For those in Perth always looking for a better, faster, cheaper way

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

$1 Tendergrill at Hungry Jacks

I'm not sure what the Hungry Jacks bottom line is looking like but in their big push towards getting more ladies into the doors with "lighter" burgers, they are practically giving away the Tendergrill Burger for only $1. Head over to their facebook page to claim the voucher.

This comes after their recent Shake and Win iphone application which gives away free food items to customers within 1km of a Hungry Jacks store and also their $2 whopper and small fries offers. It's making McDonalds look like fine dining.

Monday, June 11, 2012

Yes, Western Power will pay you for Perth Blackout

Most will not know that when the power goes out, you may be entitled to cash back from Western Power! If your power has been out for more than 12 hours, you can apply for an Extended Outage Payment. You can get a one off payment of $80 (this has been increased to $160 for the storms in June 2012) if:

  • you had a power interruption lasting 12 continuous hours or longer
  • at least 12 hours have elapsed from the time Western Power was notified of the interruption until power was restored 
  • you have made the claim within 60 days of the interruption date 
  • the interruption was not caused by or attributable to you or equipment under your control 
  • the interruption is not a result of an emergency action taken by an authority such as the Police or Fire and Emergency Services 
  • you did not request that the interruption occur 
  • you have not previously been paid under the scheme for the same interruption at the same address
Find out more here https://www.westernpower.com.au/power-outages/make-a-claim/extended-outage/
Its good to be on Perth Hacks :)

Sunday, June 3, 2012

How to Upgrade Complimentary AMEX Flight to Business

Saw this post on a forum recently which talked about how to upgrade your complimentary AMEX Platinum Edge or Reserve flight to business class for $87+upgrade fee. Here is what the Moopere did..

1) Ring Amex, book against free flight included with Velocity Amex. This booked into X (outwards) and T (inwards) class and is a "saver" type fare. I obtained from the extremely helpful CSR both the Amex referrence number and the DJ PNR. Also ensured that my Velocity number was input which I think helped later on.

2) Within an hour or so I could see the discount economy ticket under my Velocity account

3) Probably could have rung Amex back right away, but busy day, so, next morning, rang Velocity to ensure that Flexi to Business buckets were available. Asked them about "Q" class and yes, was assured that Q was the upgrade class (bummer as you can't see Q class in Expert Flyer) and that fares were available.

4) Rang Amex, told them what I wanted to do. Cancel existing Saver fare, obtain credit shell and immediately use credit to book a Flexi fare on the same flight number. No problem at all. They rang DJ, got the current Flexi price, subtracted the credit and added the $87 (yes, $87!!) change fee. Total cost to me in dollars would be just over half the normal price of a Flexi return for this itinerary including the change fee (and, presumably, an embedded credit card fee). Asked if I'd like to proceed? I concur. Amex rings DJ back and makes the booking. The Amex PNR stayed the same, but I received a new DJ PNR

5) Ring Velocity with my DJ PNR, ask to upgrade the flexi ticket to business. No problem sir, and we've got a special on at the moment of half price upgrades (wheeee!). Moments later I get a confirmation email from the Velocity shop in relation to the upgrade and can already see the DJ PNR on the velocity site as upgraded to business.

H class availability on Expertflyer immediately dropped by 1 bucket. Still no direct demonstrable correlation between "Q" class and "H" class, but there is certainly some linkage.

Overall, took about and hour and a half on the phone. Given a fair bit of backwards and forwards as well as waiting time for back-end communications to happen. As I had not done this before I guess I was really crossing the t's and dotting the i's as well, so probably wasted some of the CSR's time in so doing.

Overall, great result. Amex and DJ both, at the booking end of their business, seem competent and efficient.