07:01

    Loyalty (ish) points related. For anyone who regularly buys stuff from the French Bakery chain Paul, there is an ‘aspirational’ redemption on your loyalty points for one of their large cakes if you save up. You get 1 point per penny spent and it’s 15k points for a cake which retails at around £27, which works out at almost a 20% return on your spend (£150 for 15k points). Thought I would flag in case of interest, and also ask if anyone else has spotted similar things elsewhere?

    • John says:
      29 Oct29 October 07:48

      Well if you buy 4 small coffees with reusable cup at Costa (or abuse the referral program and buy 2) you get a free large drink with some extras – maybe close to 100% return

      • Andrew says:
        29 Oct29 October 08:03

        Or if you have an O2 SIM you get a free Nero coffee and a free Greggs bacon roll each week. Pretty decent return.

        • SteveJ says:
          29 Oct29 October 08:06

          And double dip at Nero by also getting loyalty stamps whilst getting your free coffee, so you can treat a friend once every 10 weeks.

          • Andrew says:
            29 Oct29 October 08:11

            Why would you treat a friend? Every 9 weeks I get to go twice.

          • John says:
            29 Oct29 October 11:36

            Now that the Nero offer is Mon-Thu I can get one every day with my 4 O2 devices (I only started recently but the previous offer was Tuesday only and I’m not having 4 coffees) in addition to 2 sausage rolls on Fri and Sat

        • Nectar Collector says:
          29 Oct29 October 09:05

          And a free cinema ticket every 4 weeks……

    • Tw33ty says:
      29 Oct29 October 08:15

      Paul is also often on Amex offers or virgin shops away too.

      I like the Madagascan vanilla macaroons from Paul.

      Now for a loyalty prog even more specific than Paul, there’s a cafe I frequent when just off Tottenham Court Road near Goodge Street station called eggoland, buy 7 breakfast or lunch things and get the 8th free. It’s a funky little place.

      • Andrew says:
        29 Oct29 October 08:46

        Paul cakes are totally nom, but my goodness their Coffee gives me cramps that have me doubling over in pain.

      • The Savage Squirrel says:
        29 Oct29 October 09:47

        That name is genius! Good luck to them – I hope a Danish brick product has a sense of humour rather than a bored legal department.

        • Andrew says:
          29 Oct29 October 09:58

          Hmm, when it comes to “Eggo”, I think you’ll find it’s DC Thompson, who’d get in their first.

          “Big Eggo” was the cover star of the first issue of “The Beano” back in 1938, more than 10 years before the plastic bricks hit the shelves.

          What ever happened to the Plan-It Holyrood take-away in Edinburgh?

    • SteveJ says:
      29 Oct29 October 11:19

      I can’t stand Paul and their dry baguettes. I genuinely cringe when I walk past them / see them abroad. Glad I got that off my chest.

  • Mike says:
    29 Oct29 October 07:26

    Sandy Lane – Rob will you be doing a review article on Sandy Lane Hotel

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