BA Store - first experience let down
 

I was excited to see a special offer on the BA store of triple avoid for purchases on Apple.com

12 points per £

I decided to purchase my grilefriend an iMac and to take advantage of the points.

The deal expired at the end of May so I placed my order on the 29th.

Low and behold I get an email from BA saying 4975 (ish) points pending.

My purchase was about £1,800

I called the BA support line and explained they said they would look into it for me. I then received a generic mail asking me to complete a form and wait 40 days.

Not impressed.

I treat the avios store the same as any cash back website; great bonus when it works, tough when it doesn't. Overall it's still better than a slap in the face. Much better things to be stressing about...

I'm not going to leave 20odd thousand Avios on the table I was advertised to receive?

It was part of the decision making of buying the product.

Definitely fill in the form, sometimes it works, but sometimes it doesn't. I think the key is not to treat avios/cashback as part of the decision making process otherwise you'll be in for a lot of aggro. You do occasionally have tracking fall through or at incorrect amounts but that's just how it is. It's also a very slow process.

Note that you don't get avios on the vat part so you'd only be due around 18k.

I did say to the BA person I don't think I get it on the VAT but she said yes.

Why are the simple things so difficult

Is the form that complex, that filling it in as requested is a big issue?

Doesn't seem too unreasonable a request

I hate forms. Plus, the cynical side of me says a lot of this is either deliberate to avoid paying it (most people won't notice / complain) or that it's not deliberate but they're also in no rush to fix it, since there is no net benefit to BA, on the whole.

I'd rather things worked as planned and I didn't have to spend time / wait 40 days etc for something that isn't that difficult. If they can get an A380 into the air they can create a line of code that credits the right Avios on time.

I need to relax more.

Sometimes things don't go as planned

If the points are still pending, perhaps wait and see whether when it does post , the bonus gets applied

Filling in the form may even take less time than filling in the message box form of FT to complain about filling in a form

I've found that with cash back and points sites that the initial amount is advised as the usual rate but that once posted they include the bonus element. There is usually a statement that says that.

You should only start chasing if the final posted amount is incorrect and not before.

Really don't understand some of the grilling on here :confused:

to the op, I understand the frustration as you simply aren't getting what was promised avios wise. 21,600 is a nice wad.

i've had to chase up something like this once. Via the avios.com e-store. I filled out a form as my purchase didn't even get tracked to show as pending. It was a tiny purchase and the avios was very low (but they all add up :) )

am sure once you fill it the form with the order number, date, amount etc.. someone will confirm you made the purchase during the offer period and correct the system processing it at the lower/standard rate just give them a few days. Hope the mrs enjoys the imac.

Filling in the form is a nuisance so people are going to complain and not enjoy doing that.

Coming on to FT to post about having to fill in the form is cathartic and I suspect some relief at their frustration. A problem shared is a problem halved! So I suspect people are happier to spend more time doing that than filling in the form.

OP - my sympathies. I too would have somewhat grrr about this, and I also don't understand the lack of empathy you're getting in response.

Prior to coming on here, I had filled in the form after having to get someone to convert my mail to a PDF.

I really don't understand the acceptance of failure on here,if it was Amazon performing like this they'd bin in the dust bin of new companies by now.

I'm concerned as the amount pending doesn't equate to the pre special offer amount.

My fear is that. Because Apple shipped after the end of the offer date and therefore billed my card after the end of the offer date then BA will try and wriggle out of their deal.

Apple were bringing out a new spec (unbeknown to me) and hold back all in flight orders to send them out as the new spec. That said Apple have overcharged me so I will be entering a smiliarly annoying email chain with them.

When a problem occurs, being asked to detail the issue is hardly unreasonable

It seems a pretty trivial request - unless it is an amazingly complex form

You really think that Amazon has never had a customer come to it with an issue?

it is not even clear that failure has occurred since the actual points crediting has not actually occurred - just reference to pending points

Being told that someone would look into it for me to be sent back to the beginning with the form is misleading.

Do you not think a pending avios statement for a random amount of points is an indicator that Captain Cockup is in the house?

No - I don't think that a pending transaction implies that the bonus will definitely not be credited and would have waited until there was definitely an issue

To me, there is a real problem when (a) the points are credited wongly and (b) support has refused to credit them after the issue is investigated