Is it Time to transfer/withdraw points from Velocity?

[Bibendum]

Hi All,

I need some advice from the brains trust on this forum.

I, like many on here, have hundreds of thousands of points sitting with velocity. With the current COVID-19 situation and virgins financial position I’m concerned that if the airline was declare bankruptcy points may disappear..

What’s the likelihood of this happening and should I withdraw my points by purchasing gift cards to get some cash value at what I have..?

am I making a mountain out of a mole hill.. or is there a real threat to my velocity points been wiped out..?

 

[Warks]

Now regretting I only moved a bit over half my 300K points to KrisFlyer a few weeks back. Although glad I did at least do that.

 

[Bct]

Mine are all 08/04 Pending

Mine are all still pending going back to 05 April

 

[Lomandriel]

A combination of factors. Credit card sign up bonuses at 50k-100k a go. Putting most expenditure through a points earning credit card (dual incomes totalling $200k+). A bit of flying. Flybuys - and maxing out all the bonus offers. Buying wine that offers bonus points. Taking up free subscriptions that offer points sign up bonuses (e.g. financial comparisons, share trading, etc.) And doing this continually for a few years.

Fair call. Dedication that I probably didn't show as much of - I did do the christmas virgin 10,000 point bonus back last year or the year before.. but apart from that it is just the amex coming in, flights, and the odd signup bonus on a credit card. It makes me think twice though as the cost of signing up to some credit cards is usually ok given $200-395 goes towards a big amount of points to redeem on cabin classes. However, with the ensuing need to convert to gift cards and items i'd much rather the stress free, annual fee nil credit cards. Will definitely be an ensuing factor in alot of people's decisions going forward. I have just over 150k flybuys points too so am also glad i didn't do the bulk velocity t/f with all the point bonus schemes... while the chances of coles going bust is slim who knows what one might do with the loyalty program. I think I will stop stockpiling as much.


Time to make a decision in order to get in on today's 1 per person limit - is the consensus still that time aside and restrictions aside (assuming you manage to get all your gift cards) - is gift cards still the best option vs redeeming for specific items? Presumably the same cost if not better to get a jb hi fi gift card and buy something on special or a haggled discount than getting say the dyson v8 animal, or even the nespresso machines which quite regularly go on sale?

The only exception seem to be the higher point value of wine redemption... but for those with a cellar full of great wines it seems abit pointless buying for the sake of buying (particularly as haven't seen any big, wonderful reds yet that we're familiar with).

So that said - jb hi fi gift card all the way and use that to buy the items? And just confirming it will be electronic (not mailed) and has no expiry dates per the listing?

I would normally get a kathmandu voucher too but they've also been smashed on the stock market for their ill capital management so I certainly think jb is less likely to go belly up nation wide ....

 

[Xax]

Cashed in everything for JB and priceline vouchers on the 1st, postie delivered registered post just now.

14 days exactly

 

[TheInsider]

So that said - jb hi fi gift card all the way and use that to buy the items? And just confirming it will be electronic (not mailed) and has no expiry dates per the listing?

It's a physical gift card that is mailed to you!

 

[jakeseven7]

Cashed in everything for JB and priceline vouchers on the 1st, postie delivered registered post just now.

14 days exactly

And did your order ever change from pending?

(All us AFFers nervously waiting next to letter box!)

 

[Rob.au]

Does anyone know what the third paragraph actually means?

I vaguely recall that this dates back to the days of the Ansett collapse and the evaporation of the Golden Wing points. As recently as 27 January 2020 (at the time saying "Last Updated: 28/10/2019", the technicality of the trust still rated a mention in the Velocity T&Cs:

Velocity Membership Terms & Conditions

Velocity Membership Terms & Conditions

web.archive.org

In the definitions section, it mentioned (amongst other definitions):

Velocity Frequent Flyer means the loyalty program of Virgin Australia (as amended from time to time) which is owned and operated by VRPL, which was formerly known as Velocity Rewards.

VRPL means Velocity Rewards Pty Ltd ACN 116 089 448 as trustee of The Loyalty Trust.

We means Collinson, VRPL, VFF, Virgin Australia and all Program Partners, who may each separately enforce the Terms and Conditions.

According to the Internet Archive, the T&Cs had a significant rewrite between 27 and 31 January, it looks like it's meant to be in plainer English with less legalise. There's no longer mention of the trust. The e-mail seems to be trying to reassure that it still exists.

This doesn't really mean much... yes, the points are held in a trust, but what real value they actually have there on paper is arbitrary and presumably considered commercially sensitive and confidential. They have a current practical value in terms of flights, upgrades or gift cards or other items in the store, but that doesn't really give anything firm to go off in the event of an issue.

I'm sure the suggestion we're meant to infer is "don't freak out about Virgin Australia running out of cash" but the problem is how confident each individual is about the practical value of those points still being maintained.

 

[hydrabyss]

And did your order ever change from pending?

(All us AFFers nervously waiting next to letter box!)

If they are sent as a letter delays are common with Aust. Post and currently the delays are worse as they struggle to cope with the workload due to many shopping online.

 

[Rob.au]

And did your order ever change from pending?

Mine changed around the time it was physically delivered, and definitely some days after it was sent.

And yes, the JB HiFi cards are physical cards, complete with hand-written date of issue scrawled in permanent marker on the back. The sudden surge in demand would be creating some logistical headaches I imagine.

 

[Xax]

TBH I never looked...

@jakeseven7

 

[jakeseven7]

Mine changed around the time it was physically delivered, and definitely some days after it was sent.

And yes, the JB HiFi cards are physical cards, complete with hand-written date of issue scrawled in permanent marker on the back. The sudden surge in demand would be creating some logistical headaches I imagine.

I don't actually understand why they are doing physical cards when a very simple API could do a electronic gift voucher in seconds....

 

[AIRwin]

I don't actually understand why they are doing physical cards when a very simple API could do a electronic gift voucher in seconds....

Is it to do with mitigating fraudulent redemptions?

 

[Harpie]

i havent been following this so late to the party and had 600K in points- have redeemed for some higher end products such as dyson and kitchen aid as will take far too long to get enough gift cards out. still have just under 200K to go but not sure whether to risk leaving them there in case they pull through- i only ever usually use these for upgrades so had been saving most of them up for a big trip and occasional domestic longer flights. seems such a waste to redeem for goods but didnt want to risk losing all that value in so many points.......

 

[TheInsider]

To who ever said that the gift voucher company was running out of envelopes due to the gift cards fitting in a certain size. My GC came in a standard DL paper envelope with a standard sticker with the address details on it.
Literally the GC, the envelope (DL size) and a standard thank-you from velocity card. No registered post etc.

 

[fergal]

Not sure how they are controlling the 1 card per day limit. I redeemed 23 x $100 drummond golf vouchers (my wife might kill me before I get to cash them in) over a couple of days. I had to do them individually but the transaction was processed and the points have been deducted from my account.. they are all still pending of course but fingers crossed.

 

[pohgl]

Hi all, so I tried to get a Mac... and I don't even get to the pending stage! The order won't go through. Logged a call using the webform and received a message back saying it will take 3-4 days for a response.

Error message:


Good luck to everyone!

 

[dmchart]

Order 5 x lots on 4/4 ( even with 1 transaction day restriction as others have done )
Mine stills says pending, however when i click on the individual orders there is a couple of tabs
Order Information | Invoices | Shipments
when i click on shipments it gives me a shipment numbers and says qty shipped as 1

Hoping that means that they have in fact shipped and should receive shortly.

Wondering if people only ordered last couple of days shows this or not?

 

[fergal]

Order 5 x lots on 4/4 ( even with 1 transaction day restriction as others have done )
Mine stills says pending, however when i click on the individual orders there is a couple of tabs
Order Information | Invoices | Shipments
when i click on shipments it gives me a shipment numbers and says qty shipped as 1

Hoping that means that they have in fact shipped and should receive shortly.

Wondering if people only ordered last couple of days shows this or not?

My order from earlier today shows as shipped too

 

[dmchart]

My order from earlier today shows as shipped too

damn!

 

[kyle]

damn!

It will show a tracking number if it's really shipped.