Barclay's so-called $5000 gift to me

[billroddy]

I used my HAL Visa card and spent $5000 to get 10,000 points. I selected a $100 shore excursion credit.

When I got to my cabin on the Oosterdam there was an envelope marked A GIFT.

What was it? Good for a bottle of wine for being a Mariner? An upgrade to a suite?

Excited, I opened the envelope for a come-down. It read:

A $100 SHORE EXCURSION CREDIT HAS BEEN SELECTED FOR YOUR ENJOYMENT BY BARCLAY'S.

Sign below to confirm receipt of this gift.

--------------------

Hey Barclay... you did not select the item, I did.

And it was not a gift, I paid for it.

Bill

Unhappy Ancient Mariner

[adrift@sea]

I used my HAL Visa card and spent $5000 to get 10,000 points. I selected a $100 shore excursion credit.

When I got to my cabin on the Oosterdam there was an envelope marked A GIFT.

What was it? Good for a bottle of wine for being a Mariner? An upgrade to a suite?

Excited, I opened the envelope for a come-down. It read:

A $100 SHORE EXCURSION CREDIT HAS BEEN SELECTED FOR YOUR ENJOYMENT BY BARCLAY'S.

Sign below to confirm receipt of this gift.

--------------------

Hey Barclay... you did not select the item, I did.

And it was not a gift, I paid for it.

Bill

Unhappy Ancient Mariner

 

You can't blame this one on Barclay's--this is strictly HAL. When the preordered wines, gifts, OBC, etc. are forwarded to the ship to be processed on board, they are delivered to passengers as gifts, even if you were the one that purchased them. I inquired at the Front Office on one of our cruises as we received the same thing and this was what I was told.

[billroddy]

Thanks for update. Have sent message to HAL.

Bill

 

You can't blame this one on Barclay's--this is strictly HAL. When the preordered wines, gifts, OBC, etc. are forwarded to the ship to be processed on board, they are delivered to passengers as gifts, even if you were the one that purchased them. I inquired at the Front Office on one of our cruises as we received the same thing and this was what I was told.

[adrift@sea]

Thanks for update. Have sent message to HAL.

Bill

 

Why???:confused:

[cmdchiefthom]

.

--------------------

Hey Barclay... you did not select the item, I did.

And it was not a gift, I paid for it.

Bill

Unhappy Ancient Mariner

 

Bill,

 

It would seem that you applied for, and used the HAL Barclay card, which provides specific rewards in the form of OBC, or in my case, cash application to my card balance for my HAL cruise fares. Frankly, I would feel relieved when I boarded the ship to find that indeed, the promised OBC's were actually applied. I would consider a credit card perk (extra) is a form of gift that entices the customer to use that particular card. I would hardly complain to HAL about it.:eek:

[Chasey]

I used my HAL Visa card and spent $5000 to get 10,000 points. I selected a $100 shore excursion credit.

When I got to my cabin on the Oosterdam there was an envelope marked A GIFT.

What was it? Good for a bottle of wine for being a Mariner? An upgrade to a suite?

Excited, I opened the envelope for a come-down. It read:

A $100 SHORE EXCURSION CREDIT HAS BEEN SELECTED FOR YOUR ENJOYMENT BY BARCLAY'S.

Sign below to confirm receipt of this gift.

--------------------

Hey Barclay... you did not select the item, I did.

And it was not a gift, I paid for it.

Bill

Unhappy Ancient Mariner

So you spent $5K to get a measly $100 "not gift." Ooookaaay!

[Typhoon1]

Shady deal.

[protocrone]

We charge most of our daily expenses to our Barclay card and pay it off weekly from our checking account. It didn't take long to get the $100 of on-board credits for a shore excursion when you added in the sign up bonus and 2-for-1 points for using it on HAL for cruise payments.

 

We even use it at the grocery store unless we need cash back. Now we're saving for a discount on the next cruise in 2012. We're pretty sure that we'll love our first cruise on HAL next week so a longer cruise is in the works already.

[tcook052]

So you spent $5K to get a measly $100 "not gift." Ooookaaay!

 

As an avid points collector is does seem a little stingy an award, at least IMHO.

[msmayor]

As an avid points collector is does seem a little stingy an award, at least IMHO.

 

Stingy? I don't think so. Many 'points' programs often translate into one point being equal to $0.01. This reward came out to $0.02/point, double the value.

 

Its not like the OP just 'blew' $5,000 to get $100. He purchased/used $5,000 worth of products/services and got a bonus of $100.

 

Now if he didn't get what he was promised in the way of a reward then I could see the problem. But it sounds like he got just what he bargained for.

[jdvmd]

Thanks for update. Have sent message to HAL.

Bill

 

For what reason? It is exactly as explained above.

[tcook052]

Stingy? I don't think so. Many 'points' programs often translate into one point being equal to $0.01. This reward came out to $0.02/point, double the value.

 

Everything is relative; SPG (Starwood Prefered Guest) will give you a reward night at the Four Points by Sheraton Long Angeles Westside for as little as 4,000 SPG points per night. Since the lowest paid room rates start at USD$169/night + tax if you charged only $4,000 on the SPG credit card which earns one point per dollar I've received a value of $189.36, the room & tax amount, almost double OP's amount for fewer points.

 

Some programs, such as Air Canada's Aeroplan, will let you redeem 65,000 miles for a $500 gift card but that many miles could get you an economy award ticket Canada to Europe or S. America worth at least double that amount again depending upon destination.

 

Some redemptions are better values than others obviously and each traveller collects, spends and values these affinity programs differently but IMHO redeeming for these gift cards or cash awards such as OP's is not the best value.

[Jade13]

Everything is relative; SPG (Starwood Prefered Guest) will give you a reward night at the Four Points by Sheraton Long Angeles Westside for as little as 4,000 SPG points per night. Since the lowest paid room rates start at USD$169/night + tax if you charged only $4,000 on the SPG credit card which earns one point per dollar I've received a value of $189.36, the room & tax amount, almost double OP's amount for fewer points.

.

 

 

We use this card and get the best bang for our buck. We transfer the points to airline programs and they give you an additional 5,000 points when you transfer 20,000. Most recently we used 20,000 points each transferred to American and then used the FFmiles for a flight to Santiago on LAN Chile for our HAL cruise next year.

[TiogaCruiser]

We just got $350 check for 32000 points on our BoA credit card.

 

That went right into our travel savings for our next cruise. We may even get another "reward" before our next cruise..... Whenever it will be.

[tcook052]

We use this card and get the best bang for our buck. We transfer the points to airline programs and they give you an additional 5,000 points when you transfer 20,000. Most recently we used 20,000 points each transferred to American and then used the FFmiles for a flight to Santiago on LAN Chile for our HAL cruise next year.

 

Agree and I was going to mention this SPG tranfer bonus but thought I'd focus on the hotel award only in my previous post. :)

[whogo]

Hey Barclay... you did not select the item, I did.

And it was not a gift, I paid for it.

Agreed. It's a poor way to describe the benefits of a reward card.

 

I took a quick look at the Barclays HAL Visa card. It has no annual fee, pays back 2% on HAL purchases, 1% on all else. Not a bad card. But when people tell you not to use a credit card for ATM withdrawals, pay attention. The HAL card charges $10 or 5%, whichever is greater, plus interest of 25.24% starting immediately. That is some expensive cash. Other credit cards treat cash advances similarly.

[jtl513]

As an avid points collector is does seem a little stingy an award, at least IMHO.

When we signed up for the card and booked one excursion with it we immediately got 15,000 points - which we used for a beverage card and another excursion once on board. We did pay our final on board account with it but haven't used it since, because we prefer a Visa card that gets us free hotel rooms.

 

But back on the original topic: I'm also a little annoyed that when I pre-pay for something the on-board confirmation card calls it a "gift". :(

[billroddy]

I appreciate your support.

Bill

Agreed. It's a poor way to describe the benefits of a reward card.

 

I took a quick look at the Barclays HAL Visa card. It has no annual fee, pays back 2% on HAL purchases, 1% on all else. Not a bad card. But when people tell you not to use a credit card for ATM withdrawals, pay attention. The HAL card charges $10 or 5%, whichever is greater, plus interest of 25.24% starting immediately. That is some expensive cash. Other credit cards treat cash advances similarly.

[Globaliser]

It's a poor way to describe the benefits of a reward card.

Though it seems to me likely just to be a standard form template for a purchase by a third party of something to be delivered on board - eg from TAs, family and friends. It's likely that for the vast majority of these items, this wording will be absolutely appropriate.

 

So why set up something special just for the few odd cases like this one? Try as I might, I would find it impossible to feel in the least bit offended if I were in the OP's shoes. There might be a momentary disappointment when I realised that I wasn't, after all, getting an extra freebie from someone. But I'd find it hard to make that disappointment last for more than, oh, about 10 seconds.