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Why the Lloyds Avios credit card ‘refer a friend’ service is a joke

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Four weeks ago I wrote about the new refer-a-friend offer that Lloyds was offering on the Lloyds Avios Rewards credit card.

This was a decent deal.  You could refer someone for the card and they would receive 4,500 Avios points for signing up.  Given that there is usually no bonus on this card, it was a good incentive.

You, as the person making the referral, would also receive 4,500 Avios.

It was all very nice.  Apart from the fact that the Avios website was well and truly broken.

I tried to make a number of referrals over a number of days.  Only once did I ever receive the email.  Feedback from other Head for Points readers confirmed it.

I don’t know how difficult it is to write a piece of software that sends an email to an address you type into a box but I am guessing it does not require a PhD …..

And then, last Thursday afternoon, I received a massive flow of emails into my inbox.  Someone had unblocked the pipe and all of the emails I had triggered over the previous three weeks suddenly appeared.

I thought it was fixed.  Not that this helped much, since the people who were interested had already got fed up with waiting.

On Friday, I was asked for another referral.  I triggered an email but nothing arrived.  Nothing on Saturday either.  Or Sunday.  Finally, at 5pm on Monday, it arrived.  Just three days after being requested.

Until Lloyds / AGL can hire a 12-year old who is capable of writing a bit of computer code to automatically send an email, I would give the refer-a-friend scheme a miss.  You are just opening yourself up to hours of grief.

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Comments (56)

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

  • Dan says:
    2 Dec2 December 07:43

    Haha does this problem still exist? I had this problem nearly back in 2007/8 when I dumped my MBA expenditure on what was this the Lloyds TSB Premier Duo card and referred nearly 5 members of the family over a 3 month period and had exactly the same problem.

    I even had issues with their points not transferring over each month and someone had to manually do it for about 18 months. Even my free companion ticket voucher was not uploaded. They made me good though by paying the cash fare I spent on a ticket to India and still credited me with the miles and vouchers.

    But for me, using Avios miles for a BA ticket is useless because its next to impossible trying to get a seat for a log haul flight within 6 months of booking. Virgin is just as bad and their companion ticket voucher is rubbish as its often cheaper to buy from a bucket shop. American Airlines all the way….shame about the free stop over cancellation.

    What a joke about Lloyds though.

  • Daz says:
    2 Dec2 December 07:44

    I got my Lloyd’s Avios premier “thingy” in October, and it’s been nothing but problems since. Cards and pin not working, service issues, missing points, yada, yada, yada. They owe me 37500 avios as compensation for bad service!

    I was told yesterday the mechanism for awarding avios is broke (not the only thing!!!) and I will not see my avios until the New Year.

    Raffles you’re mean! I cannot be cruel and recommend anyone (including my enemies) for this excuse for an AMEX.

    Back to my other trusty, real AMEX cards.

  • AviosNewbie says:
    2 Dec2 December 07:50

    Agree that Lloyd’s systems are horrible. I recently moved houses, and there is no place on their website after logging in to change the home address in my account profile. I could do it with Amex in less than 2 minutes. Apparently, I need to call them up, and after waiting for 10 minutes on hold, I gave up. will just need to keep trying

  • Armo says:
    2 Dec2 December 07:50

    I say it again and again, even if they offered 1000000 avios sign up bonus, the hassle I have had with Lloyd is just unbelievable.

  • David says:
    2 Dec2 December 08:11

    Weird, I was asked for a referral, the guy got the email same day and confirmed he had done the application. we shall see if the 4500 Avios get credited.

    • James says:
      2 Dec2 December 12:13

      Since that was me David, I can confirm it all went through ok but no avios from my end yet.

      (also the pin didn’t work until I reset it)

  • Halo says:
    2 Dec2 December 08:36

    It’s a pity you don’t know anyone in Lloyds Digital whom you could berate for their obvious ineptitude. 😉

  • ADS says:
    2 Dec2 December 09:15

    My mate’s first attempt to refer me never came through – 2nd attempt came through a few days after he initiated it.

    The website crashed the first time I applied. Worked the next day when I tried, but I was given a laughably low credit limit.

    I phoned them up to sort it out, but was told that I needed to write in … and if I went into a branch, they would fax through my request … I didn’t realise fax machines still existed !

    • Peter Kemp says:
      2 Dec2 December 14:46

      You obviously don’t need to deal with the NHS!! Email an urgent referral to the hospital? Don’t make me laugh.

  • Raffles says:
    2 Dec2 December 09:31

    The delays was 3 weeks on the first couple I did!

    • Brian says:
      2 Dec2 December 11:00

      I realise that – my issue is with your final recommendation. My point is that, since we now know – thanks to your post – about these delays, we’ll just refer and accept that it’s going to take a while for emails to be sent. So no need for hours of grief for us, though you might have suffered this yourself when you didn’t know what was happening.

      • Worzel says:
        2 Dec2 December 11:10

        Brian(11:00 am)- up to you if you want to continue bashing a square peg into a round hole!

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