The HfP chat thread – Monday 6th December

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• YH says:

  6 Dec6 December 09:42

  A bit off topic but thought I could tap in to the collective wisdom here…

  I took a watch in to a big watch shop chain for servicing which was passed down to me from someone in my family who recently passed away. The service was complete but the watch appears to have been lost in transit. They’ve been giving me the run around for a couple months now but they have finally admitted they have lost it.

  The watch wasn’t particularly expensive (think sub £1k) but clearly has a very high sentimental value and I’m extremely upset.

  Will start talking with them about compensation for this but wondering if there is anything I should know or a minimum I should ask for before I begin having these conversations? Thanks.

  • Can says:

    6 Dec6 December 09:54

    If it is vintage, for example, did you check the auction pages or catalogues for a current price? Some not-so-expensive watches got suddenly valuable in the market for a variety of reasons.

    • Lady London says:

      6 Dec6 December 11:57

      It sounds like someone’s kept it. Watches handed to professional repairers don’t just accidentally go missing

      Do you have photos? Online you could research obviously. Not sure if Christy’s or Sotheby’s would have anyone specialising in watches that could give you a steer.

      I’d also think of having a “cold rage” conversation, ideally in person, with the manager telling them not acceptable and they need to make more efforts to find it (ie interview staff). I’d also tell them you’re reporting it as a theft to the Police. Lastly if it appears no efforts are being made I’d threaten to name names including the firm name publicly for quite a long period whenever the opportunity arises so that others will be aware this is a firm that took a family object into its possession for repair and for whatever reason, failed to return it (you’re allowed to recount your experience – which is as far as you should go if you don’t have proof – let others draw conclusions).

  • JDB says:

    6 Dec6 December 10:04

    You need first to ascertain the replacement cost of the watch. Unfortunately, they are unlikely to pay much, if anything, for the sentimental value, but you should push for this in light of the firm’s negligence. As you say it’s a big chain, write to the CEO as there is a big reputation issue if they can’t look after their customers’ watches or jewellery. If it’s an old watch that is no longer made, look at auction prices and add the buyers premium (usually c.25%+VAT). Any receipt they gave you should detail the make/model and any serial number and should probably have something about their responsibility. In respect of insurance, make sure that if they make it an insurance claim, that it is made on their insurance; don’t let them suggest it should be on yours. I think they will quickly pay up once pressed. I hope it works out.

    • Ghosty says:

      6 Dec6 December 14:39

      I watched a program this morning on BBC called ‘claimed and shamed’ (joys of retirement) it’s about insurance fraudulent claims. It had a feature about a watch register. If you have the serial number etc, then perhaps you could have it put on the system, so if it is sold later to a dealer etc they are required to query it with the register.

  • AJA says:

    6 Dec6 December 11:01

    That’s terrible. Did you insure the watch with them or could you claim on your household insurance? Also are you willing to name and shame the retailer?

  • Simon says:

    6 Dec6 December 12:18

    This happened at an NHS hospital with my fathers watch – he passed away, and the watch was “lost” amongst his possessions. Months of to-ing and fro-ing to get a payout of the replacement value – around £4k – nothing for the sentimental value…

    • Lady London says:

      6 Dec6 December 13:09

      Very sorry to hear this Simon

      • Simon says:

        6 Dec6 December 15:55

        It was such a strange situation. They even sent us CCTV showing him wearing it, before they took his belongings for “safe keeping”! We then couldnt visit him in hospital as it was in April/May 2020. He had dementia. I get that an NHS porter may have light fingers, but the way the hospital handled it was disgusting.

        • Lady London says:

          6 Dec6 December 22:27

          Outrageous, Simon. Very sorry for you and understand your disgust and anger.

          My other half worked on a contract for a while at a major, very well known London Police Station – apparently it was a hotbed of crime for the policemen’s personal property getting nicked !!! 🙂

• Max says:

  6 Dec6 December 09:48

  Had anyone collected Accor points for afternoon tea at the Savoy? Was there yesterday, and the staff said it’s only possible for overnight guests. Is that right?

  • TMG says:

    6 Dec6 December 12:36

    Only the American Bar participates I believe.

• Cranzle says:

  6 Dec6 December 09:49

  Can I pay British Gas bills by Amex? I can’t see an online option, but would Payzone or Post Office work?

• N says:

  6 Dec6 December 09:57

  Stock investing question here – if I want to purchase individual US stocks, e.g. Amazon etc, through a Stocks and Shares ISA, do I still have to pay some kind of US tax?
  Is there a more ideal way to purchase US stocks to reduce foreign exchange fees, tax etc? Thanks!

  • Grant says:

    6 Dec6 December 10:28

    Completing a W-8BEN form will deal with the US tax side of things. FX fees vary between platforms so you’d need to use that as one metric to compare the various providers, along with dealing charges, etc. There are various comparison websites which will help you do this.

  • AJA says:

    6 Dec6 December 10:50

    If you want access to US stocks without buying individually invest in a US focused fund instead eg Aberdeen Standard American Focused Eq (not a specific recommendation, just an example). You pay in GBP so no FX exposure but the fund invests in American companies such as Microsoft, Alphabet and Amazon.

    • Genghis says:

      6 Dec6 December 16:39

      But of course there is FX exposure! The functional currency of a fund or the currencies you can pay in in do not change the fact that the exposure is still there in the cash flows of the underlying companies. There’s simply no “FX wastage” through conversion costs.

  • mark2 says:

    6 Dec6 December 11:17

    I have bought and sold US shares through Interactive Investors for my ISA.
    There does not appear to be any additional charge or tax. I am not sure about the exchange rate.
    You will have to fill in a big (US) form saying that you are not acting for anyone else.
    I can give you a referral which gets you free trading for 12 months and £200 for me.

    • Yorkie Aid says:

      6 Dec6 December 11:35

      I also use the Interactive Investor ISA product. However I would not recommend it for foreign stocks. Their FX markup is terrible (2% each way unless you are doing very large amounts in every transaction). The biggest problem is that within the ISA you are hit with this FX fee on every single trade because you cannot legally hold FX within an ISA. Years ago if you rang and asked nicely they would “wash” the rate for you if you were selling and buying something else the same day so it wasn’t so much of an issue but this hasn’t happened for ages now.

      • Lady London says:

        6 Dec6 December 12:02

        Plus didn’t Interactive Investor just get bought, I think by Abrdn (I think trendy new name for Standard Life?) So need to be wary as to charges structures evolving

        • Yorkie Aid says:

          6 Dec6 December 12:18

          That is true LL although ii customers have been assured that no changes to any charges are planned. However we all know how that usually ends! 🙂

      • mark2 says:

        6 Dec6 December 12:21

        Thanks for the tip.
        I made 160% profit an a few weeks with my last investment but will bear in mind.

        • Yorkie Aid says:

          6 Dec6 December 12:50

          Well done Mark 🙂 The 4% FX roundtrip isn’t quite so painful in those circumstances!

• Dave says:

  6 Dec6 December 10:09

  Can I withdraw money abroad on my virgin credit card via Curve?
  Or do I get hit by cash withdrawal charges/interest. Not intending to get much out but don’t want to do it if it’s going to be expensive!

  • Adam says:

    6 Dec6 December 10:16

    I withdrew 200 pounds three weeks ago in Lithuania with Virgin as underlying card. There was no charge.

    • JohnT says:

      6 Dec6 December 11:03

      Only do it weekdays – as expensive otherwise

      • TGLoyalty says:

        6 Dec6 December 11:40

        Not true. The 0.5% fee is exactly what mastercard would take as their margin even on a 0% fx card.

        • John says:

          6 Dec6 December 11:43

          Approximately, not exactly.

        • Nick says:

          6 Dec6 December 12:16

          And it’s sometimes 1.5% margin, depending on the currency.

          Then there’s the additional 2% fee on top of that (i.e. 2.5% or 3.5%) if you’ve gone over your ATM limit.

          Curve is cheap if you are careful / lucky, and v expensive if you are not!

        • TGLoyalty says:

          6 Dec6 December 12:36

          @nick. Additional 1% at weekend for non USD EUR yes

          Weekend / weekdays make no diff to those others.

    • Don says:

      6 Dec6 December 16:55

      Just used Curve Virgin in Tenerife and EUR 250 cost a total of GBP 218.52.

• Mark says:

  6 Dec6 December 10:13

  I don’t appear to be getting x3 or x 5 bonus points on my IHG nights. I did register but it doesn’t show any additional points, where should I see these ?

  • Duncan says:

    6 Dec6 December 10:19

    When did your main points credit? I’ve found that the 2x, 3x points get added as a separate transaction several days after the main points are credited.

  • KTj says:

    6 Dec6 December 10:20

    I had this last week with the 2x for my second stay (the promo we could register for from mid-September). The 2x points appeared a day later as a separate line item (whereas the summer 2x or 3x points seemed to be added into the overall points received for a booking). I emailed IHG (using the EMEA email address in the app) to query it before the points showing and they were pretty responsive.

• ledcran02 says:

  6 Dec6 December 10:37

  Anybody recently taken advantage of the (unofficial) 2 week grace period on BA Tier Point Collection year-end for status upgrade? Am about to book flights assuming it’s still the going practice with the lower TP thresholds.

• Toddy says:

  6 Dec6 December 10:40

  I asked Curve about the tracking of the monthly £10k Fronted limit.

  Their response: “… we don’t offer a way to track limit progress on Curve Fronted payments…”

  • Youllnever says:

    6 Dec6 December 10:58

    Makes sense. It is Curve after all.

  • Mick S says:

    6 Dec6 December 11:00

    i can see a lot more people jumping ship once they exceed the monthly 10K and start getting slammed with fees

    • Mr(s) Entitled says:

      6 Dec6 December 11:10

      £120k a year is still £1,200 via Capitol on Tap.

  • Js says:

    6 Dec6 December 12:38

    Wow at least you managed to get an answer from Curve!

    • Toddy says:

      6 Dec6 December 14:54

      The ONLY time I ever get an answer is from their Twitter team (who admittedly are very quick to respond).
      The ‘main’ customer service team is abysmal…

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