BA Avios eStore – A scam? Every transaction declined!

[davefl]

@wookie192 I apprciate what you’re saying but that would be systemic fraud by Hilton and as a publicly traded company on NYSE they’re bound by a code of ethics. The SEC would go overboard if that was the case. (Having worked for a US publicly traded company and having to submit quarterly ethics statements I know of what I speak)

Hilton were apparently listed as one of the world’s most ethical companies in 2020. So if anyone wants to take this further I’d contact this guy, not the marketing VP. https://www.pli.edu/faculty/mark-ehrlich-i792809

[wookie192]

@davefl I get it, but just because a business is publicly trading, doesn’t mean they don’t do questionable things behind closed doors.

That’s like saying well known public figures don’t do anything wrong in life because so many look up to them…. Which we all know isn’t true.

But trust me, the transactions are all tracked by AWIN (hence why you get a confirmation email from Avios saying the transaction was tracked). It’s just getting those transactions converted to “Confirmed” seems to be the issue….

[JDB]

louie wrote:

JDB wrote:

@louie – the eStore is essentially just an admin function so they aren’t really going to take up anything on behalf of customers even if they should. I wonder if they even record the number of rejections.

Sounds like poor management to me. Plenty of people (including me) are saying they don’t use eStore because of its poor reputation for paying out. If they kept records of the top companies for rejections, they could weed out those causing them reputational damage. After proving to be reliable, many of those not using them now would reconsider.

It’s not really poor management as there is no management to manage this; it’s simply an order processor. They will attempt to dispute claims for you but they can’t be sure which party is right, so I’m not sure what you want them to do. It’s outsourced by BA and when you lose they lose too. Also, BA says there are 800 retailers on the site (probably not all in the UK) – how many of those are problematic?

As I said in my first post on this thread, it’s always the same when this topic comes up – it works well for some people and not others. A few positive reports, even today. The system fundamentally works and I don’t think the negative reputation is that widespread. Hilton is clearly an issue and hopefully someone affected will take it up with the right people there.

[Dave likes planes]

It really is the wild west and it infuriates me that they seem to just get away with it. I have given up on the BA eStore as it seems to be completely unreliable – I have had avios not credited or later withdrawn too many times to have faith that it isn’t all a bit bogus.

[Ihar]

Did I mention the £3k I got from TCB with very few transactions declined. Use your e-feet and go to another e-reward site.

Most of which allow you to transfer to cash or Avios with a bonus kicker.

[davefl]

Ihar wrote:

Did I mention the £3k I got from TCB with very few transactions declined. Use your e-feet and go to another e-reward site.

Most of which allow you to transfer to cash or Avios with a bonus kicker.

Neither of those options help here. Hilton were removed from all cashback sites a while ago in the UK and only came back to the estore about a year ago so everyone jumped on the estore as the only option for a potential rebate.

There are no ways to transfer cash into Avios on TCB (or QC) any more. That was removed also.

Personally I’ve had thousands from both CB sites as well but when the only option for a retailer is estore you have to try it and expect both companies involved to behave ethically.

[Ihar]

davefl wrote:

Neither of those options help here. Hilton were removed from all cashback sites a while ago {…}

Yes but you can book Hilton etc through other travel sites and get 10% cashback (note cancellation terms, etc might be different). We quite often get £100-£200 back for a hotel stay.

In a more general sense, use TCB/Quidco and get some free money. Don’t leave it on the table!

[FazzyBear]

Like others, I used to have a high fail rate but since using Microsoft Edge Browser (which I don’t use otherwise) and making sure I accept all cookies – I seem to have been successful in almost all transactions in last 6 months.

[John]

I have received the avios for all my Hilton stays from 2021 to 2023.

Topcashback UK failed to track any Hilton stays during that period.

Like others, all my completed Hilton stays in 2024 were just declined, and all my future bookings for 2024-2025 were also declined. Most of these are still at the same rate so I can cancel and try again elsewhere. Topcashback USA is reported to track Hilton when you use a US IP address which is not a known VPN

Topcashback UK tracked and paid IHG stays in 2021-2022 but I was not successful getting any stays to track in 2023 or 2024. Topcashback Australia has tracked some in 2024 when booking from an Australian IP address (haven’t figured out the pattern as to which providers track yet)

[davefl]

John wrote:

I have received the avios for all my Hilton stays from 2021 to 2023.
Topcashback UK tracked and paid IHG stays in 2021-2022 but I was not successful getting any stays to track in 2023 or 2024. Topcashback Australia has tracked some in 2024 when booking from an Australian IP address (haven’t figured out the pattern as to which providers track yet)

9 IHG stays paid out on TCB in 2023/24. 100% success. I never vary my IP between countries. IHG on TCB US have always tracked at zero so far in my 9 months of using it. Waiting on manual claims.

The whole thing is just random bull!

[bonvoy_traveller]

I’ve made around 5 bookings with Marriott over the last few weeks and they all show “tracked” rather than “pending”.

I’ve taken the advice here and made a booking through Microsoft Edge, the booking I made has gone to pending within 24 hours with the correct number of Avios I should be earning. Thanks for the heads up.

[TGLoyalty]

I use TCB where ever possible and sending my cash to avois? Forget that! I get a 15% boost on gift cards for my local pub.

Wood for the trees people.

Also even if a direct transfer isn’t possible then just boost some avois for the £ equivalent.

There are a few retailers which are exclusive to the estore but I don’t include the value in getting in avios in any calc before I buy so has to make sense without it.

[Andrew.]

One thing to check for his “embedded” rates in your booking – I’m not sure how to do that with Hilton though.

For example, after a bit of work, I found that all of my IHG bookings are rejected because there’s an embedded Travel Agent code in my account that relates to a former employer’s corporate account. So whilst I get my 3pts/£1 claims rejected, I automatically get upgraded to a breakfast inclusive rate at hotels where my former employer has negotiated this.

Before any finger wagging, I have made best endeavours to have that code removed, but it has automatically repopulated every time and I don’t know if it’s a hotel where breakfast is included until I’m checking in. Over time the (real) value of breakfast and lost rebate is probably in balance.

[jj]

I think this is largely related to the retailer rather than eStore itself. I’ve earned several hundred thousand Avios from dozens of retailers through this route in recent years and have had only two issues: Hilton (like almost everyone) and Trainline. I’ve had more failures with TopCashback, most notably Avis and Go Compare.

Life’s too short to chase the miscreants. If a first claim doesn’t yield results, I conclude the counterparty is dishonest and avoid using their services. Trainline has lost more than £10,000 of bookings from me since they withheld a few Avios and refused to investigate, for example, and I haven’t booked a car direct with Avis since they rejected one of my claims two years ago. Since a reversal a few days ago, I am now very disinclined to put my business travel in Hilton’s direction and will only do so if there is very clear advantage for me.

As consumers, we hold the power.

[TH]

I’ve successfully collected over 4,000 Avios for two hotel stays through booking.com this summer – neither TCB nor Quidco offers booking.com any longer.

[Andrew.]

TH wrote:

I’ve successfully collected over 4,000 Avios for two hotel stays through booking.com this summer – neither TCB nor Quidco offers booking.com any longer.

If you have access to PAW, and it has the corporate travel tab, you should still get a 5% rebate on all bookings with Booking, Priceline, Agadoo, and Expedia.

[strickers]

@Andrew. Interesting, I have a travel agent code on IHG that keeps appearing too.

[Man of Kent]

The eStore might finally be catching up as in the last few days I’ve had most of my pending and queried purchases credit some going back several months.

Just to chase the pesky Hilton future stay ones they cancelled without explanation.

[Misty]

Just had a clawback from QVC, no idea why as QVC is a discount site in the first case so it can’t be for receiving a discounted price.

[R2]

FYI.
When buying Hilton/Marriott/IHG etc. points, go through TCB USA for a cheeky 2.52% off. Buy in $ after you setup a fake US address and turn back to UK address after the points have deposited. Cash out via PayPal or various gift cards.

TCB USA also offers % back on stays booked through their site.

My referral link: https://www.topcashback.com/ref/rr2usa

[Nico]

Booking.com and Viator work well, some others are hit and miss.
Also, I have to agree, the missing Avios form is ridiculous, I am missing Avios from fashion purchase and can’t even choose the right brand to raise the issue

[Candor]

Its not just the e-store with regards to Hilton
After have 2 stays not post points (still in pending)
My parents were booking a stay so advised them to use Nectars website which also awards points on Hilton stays at a lower rate compared to the e-store
The points were awarded fairly quickly, then clawed back a little bit later

[Gavin454]

I bought an Otty mattress several years ago via BA Avios estore, and had a not insignificant number of Avios from the transaction (something like 7000). They tracked fine, went into my BAEC account, but were clawed back more than a year later for no reason. It was so late, that opening a query was not possible via the estore because the transaction was more than a year ago, and in the end I gave up trying to find a solution, it was really hard to contact anyone who could do anything.

Since then I’ve always stuck with TCB and Quidco. At least with them, when you’ve got the cashback it’s final. It can’t be clawed back. With the BA Avios estore, you never really know if they’re going to claw it back (unless say 2+ years have passed!)

[NorthernLass]

I once contacted a retailer about avios being clawed back and they said they had no idea that BA was doing this and managed to get them reinstated. It’s too time-consuming to do this every time, but for a large number it might be worth it.

[polly]

We had a JD sports order for 2 pairs of Hugh quality trainers, walking boots for the OH. About 6 months later told they were clawed back, a large sums. Due to “us returning the shoes” which we never did, as he wears them all the time. Unreal. Nobody dealt with it, claim went completely unanswered. Where do you turn. Gave up in the end. Shouldn’t be like this.
The only person l know who,routinely gets her avios is my friend with her weekly Waitrose order.