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Very generous offer of £75 Wheely credit from American Express

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A good deal with Wheely, the London-based Uber competitor, has appeared on a lot of American Express cards.   You need to look under the ‘Offers’ section on the online statement page of each Amex card you have.

You will receive £25 cashback when you spend £25 with Wheely in one ride.  You can get the money up to three times until the offer expires on 17th May.  It is actually three x £25 credits per Amex card, so you may find that you can get it six or nine times depending on how many of your Amex cards it appears on.

Wheely

Wheely is equivalent to Uber Exec and Uber Luxe,  Its cheapest option is a Mercedes E-Class.

The biggest snag is the need to spend £25 in one ride.  It is NOT cumulative and you do not get any credit if you spend under £25.  Spend £24 and your net cost is £24.  Spend £26 and, with the credit, your ride will only cost £1.

This is not a problem if you are heading to an airport but on shorter trips you cannot be sure you will hit the target.  The complex way Wheely calculate fares (an E-Class is £6 + 50p per minute + £1.60 per mile) means that you can’t be certain what you’ll pay.  It is certainly worth a look, however.

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Category

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Comments (143)

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

  • John says:
    27 Feb27 February 06:52

    If using Wheely for a short trip under £25, could you not leave a tip to bring it over £25?

    • Andrew says:
      27 Feb27 February 07:33

      Is that possible to do on the app before payment is collected?

    • SteveD says:
      27 Feb27 February 09:13

      Given the charging structure and the fact that even a short journey is likely to be close to £20, wouldn’t you just sit in the car at your destination until the ‘per minute’ charge takes you to £25?

      This probably wouldn’t be more than a few minutes – I can think of worse ways of ‘earning’ £25.

    • PaulW says:
      27 Feb27 February 09:37

      Allook at the wheels faq suggests you add a % before the trip so maybe tricky to use for top up to £25.

      • The Savage Squirrel says:
        27 Feb27 February 12:27

        A bit strange having to choose a tip BEFORE you know whether the service was brilliant or rubbish!

        • Alan says:
          27 Feb27 February 15:27

          Very American – had that with SuperShuttle in NYC before. Glad I picked zero as the service was appalling!

    • SimonW says:
      27 Feb27 February 11:01

      It does give you an estimated cost before you travel. So using that and a tip should give you a good chance of hitting £25

      • Lady London says:
        27 Feb27 February 18:40

        Solve the simultaneous equation and, as the base charge is £6, you only have £19 to use up sitting in the car. If you’re a real cheapskate you’ll time how many minutes the journey took , then at the end sit in the car for whatever remains of 38 minutes. Alternatively make sure the journey is at least £19/£1.60 less as many minutes at 50p each, that you think it will for sure take a minimum of.

        If you’re really enthusiastic you can draw yourself a graph ahead of the journey, and select the number of miles the journey was, on the x axis then look up to what point the curve on the graph is alongside, on the y axis as the car stops and they will give you how many minutes you have to sit in the car to make up your £25.

        Simples.

  • Chris says:
    27 Feb27 February 07:43

    Ot- what is stopping me from sending money to a friend as a gift on PayPal using my Amex to hit my spend req? It seems no fees unless I’m being stupid.

    • Craig says:
      27 Feb27 February 07:46

      I need to do something similar and was wondering the same. I couldn’t see any mention of fees for person to person transfers, haven’t tried it yet though.

      • Bazza says:
        27 Feb27 February 08:41

        Yes. You should be OK for a couple of grand. Billion pound pay pal ain’t go na notice

    • Genghis says:
      27 Feb27 February 07:53

      Nothing apart from PayPal’s trigger happy AML process.

      • Craig says:
        27 Feb27 February 08:00

        But if I’m transferring money to my sister to pay my nieces rental bond then I should be OK? Losing PayPal for a while as a payment option is hardly a chore.

      • Lady London says:
        27 Feb27 February 18:48

        Agree, You really don’t want to take even a small risk with Paypal. If you’ve ever had to deal with their call centre in the Philippines… you’d know why. Like getting stuck in Kafka’s castle.

        Why not use something easy like Revolut? or just a cheap transfer like a few that have been mentioned on here? or you transfer direct to the business she’s got to pay….

        Do;n’t forget lots of websites use Paypal as their payment machine even if you don’t choose to pay with Paypal. so if you mess up Paypal, then it will take you ages to clear and meanwhile you are blocked.

    • Alan says:
      27 Feb27 February 08:05

      I though Paypal payemnets to freinds and family were only free if using a debit card? Have they recently dropped the charge for a credit card or are you happy to swallow that charge?

      • Alan says:
        27 Feb27 February 08:06

        Dang! There are a lot of typos in that last post I put up. Sorry about that. I’m not illiterate but I am a crap typist!

      • Matt B says:
        27 Feb27 February 08:35

        In the past there was definitely a 3% charge but does it not come out of the receivers end?

      • Craig says:
        27 Feb27 February 08:44

        The fee for sending a Personal Transaction payment is paid by the sender. The fee for a Personal Transaction payment will be displayed upon making the relevant payment. Please see the User Agreement for more details.
        Domestic Personal Transaction payments:

        Activity Fee
        Sending a Domestic Personal Transaction Payment FREE (when no currency conversion is involved)

        • Craig says:
          27 Feb27 February 08:44

          From PP.

        • Chris says:
          27 Feb27 February 08:47

          Just tested with £10 and confirmed it works fine with no fees on either side.

        • Alan says:
          27 Feb27 February 08:49

          Well that’s interesting. There definitely used to be a fee – I noticed it when I was sending some money and had a credit card selected rather than my debit card.

        • Peter K says:
          27 Feb27 February 09:26

          They have recently dropped the fee for sending to friends and family. A few hundred will be fine. If you keep sending lots to the same person or don’t have a varied pattern of normal spend you may lose your PayPal account.

        • Craig says:
          27 Feb27 February 09:30

          Darn it, it won’t let me send any!

        • Genghis says:
          27 Feb27 February 09:40

          @Craig what does it say?

        • Craig says:
          27 Feb27 February 09:42

          Just tried again and it worked.

        • Chrisasaurus says:
          27 Feb27 February 10:21

          Send some to me and we’ll see if it works 🙂

        • Craig says:
          27 Feb27 February 10:29

          Sure Chris, just send me your bank details, full name, DOB and address? 🙂

        • Bazza says:
          27 Feb27 February 12:47

          When I am short on my BA 241 I always bug a couple of grand through this.

          They hit bugger fish to fry like tge million $ bit coin operation

    • Ben Wood says:
      27 Feb27 February 13:28

      Be warned, my Amex account has been suspended since December because of this.

      • S says:
        27 Feb27 February 14:02

        Same here. After very much ‘small fish’ transactions.

        The Indian fraud team are a delight to deal with.. not.

      • Craig says:
        27 Feb27 February 14:03

        I could see Amex getting tetchy if this is used to hit a target and then cancel the card or similar. I am genuinely sending my sister some money and nowhere near a target with it?

      • Craig says:
        27 Feb27 February 14:24

        To be fair to Amex, from the BAPP T&C:

        You may use the card up to your credit limit for purchases and, if we tell you, for balance/money transfers, cash advances and other types of transaction we may allow.

        So probably not worth the risk?

  • James says:
    27 Feb27 February 08:28

    OT: I am trying to decide what to do with my amex reward points as likely to cancel my gold card soon. I have around 30,000. I will probably sign up again in a year to get another intro bonus.

    My goal is to fly long haul ideally in first, or a fancy business class (one way most likely). Currently have around 30,000 avios and around 20,000 virgin miles. Last year I flew to china on airchina first class with virgin but this is now lot more expensive.

    Any ideas of if I should focus on virgin or ba if my goal is to save up for one nice trip somewhere?

    • Alan says:
      27 Feb27 February 08:50

      Just curious. Why wait a year to sign up?

      • James says:
        27 Feb27 February 09:01

        Buying a flat this year, so dont want a load of credit card apps before I get the mortgage.

        • Peter K says:
          27 Feb27 February 09:30

          I personally think avios is more flexible with more airlines so would be aiming that way. Potentially lower fees ex-eu (eg ex-Amsterdam).
          Very sensible re: mortgage. That’s a hefty financial product and you don’t want to risk getting a great deal because you earned a few thousand miles!

        • Alex W says:
          27 Feb27 February 16:29

          @james don’t forget that cancelling cards will also have an effect on your credit record.

      • Alan says:
        27 Feb27 February 10:22

        Ah that makes sense. We collect Virgin miles but I think Avios is the more flexible option

        • Alex W says:
          27 Feb27 February 16:31

          Arguably Virgin is more flexible as they can be transferred later to Hilton or IHG at a reasonable rate of you have a good value redemption in mind.

    • Michael says:
      27 Feb27 February 09:27

      If i was you, i’d convert them to avios – 60k is a nice number. Fly to the us on American or Iberia and come back using the virgin miles in economy or a cash ticket.

    • TripRep says:
      27 Feb27 February 09:31

      Depends, are you traveling solo or with a +1

      What’s your intended destination?

      • James says:
        27 Feb27 February 10:16

        Probably just on my own (although don’t tell my partner), as doubt I’ll earn enough for 2.

        Pretty open minded about destination as long as it is somewhere interesting. USA would be good, China, tempted to visit south africa.

    • Lumma says:
      27 Feb27 February 09:37

      30000 Singapore miles one way to the Middle East? BA or royal Jordanian return on avios (or maybe even virgin from Tel Aviv if you can get to Israel cheaply)

  • TGLoyalty says:
    27 Feb27 February 08:35

    Any referral scheme for wheely? Or first time use promo code?

    • Max says:
      27 Feb27 February 09:05

      You’re welcome to use my referral code, XU5YC – it’ll give you 20% off your first ride

  • Simon says:
    27 Feb27 February 08:41

    Looking at those Wheely fares, it seems quite expensive, considering that I have had some pretty nice cars even on the normal Uber service. The airport fares seem a little bit above Uber.

    Seems quite an expensive way of promoting themselves, but i ain’t complaining.

    A 20 minute drive at night should easily be above £25.

    • Vincent says:
      27 Feb27 February 10:26

      Wheely fares in Moscow seem quite reasonable, shame this offer can’t be used for them!

    • illuminatus says:
      27 Feb27 February 10:49

      You can’t really compare Wheely to Uber. Don’t get me wrong, I use Uber all the time – but while you can get a nice car sometimes, getting a nice driver along with it is almost impossible in London (much less of an issue in Portugal or Belgium from my experience). Wheely cars and drivers are on a totally different level, and it is my go-to service for Heathrow (£50 vs ~£35 using Uber).

      • Rob says:
        27 Feb27 February 11:07

        Have to say, I used Wheely a couple of times about 18 months ago to use up some introductory credit and it was impressive. Ordered a E-Class but got an S-Class, and the overall service level was higher than Uber (or, more accurately, like Uber was when it launched in London).

  • The Streets says:
    27 Feb27 February 08:42

    OT but for all these Amex offers where it says “Spend must be billed to your Card account by XX date”.. does that mean if a payment is “pending” then the offer has “billed”?

    • yorkieflyer says:
      27 Feb27 February 10:18

      I was told not by Amex and they told me the Travel service takes 3 working days to debit your account, The pending charge is just an authorisation. If you get the email saying you’ve used the offer you could certainly pursue the cash back but the rules could allow them to decline I believe

      • The Streets says:
        27 Feb27 February 10:42

        Thanks – fingers crossed it will cross the line in time.. but again a little unfair to the general public who see a use by date when in fact the transaction should have gone through perhaps a week before!

        • Michael says:
          27 Feb27 February 15:21

          I’m in the same boat. I booked flights yesterday to use the £50 off £200 amex travel spend. I had an email to say I’ve used the offer. I had this before with another offer, I bought something the day before it was due to expire – I did indeed cross the line in time.

    • Alan says:
      27 Feb27 February 15:28

      Agree, that’s my experience too.

    • Keith says:
      27 Feb27 February 16:17

      I spoke to the call centre about this today. As long as the transaction date (day you pay for it not day it shows as a confirmed transaction on your account) is within the validity period of the offer you are safe. I used the £50 off £200 spend on Amex Travel and was assured I was safe for the statement credit.

  • BJ says:
    27 Feb27 February 09:44

    OT: Anybody know if there is anything useful I can do with 30k FlyingBlue miles apart from shorthaul flights? Unless I’m missing something something they are virtually useless for anything else including hotels.

    • marcw says:
      27 Feb27 February 09:46

      FB Promo Awards?

    • Alan says:
      27 Feb27 February 12:42

      Promo awards best, may have potential with DL/VS in due course too.

    • Froggee says:
      27 Feb27 February 13:03

      There is the Flying Blue shop where, from memory, you can get a gift voucher with a value of about £50 for that. Rubbish compared to value on flights but if you cannot use them to fly better than nothing. I probably shouldn’t admit it here but I was so underwhelmed by the options I ended up forgetting to do anything with about 30,000 miles and they expired. So I basically burnt a £50 note…

    • BJ says:
      27 Feb27 February 13:46

      Thanks everybody confirmed my suspicions. Don’t want to burn for £50so looks like I’ll have to shift some Marriott points over to make better use of them.

  • Matt M says:
    27 Feb27 February 10:29

    OT – it looks like BA’s shopping portal Gate 365 is either not working or has ended? Has anyone else noticed this or had success using it today?

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