BA Shopping not honouring points

[grounded_mark]

Hi,

Does anyone else get their points legitimately earned via shopping.ba.com or avios.com or whatever it is now denied with little explanation? I have had this happen a number of times over the years but haven’t bothered to argue the point. However back in January I booked a cottage with Sykes Cottages through the shopping website, visit tracked with an earn of nearly 7,000 avios. The amount showed up as pending. At the end of May my family stayed in the cottage and all was fine. A few weeks after the stay I received the dreaded Pending Transaction Cancelled email from BA:

“Sykes Cottages has informed us that your purchase (Purchase ID XXX) is not eligible to earn Avios and therefore the status of this purchase has been updated to cancelled. We are sorry for any disappointment this may cause.

This purchase no longer qualifies for one of the following reasons:

– There has been a part or a full return all of your order.
– An invalid voucher code was used on your purchase (only the ones displayed on Avios.com are valid).
– The last click from your browser did not come from Avios.com
– Your purchase does not meet the merchant’s purchase conditions or Avios.com’s terms and conditions.
– The item you purchased has a different Avios collection rate.”

We definitely stayed in the accommodation, there was no voucher used, we paid the full normal rate. I definitely clicked through the shopping website (and if someone didnt why does it take until after the stay to determine this, it should be more prompt). If the purchase didn’t meet the merchant’s conditions then I’m not sure what would so what are they doing on the site.

Anyway it’s all very frustrating as it is a significant number of avios and I have another 12K avios sykes trip in a few weeks time. I wonder at what point this enters the realms of misleading advertising. One of the primary reasons I went with Sykes was because of the avios earn. If they (Im not sure if it is Sykes or BA at fault here) advertise Avios earn as part of the package but then deny it miraculously just after you stay with them then it seems a bit rotten to me. I have follwed up via the missing avios support link and received an email asking for proof of purchase but that is now several weeks ago and since then nothing and there seems no way to follow up.

Annoyed.

Misleading

[Return2sender]

your problem might be with the vendor/retailer rather than BA Shopping. From other BA shopping avios transactions I’ve done I generally do get the points expected but where there have been later adjustments downwards like the one you quote, I’ve challenged these decisions and had them overturned in my favour.

I would also check out some forums and review sites for feedback on Sykes.

[davefl]

There are dozens of posts on here across several threads which will tell you that the estore is the absolute worst of all the *back sites.

Even if you do get the Avios they sometimes claim them back without telling you months or even years after they have been awarded.

I was denied several thousand Avios from the Hilton in SF where they claimed I never stayed there despite sending them the post stay invoice and a screenshot of my Hilton account.

It’s generally fraudulent behaviour on the part of the affiliate marketing company, rather than the brand. It’s possible to track down the company involved and see reviews on them but there’s no recourse.

In Sykes case it’s Awin and you can read the reviews for yourself. https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/awin.com and it’s also no coincidence that Hilton use the same affiliate.

[JDB]

@grounded_mark – I would contact Sykes and find the person who deals with the Avios to get it sorted out. You can and also probably should simultaneously write to BA with all the points you mention and if it doesn’t get fixed in a reasonable time, write to Adam Daniels, the Avios/IAG Loyalty CEO. The award of Avios from the eStore generally works well but sometimes does need a prod.