Good new American Express cashback deals: TFL, Harrods, John Lewis, Fenwick etc

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• Lee says:

  3 Dec3 December 08:56

  Anyone know of any store that sells Apple Store gift cards (not app store/itunes ones)

  Can’t seem to find any location apart from Apple store themselves.

  • Nick says:

    3 Dec3 December 09:09

    I don’t think so

    I am struggling to find John Lewis and amazon cards at Morrison’s? All cleaned out or taken off shelves?

    • Rui N. says:

      3 Dec3 December 09:28

      The Morrisson’s superstore in Reading had plenty of both this past weekend. JL’s on the main gift card rack and Amazon’s near the self checkouts.
      Thanks for everyone that helped me take advantage of the offer 🙂 But a bunch of gift card and filled up my car with 10% discount using the paper voucher 🙂

      • Polly says:

        3 Dec3 December 09:35

        And hope you benefitted from last weekend promo, spend 60 and get a10p off litre of petrol voucher, expires Sunday 8th December tho. To stack with your paper vouchers, so effectively 20% off that fill.

        • RussellH says:

          3 Dec3 December 10:21

          Got the 10p off voucher, but tank only has space for about 25l (over half full).

        • Lee says:

          3 Dec3 December 10:41

          But you do not get the 10p voucher if you have purchased mostly gift cards – needs to have other shopping for the £60.

          We have spent over £1,000 on Amazon vouchers so far 🙂

          Can’t say I have a need for JL as never go in there, no store near us.

        • Rui N. says:

          3 Dec3 December 11:55

          I didn’t get to have the 10p off fuel, because as @Lee said, the £60 to trigger the voucher can’t be gift cards, and altought I had some groceries they were like £40.

        • Polly says:

          3 Dec3 December 12:23

          Suddenly l didn’t need the very expensive bag of dog food that took me over the £60 sale..oh dear, had to return it.

        • Rui N. says:

          3 Dec3 December 13:32

          @Polly, good point, didn’t cross my mind. 🙂 I’ll remember that the next time my Tesco has a 10p fuel offer (Morrisson’s is not very practical for me, I wish it was because the fuel was by itself 5p cheaper than at Sainsburys/Tesco around here).

        • Lady London says:

          3 Dec3 December 21:05

          Did you also lose a dog after the Mr. T. promotion a while back Polly? IIRC Shoestring used the phrase ‘mass pet death’ after reports that year. At least your dog only lost its appetite!

        • Polly says:

          4 Dec4 December 07:26

          Hey Lady London,

          That made me laugh out loud this morning….loved the comment about mass pet exits, v funny.
          Sadly lost our beautiful white lab last may after 15 yrs, but she still needs the odd very very expensive bag of food..amazing dog really!

    • Andy says:

      3 Dec3 December 11:04

      It seems to differ store to store, my local Morrsions had plenty of the lower denominations (£15/£20) for Amazon but were cleared out of £50 cards and they didn’t get restocked. No other cards seem to get targetted in my area, but that’s likely because we’re quite far from a Waitrose.

      I thought I was being clever yesterday buying an Argos GC and then going straight over the road to Argos to spend it. Turns out Argos cards can be up to 48 hours before they get activated so I couldn’t use it for that transaction.

  • Lady London says:

    3 Dec3 December 12:11

    Used to see them all the time in Tesco hypermarkets everywhere. But it’s so long since I set foot in a Tesco, I’m not sure they would still be there. There were typically loads at the cash tills as well as on the gift card wall.

  • Charlieface says:

    3 Dec3 December 14:28

    I think Harrods has an Apple concession, so you could use that Amex offer

• Benilyn says:

  3 Dec3 December 09:39

  OT: Guys I need some help. Signed up to Barclays Premier (for the 25k Avios) and now someone has managed to intercept my PIN but not my first debit card, but some how managed to order a replacement debit card and intercept that too. They went on to withdraw from ATMs and use at shops. I got all my money back…. but I need to know how they did it. Barclays fraud team said they will just refund me, and won’t share any further details about the investigation.

  1) First agent said they said someone ordered a replacement debit card it via mobile/online banking. I am signed up to mobile banking but I think it is one device per account allowed so would be surprised if it is that?? I have never logged into online banking. Second agent I spoke to would not confirm how card was ordered, but said my online banking has never been accessed. Which means…. someone did it on the phone or in-branch? I never got a text about the replace
  2) How was the card intercepted? Google says postman or at sorting office…
  3) Can I use GDPR to get details of the investigation?
  4) Getting CCTV from the shops would be tough right without police doing it? Should I report to police?

  I am really paranoid right now…

  • Anna says:

    3 Dec3 December 10:12

    This is extremely frustrating, however if the bank has absorbed any losses it is technically the victim and not you, so you have very little chance of being given any details of an investigation. As long as you’re not being held responsible for it, it’s probably not worth losing any sleep over.

  • Rob says:

    3 Dec3 December 10:37

    My mate had a card stolen by a temporary postman once. He was caught on CCTV using it.

  • Andrew says:

    3 Dec3 December 11:08

    Stop being Paranoid about it.

    Be sensible about it. The criminal has rights under GDPR too, as do the people around them in the bank and shops – you’ve got little or no chance of seeing who they are unless it does end up in court. They defrauded the bank, not you.

    You might be able to do a SAR though and get all audio recordings to telephone banking. If it was done that way, Barclays might miss out filtering out the fraudulent call.

    Key thing to do is to check your credit report to make sure there is no unusual activity with new borrowings. If your home is unencumbered, make sure you’ve registered for the Land Registry fraud warning system.

    If you have a lodger or house share, do check your cheque books for missing leafs towards the back. Maybe take the opportunity to shred the cheque books if you never use them anyway.

    Sometimes it’s just a simple “fishing” trip. If you live in an apartment, it’s not *that* hard to get a master key that opens all the mail boxes. Likewise easy enough to stick a device through a letter box to grab the mail that’s lying behind it – or just pull back post that’s not properly put through. Some silly people actually have near ground level letter boxes that people can put their hand through!

  • Lady London says:

    3 Dec3 December 12:22

    I think it must be the season. When professional mail interceptors and pickpockets come out approaching Christmas.

    For the first time ever, 2 Asda phonecards were intercepter from m’y address. Never had any problems with cards or expensive items being interceptés in many, many years. The thieves obviously thought the cards inside were crédit cards not worthless SIM cards. And probably not long in England as they just chose thé mail with a card in it. If the thieves had been here longer they would know Asda does not send out bank or credit cards so not worth nicking.

• Harry T says:

  3 Dec3 December 10:30

  OT, no bits:
  I’m trying to get Avios flights from Melbourne to Sydney after the F1 race on 15th March 2020. Latest Avios flights I can get are 18.30. Race this year finished at 18.10, so this isn’t ideal.

  Avios is 12,000 and £39 for two people. Lowest c@sh prices are currently about £240 for two people.

  Does anyone have experience booking these Avios redemptions? Are Avios flights likely to open up later or should I pull the trigger and pay the expensive cash prices now before they get worse?

  • marcw says:

    3 Dec3 December 12:30

    Should probably ask in an aussie forum australianfrequentflyer.com.au/community/

    • Harry T says:

      3 Dec3 December 13:33

      Thanks!

  • Lady London says:

    3 Dec3 December 12:34

    Grab it now, remember Avios booking can be refunded with relatively little loss. That amount looks about right and due F1 cash every thing May soar again. Close-in booking costs seem excessively higher for cash flights as a rule too.

    Btw Hertz over thé years used to have thé odd mastercard promo giving one way free within same country. Not sûre if it would work across States, in your case NSW and Victoria but could be worth periodically phoning and asking an agent (,promo not seen online,). The other place such deals might be promoted is as part of deals on offer to AA or RAC members in UK. So perhaps the Australian equivalent. Your UK membership of the AA would get you guest membership of several foreign equivalents for these purposes. So do you know anyone in Oz who can keep an eye out for you Harry T,? Meanwhile you could grab the Avios booking as a backstop.

    • Harry T says:

      3 Dec3 December 13:35

      Thanks, I grabbed a speculative Avios booking just before they all disappeared. Only problem is I might miss part of the race because the latest they had was 18.30! Still better than paying cash fares. Hopefully later evening flights may open up.

      Thank you, I shall look into Hertz.

      • Chrisasaurus says:

        3 Dec3 December 20:55

        I…

        It isn’t better than paying cash at all, is it? Surely? Missing part of the race you’re going to see for the difference between 12k avios and £120 a head?

        • Lady London says:

          3 Dec3 December 21:15

          @Chrisasaurus when Harry T landed his flights in the recent QF promo he didn’t know they coincided with the F1. So probs not going to be disappointed and good chance its on TV in lounge at airport.

        • Chrisasaurus says:

          3 Dec3 December 22:18

          @LL

          Understand now, thank you – missed the context somewhat

  • Chrisasaurus says:

    3 Dec3 December 20:59

    12k Avios plus £39 is £159 at 1p per Avios

    So you would choose to miss part of – indeed the climax of – the race for £40.50 each?

    I mean I’m not a fan either but it sounds a little like you might not be all that bothered about going?

    • Harry T says:

      4 Dec4 December 00:06

      @Chris – it’s a good point. As Lady London astutely observes this was an unexpected benefit of our Golden Ticket fares. We do want to see the whole race if we can. I’m more wondering if it’s likely that some more redemptions seats will open up if people cancel nearer the time, or whether we should lock in cash prices now. I’ve not been to a Grand Prix before or redeemed Avios in Australia so I’m a bit unsure what the best strategy is.

  • Nick Burch says:

    4 Dec4 December 13:00

    Sleeper train leaves Melbourne at 19:50, take the train? Details from the Man in Seat 61 at https://www.seat61.com/Australia.htm#Sydney-Melbourne-Canberra-Brisbane

• MinR says:

  3 Dec3 December 10:35

  I’ve had the Harvey Nichols, Selfridges and Harrods offer multiple times. Only used the card at Harrods when I’ve had the offer.

  The one thing I’ve experienced is that previously these offers would often overlap with sales periods which resulted in massive savings. However, the last few offers I’ve had with departmental stores/fashion outlets expire just before the sales start. For e.g. The most recent HN offer (£30 off £100) expired a day before their ‘up to 40%’ sale.

• SteveD says:

  3 Dec3 December 11:08

  Could I ask how long people are waiting for the Esso £5 to be credited?

  I’m getting a faint whiff of rat…

  • SimonW says:

    3 Dec3 December 14:32

    Used 27/1, no email . £5 Credit hit my a/c today but dated 1st Dec.

• 1DES1 says:

  3 Dec3 December 11:35

  O/T – what is the most accurate way to calculate 355 days prior for BA to open up avios availability?

  Excel is giving me a different date to a date calculator online.

  Could someone kindly confirm that avios for a flight operating on Saturday 19th December 2020 will open at 12am GMT on Sunday 29th December 2019 (being 355 days on Monday 30th December 2019)?

  Many thanks!

  • SimonW says:

    3 Dec3 December 12:00

    Check what date is available to book TODAY. And add the relevant amount of days on.

    • Peter K says:

      3 Dec3 December 12:06

      +1

      • 1DES1 says:

        3 Dec3 December 12:08

        Ta, that confirms excel is correct. BA online only shows up to Saturday 21st November right now – therefore 355 days (Sunday 22nd November) will appear at 12am GMT. TIA.

        • Graeme says:

          3 Dec3 December 13:48

          I spent 48 minutes on the phone to the “US” (had no idea that it was in the UK) at midnight last night adding a return leg to my outbound 2-4-1 for the 21st next year. 48 minutes!

          Taxes were still recalculated, FYI.

        • 1DES1 says:

          3 Dec3 December 14:05

          Thanks Graeme, how did you get the taxes sorted out?

        • Graeme says:

          3 Dec3 December 18:17

          The nice lady on the phone did it automatically. I was curious given recent developments whether it’d be an issue.

• Harry T says:

  3 Dec3 December 12:28

  OT: Various deals:
  American Express has launched presale tickets to Hyde Park concerts 10-11th July. Good opportunity for people to see Pearl Jam or Taylor Swift, as you can buy cheapish tickets before general release. Maybe even buy them for your kids or grandkids?

  There’s some very cheap EasyJet tickets from Edinburgh to Milan in August – £70 per person return, HBO. Just snaffled some and cancelled my Avios tickets to Florence and back (16,000 Avios and £242). May be of interest to some as Venice and Florence are also easily accessible by train from Milan.

  • Harry T says:

    3 Dec3 December 12:29

    *10,000 Avios + £242, but still…

  • Metopes says:

    3 Dec3 December 14:17

    Thanks for the Hyde Park heads up, Christmas present sorted!

    • Harry T says:

      3 Dec3 December 15:46

      You’re welcome, glad I could help!

• Travel Strong says:

  3 Dec3 December 12:33

  I would happily have locked in a nonrefundable booking with amex travel if the offer had run in october… but now I’ve got a suitable Comp offer from the hotel I was after instead – so worked out well for me! Less well for amex travel.

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