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Amex gift cards disappear from portals
Recently, the best cash back rates for buying Amex gift cards have been through BeFrugal and TopCashBack. Yesterday afternoon a reader alerted me that Amex gift cards had disappeared from both portals. Then, later in the day, as I reported in this Quick Deal, BigCrumbs sent the following message to many of their customers:
“American Express Gift Cards just informed us that today will be the last day to purchase their cards until further notice. Their links are dropping off at other cash back sites as we speak. Hurry and shop with BigCrumbs now through midnight tonight Eastern Standard Time to earn the highest cash back available.”
Kudos to BigCrumbs for alerting readers and giving them a last chance at portal cash back. There is no word yet on whether this change is permanent or temporary. The best approach, in my opinion, is to assume it is permanent, but be happily surprised if / when Amex gift cards return to portals.
17K miles for $10 posted
In June, I posted a Quick Deal: “Over 17,000 Singapore Krisflyer miles for less than $10, and more…” which was, in turn, based upon this Might Travels post. The Singapore Airlines shopping portal, KrisFlyer Spree, had a couple of ridiculously good offers..
17,077 miles for purchasing LifeLock (for less than $10 per month):
And, 23,077 miles for buying a premium domain name from Network solutions:
It turned out that both of these offers were portal mistakes. Just in case it would be honored, though, I had bought one of each: a LifeLock membership and a domain. Unfortunately, there was a problem with my domain registration and so my Network Solutions order was never processed. The LifeLock purchase went through fine. I even let them charge my credit card for a few months before cancelling.
No miles ever showed up in my account, so I recently submitted a support ticket through the KrisFlyer Spree portal. Yesterday, my ticket was approved and 17,077 miles show as approved in the portal! Did you buy into either of these? What were your results? If you’re still waiting for miles, I highly recommend that you open a support ticket.
It’s safe to buy office supplies for 5X
Recently I reported that Office Depot and OfficeMax online orders were not necessarily earning 5 points per dollar with Chase Ink cards (see this post). It was a false alarm. I’m sincerely sorry about alarming anyone. Readers have confirmed getting 5X recently, and the original reporter of this news has confirmed that it turned out to be a weird reporting issue: his bonus points had actually posted but a year to date report from Chase said otherwise.
AA is back on Orbitz
American Airlines flights are once again bookable via Orbitz. This also means that you can once again book AA flights (including free one-ways) using FlexPerks points online.
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[…] Amex gift cards disappear from portals for a few weeks each year – usually late in the year (see this 2014 report and this 2013 report, for example). When they return to portals, the standard portal rebates are […]
Thanks for the heads up! I also open a ticket on the Lifelock deal once I saw this post. Finally got a confirmation and saw the miles in my account after about 3 weeks.
Just writing to say thanks — I had purchased a Lifelock membership on June 24 and canceled a month later, but hadn’t followed up for the miles since you wrote this reminder. Opened a ticket when I saw this, and the miles posted today. Will come in handy during a current 8-month around the world trip…
Great to hear! Thanks for posting this.
I’ve submitted two previous request to KF with no response. Will try again and not include the confirmation code I have from LifeLock and see if that helps. I was totally ok writing it off, but then when you reported points were awarded I suddenly wasn’t so quick to give up on them.
[…] reported back in June a lucrative LifeLock offer that earns 17k Singapore Air miles – Frequent Miler reports that his 17k posted after submitting a support […]
Submitted a ticket for KrisFlyer miles over a month ago, with no response or resolution. Just completed another one today — hoping it will go through. Glad to hear yours was painless :).
Good luck!
[…] The door slams shut on Amex gift card cash back, 17K Singapore miles posted, office supply 5X, and A… […]
Also know this portal thing was preceded by the Blackhawk network (servicing Gift Card Mall and Simon Mall) shutting down payments by AEGC. It appears AE started this and has stopped all the MS. It’s all related. My corporate account through SM – got VGC using AEGC last week. Today, they sent me a stern e-mail saying we do not accept AEGC for payment. Same goes for personal SM cards.
You will be VERY lucky if you get paid through the portal even before the deadline. For example I have $150 pending through Top Cash Back. Purchase was 2 weeks ago. They don’t fund you until AE pays them. AE will no longer pay out. TCB has been known to cancel your pending funds despite your allowable purchase date.
Good riddance as far as I’m concerned- was converting these to OV then after WM stopped taking them, had to cash out 1 or 2 at a time by buying money orders at a local grocery store chain. already more hassle than it was worth then befrugal screwed me out of my last 2 cash back transactions. back to my trusty old amex blue 🙂
Regarding portals and AGCs, the same thing happened last fall – Amex disappeared from all portals on October 1 without any explanation. And when AGC reappeared (2 weeks later IIRC), there were some excellent cashback rates for awhile!!
The reference number I used was the one on the lower right of the screen when the order was completed, called Reference Number, about 12 characters long. I captured the screen just in case.
Of course I have never heard back from KrisFlyer even though they send me emails for other things.
Huge loss on the cashback front. I guess I will just order amex cards through the regular site to meet minimum spend?
I’d recommend waiting to see if they reappear in portals in a month or so
I ordered both LifeLock and Netsol and didn’t get anything. I submitted a ticket a month ago and never heard from them (nor did I receive a confirmation email that they received a ticket). I submitted again right now.
Did you receive an email to the effect of “We have received your claim, please wait 60 days, blah blah?”
No, but I did get an email asking me for more info (copy of email confirmation, etc.). Before I had a chance to do any of that, I got another email saying my claim was approved
FM – when did you fill out your claim? I just filled one it said it may take up to 60 days!
Thanks
I filled it out last week
To open a ticket, log into your account, click My Account… Transaction history, then look under the heading “Something Missing?” for a link to “complete the missing KF miles claim form”.
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Or, log in, and click here: https://www.krisflyerspree.com/contact-us