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@davefl – there is no contractual offer and acceptance that guarantees you will get an Avios payout. The eStore attempts to get a fee from the merchant and, if successful, they pay you a share in Avios. When a transaction is denied the eStore loses out as well.
I’m not defending the indefensible as I’m not offering any defence of anybody, but by understanding the process and how this type of marketing works, I can see how / why some of these transactions are failing and also that the ire shouldn’t be directed at the eStore which is entirely powerless.
Its the same business model as Top Cashback. But whereas TCB pays out more than 95% of the time (IME), it seems that IAG do not.
I’ve only had an issue with one transaction, which was a John Lewis purchase where my phone automatically opened up the app at some point in the process and I’m assuming that stopped the tracking.
Everything else has posted fine, but then I haven’t tried to book stays at Hiltons where there’s obviously an issue.
I gave up on the e-store a few years back due to these issues, the last straw was when I had some avios clawed back from a local retailer who when I contacted them directly said that they were unaware that this was happening and there was nothing about my order which breached the Ts and Cs!
I have recently given it another chance as I needed to make several hotel bookings on booking.com where the usual loyalty benefits don’t apply, and several readers had posted about positive experiences.
I have noticed that each time a booking tracks I get an email confirming the number of avios I should receive, which never used to happen previously. I don’t know if this has any impact on the likelihood of the avios ultimately being awarded?
My hotel stays aren’t until next year, but I have also used the e-store for some Viator bookings coming up in the 2-3 months so I’ll be keeping a close eye on those!
Re Hilton, the company resposible for not paying out is Awin. Here are the reviews from their customers:
https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/awin.com
https://ui.awin.com/merchant-profile-terms/3624
Wlll the pass the HFP spam filter?
@davefl – as an alternative to criticising me for something I haven’t done, why not track down the names of the relevant people at Hilton (these types like to advertise their roles eg on LinkedIn) and write to them directly. They will be surprised to hear from you and may well assist but the problem will simply keep reoccurring unless people agitate for change.
@JDB – if the eStore are finding – as appears to be reliably the case judging by the number of similar posts on here over the years – that Hilton are rejecting the vast majority of claims, then if eStore were good guys perhaps they should stop dealing with them rather than imply (by continuing to use them) that valid transactions will be paid? I don’t agree that eStore come out of this whiter than white (if you are still allowed to say that!).
@louie – the eStore is essentially just an admin function so they aren’t really going to take up anything on behalf of customers even if they should. I wonder if they even record the number of rejections.
I’m not entirely sure why hotel companies are even on these site save perhaps because of endless pressure from owners to do absolutely anything to improve the % of direct bookers which remains pitiful and of course the OTAs are on affiliate sites.
As to what you are and aren’t allowed to say or now what pronouns to use etc, it’s a blooming minefield…
I have found JL to track and pay out every time, including now where visiting shopping.ba.com and directing me to JL actually opens up their mobile app (annoyingly) but the transaction still tracks and they do then pay out.
There are clearly however controls behind the scenes, as JL retrospectively claw back in the event I return something. It may be some time after the event but they end up reversing the old transaction and then posting a new (lower) amount to reflect the return of some items.
The links used to work for me up until maybe last year. Then anytime I try it recently, there is a history of tracking of the transaction etc but it never comes to fruition. I tried multiple ways since, Adblockers are turned off and any BA portal / link / tracking is enabled and whitelisted. Not sure what happened – I got easily 50K Avios with it over a few years but so far, nothing this year worked..
For what it’s worth, I used to book Hilton stays through TopCashback (mentioned above) and, having just checked my historical transactions, every one was declined there too.
@davefl – as an alternative to criticising me for something I haven’t done, why not track down the names of the relevant people at Hilton (these types like to advertise their roles eg on LinkedIn) and write to them directly. They will be surprised to hear from you and may well assist but the problem will simply keep reoccurring unless people agitate for change.
I did consider writing to the director of marketing at Hilton but having experienced the response to (being completely ignored) in the Hilton (invitation only) community board it’s utterly pointless. On that forum Hilton kept asking our opinions on upcoming changes such as the breakfast benefit in the US. Pretty much every change was met with derision from the participants but was still implemented. Basically telling us that Hilton don’t give a crap about its customers. That forum has now been closed, the implication being that they don’t want our views any more.
Because if you read the Awin link I posted they make 4% on every transactions. (If Awin pay out)
@NorthernLass I use Avios e-store for booking dot com and never had an issue with them paying – can be a month or 2 after the stay. Likewise Viator bookings have paid – they can be slower, maybe 2-3 months after.
I’ve always found if you
1. Link to an app rather than the website it doesn’t work
2. Buy from anywhere you have any kind of loyalty program e.g. Holland &Barrett failed for me as I have their reward card, it doesn’t work either – it’s regarded as having another form of discount/code etc.I have only used the portal to book hotel stays via booking.com and it has always paid out. Generally I have quite a good success rate with only a few a year (vitabiotics, I am looking at you) not paying or being partially clawed back.
I probably make about 200 purchases via the app (having made sure I have cleared my browser history and cookies beforehand) a year.
I take a screen grab or video of the whole process of me clicking after having issues with TCB and estore 7-8 years ago. I even sent a letter before action to Collinson once after getting nowhere with CS and the credited Avios soon after. Now, if it happens (rarely even for Hilton), I just send them the video grab.
I had 3 Hilton bookings cancelled by the eStore last night – the thing is though they are all for future bookings so I would have presumed that they were not even in-line to be assessed for an Avios award. Strangely the one booking I have completed is still pending but it was less than 120 days ago so will wait to see what transpires.
I can’t comment on the eStore, as we use TCB. Rules of the game:
1. Delete all relevant cookies if you’ve looked at sites directly (quite easy to do via browser help). Not always required, but YMMV
2. Make sure your ad/cookie-blocker is off
3. Read the T&Cs re: additional promo codes or discountsOver the years we have claimed almost £3k CASH from TCB, had £120 declined and a few that needed manual processing. At no point have we ever paid more than booking directly/other website – basically just free money. I like free money.
I’m purposefully not putting my refferal ID on here, because I don’t want the positive post about TCB to look like a way to just make money. But if you want it let me know 😉
I take a screen grab or video of the whole process of me clicking after having issues with TCB and estore 7-8 years ago. I even sent a letter before action to Collinson once after getting nowhere with CS and the credited Avios soon after. Now, if it happens (rarely even for Hilton), I just send them the video grab.
Could you please share an email or how you contact Collinson? I also take screenshots so can provide evidence.
@louie – the eStore is essentially just an admin function so they aren’t really going to take up anything on behalf of customers even if they should. I wonder if they even record the number of rejections.
Sounds like poor management to me. Plenty of people (including me) are saying they don’t use eStore because of its poor reputation for paying out. If they kept records of the top companies for rejections, they could weed out those causing them reputational damage. After proving to be reliable, many of those not using them now would reconsider.
I use a separate browser for all of these types of transactions, search in Chrome buy in Firefox. I’ll use TCB more often than not because of its reliability, I then use Avios Boost after the payout. I’ve had too many BA eStore transactions denied to use that unless there’s particularly strong offer.
@louie – It’s not really poor management as there is no management to manage this; it’s simply an order processor. They will attempt to dispute claims for you but they can’t be sure which party is right, so I’m not sure what you want them to do. It’s outsourced by BA and when you lose they lose too. Also, BA says there are 800 retailers on the site (probably not all in the UK) – how many of those are problematic?
As I said in my first post on this thread, it’s always the same when this topic comes up – it works well for some people and not others. A few positive reports, even today. The system fundamentally works and I don’t think the negative reputation is that widespread. Hilton is clearly an issue and hopefully someone affected will take it up with the right people there.
@S879 I only have the old email address support@gate365.zendesk.com when they used ZenDesk otherwise it’s via Missing Avios enquiry but I maybe had to do it twice since the pandemic. If you want to send snail mail you can do at the following address:
Collinson International Limited
3 More London Riverside, London, SE1 2AQ, United Kingdom.Also had my recent Hilton stay declined in an email I woke up to this morning. 😡
Funnily enough I’ve had 4 emails today telling me 4 Hilton transactions have been cancelled. I’ve NEVER had a single confirmed transaction with Hilton Hotels. For everything else though I’ve not really had an issue.
“As I’ve said before on these threads, it’s nothing to do with the companies themselves, it’s the affiliate marketing companies. Hilton’s one has never paid through the estore.”
@davefl I’d disagree with this (ish), having started my working life in the affiliate marketing industry I know how these things work. Avios is using the Hilton affiliate program via AWIN (called Affiliate Window back in the day). They where great to work with but they seem to be awful now and have been for quite a number of years. Even now I see my old work friends write LinkedIn posts about how bad they are, not paying, no response to emails etc…. The thing here is that the purchase/booking is being recorded/tracked by AWIN. So we know it’s not the affiliate network, the issue here is AWIN will need Hilton to validate/confirm which of the tracked transactions need to be marked as confirmed (as in the guest stayed and paid in full). This seems to be where Hilton are playing the game and marking transactions as cancelled to reduce the amount they pay out. AWIN probably won’t question it as they won’t want to lose a high profile customer from their books. Plus Hilton may do it in a way that doesn’t look suspicious. I.e. ensure the average number of cancelled transactions are the same month after month.There’s A LOT of dodgy stuff in the affiliate industry.
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