Macquarie Visa Plat - Fee Free 1st yr + 25k Qantas Pts for $5000 spend

[ProggerPete]

Got my international lounge passes without prompting approx 4 weeks after receiving the card.

 

[blu]

I've had the card for 6 weeks now & my internet banking account (using correct MAC Id) is still not linked to the credit card or showing any information for the CC. It's now been referred to their IT section. Anyone have this problem. And my JQ CC was closed 3 months prior to opening this one.

 

[Chicken]

ORIGIN is government owned (not sure on that) this is also a government charge so not subject to the 5 bonus points.

I paid my Origin and I got 5x points.

Did you pay using direct debit or Origin web site?

B Pay cause problems. When the merchant directly charge your card, Visa & MasterCard has industry codes attached to the merchant, so Macquarie knows what Origin is from that. When you B Pay or use Australia Post, they don't go via Visa MasterCard, but B Pay or Australia Post pay the merchant, Macquarie only see you paying B Pay, or paying Australia Post, so they cannot determine what Origin is.

 

[PLANT]

I got a phone call out of the blue, from what sounded like a little old lady, apologizing for the terrible customer service I received in getting my internet banking soughted.
She gave her name/number and told me she was the head of customer service department and all future issues to go through her!
I was also told she had listened to the multiple phone calls I made and stated I should never had to make so many calls and the department has been spoken too to ensure it does not happen in future!
Now off to check latest statement on FF points...got the TAX points

 

[lakeman]

I know the feeling.

Got knocked back for the fee-free AMEX discovery.

Presumably it was patently obvious I have no real need for that card apart from the free bonus points.

In your case, probably they judged you don't even need the card.

What's worse is that my AMEX rejection letter stated "due to confidential issues, we cannot divulge the reasons for our decisions ..."

You can always write to them requesting a written explanation (search for Alan Machet upthread for address).

Good luck !

Thanks for the advice
I was thinking of sitting on the phone to talk to the card manager but I have better things to do so may write as you suggest
I have over $100000 in credit available on cards so I guess that probably flagged me to them.
I had 2 cba cards at one stage and the credit limits were rolled together so I may ask to reduce them.
thanks all for the other advice.

 

[deejo77]

I paid my Origin and I got 5x points.

Did you pay using direct debit or Origin web site?

B Pay cause problems. When the merchant directly charge your card, Visa & MasterCard has industry codes attached to the merchant, so Macquarie knows what Origin is from that. When you B Pay or use Australia Post, they don't go via Visa MasterCard, but B Pay or Australia Post pay the merchant, Macquarie only see you paying B Pay, or paying Australia Post, so they cannot determine what Origin is.

Sorry for the delay - I went through the origin website - it is not showing on my Mac statement as a bpay and I have a blank bpay list. Original LPG is listed as the transaction.

 

[PLANT]

Can I have an update on 5x bonus please i.e. Fuel, supermarket and power bills right?

I have my excel chart and entered in statement info and seem to be under Mac's QFF points amount on statement?
This statement had no power bills.

Also it is 25K in bonus points so therefore the excel chart should have three columns?
1. Item(before bonius points)
2. bonus points total
3. Non bonus points item total

Regards

 

[ekkcheng]

Checking my online transactions, it seems spending at Costco does not qualify for the bonus points.

Should spending at Costco falls under "Supermarket" categories?

 

[oz_mark]

Checking my online transactions, it seems spending at Costco does not qualify for the bonus points.

Should spending at Costco falls under "Supermarket" categories?

I would have thought Costco was a department store, rather than a supermarket.

 

[Chicken]

Should spending at Costco falls under "Supermarket" categories?

I would put CostCo together with Kmart or Target or Big W, so I would not say it's supermarket.

 

[will2rob]

One would think the easiest thing in the world for them to do is to have a list identifying which companies are accepted under each category so there is no confusion as to what they consider a utility or supermarket. My wife (who apparently cant follow instructions) made some purchases at Kmart and Myer and bought petrol at 7-11. I have been keeping track of my points and it would appear that they have allocated 5 points at 7-11 which surprised me. It would appear that KMart and Myer only get 1 point per $ which is what I expected.

I have used the card to buy wishgift cards at woolies and then use them at BWS for alcohol purchases and can confirm that the wishgift purchases do get 5 points per $. I bought one seperately to try it and a second one with other groceries - no issues either time.

I'll use it until I've exhausted the 5 points per dollar then can it.

 

[abby-line]

Received my card this week. Needless to say the CS rep stated first years annual fee would not be waived. Ho hum. Emailed the link so sure will hear back in a week's time with their response. Maybe this card not worth it. Seems like too much diligence required to ensure get the 25000 bonus points.

 

[legroom]

My 25,000 points quota had been filled.

My last 2-3 eligible transactions earned only 1:1 now.

Time for the DJ AMEX to go to work instead.

Who would want to keep this card once the 5:1 QFF bonus is over, and why ?

Care to share with us your thoughts ?

I could only think of one reason: a QFF reserve for the WOW EDRCC (also 1:1 earn rate) but at $200 p.a. ?

Maybe I could try to negotiate the fee down towards the end of the 12 month fee-free period.

Worth noting, however, that the EDRCC is reportedly more restrictive with ATO hits so there is an element of thought before cancellation if QFF is your flavour.

 

[blu]

9 weeks now & still can't get access to internet banking - it crashes in password verification/change. Their only response is to send me yet another password.
At least that gives me a reason for closing it. I only use it for WW's & petrol & Energy Aust. I should try using WW gift cards at Dan Murphys, if they accept them.

 

[xco]

I would NOT recommend this card. I received mine after applying 6 weeks ago using the Qantas FF offer link Frequent Flyer - Earning Points - Paywith the following condition, Annual card fee $250 (comprising of a $200 annual fee p.a. + $50 Qantas Frequent Flyer Rewards opt-in annual fee, waived for the first year). When the card arrived they were trying to bill me $200 for the card. On inquiring with them they insisted I had to pay $200 and the offer was only for the $50 QFFF program waiver. Am I going crazy or does the offer say first year card and QFFF program fees totaling $250 are waived. Anyhow I told them they could stick their card where the sun doesn't shine. Anyone else had the same experience. Apologies if this topic has already been covered.:evil:

 

[legroom]

I would NOT recommend this card. I received mine after applying 6 weeks ago using the Qantas FF offer link Frequent Flyer - Earning Points - Paywith the following condition, Annual card fee $250 (comprising of a $200 annual fee p.a. + $50 Qantas Frequent Flyer Rewards opt-in annual fee, waived for the first year). When the card arrived they were trying to bill me $200 for the card. On inquiring with them they insisted I had to pay $200 and the offer was only for the $50 QFFF program waiver. Am I going crazy or does the offer say first year card and QFFF program fees totaling $250 are waived. Anyhow I told them they could stick their card where the sun doesn't shine. Anyone else had the same experience. Apologies if this topic has already been covered.:evil:

Yes, we (most of us) had been there.

In one form or another, the call centre would tell you that you are not eligible for something they are actively promoting.

My tip:

Macquarie Bank Complaint Hotline on (02) 8245-3024

Lodge a formal complaint.

In my case, it worked.

Good luck

 

[xco]

What a bunch of jerk off these guys are, they don't even know there own business

 

[will2rob]

My 25,000 points quota had been filled.

My last 2-3 eligible transactions earned only 1:1 now.

Time for the DJ AMEX to go to work instead.

Who would want to keep this card once the 5:1 QFF bonus is over, and why ?

Care to share with us your thoughts ?

I could only think of one reason: a QFF reserve for the WOW EDRCC (also 1:1 earn rate) but at $200 p.a. ?

Maybe I could try to negotiate the fee down towards the end of the 12 month fee-free period.

Worth noting, however, that the EDRCC is reportedly more restrictive with ATO hits so there is an element of thought before cancellation if QFF is your flavour.

Cant think of a reason to keep it once the 5:1 bonus is exhausted

No online downloading of transactions into Quicken, MYOB or .csv

Big lag between purchases and the transactions posting online with no indication of the points allocated to individual transactions, all of which makes it a PITA to monitor.

I'll be flicking it in a month , just racked up 15k points during the first month, so I should have exhausted the 5:1 points by the end of June. My QCU platinum is also getting the chop and I'll look at whatever other deals are on offer at that time.

 

[deejo77]

Statement is up for the month - surprise surprise QFF points are wrong by 2000 points........oh Andrew from complaints you and I are going to have a lovely time until I can cut this piece of cr@p up!!!

 

[ferni]

Statement is up for the month - surprise surprise QFF points are wrong by 2000 points........oh Andrew from complaints you and I are going to have a lovely time until I can cut this piece of cr@p up!!!

Any tips on easiest way to get them to fix their incorrect point postings? I called Tuesday, they said they would investigate and call back in 1-2 days, no call yet... do i bother calling them again or do i go to the complaints line?