Coles Rewards Mastercard: 20000 Flybuys Points + 3 months VA Explore Gold

[Sbv72]

My wife's Explore gold came through online 3 weeks and 2 days after the points posted.

Took another week or so for the physical card to come through but it can be accessed immediately on the VA ap.

She is on a VA flight at the moment.

 

[Nick88]

Just an update that my explore gold cleared today after 10 days of receiving the 20k points.... Excited to get some good use out of it and keep it for another year!

 

[nightelves]

Just an update that my explore gold cleared today after 10 days of receiving the 20k points.... Excited to get some good use out of it and keep it for another year!

Explorer Gold is only 3 months. To keep it for another 12 months you need to earn 80SC first.

 

[travel193]

Another update for those interested.

Went to check in for a flight today and wondered why I had seats in row 6 available and my girlfriend didn't. Checked my account and 'Explore Gold' finally came through. I received my Flybuys points on the 20th of July so this is exactly 3 weeks and 2 days as Sbv72 stated.

Interestingly I received no mention of the Explore Gold offer between applying and seeing the status change. No email notification either. Can't complain though so thanks for others for making this offer known.

 

[piratematerial]

Looks like there’s been a batch applied. Mine also arrived yesterday, two days after flying to London from Sydney on Singapore without lounge access. So annoying. Also no email notification or other mention of it.

The Flybuys points haven’t turned up yet, and we’re just past the 2 weeks in the T&Cs. Does anyone know the best way to complain to Flybuys/Coles? They don’t seem to have an email contact and don’t really want to ring from the other side of the world.

 

[travel193]

The Flybuys points haven’t turned up yet, and we’re just past the 2 weeks in the T&Cs. Does anyone know the best way to complain to Flybuys/Coles? They don’t seem to have an email contact and don’t really want to ring from the other side of the world.

I'd just get some skype credit and call. Always handy when calling Aus for these kind of things.

From memory your best point of contact is GE Money who I believe handles the Coles Mastercard. Log into your account and check the contact details through there. Do you see that transactions on the card have registered?
I called Flybuys while waiting for the status to change. They were nice but they seemed so unsure of the promotion. Told me I was ineligible because I was already a Velocity Member. I told them the offer was an upgrade to Gold for 3 months. They checked again and said it comes 2 weeks after Flybuys points coming through.

Very odd that your status came before points.

 

[piratematerial]

Yep - transactions are posting fine & about 600 or so standard points have lodged in Flybuys, just not the bonus points. Strange.

 

[jetcam]

this is targeted. on my wife's account but not mine. accounts are unlinked. But would it work for me if I just applied using the code? even though it is not showing in my account?

 

[travel193]

this is targeted. on my wife's account but not mine. accounts are unlinked. But would it work for me if I just applied using the code? even though it is not showing in my account?

I doubt it. It's a targeted offer unfortunately.

 

[Sbv72]

this is targeted. on my wife's account but not mine. accounts are unlinked. But would it work for me if I just applied using the code? even though it is not showing in my account?

My wife applied using link from my offer and received Explore Gold. Also made 80SC on the weekend (double SC promo already booked) to get full gold.

We are members of same Flybuys household though.

Explore Gold is granted to the Velocity account linked to the Flybuys account. Maybe your wife can apply for the card but have your Velocity account linked?

 

[coyote25]

I'm interested in knowing how long as well. I received the 20,000 points on 1 August 2017 but still waiting for Explorer Gold to kick in. I was hoping to almost be automatic despite the 4 weeks in T & Cs. I guess I'll have to wait.

Okay I had Explorer Gold status activate on 11 August. Credit card was received and used on 27 July 2017, bonus points received 1 August and Gold status exactly 2 weeks from first transaction.

 

[theblank]

Ditto, I got 20000 bonus points 4-5 business days after the first spend.

 

[Mattg]

In case anyone's interested, there was a note on my most recent statement that the annual fee for this card is increasing from $89 to $99 as of 4/9/17.

 

[drron]

Even though I got the email my application was knocked back.I think ageism likely.

 

[Jeffrey O'Neill]

AM I right to assume that the countdown timer for the 3 month bump to Gold status doesn't start till you have actually received the bump in status?

I'm trying to work out the rough time frame I have to earn the 80SC as I have 3 work flights over October and Nov that will hopefully earn me 45 SCs. Should be doing a trip around Christmas / New Years which will hopefully get the the other 35 SCs I need.

 

[blacksultan]

AM I right to assume that the countdown timer for the 3 month bump to Gold status doesn't start till you have actually received the bump in status?

I'm trying to work out the rough time frame I have to earn the 80SC as I have 3 work flights over October and Nov that will hopefully earn me 45 SCs. Should be doing a trip around Christmas / New Years which will hopefully get the the other 35 SCs I need.

Thats right..

 

[nightelves]

AM I right to assume that the countdown timer for the 3 month bump to Gold status doesn't start till you have actually received the bump in status?

I'm trying to work out the rough time frame I have to earn the 80SC as I have 3 work flights over October and Nov that will hopefully earn me 45 SCs. Should be doing a trip around Christmas / New Years which will hopefully get the the other 35 SCs I need.

Hence why I found the best way to stretch you gold status further is once approve you have 30 days to spend. Wait till about 26 days then make the payment. Afterwards you have an extra months of gold status. YMMV

 

[piratematerial]

Ended up taking 9 weeks for my sign up bonus points to post - they arrived on Monday. They also didn't process a supplementary card for 5 weeks.

Managed to get a refund of the annual fee and another 20K points once I finally managed to breach their Citibank-rivallingly awful first line CS after about six phone calls.

So not all bad.

My new main non AMEX and otherwise a great non churner as long as you don't have to ever talk to them.

 

[unfunkable]

Bonus points posted on 5/9 for a spend on 31/8
Gold explore came through today (27/9) - just in time for our trip.

 

[get me outta here]

I decided after 2 years having this card fee free plus a 20K FB sign on bonus, that I would not pay the soon to be imposed annual fee. I requested to go to the free card only earning 1 FB per $, as a back up card. Instead, they cancelled my account. Now, reinstated plus $50 onto my account for my trouble. Requested 20K FB points but they refused.