Economy to Premium Economy Voucher Rant

Interesting issue.

The transaction history we can all call up on our FC statement on the website does only go back a year - I've just looked at my husband's FC acct which opened just over a year ago and the first couple of flights from early/mid April 2014 have now dropped off the bottom.

This is much different to BA where I can easily scroll back the history to when I joined in 2012. Does the data just get wiped from the VS system altogether after 12 months? Easy for them to deny all knowledge anyways...

I actually think VS have acted very professionally here, the problem is with MBNA, VS have offered a solution and the op should be satified, although I can understand the initial frustration............ but, come on life is too short, every day is full of compromises

Why would VS deny knowledge? There is actually a way to see all your history --- Log into your FC account, on Your Account Summary page scroll down to "Last 5 transactions" and press the Update button beside it --- URL line changes and middle section will say statementSelection=0 change the 0 to an 8 and Hey Presto -- your statement from the beginning of time

I actually think VS have acted very professionally here, the problem is with MBNA, VS have offered a solution and the op should be satified, although I can understand the initial frustration............ but, come on life is too short, every day is full of compromises

Why would VS deny knowledge? There is actually a way to see all your history --- Log into your FC account, on Your Account Summary page scroll down to "Last 5 transactions" and press the Update button beside it --- URL line changes and middle section will say statementSelection=0 change the 0 to an 8 and Hey Presto -- your statement from the beginning of time

Well one would like to have faith in VS that they would tell the truth about voucher expiries if you couldn't see it on your account - I wasn't being serious.

Agreed the OP has been treated fairly and generously and it's up to him/her to know when their vouchers expire. I was just keen to know what to expect from the system.

Thanks for the trick for viewing the history though, did it and it worked. Bit obscure for me but might be useful if I forget to redeem an upgrade voucher

Sorry to ask the same question again - but I really don't understand why you are lambasting VS for this..?

MBNA issue the voucher - and they have issued it on the wrong / different dates. For this reason, VS wont give you an upgrade against a voucher that isn't in your account. However, they have found a fix for this - and you get your upgrade. You say you want to use your points, but wont use VS again - which seems a little contradictory...

So I guess my question is still, how is this VS's fault..? As far as they see it you don't have a voucher in your account so you cant use it - MBNA have failed to issue this. To use my earlier analogy - would a shop accept a voucher that is 'in the post', no they would not. They would request payment and then, if they were nice they might offer a refund once you have the voucher - but I very much doubt it.

The voucher is a way to gain customers - use our card and we will offer you this (yes, it benefits VS too) but its predominantly a bonus for being a card holder. Therefore, logic would dictate that its their issue to correct..?

I also assume, that you will be leaving MBNA as well as VS because of this - or will it just be VS that lose your custom..?

Sorry to ask the same question again - but I really don't understand why you are lambasting VS for this..?

MBNA issue the voucher - and they have issued it on the wrong / different dates. For this reason, VS wont give you an upgrade against a voucher that isn't in your account. However, they have found a fix for this - and you get your upgrade. You say you want to use your points, but wont use VS again - which seems a little contradictory...

So I guess my question is still, how is this VS's fault..? As far as they see it you don't have a voucher in your account so you cant use it - MBNA have failed to issue this. To use my earlier analogy - would a shop accept a voucher that is 'in the post', no they would not. They would request payment and then, if they were nice they might offer a refund once you have the voucher - but I very much doubt it.

The voucher is a way to gain customers - use our card and we will offer you this (yes, it benefits VS too) but its predominantly a bonus for being a card holder. Therefore, logic would dictate that its their issue to correct..?

I also assume, that you will be leaving MBNA as well as VS because of this - or will it just be VS that lose your custom..?

MBNA issue the voucher & Virgin add it to my account.
However, somehow my voucher for last year expired before my account anniversary.

My voucher for 2013/14 expired on April 9th
My anniversary date for the account is 14th April
That is a separate issue & no idea if one is to blame over the other.

MBNA T&C say the voucher is issued ON the anniversary date (not before), but can take upto 30 days to notify VS - and a further 7 days to be added to my account. This could take me up to May to around late May.

VS T&C's say the voucher is valid from the date it is applied to my account.

So we wont know for sure who is to blame until 2014/15 hits my account.

If VS tell me, my new voucher 2014/15 is only vailid until some time in April 2016, then we know they are breaking their T&C's as it is not being applied to my account the date it is applied & I would not have 12 months to use it (as I currently cant use it!)

IF it is valid from towards the end of May 2016, then we know MBNA are at fault & I will ask them why/how they issued the previous year voucher early - they would have to have issued it last week of January, for it to be active in my account for April!!!!

VS have been more than helpful 9 (MBNA on the other hand.... grrrrrrrrr) I was lucky I had the miles in my account to at least get the 2x seats I wanted. My miles account now reflects this.

If I did not, then god knows what the solution would have been & quite probable the seats would not be available. VS would not have been able to help in this instance.

However, VS have been in contact with me & have assured that they will get to the bottom of the issue. Unlike MBNA who told me complaints department will be in contact in a few days.

For your final question.. yes, I will leave MBNA if I decide to collect avios, as I will use them more. Want to buy property in between the Coast & Ski resort Sierra Nevada (where amazingly over 30 ski runs are still open today out of over 100) & Virgin dont fly to Grenada or Alicante or Malaga or Murcia

Seriously off-topic but triggered by topic so hopefully allowed ...

Always enjoy reading the posts on V-Flyer (this thread, though maybe a little heated at times, being no exception). I do remember reading somewhere on here before the tip given by International Hitman for looking at your history since year dot with VS .... this time I decided to try it.

Now I'm exhausted after 90+ minutes of browsing and recollecting where I went and what happened on all those trips.

So thanks for triggering those memories (and was it really 2008 that my first Upper experience took place on BGI-LGW? Getting old... and used to getting spoiled now!).

I'm going to post a topic to see if others have some memories triggered that they want to share!

I'm in same position too.

About to book reward flights but noticed my vouchers expired 23 April.

No new ones added to account recently. In past I'm sure they used to appear on the same anniversary date.

Like you I may have enough miles for the upgrade so will quote you to see if I can get a refund of miles once the vouchers appear.

my anniversary date is the 13th April
April 2014 voucher was applied with an expiry date of April 9th 2015

So far no voucher has been applied for year 2015 with an expiry of 2016

I have checked my statements & stopped counting once I knew the Amex card was over £10k (only Amex spend counts - the visa card spend does not)

Good to know I am not the only person with this issue.

Update on this post:
Just read the 'Memories from VS history on Flying Club' post on this forum and can now see all my VS miles earning back to 2008 when I joined flying club.

The Amex upgrade vouchers have until this year always been issued within a week of the anniversary date - and often exactly 365 days later.
I'm still waiting for mine to post but it seems something is happening to delay these vouchers this year.

I think some of you are missing the point here, If virgin give MBNA free will to use their branding and logo across their products then Jo Blogs as a consumer has a right to think if things go wrong its VS fault - rightly or wrong, at the least Vs could do is chase it up with their contacts at MBNA - as its not the image of MBNA that is getting tarnished.

Being pinged between two companies is frustrating and unacceptable really. It may be MBNA fault (and I know just how bad they are) but its VS branding splashed over everything they issue, at the least VS should message MBNA to get it sorted.

If the OP is not happy then you can contact the FOS- they will contact MBNA for you. Before you do that though I would message MBNA with your concerns, They will have 8 weeks to resolve the issue for you.

Have I said it is solely VA fault? & I very much doubt MBNA get 'free' use of VA branding.

VA have actually tried to resolve the issue, while I am still waiting for a response from MBNA - which will come via the post. Nobody with balls will chat to me about the issue.

If it is MBNA at fault, then I will be taking things as far as necessary, because I will also want to know why last year voucher was applied earlier than my anniversary date.

The only way VS are at fault is if they apply my voucher to my account after my anniversary date, but the voucher is valid to my anniversary date.

So atm I have no voucher on my account. Its MBNA who issue the voucher. So they at the present time are in fault.

MBNA issue the voucher & Virgin add it to my account.
However, somehow my voucher for last year expired before my account anniversary.

My voucher for 2013/14 expired on April 9th
My anniversary date for the account is 14th April
That is a separate issue & no idea if one is to blame over the other.

MBNA T&C say the voucher is issued ON the anniversary date (not before), but can take upto 30 days to notify VS - and a further 7 days to be added to my account. This could take me up to May to around late May.

VS T&C's say the voucher is valid from the date it is applied to my account.

So we wont know for sure who is to blame until 2014/15 hits my account.

If VS tell me, my new voucher 2014/15 is only vailid until some time in April 2016, then we know they are breaking their T&C's as it is not being applied to my account the date it is applied & I would not have 12 months to use it (as I currently cant use it!)

IF it is valid from towards the end of May 2016, then we know MBNA are at fault & I will ask them why/how they issued the previous year voucher early - they would have to have issued it last week of January, for it to be active in my account for April!!!!

VS have been more than helpful 9 (MBNA on the other hand.... grrrrrrrrr) I was lucky I had the miles in my account to at least get the 2x seats I wanted. My miles account now reflects this.

If I did not, then god knows what the solution would have been & quite probable the seats would not be available. VS would not have been able to help in this instance.

However, VS have been in contact with me & have assured that they will get to the bottom of the issue. Unlike MBNA who told me complaints department will be in contact in a few days.

For your final question.. yes, I will leave MBNA if I decide to collect avios, as I will use them more. Want to buy property in between the Coast & Ski resort Sierra Nevada (where amazingly over 30 ski runs are still open today out of over 100) & Virgin dont fly to Grenada or Alicante or Malaga or Murcia

Hey there Eggs

I can totally understand your frustration - left hand not talking to the right hand... When these things happen, and they happen too often for my liking - they are almost impossible to sort out and its the customer that get the short straw.

I'm glad you have it half way sorted, let us know what happens after and what route you decide to take!

Dan

29 Apr 2015 VAA Credit Card Econ>Premium Reward Upgrade 0

I have been checking every day & I only just noticed it.
Certain it wasn't there this morning when I checked.

29 Apr 2015 VAA Credit Card Econ>Premium Reward Upgrade 0

I have been checking every day & I only just noticed it.
Certain it wasn't there this morning when I checked.

ditto for us yesterday pm. About as late as it possibly could have been after the anniv.

Great news both!

Thanks to this thread, I called MBNA (and think was redirected to VS) today to find out what would happen if I wanted to cancel my card at the anniversary date, since the annual fees are all or nothing (i.e.no partial refunds). I was initially told that the only way to not lose my upgrade vouchers would be to renew for another year, since it will take up to 30 days to post

I challenged them of course on this point as if this is the case, you are effectively losing this benefit for year 1 - paying the £150 annual fee would get you only the points and a useless companion voucher, but without the possibility of receiving the more valuable upgrade vouchers. I would certainly consider this to be misleading and misadvertisement.

The agent sensed my frustration (it was hard to miss really ) and checked with his supervisor. I was then advised that the best thing to do is to pay the annual fee for the second year, and to make sure I don't use my cards after the anniversary date. Then as soon as my vouchers arrive I need to call them to cancel the cards, and they will refund the fee. It's not the easiest but at least a solution.

Thought I'd share it here as I know some of you are thinking about doing the same ("churning" cards between family members, different cards etc), in case it would be of interest.

Thanks.
I would have used the magic words Financial Ombudsman.
I hope you marked the person's name & time of the call, so they can listen to the call when they challenge you in 30 days!

I am waiting for MBNA to call me. I am really disappointed with their service.
Remarkable how 2 companies work together but are the complete opposite when dealing with their customers.

Thanks.
I would have used the magic words Financial Ombudsman.
I hope you marked the person's name & time of the call, so they can listen to the call when they challenge you in 30 days!

I am waiting for MBNA to call me. I am really disappointed with their service.
Remarkable how 2 companies work together but are the complete opposite when dealing with their customers.

Yep I certainly did! I took their employee number, too

Great news both!

Thanks to this thread, I called MBNA (and think was redirected to VS) today to find out what would happen if I wanted to cancel my card at the anniversary date, since the annual fees are all or nothing (i.e.no partial refunds). I was initially told that the only way to not lose my upgrade vouchers would be to renew for another year, since it will take up to 30 days to post

I challenged them of course on this point as if this is the case, you are effectively losing this benefit for year 1 - paying the £150 annual fee would get you only the points and a useless companion voucher, but without the possibility of receiving the more valuable upgrade vouchers. I would certainly consider this to be misleading and misadvertisement.

The agent sensed my frustration (it was hard to miss really ) and checked with his supervisor. I was then advised that the best thing to do is to pay the annual fee for the second year, and to make sure I don't use my cards after the anniversary date. Then as soon as my vouchers arrive I need to call them to cancel the cards, and they will refund the fee. It's not the easiest but at least a solution.

Thought I'd share it here as I know some of you are thinking about doing the same ("churning" cards between family members, different cards etc), in case it would be of interest.

That's an interesting point mrsw, but I think you were misinformed in the first pace there. The vouchers are advertised, and confirmed in the T&Cs as being awarded on specific spend thresholds and are issued annually. So the agent was wrong to tell you that you would have to renew for another year because of how long it takes to post them to your account. That's a bit like being held to ransom suggesting they're earned on renewal. Surely you should be able to cancel on the anniversary date before renewal and the vouchers should still post in however many days it takes as MBNA should tell VS you hit the qualifying spend. As usual, one company doesn't know what the other is doing and none of the customer service agents are singing from the same sheet.

I shall be cancelling my black Amex this year on anniversary, I've had it 2 years, haven't yet used the 2 PE vouchers I earned last and have hit the spend target for 2 more, got a shed load of miles and need to start collecting elsewhere for a while. I shall certainly not stand for being told I've got to renew, have the £150 fee charged to my account and then not spend anything in order to get a refund only after my vouchers have been awarded. As has been suggested, Financial Ombudsman!

Thanks to this thread, I called MBNA (and think was redirected to VS) today to find out what would happen if I wanted to cancel my card at the anniversary date, since the annual fees are all or nothing (i.e.no partial refunds). I was initially told that the only way to not lose my upgrade vouchers would be to renew for another year, since it will take up to 30 days to post

I challenged them of course on this point as if this is the case, you are effectively losing this benefit for year 1 - paying the £150 annual fee would get you only the points and a useless companion voucher, but without the possibility of receiving the more valuable upgrade vouchers. I would certainly consider this to be misleading and misadvertisement.

The agent sensed my frustration (it was hard to miss really ) and checked with his supervisor. I was then advised that the best thing to do is to pay the annual fee for the second year, and to make sure I don't use my cards after the anniversary date. Then as soon as my vouchers arrive I need to call them to cancel the cards, and they will refund the fee. It's not the easiest but at least a solution.

^^ agreed with Bretty.. there is no condition that you have to renew to receive the reward.. Arguably you do have to hold the card for a year to get the vouchers, but the wording is ambiguous enough to hypothetically reach the spend threshold for two vouchers within a month and then cancel the card - MBNA would then technically have another 11 months before they would have to award the vouchers. Whilst you would no longer be an MBNA card holder, you reached the reward threshold within the year as stated and held a valid FC account....

Hope it all pans out for you mrsw

Bretty and Joey - I forgot to say that I raised exactly that point but the agent insisted that if I cancelled and waited for the vouchers, they would not arrive.

I think I'll try calling again in a few weeks, and see if they would tell me something different.

Bretty and Joey - I forgot to say that I raised exactly that point but the agent insisted that if I cancelled and waited for the vouchers, they would not arrive.

I think I'll try calling again in a few weeks, and see if they would tell me something different.

sounds like that would be a breach of contract imo.
TBH I think you was just fed a line as the representative didn't know the answer.. or their supervisor.

I would imagine the MBNA staff answer calls for all MBNA issued cards, so may not know the ins & outs of Virgin's Card.

Mention financial ombudsman & they will soon transfer you to a higher level.

Any complaint made to a financial ombudsman & is investigated means the company in question has to pay the Ombudsman. So they like any issue not to go that far.

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/f ... ng_a5.html

£550 each complaint after the 25th complaint!

Bretty and Joey - I forgot to say that I raised exactly that point but the agent insisted that if I cancelled and waited for the vouchers, they would not arrive. n(

I think I'll try calling again in a few weeks, and see if they would tell me something different.

How did you get on with this?

Thanks for the reminder. Actually the two PE vouchers were posted to my FC account the day before the card anniversary so it had turned out to be a non-issue

Thanks for the reminder. Actually the two PE vouchers were posted to my FC account the day before the card anniversary so it had turned out to be a non-issue

Thanks, can I ask how your two vouchers are displayed in your FC account?
Did they post as two line entries or one?

I'm currently in dispute with MBNA for bringing forward they year end by 5 days.

It was posted as two separate lines like this:

22 Jun 2015 VAA Credit Card Econ>Premium Reward Upgrade 0 0
22 Jun 2015 VAA Credit Card Econ>Premium Reward Upgrade 0 0

Good luck with your dispute!

Thanks.

I have now had my issue resolved after VERY robustly standing my ground for a week.
... as MBNA had actually moved my year end (bringing it forward) by nearly a week.

I'd only originally planned to trigger one voucher, and had put everything through my main (other) cards once hitting the target. But given the number of Amex cashback offers there had been, then some unexpected spend (before I'd paid down and freed limit on my top paying card) sent me back to the VS black, so I ended up close to the second threshold.

Accordingly I was going to wait until the final week, to see what other Amex offers may have appeared, then do some gift voucher spending etc, plus re-direct the day to day stuff to get me just over the line.

But then it happened: year end processed one week early!
And so began many rounds of arguments with front line muppets at MBNA who claimed they were entitled to change the collection date when they wished.

I pointed out that while the collection day may change (that is a different argument), they simply could not (1) charge a card free for a year then only give 359 days of validly against that, and (2) offer a deal whereby you have a year to put through 10k spend to get two voucher but only allow 359 days, etc.

They just kept returning to their argument that "year has ended, because collection date changed" and that this is something they are allowed to do.

Then they argued I hadn't spent 10k in the year (even the true year - when they added the txns that were in the overlap window).
This should have been a factual matter - but took agest for them to 'confirm'.

Eventually sorted: second voucher now added to my flying club account (back dated to same posting date as originally voucher), so I now have the two line entries (thanks again for confirming this was how it should be)

N.b. I hold other MBNA loyalty credit cards, including some others with annual fees. But I've never been trying to get just over a threshold spend target on one by the card year end, it has always been signup bonuses, so I've not looked too closely at when my years have ended exactly. I'm just going to try to check this now, as if they bring them forwards by just 3 days etc that is an effective 1% increase in annual fee revenue for them!
So just keep your eye on it creeping forward.

What a stressful experience! Well done on standing your ground and getting the MBNA people to give you the voucher that you clearly earned. To be honest personally I have not enjoyed the calls that I have had with MBNA re the VS card, as I haven't found the call centre to be either well informed, consistent, or friendly. Not a great combination!