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The Economist back-pedals on the 12,000 free Avios promotion

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Back in November I wrote about a very generous promotion that The Economist was – and still is – offering in conjunction with Iberia Plus.

You will receive 12,000 Avios for taking out a £155 subscription to the magazine for one year.  Whilst this is not a bad deal on its own, it is an even better deal if you take up The Economist on the clause in their terms and conditions which allows you to cancel at any point for a pro-rata refund.

I first got wind of trouble last Monday when a reader told me that he was having difficulty getting the call centre to cancel his subscription.  Since the terms and conditions of the offer are very clear, I told the reader to keep pushing back as The Economist has NO CHOICE but to refund him.

I added a warning note to my original article at that time.

On Tuesday, another reader told me that he had successfully cancelled via email with no problems.  I thought the first reader had just hit a grumpy agent.

Yesterday, however, this clause started appearing on subscription confirmations:

rsz_economist

The website for this offer has now been updated to include this information.

The terms and conditions were changed on January 16th.  If you ordered before that date, you will receive your refund.  If there is any push back from the magazine, push back yourself.  You are due your money.

If you applied on or after January 16th, you are now bound by these rules:

Cancellation

Unless specifically stated in any Subscription offer or promotion when you place your Subscription order, you have the right to cancel your Subscription at any time. Please note that if your Subscription includes a digital element, by placing your order you agree that we may start your Digital Subscription immediately and you acknowledge that you will lose your right to a refund in relation to any issues that have been published before you cancelled.

If you exercise your right to cancel, unless the terms of any Subscription offer or promotion state otherwise, we will reimburse all payments received from you, less a pro-rated amount for each issue delivered (if your Subscription contains a print element) or published (if your Subscription is a Digital Subscription only) before you cancelled.

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2024)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

Huge 30,000 points bonus until 12th May 2024 Read our full review

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

Category

Iberia and Iberia Plus

Comments (45)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • sandgrounder says:
    17 Jan17 January 06:12

    I thought I had missed my chance for a moment then! I cancelled a long standing (ten years plus) subscription before Christmas with the intention of taking advantage of this offer. I shall push the button tonight before things deteriorate further!

  • mark2 says:
    17 Jan17 January 07:24

    Probably they had noticed that a large number of people were taking out a subscription and cancelling it almost immediately.

  • Paul says:
    17 Jan17 January 07:45

    I phoned on Monday, and there was seemingly no objection to my cancellation — the phone agent was quite happy to put this through and confirmed the amount that would be refunded to my card. Still no credit has appeared though, and my subscription page online still shows as ‘active’. What has been the experience of anyone who has gotten a refund back in terms of processing time?

    • Boi says:
      17 Jan17 January 08:45

      I got refund within 3 days of receiving email that it is cancelled. They replied to my original email requesting cancellation within 48 hours.

      • Paul says:
        17 Jan17 January 09:17

        Thanks for the info. I’ll give it another few days, and then email to enquire what the delay is.

  • James67 says:
    17 Jan17 January 08:04

    …and a lesson for me, missed the boat agaun 🙁 was planning to sign up three accounts before end of the month. In future whena great deal cones along I will be going for it without delay. Thanks for forewarning Rob.

  • dynamo says:
    17 Jan17 January 08:11

    I phoned to cancel on Monday afternoon and was told it was non-refundable. Went to check the terms and conditions and not only does it clearly state you can cancel for a pro-rated refund but it also provides a template to email them with.

    Having duly completed the template and emailed it off my cancellation and refund have been confirmed

  • flibbly says:
    17 Jan17 January 08:32

    I cancelled by email about 10 days or so ago. I had to send another email confirmation before they cancelled it. The refund appeared on my BAPP card yesterday. I had already transferred the Avios to my BAEC just in case.

  • Boi says:
    17 Jan17 January 08:42

    I am glad I did it early January then. Mine was smooth, ordered with a Canadian address, got my avios, transferred to avios.com then cancelled by email. Got FULL refund. I didn’t even talk to anybody throughout the process.

    • Andy says:
      17 Jan17 January 12:48

      Exactly the same as me. Canadian address, canceled and FULL REFUND easiest and cheapest 12k Avios ever!

  • Gordon says:
    17 Jan17 January 09:13

    I telephoned on 12/1 and they confirmed on the phone but i received no email confirmation and no money back yet. Does anyone know how long it takes?

    • Paul says:
      17 Jan17 January 09:17

      I also cancelled on 12th by phone, but have yet to actually receive the money credited back.

      • JDH says:
        20 Jan20 January 01:26

        Same here. Order in December. Got a few issues and then canceled by phone on 1/10. Never got an email confirming it and still don’t have a refund. Should I call again?

        • Alan says:
          20 Jan20 January 09:06

          I’d try emailing – I’ve cancelled x2 via that route without a problem and with written confirmation.

    • James says:
      22 Jan22 January 14:58

      I received my refund today after written confirmation of cancellation received on 09 January. The person I spoke with in customer services advised it would take 7-10 working days for the refund to be processed, so I’m obviously confused as to why some other people got theirs sooner. I did cancel through North American customer services so maybe it takes longer with them. Got a full refund after taking it out 18 December, but my Avios didn’t post until 09 January. As soon as they did, moved them across to BA and then duly cancelled. In the end, I paid the hefty sum of £0.31 for 12000 Avios. What a sh*t deal that was :o)

      • Alan says:
        22 Jan22 January 18:11

        I think I can beat that 😀 Thanks to exchange rate fluctuations I ended up getting PAID £12 for my 12k SQ KrisFlyer miles, even though they quite correctly only gave me a pro-rata refund so they reimbursed me in AUD less that I had originally paid, it still ended up as more in GBP 😛

      • OO says:
        22 Jan22 January 18:37

        I signed up on the 18th December and my avios arrived on the 8th January. Sent the cancellation request on the 8th and got written confirmation on the 10th.
        In my case, they only offered me a pro-rata refund (refunded 153.19 CAD of the 162.75 CAD I paid). With the exchange rate changes, it ended up costing me £10.89. Not sure why you got a full refund if our dates are very similar.

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