ChrisLi

Miles Double up makes Amex Local transaction HKD 3 to 1 AM during promotion (HKD 1 to 1 AM for oversea ????!!!!) , HKD 6 to 1 AM for Visa / Master... if I read correctly.

Some fight back for DBS Black Card Promotion ? (Actually so do DBS Visa Plat... I got snail mail promotion that DBS that if I spend 100K HKD I will be entitle for double up or blah blah blah )

http://www.standardchartered.com.hk/...p_asiamiles_en

http://www.standardchartered.com.hk/...les/en/tc.html

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My DBS Visa Plat Promo
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Spend 100K HKD to entitle for 96000pts to 10K AsiaMiles
- (HKD 9.6 to 1AM / HKD 3.2 to 1AM for Oversea / Dining)
Spend 200K HKD to entitle for 192000pts to 20K AsiaMiles
- (HKD 9.6 to 1AM / HKD 3.2 to 1AM for Oversea / Dining)
Spend 300K HKD to entitle for 120000pts to 20K AsiaMiles
- (HKD 6 to 1AM / HKD 2 to 1AM for Oversea / Dining)

chinatown

Hey Chris,


Its not so much meaningless i suppose... But when I asked the CSR (I had to ring'em up coz i didnt know what the hell they were talking about in their website). The CSR said that its not exactly 3HKD/ 1 Mile... but i dont see how it isnt.. what he told me was that from today til Jan 31 of next year, all the points you accumulate, they will perform a conversion of 12bonus pts to 1 mile, and then they will double up your earned miles based on how much you have converted.

seeing as I barely understand what I just wrote, let me provide an example.

Say you spent enough to get 300,000 points. this equates to 30,000 miles. once they perform the conversion for you, then you will have 60,000 miles in total.

note that in point 4 of their T&C's , Overseas transactions are EXCLUDED. So i dont know how that is going to work.

Also note that in point 6, it says max receivable is 60,000 miles. So i assume thats a 30000 mile conversion + a 30000 mile bonus?


The terms confuse the hell out of me.

kaka

from what i could understand, its an auto transfer CX AMEX style. it automatically transfers all the points you earn from eligible transactions, of up to 360000 stanchart points. (30000AM, + their 30000 offering) and i think you still have to pay the conversion fee for the basic up to 30000AM

just thought i could make use of mum's points. eitherway she's refusing to pay up the conversion fee!!! (she said no even when i offered to pay for it! grrrrrr.....)

ChrisLi

+1 for the crazy T&C .. can't someone at their marketing department just make a table for us? If it is that complicate to understand the T&C I will simply skip it.

Why can't they just make it simple saying
- AMEX local HKD 3 to 1 AM
- Visa / Master local HKD 6 to 1.

Is it their purpose to ruin / mess up our miles earning logic ?

Well for AMEX oversea SCB offer the best conversion rate already (except the current DBS lucky draw) so I see the point they don't offer it. The rest of my Visa oversea transaction will continue going to Citibank PremierMiles.

Lulu

But doesn't it say that the conversion fee is waved for this promo? Would assume if they are transferring it via CX AMEX style, it would be hard to track how much they should charge in conversion fee each time.

10. Handling fee of bonus points conversion to Asia Miles will be waived in this Promotion.

kaka

i'd just thought its for the BONUS points, not the base point. conversion fee can see be charged, if they record the accumulated conversion using the program.

sxc

HK banks are getting crazy. With all the T&C I'm pretty much giving up.

Keep it simple and I will spend.

theworld

Its always been like this, with anything in HK, crazy T&C, so they can get out of the offers if something messes up.

The crazy T&C makes it harder for people to actually get the offers they are promoting.

KO2546

I have just spent half an hour talking to a SCB CSR . Here is my understanding after our discussion. She was ever so apologetic for not knowing how to answer some of my questions.

1) The offer is for local spending only. Only 1 point per HK$1 spent count. The other 1 point is banked as per usual.
3) Every point, up to 360,000 points, earned during the promotion period have to be converted to AM. That means up to 30,000AM.
3) SCB will then double the AM up to 30,000AM, which means a total of up to 60,000AM earned.
4) No conversion fees are charged for the 30,000AM + 30,000AM.

That means one must spend HK$360,000 locally, in less than three months to gain an extra 30,000AM and save themselves $300, or $600 depends on how you look at it.

All-in-all, a pretty lame offer, assuming my understanding is correct.

carrotjuice

Thank you for finally helping to clear the air of what this promo is all about!

I called the phone number behind my Priority Banking Visa Infinite card yesterday. The person who answered the phone knew next to nothing about this promo and asked me where I got to hear about it (answer: it's on your own website!). She then put me on hold for 10 minutes (presumably she hadn't received the internal memo and had to feverishly study what the website says). She came back only to say that she had to transfer me to the credit card department to answer any questions that I have regarding the promo (it dawned on me that the phone number behind the Visa Infinite card goes through to Priority Banking and not the credit card department). But I hung up after being put on hold for another 10 minutes...

Yes, it seems that banks in HK have this terrible knack to make promos as complicated as possible. Why they can't come up with an honest, consistently generous and universal scheme for me to channel ALL my card spending - I just don't understand. Instead, it requires one to have an advanced degree just to dissect the terms.

Slightly OT: Fubon also has a similar promo that earns bonus points. And it requires the cardholder to call a phoneline to perform an automated lucky draw for EVERY transaction above HK$500 to find out how many bonus points are earned for that transaction. However, only up to 6 transactions per month is allowed. Even their points earning scheme for regular spending is awfully complicated - HK$12 per AM normally, HK$6 per AM for spending at weekends but only if the transaction exceeds HK$300, and HK$4 per AM for spending in the cardholder's birthday month, again only if the transaction exceeds HK$300. Now, any lesser mortal would've long given up!!!

tedhl

from my experience being a long time customer of Standard Chartered, having the "standard" Visa Infinite card and also Priority Banking and now the Priority Banking Visa Infinite card...I have to say that their customer service is really very substandard - in terms of the knowledge they have about the products (service attitude wise it's ok). they don't even know many of the standard features/benefits listed clearly in the welcome kits.

chinatown

Having read all of the above, I think I've reached the following conclusion.

IF you dont have any existing promo in place that puts you near $3/mile, Its worth putting all your spending on SCB card, as they are willing to double up your mileage accrual, thus making it $3/mile for local spend. this trumps any other offers in place at the moment. complicated offer yes, but once understood (and god bless you if you do) , its the best deal in town... EXCEPT


if you have transactions which are between 500-1000 dollars, then its worth putting it on Fubon, as they are offering a minimum of 2000 bonus points in the lucky draw. if you get 2000 bonus on $500 worth of spending . then its 2500 pts.. making it 5x bonus points and 2.40 a mile...



now i've done gone and made it that much more complicated




Just use the SCB....

kaka

Hold press.... $3/mile is for SCB AMEX, but Visa/MC is $6/mile, no?

Lulu

DO we need to sign up with this promo? From reading this, I would say yes, but then I don't see a page where we are supposed to sign up. What am I missing?
"7. To be eligible for the Double Up Rewards, cardholders should provide their Asia Miles membership number via website www.standardchartered.com.hk ("Website"). Eligible cardholders will receive a letter of notification from the Bank requesting them to provide their Asia Miles membership number. Details will be set out in the notification letter. If cardholders do not provide the Asia Miles membership number on or before 15 April 2010, all relevant Eligible Transaction amount will not be entitled to any Double Up Rewards. "

kaka

We do need to sign up. however, "ELIGIBLE CARDHOLDERS" make be shudder...