The HfP chat thread – Saturday 30th October

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

• Definitas says:

  30 Oct30 October 02:45

  Currently across the pond in the US (via Canada) so thought I would make the first comment of the day and without any reference to beardy, bendy, seagulls and all the other trivia that seems to consume the lives of some HfP contributors

  • BSI1978 says:

    30 Oct30 October 04:47

    ……One hopes/assumes you realise the hypocrisy of your missive?!

  • VerdantBacon says:

    30 Oct30 October 06:00

    Luckily this comment is just as useless as those ones so not much changes

  • Mike says:

    30 Oct30 October 06:43

    But you did just refer to “ beardy, bendy and seagulls” in your post !!!

  • QFFlyer says:

    30 Oct30 October 07:20

    Ok I’ll mention Che and Solihull to round things off.

  • Rachel Robinson says:

    30 Oct30 October 07:21

    Well that went well

    • CarpalTravel says:

      30 Oct30 October 07:24

      Indeed, it’s actually hard to know where to begin with that little gem! So many fails…

      • Jeff Greene says:

        30 Oct30 October 07:29

        Possibly but it’s only a post on the internet. No need to get some angry about it on a Saturday morning like some people are.

        • Gruntfuttock says:

          30 Oct30 October 07:48

          Exactly JG, I think it’s probably best to scroll through and not waste any time commenting on threads that irk and grate whilst making sure there are no typos that irk and grate because of the difficulty in posting and editing and multiple postings that irk and grate. I’m irritating myself now which is no mean feat. I’m literally fuming 😅. I need pastry!

        • CarpalTravel says:

          30 Oct30 October 12:56

          Not sure anyone is angry, not from what I read anyway. Feels like the whole thing was simply a squandered opportunity to open up an alternative conversation, instead choosing the path of making forum commentary on the very conversations it claimed to deplore.

  • Yorkieflyer says:

    30 Oct30 October 10:11

    Hurrah. I’m sick to the back teeth of hearing of the travails of Creation and Curve.
    Curve is a fundamental dodgy proposition that has attempted to circumvent long standing rules. Peeps then stopped from exploiting these manufactured loopholes then complain with a stunning sense of entitlement. Really!
    Disclosure my IHG white card is being shut down having being used for Curve purchases and occasional ATM use. No National Savings malarkey

    • Sandgrounder says:

      30 Oct30 October 10:32

      I did a little bit of NS&I, but I was all genuine savings diverted via Creation. Do I care it’s gone? No. Got the letter, froze the card.
      It’ll be interesting to see how the complaints go though, will compo be awarded for missing points that IHG say in the scheme rules have no value until redeemed? I think I will be kept informed 🙂

    • Mr(s) Entitled says:

      30 Oct30 October 11:26

      Couldn’t agree more. There is a reason I choose my username for this site to be different than any other. The irony is lost on most.

    • Track says:

      31 Oct31 October 05:09

      Yeah, but these “long-standing rules” are not in your favour.

      They protect lender’s monopoly to charge you 40% plus interest on a cash withdrawal, just because cash is considered dirty, and there is an immediate assumption you be using drawn cash for gambling and drugs because in the eye of the financial system, there is no other reason why you would need cash!

    • Track says:

      31 Oct31 October 05:13

      Btw, it is not “a sense of entitlement” in the case of Creation. People expect some level of customer service and fair and non-misleading communication from the company.

      Holding on to an annual fee, while withholding the product…

• Sammy says:

  30 Oct30 October 04:27

  Hilton points question. I’m a Diamond member and paid for two nights as two separate bookings. It was a two nights stay. I paid about 450gbp in total but it was a non refundable rate so it was pre paid. Will I still get base points for the room rate too, right? It’s only showing 150 base points which have been multiplied by 10 and that’s it. I don’t seem to have been given the Diamond welcome bonus, double points. For the second night it’s showing zero points. Haven’t stayed in a Hilton for over a year so wondering if anything has changed.

  • AL says:

    30 Oct30 October 04:38

    Two nights will likely post as one stay due to the way in which they count stays. Wait a few days and see if the balance updates. If not, ask diamond@hilton.com for an explanation. Nothing majorly detrimental has changed in the last few years, as far as I’m aware.

  • RM84 says:

    30 Oct30 October 07:13

    I had something similar at the end of July – I booked a two-night stay and then added a night which was booked separately. As a result, only one third of the points I was due posted as it was only calculated on part of the stay.

    As AL says, emailing diamond@hilton.com should sort it out. Mine was resolved very quickly.

    • Sammy says:

      30 Oct30 October 08:25

      Thank you both. Will do. I think I am remembering my Conrad Rangali days where one trip would earn enough for two nights for the next trip!

  • ianM says:

    30 Oct30 October 08:50

    They will add the nights together so you will get zero for one of them and more for the other – but not as much as if it had been 2 distinct one night stays.

• James says:

  30 Oct30 October 06:23

  Anyone used the consumer act on Apple?
  After upgrading to the new OS (not beta)
  My iMac bluetooth module is busted (just wont turn back on) plus any wired even official apple keyboard and mouse starts to lag… but even with a blank hdd fresh install.

  Out of warranty, purchased directly from apple store 4 years ago. I would be gutted if they charge £250 for a bluetooth module replacement (plus it wont fix the lag)

  Anyone had experience repairing hardware faults from Apple on iMacs (or non battery / screen issues on a MacBook)

  • Nick B says:

    30 Oct30 October 06:53

    Hi there. The best way to try and resolve this is to check Apple forums and see if others have had the same experience. If so, this would indicate a trend which you can then reflect back to Apple when you make contact with them. In my experience as a long lasting Apple fan boy, they are normally quite good at resolving issues on devices you have purchased directly from them. I was just about to upgrade the OS on my 4 year old iMac, so will wait to see how this goes.

  • Graham Walsh says:

    30 Oct30 October 07:14

    What about rolling back to the previous OS version. Does that bring the BT back to life. Surprised a USB BT Dongle does work fine. I’d say it’s a software issue.

    • James says:

      30 Oct30 October 07:29

      Tried a fresh reinstall and an old version of OS (deleting all previous data) still both issues occur. I tried a wired keyboard and wired mouse plus a logitech bluetooth usb with mouse and keyboard. It works via the usb but still laggy.
      iMac is with apple now they need one week to assess, diagnose and get back to me. But most surprising was when the customer service rep tried to connect his own apple wired keyboard and mouse and it still lagged so two hardware issues. Hopfully they repair for free or else I need to use the consumer act (lost the credit card statements if S75. Applies)

      • Graham Walsh says:

        30 Oct30 October 07:40

        Wow. Very odd. Hope it gets resolved.

      • Mikeact says:

        30 Oct30 October 08:43

        You have no insurance ? And 4 years old is getting on a bit this day and age !

        • James says:

          30 Oct30 October 09:06

          Something tells me you are not a mac user? If you was you would known they last for years and still remain very fast

      • Anuj says:

        30 Oct30 October 12:52

        Apple at least recognise the act by displaying a comparison on their site, that’s more than other retailers do. So you may have some luck but they may just fix it anyway

  • The Jetset Boyz says:

    30 Oct30 October 08:01

    You’re probably connecting to a WiFi access point that’s using frequencies near 2.4Ghz.

    Your bluetooth adapter is most likely using the same frequency – the two signals are then overlapping and disturbing each other. To resolve this, you need to give Bluetooth priority over WiFi.

    Open Console and enter the following command:
    sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.airport.bt.plist bluetoothCoexMgmt Hybrid

    • Sukes says:

      30 Oct30 October 08:55

      Jetset Boyz have you advice on how to stop an Apple wireless keyboard seemingly randomly disconnecting from iMac? The issue is the IMac seems to disconnect the Bluetooth connection which has to be manually reselected on the iMac. It seems to disconnect more frequently when multiple Apple devices (iPads, phones, watches) are nearby. the usual hard resets, clean up of Bluetooth list on iMac, searches on Apple forum have not led to a resolution so anything you can offer (other than ‘buy a wired version’) would be great! – cheers

    • Wollhouse says:

      30 Oct30 October 08:55

      I think Jetset’s comment is an example of why I love this site. People are generally very generous with their time. I have definitely picked up many useful (and money saving!) tips and I appreciate all the people willing to help others; not just in relation to airmiles.

      • James says:

        30 Oct30 October 09:10

        +1 thank you. These chat threads are great 👍

      • The Savage Squirrel says:

        30 Oct30 October 10:01

        I’ve stopped even being surprised at the amazing breadth of knowledge here. It really is a life education 🙂

        • Gruntfuttock says:

          30 Oct30 October 13:29

          I’m waiting for a thread asking about the Green Line coach network in the 1960s, I could literally bore the pants off at 50 yards. (Editor’s note : too London centric and it’s 45.72m by the way).

        • Gruntfuttock says:

          30 Oct30 October 23:03

          Bit irked that no one enquired about the 705 limited stop section between Langley and Hammersmith circa 1965. I think I’m on the wrong travel forum 🤦‍♂️.

    • James says:

      30 Oct30 October 09:09

      Thanks I will try that as soon as I get the iMac back from apple (hopefully they can resolve this anyway) and never had a frequency clash in the past with routers

      I dont think its a bluetooth frequency issue as the module simply wont turn on. Tried diagnostic mode, safe mode, removing plists, adding extra plists from others, fresh install, clearing “cmos battery memory” (dont know the technical term)

      Also confirmed that official usb keyboard and mouse lagging, all right after mac os Monterey upgrade (official version)

      • Memesweeper says:

        30 Oct30 October 09:27

        It’s likely the upgrade and the module failure are unrelated (just a coincidence of timing). Check the forums.

        Apple have always been surprisingly reasonable with me and out of warranty issues. Hope your experience is just as good.

        • James says:

          30 Oct30 October 09:29

          It happened literally as the imac restarted. Without a keyboard and mouse connection

      • Optimus Prime says:

        30 Oct30 October 10:51

        You can also DM @AppleSupport on Twitter.

  • Char Char says:

    30 Oct30 October 09:25

    Yes I’ve had several claims under the consumer law without issue but some managers in store didn’t know about it so I took their printed terms with me, got a full refund for an out of warranty laptop before

  • Oh! Matron! says:

    30 Oct30 October 09:57

    PRAM AND SMC reset first, if you’ve not already tried these

• Nick says:

  30 Oct30 October 06:31

  MAN T1… is Escape or Aspire generally better? Assuming they’ve both reopened of course.

  • Toddy says:

    30 Oct30 October 08:04

    Aspire is larger and has windows.
    Escape may have a marginally better food offering.

    Both are nothing special but I would always go Aspire.

    Both on reduced operating hours.

• The Canuck says:

  30 Oct30 October 06:36

  Word of warning for all y’all headed to the US after Nov 8th. Crew shortages are absolutely endemic amongst US airlines at the moment. Currently stranded at SEA doubletree after flight to YVR cancelled. Fourth weekend in a row I’ve had cancellations/substantial delays due to crew shortages. I wouldn’t recommend planning tight connections at least for domestic flights

• Bach says:

  30 Oct30 October 06:37

  Anyone having issues with IHG black CC not transferring points to IHG account? I had the card for years, never had an issue. But this month points did not transfer. On October statement it even says ‘points transferred: 0’ while usually it indicates the same amount as ‘earned this month’.

  • Hilly says:

    30 Oct30 October 07:02

    Yes lots of people. You’d have to trawl over all of this week’s chats to catch up. In summary it is mainly people whose accounts are being closed (like me) who are reporting this. Various reports that creation have said such accounts will not have points transferred. So for some people it is pointless spending on the card. I am continuing with rev top-ups just so that I can pay off creation balance with Hilton.

    • Bach says:

      30 Oct30 October 07:30

      Ah ok, just back from holidays 🙂
      I am just 3k short to renew spire elite – that’s the 3k that did not transfer… very happy

      • Hilly says:

        30 Oct30 October 08:14

        If they’re closing your account you’re in the same boat as many others. If you’ve not had ‘the letter’ you’d better chase up your points. Some folk HAVE had their points transferred – a week late.

        • Char Char says:

          30 Oct30 October 09:28

          I think the late ones are a small minority so have the white card, didn’t see anyone mention having the black card with points delayed

        • QFFlyer says:

          30 Oct30 October 15:15

          My black had its points transferred a week late, OH’s did not. But my statement actually said they were being transferred, hers doesn’t, which is where the majority are at with this issue.

  • Graham Walsh says:

    30 Oct30 October 07:16

    Yep mine haven’t gone over this month. On what grounds do Creation have to do this? Where was it communicated that no further points would be transferred?

    • Hilly says:

      30 Oct30 October 07:23

      It seems Creation make it up as they go along. They are so shoddy!

      • Graham Walsh says:

        30 Oct30 October 07:28

        Madness. Plus as I never did any hardcore MS spend, I don’t get it why I’m bending closed down. Just used the card with Curve for normal transactions, especially when I travelled.

        My guess must be the odd cash withdrawal pre covid was the trigger for me. I used so little cash pre C19 and next to zero now.

        • Joints&Piles says:

          30 Oct30 October 09:17

          Lots of people in the same boat. Some other commentators make it sound like using curve was obviously dodgy and we’d be fools to assume we’d still earn points after receiving the closure notice. That position has no credibility. People used Curve the way curve was built to be used. Creation should be directing their displeasure at curve. There’s a danger their anger will deepen as this plays out and they will take even harsher actions against former customers.

          Telling people they can keep using the card for another 2 months but not saying you won’t earn points is not nice. The spend tracker on the account still showed points being earned, and so I suspect the points may well post after a delay.

          Creation regularly have IT problems, such as the recent payment delays, and naff IT in general, such as the inability to show transactions until 3 days later.

          The way they’ve handled this – first a text saying you can’t use curve, then later a letter closing the black account, at the same time as allowing people to apply for the white card only to retract it. There’s no plan, it’s just reaction.

        • Track says:

          31 Oct31 October 05:17

          Well, you didn’t pay 3% FX fee by using Curve on top of Creation.

          That’s your misuse of facility. You got them rid of their revenues or so they see it.

    • Roger says:

      30 Oct30 October 08:32

      I couldn’t believe but my last statement says points transferred to IHG account as 0 although significant points are earned in the statement.

      Not sure what’s going on there.

  • Dave says:

    30 Oct30 October 07:43

    What muppets. That’ll be another FOS complaint then.

    • Char Char says:

      30 Oct30 October 09:39

      I now don’t expect the points to post given people have already been told such, Creation is a trash company

    • Lady London says:

      30 Oct30 October 11:32

      I keep saying this but they are not allowed to make changes until they’ve given at least 60 days notice in advance as per their own ts and cs

• PhatGit says:

  30 Oct30 October 07:14

  Hi
  Looking to do a 2-4-1 reward flight to NY next year and use BA holidays for regional flights in UK and NY hotel (hotel is less than half the price of booking direct). On the return I have the choice of a 3 or 12 hour connection at LHR T5. As they will be separate tickets, will the 3 hours be enough for immigration, collect baggage and then back through security? Only down it on a through ticket before, and pre Covid!
  Thanks

• Stephan says:

  30 Oct30 October 07:32

  Has anyone had any IHG offers on their cards recently? Seem lots of other hotel offers on and given I’m staying at an IHG hotel soon it would be beneficial!

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