The HfP chat thread – Monday 15th November

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• Vit says:

  15 Nov15 November 09:24

  General info: Cambodia is now open for fully vax. foreigners without the need to quarantine as of today (announced yesterday, implemented today, so good luck with the officers dealing with this!). Anyway, you only need rt-pcr test 72 hrs before departure flight and do rapid-test upon arrival. This announcement follows just a few week after the test-and-go package in Thailand.

  Ps. We finally, get to see the families in both countries after 3 years! 🙂

  • Shaw West says:

    15 Nov15 November 09:27

    3 YEARS ?

    • Vit says:

      15 Nov15 November 09:30

      Almost, a few months short to be precise.

    • TGLoyalty says:

      15 Nov15 November 09:30

      I’m assuming they didn’t last see them in early 2020, because they didn’t expect borders to close for best part of 2 years.

      • meta says:

        15 Nov15 November 10:45

        Thanks for this info. I was looking at it last week and they were saying this will happen in January. I just need Thailand to switch to antigen on arrival and drop the 1-day quarantine and then I can change my cancelled BA ticket.

        • Vit says:

          15 Nov15 November 11:14

          @meta, it is likely from what I have seen been discussed locally. The test-and-go is an improvement from multiple days quarantine but still a faff as you need to stay at a hotel while waiting for the results to come back.

          Novotel Suvarbhumi is known for “quick” turn-around (reported 6 hrs) for those who does not have connecting flight in a single ticket and need to travel onward to CNX, USM etc.

        • Sina says:

          15 Nov15 November 11:32

          I was recently in Thailand, the test results get back to you in less than 5 hours, so not 1 day quarantine as such.

• Anna says:

  15 Nov15 November 09:50

  Has anyone managed to mix an ordinary avios booking with a RFS on long haul? E.g. LHR-JFK in CW then book the return in Y separately using the RFS pricing? I’m just wondering if BA would return half the avios if I tried to use a 241 on this route or decide that it doesn’t comply with their award “policies”!

• Jamjaw says:

  15 Nov15 November 09:54

  Creation/IHG – I passed my year end in October (had notification of cancellation before that) held on to get my voucher, but no voucher received (yet) – who do I raise the issue to? They have charged me the £99 fee….

  • Anna says:

    15 Nov15 November 09:56

    You can take it up with Creation but don’t expect much. I would also suggest scrolling through these chat pages for the past few weeks as there have been lots of discussions about this!

  • SteveJ says:

    15 Nov15 November 10:20

    Get in touch with Creation. They’ll say not due as they’ve sent you the letter. Tell them you want to raise a complaint. Wait for the reply to the complaint. Get those steps started now.

    And then stay tuned on these pages to see what everyone else is doing assuming they reject your complaint, MCOL/FOS/Other?

  • jj says:

    15 Nov15 November 11:13

    Mine is due for renewal later this month. Although my points have not been transferred since receiving The Letter, I am carefully avoiding any contact with Creation until the renewal date. I do not want to give them the opportunity to warn me what might happen on renewal or to close the account ahead of that date.

    When they behave in the way that I expect – but not in the way that they have led me to expect – I shall file a complaint within hours and move to FOS as soon as they have given me a final resolution.

    I guess that I have the advantage of having previously had Board level responsibility for complaints at a completely different FCA regulated entity.

    • Andrew says:

      15 Nov15 November 11:36

      Similar in the past. It gives real insight into the best way to manipulate firms into getting the result you want.

      That’s why I recommend knocking on doors. Office, boardroom or family homes of the board member. People who aren’t “customer facing” are often left completely stumped when they have to deal with a real customer who has had enough of working with a failing company’s “process map”.

      • The Savage Squirrel says:

        15 Nov15 November 17:45

        My Mum once got immediate resolution, a personally signed letter and bunch of flowers off Fred the Shred by a very similar complaints approach. She is not to be trifled with 😀

        • BP says:

          15 Nov15 November 23:30

          I bet some staff got shredded for that one!!

      • Chrism20 says:

        15 Nov15 November 20:38

        I can trump that one. I went to the extreme of getting a job interview with Scottish Power in order to resolve a complaint

    • Aston100 says:

      15 Nov15 November 11:58

      Yay, you can be the anti-JDB.

• Sam says:

  15 Nov15 November 10:45

  Hi all, my sister and I have 250 Shangri La point (when Rob ran an article as to sign up to their app!). I live in London so am planning to use my points for drinks with a friend in the Shard (which I think you can use?) but my sis has no use for the points (doesn’t live in London and not planning to be here before the end of the year before they expire) – can she transfer them to me or any other suggestions as to the use for the for her? Thanks!

  • Jane says:

    15 Nov15 November 13:39

    not sure about transfer, but when we went I just asked them to print out the voucher from my mum’s account as they were running late, very late as they weren’t coming !. can you get your friend to ask for your sisters voucher ? they didn’t check anything 🙂

  • Aslan says:

    15 Nov15 November 16:06

    Don’t bother with vouchers – just give them the membership number and they can take off the bill using points on the account. Should be fine to use two accounts – the bar (Ting?) had to phone down to get it applied but cleared out just under 900 points

    • Sam says:

      15 Nov15 November 22:51

      Thanks both – does that apply even if not staying there?

• Crafty says:

  15 Nov15 November 10:52

  Creation – no response to my website query of the £99 fee charged for renewal, despite already having advised me that my account will be closed on a set date. Now they are chasing me to pay my monthly statement – the only item on it is the £99 fee which I’ve queried.

  Would people recommend paying it and chasing back later, or not paying it on account the charge is incorrectly applied?

  • Anna says:

    15 Nov15 November 11:09

    Can’t recall if you asked this previously but if you don’t pay it they will chase you for interest and they will most likely technically be in the right. Also if you pay up IME you have a better case for claiming for your free night and any accrued IHG points they haven’t awarded you.

    • Anna says:

      15 Nov15 November 11:11

      I wasn’t charged the fee in October so Creation are being predictably inconsistent with this!

      • Crafty says:

        15 Nov15 November 11:29

        Bit the bullet and rang up. Despite automated message saying it would be a 60 minute wait, a nice french-sounding woman answered within 10. I was quite assertive, expecting a fight, but she immediately agreed to refund the £99 annual fee, and ensure that any associated interest charge or default fee is also reversed. She couldn’t deal with my points or free night query and gave me a different phone number for that.

        What I suspect probably happened is I got escalated to France, to a far more competent team. Either way, I got the initial result I wanted (annual fee refunded), with resolution still outstanding on the free night and remaining points.

        • Rui N. says:

          15 Nov15 November 11:34

          What number did you call?

        • BP says:

          15 Nov15 November 11:35

          I’d have paid it and went after then for a 2nd free night. It’s not your fault they closed the account before you were able to spend £10k

        • Crafty says:

          15 Nov15 November 13:00

          Don’t have the appetite for that bigger fight. Just want my free night for the year already completed.

          I called the customer service number on the “Contact Us” section of the website.

        • Rui N. says:

          15 Nov15 November 13:19

          Thanks Crafty.

        • Anna says:

          15 Nov15 November 14:31

          I can’t see anyone getting the free night without some sort of fight! I suspect that asking for the fee to be refunded (and getting it) isn’t going to improve anyone’s chances, either.

• Steve says:

  15 Nov15 November 11:00

  Does anyone have experience with Amex Platinum Business card travel insurance used for the extra parking charges at the airport if I have to extend my trip?

• Red Flyer says:

  15 Nov15 November 11:21

  Any free trade referrals please?

  • Jonathan says:

    15 Nov15 November 11:47

    Here you go;
    https://magic.freetrade.io/join/jonathan/8ef037ba

  • Paul says:

    15 Nov15 November 11:49

    https://freetrade.app.link/jyxMDrBYqcb

• Anna says:

  15 Nov15 November 11:22

  Just been officially announced that 16 and 17 year olds can have their 2nd covid jab, hopefully the booking site will be tweaked to allow this soon. Also 40+ years can now have boosters.

  • Roger says:

    15 Nov15 November 11:37

    Thanks for the update.

    • meta says:

      15 Nov15 November 15:42

      Over 40s can’t book yet, it was just recommended.

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