leftpinky

So I did a churn the other day of six cards. I got approved for five of them (Shappire, Ink bold, AMEX Plat, and the Citi AA visa + AMEX). I was denied for the US Airways card because I already had it and they wouldn't approve a second.

Anyway, I used the link off of The Points Guy's website for 50k after 2500 spend within 4 months. I've seen the thread and thought it was the same offer as presented in the thread, 50k after meeting spend, plus $150 AA credit on each.

After I got it, I looked at the benefits and didn't see the $150. I went to the thread and saw it was a different link. I guess his link was the best he could get an affiliate agreement for.

I guess it turns out you can't really trust the bloggers to give you the best link even though they read all these threads multiple times a day. Was rather disappointed when I saw I would lose out on the $300 credit for two cards.

I like to spread my cards around to the three of four bloggers I read consistently, but this has given me some food for thought. So at the best least, if he doesn't get a referral fee, then he should have given all the best offers. If he does get a fee, then he purposely put an offer that isn't the best out there.

Anyone else have similar experiences or thoughts?

Edit: TPG says he does not get a referral bonus for this offer, so perhaps he just put an offer that was the best at the time of his post, but did not update as better offers became available.

pointspinnacle

well I used his (TPG) links as well but that was because i didn't care about the AA statement credit. I only cared about the $1000 lower spend between both cards. Maybe I am dumb, dunno?


Maybe he thinks the lower spend requirement is better than the statement credit? I do agree with you its probably he gets a good cut off of that link as opposed to the other offers.

I do think Daraius at MMS is very transparent in his links however.

saacman5033

I can understand the frustration, but I would guess that your above quoted statements are mostly baseless accusations.

My guess is that it's simply a case of TPG being unaware of the better offer. That said, no I don't trust any one blogger as a complete source of information/offers I might need but that doesn't mean I distrust any particular blogger.

biggestbopper

I have said some harsh things about bloggers (could it just be I wish I was that industrious ?) but, here I suspect TPG is doing his best. Hard to keep up with all the offers. @:-)

With that said, I have gotten some very good deals from bloggers, probably a lot more from reading FT--and, I say thanks to all who contribute to our great hobby.

See you in first class! ^

aaexnonrev

Daraius at million mile secrets has never done me wrong and he is very upfront about his links and if there are better offers out there

crazypalooza

I highly doubt that was intentional. He is pretty transparent imho particularly lately regarding amex referals.

HMPS

yes, I have "used " Darius at MM Secrets too. No complaints.

WineCountryFlyer

I think the lesson learned here is "do your own homework". Are you really trying to blame somebody because you didn't thoroughly read what you were signing up for? I'm sure Brian has a reason for having it listed as his best offer as typically a lower spend to get the bonus is the hurdle with CC's. Call it a lesson learned and move on. If you don't think he's helping you then just don't read his blog.

longhorn11

Well said. I personally gather info from all the blogs I read, plus info from FT before I make a decision to app for a certain card.

There are just so many variables - minimum spend, annual fees (waived/not waived), statement credits, point differences, length of offer, etc.) You really need to gather all of the information on your own and then analyze the best offer for your situation.

sun_aa

Keeping track of all offers requires quite a bit of work. Just looking at the first post in the threads in milesbuzz isn't enough either. There might be something better mentioned in a later post by someone else. This is why the sticky maintained by UA FAN is a very useful resource and should be the starting point of any app-o-rama research. I don't know of any blogger who mentions this sticky in their deals page.

If you want to compare bloggers, MMS seems to be doing a better job than TPG. TPG's top deals page has a bunch of deals which aren't top in any sense of the word.

CodeAdam10

Here we go again...'he made me do it, damnit!'

Please do your own due deligence before signing up for any offer. If you didn't, then so sad and too bad!

Can you "trust" any blogger blindly? I wouldn't know, apparently you did. I also don't remember seeing a "NON-PROFIT" sign on TPG's or any other travel blog.

murphbc

It's got to be hard to stay on top of all the offers. Just look at how many offers there are in the MilesBuzz forum. I like having a few people already organize and bubble up the best offers for me. That said, it always pays to look around and compare the offers from multiple websites. While most are similar, they can vary a bit in the details.

leftpinky

I'm not blaming him per say, but when he lists it as top deals and then it is not, then yeah, I'm a bit baffled. I did look through many of the threads, but there are pages and pages of offers, counteroffers, etc. It's not easy to keep track of anything. When it's listed as top deals, then it should be the best deal/deals. Perhaps I did confuse him with Darius who is always up front.

I do think TPG offers a lot on his blog. I also think it is very well written and thorough. That's perhaps why I was so disappointed. Of all the blogs, his probably the most consistently interesting and well researched.

With that said, I do consider it a lesson learned and am moving on.

mnscout

I seriously doubt that Citi pays their affiliates commissions on any of their 50,000 miles cards. There are AAdvantage cards with considerably lower bonuses that pay affiliate fees, but not these ones.

flyerfrog

I'd just like to add that a 25k bonus for the Amex premier gold card has been listed here at flyertalk for a while, but The Points Guy and One Mile at a Time have created posts about this offer today saying that amex just came out with a new offer. It's only new for getting a commission to sign up, they couldn't get a commission off the offer listed here at flyertalk. That said, both websites are an excellent source of information and are on my list of daily reads.