5k point certif. off of ebay?
 

I was browsing through ebay and I saw this auction for a certificate which is for five thousand points. I was never aware that they're are such certificate's. I was thinking that this guy might just tell the winner to register using the WINE code...

Ebay link

I just bought one for $14.99. Will let everyone know after I receive if it works. Figured for $14.99 not too much to lose and if it works its a great deal.

I went a head a bought one also, what the heck. I don't see how someone could be selling the WINE promo code since that requires stays to qualify, and description does not say anything about that.

I emailed the seller and received this response:

What do you think? FWIW, the price seems to have gone up.

It sounds like one of our daring FTers who have spent the 14.95 could pass along the info after the fact to benefit the rest of us.

I promise a reputation "bling" to the first post in this thread that does so. :)

From the following auction http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...165372233&rd=1 it seems like a certificate from the "MasterCard Weekends Matter Promotion."

$50 - Ouch
 

Yea, this guy wants $50 , but there are at least 8 other auctions.

I got one a couple of weeks ago for $20 or so. Worked like a charm. Points showed up right away in my account as soon as I was off the phone. That put me over the 15,000 I needed for a PH Tokyo night. So in a week I went from 0 to 15000.

Hyatt Arlington - 140 x 5 = 700
Hyatt Arlington 2000 GP bonus points
Hyatt Arlington 2500 WINE #1
Hyatt Crystal City 139 x 5 = 695
Hyatt Crystal City 2000 GP bonus points
Hyatt Crystal City 2500 WINE #2
EBAY certificate 5000 GP bonus points

total of 15395 in one week - $279 in company paid rooms and $20 EBAY cert = free night in PH Tokyo in two weeks....a room that goes for $500ish. Not bad!

I've given it a go as well - $16.99 just PayPal'd off. We'll see what happens!

I only ever have my Hyatt stays posted as miles, but will use this for a suite upgrade if I can snag another 1,000 points somehow.

It was only four hours ago (see post above) that I placed my order, and the US would still have been asleep then. The seller, UMDannyBoy, emailed me half an hour ago saying he had my payment and - if I emailed my Gold Passport number - he would sort out the points for me.

I did as he asked, and 10 minutes later got another e-mail saying it had been done. Sure enough, I checked my account and the 5,000 points were there.

Bid no further. Information attached.
 

Here is the scoop. I bought one, and received an email from the seller that states the following:

Hi Divaof Travel,

Thanks for your purchase and speedy payment.

Please call 1800-30-Hyatt to claim your award, and request Offer Code ****** to activate your points. This is a MasterCard International promotion with Hyatt. They will ask for your Gold Passport account number and your zip code and the points will be deposited to you account immediately.

Let me know how it go and enjoy the Hyatt stay,

P.S. If you still want me to send the instrction, please let me know.


I called GP, and they informed me this was from last summer's MasterCard promotion. If you won the 5,000 points on the scratch card and mailed it in, you received a letter from MC with the offer code shown above. I called GP with the code, and they indeed credited my account.

This is quite a scam, but I did get 5,000 points. The rest of you should be able to get the 5000 points without having to buy the information on eBay. Unless of course HGP closes the offer down!

Just got the exact same email as Diva. It is quite the scam, reselling the same promo code over and over again.

Is it really safe giving someone your GP account number when they also would have your zip code (and indeed, complete address) from your payment? Doesn't this give them pretty much full access to your account, since Hyatt only seem to ever ask for my zip code for account security?

It also seems strange that Hyatt wouldn't be able to "track" these "winning" promo codes. If they're just giving 5K points to anyone who, through any means, happens to know this code, then it seems they're being taken advantage of, too (i.e., both buyers and Hyatt are scammed). :td:

Now I have a dilemma. I just bought one of these from umdannyboy (before the diva posted her results). I don't want to take advantage of Hyatt, since they've been very very good to me. But, I also don't just want to have thrown $18.49 down the toilet. I certainly wouldn't want to contribute to Hyatt pulling back on their great promotions, either, because everyone is abusing them. :eek: What do you think? :(

I must be honest, I didn't know this involved a generic code. I assumed the seller had got a personalised voucher (like the one Priority Club send out with Ambassador packages) which could be used once only.

Given that these things must have been on E-Bay for ages, you would think that Hyatt would have stopped it by now if it was a problem. However, if we leave it on FT, there will be a rush of sign-ups given that the WINE promo thread has over 3,500 views. Hyatt also lurks here as we know. We could pull the thread, but someone else will only post it again at some point. Given that the vouchers are a strict 'one per person', at least there won't be any major exploitation.