Judgejudy

Yes, I made the same decision. £100 a year fee isnot worth the 'benefits' plus the sercice is dire. CS told me I could 'downgrade' from 1.1.13 online...no sign of how that can be done though!

blindman

Why not cancel the card before the fee and then wait to see if they ask you back for (free)
or

Re-apply after 9-12 months for another 30,000 bonus?

Timed so you get Plat for 2014 of course

mister.c.

I would do it on the phone - it only took me 2/3 minutes today to get through (once I got past putting my details in then I kept hitting hash to get to a human!). I'm getting sick of their website!

My renewal is in 3 weeks time, so I'm leaving it a few more days berfore canceling as I've only just hit the £10k and I have a statement due in a week so it ties in well with that.

LDNConsultant

Just a quick question,

I have just made a reservation for IHG in the US and I am planning to pay for my resort fee with my PC Black Card.

Since I get 4PC points per £1 on all spend at IHG hotels and on spending abroad, does that mean since I am spending abroad and on IHG hotel would that mean I get 8PC per £1 or just 4 PC per £1?

c2lass

We redeemed our free night last week but oh my what terrible terrible service.

We have a booking for next month and wanted to make one of the paid dates our free night. Hubby got the email congratulating him on the free night. Of course had to phone the expensive 0871 number detailed on the email. Must be noted that at the bottom of the email is a geographical number to call if you are calling outside the UK. First hiccup there as I dialled that number to be greeted with "sorry this number is no longer in service".

Eventually get through to a rep on 0871 number to be recognised as a Plat member. Wow this could be good I thought. That thought was soon disbanded. I explained I was wanting to book our free night to be greeted with silence. The girl had no idea what I was talking about and said there was no free night showing on our account Read and re-read the email to her. All she kept saying was nothing on our account.

So, she said she would need to speak to someone and left me hanging and hanging listening to lovely music. After about 10 minutes of hanging a male voice comes on the line with a recorded message saying "sorry our offices are now closed, please call back at......" and I was promptly disconnected. By now my blood was boiling.

I did get it resolved by phoning the 0800 number on the PC website contact details for Staybridge Suites (we are staying in Staybridge next month) and explained the above and I was immediately put through to Guest Relations in UK and the female I dealt with there was extremely helpful and booked me our free night no problem.

Keefy-boy

No you only get 4 points/£ even if both apply.

EDIflyer

I'm considering doing the same, although I must say I've found PC & Hilton cards (both run abysmally by Barclaycard) to be the most sticky about approving, even with excellent credit history - makes it more difficult to churn! I'm Plat for the rest of this year anyway so will think about it later in the year, especially if there's another 40k with no fee promo

trickster

Can I ask how long it took from triggering your free night to receiving the voucher/code/email/whatever! - is it really 6-8 weeks?

louie-m

Mine was less than that - I think about 3 weeks. I think it's tied in with the next statement date after you hit the spend.

c2lass

Although they do reiterate 6-8 weeks ours took 2-3 weeks approximately. We also got the email twice as we also received it 3 days ago, so was wondering if we get another free night

trickster

Thanks for the replies, fingers crossed it will come in soon. My statement date is 10th Feb so a few weeks away.

I've just called up to downgrade from Black to Blue as renewal would be in a couple of weeks. Got a bit of a sell to retain me, but was hoping to have fee waived. No such luck! Just logged into my online account and it's showing as Blue already!

I was reassured that the free night cert is not affected though. I'm also assuming my Platinum status will stay until that expires?

louie-m

Just checked. Qualified 17 December. Received 11 January. Statement issued 13 January so I got that bit wrong!

foxberg

I'd say comparing to the US PCR Chase Select Visa (60K-80k sign-up, PL status, 1 free night every year regardless of spend, 5 points per $1 on spend at hotels, 2 points per $1 at gas stations, grocery stores and restaurants, 10% rebates on points redemption for stays, 1st year free then $49) this is quite an awful deal.

Raffles

There is a new 40k link for the UK card, although no fee refund:

http://headforpoints.com/2013/01/18/...ink-available/

DavesInn

My advice is to watch them like a hawk. At least half of stays do not post bonus points in my experience.

Furthermore, as only a points total for the month is given on the statement, it is not easy to then work out which stays have not posted bonus points (assuming multiple stays in a month). CS totally useless as on most other issues - vague mention of "an IT issue". Only when threatened with Ombudsman did they post my backlog of approx. 3k bonus points and said 'they would keep an eye on my account'. Empty promises - points still not posting. A pitiful card requiring too much effort on my part for the few points awarded.