Bits: Rolling Luggage Avios change, Luxury Travel Fair tickets, 3 x Flying Blue miles with Accor

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• hearingdouble says:

  13 Sep13 September 11:48

  OT: Planning to cancel some churned Amex cards. Given that I won’t know the exact value of the pro rata fee refund until I call, what’s the best approach? Should I call them up when the balance exceeds the expected refund (i.e. So they can take a final payment on the call when I cancel) or when the balance is less than the expected refund (i.e. So that Amex has to refund me the fee reimbursement)? If the latter, do I get a cheque or a speedy bank transfer?

  • Genghis says:

    13 Sep13 September 11:53

    You cancel the Amex and then the refund posts the following day. If you are left with a positive balance, you can then pay off the card down to zero. If you then have a negative balance, the cash then be transferred back to your DD set up bank account, to another Amex card or as a cheque (I think though never done). In an ideal world I like to be left with a positive balance and then I pay off the card as it can take up to a week to get the refund.

    • Genghis says:

      13 Sep13 September 11:53

      I should add that to get the negative balance transferred, you’ll have to call them up again.

      • Sussex Bantam says:

        13 Sep13 September 13:29

        You can transfer the credit balance using the chat facility as well. Although that is so bloody slow you may as well call up

    • hearingdouble says:

      13 Sep13 September 12:38

      Thanks for the insight! Just to check, the date of cancellation of the card (for future churning purposes…) is the date I call up Amex to cancel the card, even if I only settle the final balance on the following day?

      • mark2 says:

        13 Sep13 September 12:41

        I have always received a letter confirming the exact date.

      • Genghis says:

        13 Sep13 September 12:49

        The date is the day you cancel

        • Careful now says:

          13 Sep13 September 13:59

          ….not always

          can be C+1 or +2 (especially if you cancel later in the day)

          Just await letter for formal confirmation

        • Genghis says:

          13 Sep13 September 14:07

          Interesting. I note the cancellation date on my spreadsheet when I cancel and then check the date on the letter against this when received. I’ve never had to make any adjustments.

    • Scallder says:

      13 Sep13 September 13:26

      Yes can get a cheque sent out, although having done so quite a hassle and obviously takes quite a while from point of cancellation to have it back in your bank account…

• Michael Jennings says:

  13 Sep13 September 12:26

  OT. I have the HHonors Barlcaycard. One of the things I get with this is 2500 bonus points for up to four Hilton stays in the first 12 months if I charge them to the card.

  How is this triggered? If I book a non-refundable room in advance using the Hilton website and pay with the card, will this be enough, or do I need to use the card at checkout?

  Presumably just popping into the bar in the Hampton in Waterloo Road and having a beer that I pay for on the card is not going to be enough?

  • mark2 says:

    13 Sep13 September 12:43

    In my experience ( a couple of years ago) I paid with points but charged a small item to the room to trigger a folio (bill to us) to be sure of getting the points. UK almost immediate; Canada I had to chase.

    • Alan says:

      13 Sep13 September 12:50

      Points almost never posted for me, always ended up having to chase (have churned a few times!)

      • JamesB says:

        13 Sep13 September 14:56

        That’s probably because Barclays did not activate the offer or so some more competent agent at Hilton eventually told me after speaking to several at both Hilton and Barclays. I was totally fed up after chasing up my first three stays which Barclays then appeared to add manually. The Hilton agen then activated the offer amd the 2500 points per stay posted automatically therafter so I ended up with 7 x 2500 points 🙂

  • HV says:

    13 Sep13 September 13:02

    I booked two hotels in Japan – Conrad in Tokyo and Hilton in Okinawa – using the above card. Both are non-refundable and the money was debited within weeks of the booking. I got the additional bonus points on the Okinawa hotel but not the Conrad. I am not talking about 2500 points but getting 3x points rather than 2x points. I made a few calls to Barclaycard complaining why the extra bonus on one booking but not the other. They said the 2500 will post after I stay but couldn’t understand why the base points were different. They wanted me to speak with Hilton and raise forms, so I just said forget it since it amounted to 300 points. So they gave me £50 as a good will gesture. A good result!!!

• Alan says:

  13 Sep13 September 14:08

  OT – looks like Monzo fee-free withdrawals abroad likely on the way out, hopefully they’ll opt for the limited amount free option…

  https://monzo.com/blog/2017/09/13/atm-fees-abroad/

  • Genghis says:

    13 Sep13 September 14:19

    It’s refreshing seeing financial companies being so open with their thought process.

    • Alan says:

      13 Sep13 September 14:21

      Indeed, the blog was an interesting read (and I’m voting for a certain amount to be free!)

• Ammar says:

  13 Sep13 September 16:04

  OT – But Hilton Barclaycard related – I got my wife the card and triggered 10k spend end of July 17, paid it off around same time as well. When does she get Gold status in her Hilton account? Points from 10k spend have come accross

• Cate says:

  13 Sep13 September 16:12

  I don’t know if it’s important or already noted but I’m getting this message on each page:

  Warning: include(wp-includes/class-wp-term-connect.php) [function.include]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/content/11/10295511/html/wp-config.php on line 91

  Warning: include() [function.include]: Failed opening ‘wp-includes/class-wp-term-connect.php’ for inclusion (include_path=’.:/usr/local/php5_3/lib/php’) in /home/content/11/10295511/html/wp-config.php on line 91

  • the real harry1 says:

    13 Sep13 September 16:15

    glad it’s not only on mine!

    • Cate says:

      13 Sep13 September 16:18

      Me too Harry 🙂

  • Alan says:

    13 Sep13 September 16:43

    Yep, Rob is aware (I reported it earlier too, by email).

• Cate says:

  13 Sep13 September 16:14

  I’m getting a lot of warnings from the header down the pages. Tried to upload but it just gets kicked to another page of warnings. Anyone else?

• bill says:

  13 Sep13 September 16:22

  OT – does anyone have any experience of the american express platinum transaction dispute process? i realise it is dependant uppon the retailer response to some degree but is it any quicker than the “up to 8 weeks” in practice? amex have placed the debit on hold and i supplied all the inforamtion they asked at the time of opening the case but not heard anything from amex since. the retailer is using various excuses to delay when i contact them. the retailer doesnt yet know i’ve disputed the transaction. any indight into the process and timescales to expect would be welcome

  • n says:

    13 Sep13 September 16:43

    i think you’re supposed to try and thrash it out with the retailer before involving amex?

    • bill says:

      13 Sep13 September 16:53

      excuse, after excuse, after excuse….for days and days

      i belive i have done the thrashing out

      • johnny_c-l says:

        13 Sep13 September 17:53

        Once you’ve raised a dispute I’d recommend keeping an eye on the status when you’re logged in as I’ve found that they correspond by post which is slow.

        I received a letter once dated a week previous asking for further info to be submitted by the COP the day I got the letter or else the case would be closed.

        If it’s a foreign transaction be prepared for little help from Amex; I must say I was disappointed with the service I received when disputing a transaction recently.

        • Bill says:

          13 Sep13 September 22:46

          It’s a UK transaction – thanks for advice about keeping an eye on the status

• Cate says:

  13 Sep13 September 16:51

  OT – just signed into Iberia and for a brief moment a message flashed up – something to do with a celebratory partnership with Amex and 40% – then it disappeared. Any one else seen it?

  • EwanG says:

    13 Sep13 September 17:03

    There is an Iberia Plus / Amex Plat promotion offering 40,000 Avios (https://www.americanexpress.com/spain/tarjeta-platinum/iberia-plus-avios.shtml).
    Is that perhaps what you saw Cate?

    • Roberto says:

      13 Sep13 September 17:28

      There is an ongoing Amex Promo in Spain delivering 1.25MR for every euro spent and a (stackable) 25% bonus when converting MR to Iberia. Its a 25th birthday of Amex Spain or something similar. Runs until the end of September and only available on Spanish Amex.

    • Cate says:

      13 Sep13 September 23:05

      Nope it wasn’t EwanG but the 40,000 (or 40%??) was definitely there; in English and on a colorful (fireworks/siesta scene??) red back ground. I’m sorry, only got a quick glance. I waited for the offers to refresh but it had gone.

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