Where to get Perth Maps for - 000 Emergencies, Blackouts, Traffic

If you are the kind of person who always wanders what is going on when there are a series of police, fire engines or ambulances flying past on priority, there is now a google map that shows you all the emergencies in Perth. If you go to www.emergency.wa.gov.au you will see a map like this which you can zoom in and click on any of the icons to find out what's happening around you. You can also listen to the radio chatter from Fire and Emergency Services here.

You can also now see which suburbs have blackouts on the Western Power map here.

And if you want to know where there are roadworks around Perth or want to see a traffic camera, have a look at the Main Roads map here.

Don't forget that you can also use Google Maps to see the traffic heavy spots around Perth.

Don't Lose Your Email Account when Upgrading to NBN

When we had our internet upgraded on iiNET from ADSL to NBN, in the process of upgrading us, iiNET disconnected two mailboxes that were attached to the ADSL account. It seems that iiNET does not have any process to ensure that people do not lose their mailboxes when they upgrade their NBN.

We noticed that there was a problem when many emails being sent to the iiNET email account was bouncing. After a few days of trying to work out the problem, we logged into the toolbox and noticed that two mailboxes had been deleted. The two mailboxes were quickly re-added. Interestingly, when logging into webmail, it showed that while the username was deleted, the emails in the inbox were not wiped. This provided relief for us but shock that if someone were to add the mailbox during the time that it was disconnected, they would have been able to get all the emails on the server from the past as well as continue to receive emails going into that mailbox! So beware of this risk when upgrading and ensure that the person handling your account migration consciously moves your mailbox to your new NBN account!

We thought it was an isolated incident but whilst talking to iinet about it over Twitter, another user @Lavo96 said that it happened to them as well!

Why get an ING Orange Everyday Account?

News that ING direct cancelled their 2% cashback offer has caused many customers to consider cancelling their Orange accounts. This has led us to wonder there are enough reasons to keep the Orange Everyday account after the 2% cashback promotion has concluded. Here are some of our reasons to stay.

No monthly fees - even if you leave your account dormant, there are no fees.

Great for direct debits (no dishonour fees!) - how many times have you been caught out with a direct debit which came out of your account when you were not ready? You get charged for a $25 dishonour fee as well as on the credit card side as well. With ING, you don't get charged for an unsuccessful direct debit.

Mobile App - Their R&D on their app has been fantastic. The app makes it so easy to pay someone and if you pay a fellow ING person, their app will show that the payment was successful almost immediately! When you pay something with your card, you also get to immediately see the charge on your app. Handy when handling disputes with a vendor (it's happened once).

Apple Pay - ING also now supports Apple Pay so you don't even need to bring your card out any more.

Temporary hold on card - If you can't find your debit card, there's no need to drastically cancel your card yet. Open the app and put your card on hold. If you find your card again, then unhold the card.

Savings Maximiser - if you want a savings account which doesn't punish you with $0 interest when you withdraw during that month, then get the ING Savings Maximiser. Their bonus rate + base rate is currently at 3% which is more than most.

No ATM Fees - If you deposit $1000 each month, you avoid ATM fees as well.

No other fees 
Here's a list of other fees you don't get charged for with ING direct

• EFTPOS and B-pay transactions 
• Australia Post transactions 
• Emergency Replacement card 
• Stop payment / replacement on bank cheque 

Downsides

International fees are still leveled on this card so 2.5% on your transactions. ATM withdrawals overseas will also cost $2.50.

AMEX Edge flights replaced with $200 Travel Credit - Where to now?

Many AMEX Platinum Edge card holders would have received the news in the mail this week that they are cancelling the free flight redemptions for our cards and replacing it with a $200 travel credit. For those in Perth, boy are we angry! This is a big blow because our flights to Melbourne / Sydney were usually worth over $700 each during peak season. We are all considering cancelling our cards and looking for alternatives, so what is the lay of the land?

ANZ Travel Adventures - If you are chasing free flights, this is the only card that costs $225 with a free flight redemption and also two free passes into Virgin lounge every year. The flight redemption needs to be done 60 days or more out, and has to be in your name (you can't book a flight for someone else unless you want to risk being arrested like Junaid Thorne). Not sure how long this is going to last given the changes to the platinum edge card. The other advantage of this card is that foreign transaction fees are waived which is a saving of 3% on overseas purchases.

ANZ Frequent Flyer Black - If you want points, this card comes with 75000 points and the $425 annual fee is waived for the first year. That's $500 worth of points for nothing! Oh and you get the two Qantas lounge entries when you fly with Qantas.

Keeping your card  Let's not forget that one option is to keep your Edge card. $200 can be spent in various ways booking a flight anywhere via AMEX and you still get 3x points for supermarket purchases (or even Woolies gift cards). Also there are many AMEX-issued offers that you will miss if you go with a bank isssued AMEX.

There are many other cards but I'd like to kick it back out to our readers to give your best shot in response to these changes to the AMEX Edge card.

Know someone who doesn't have an AMEX Edge? Save $195 and get 15,000 points If AMEX platinum edge appeals to you, you can use the following link to have the first year's annual fee waived (saving you $195) and get 15,000 points, plus for the first year you will still receive $200 travel credit when you sign up for the Platinum Edge card here

What to do when your Qantas / Virgin points expire?

Recently, we knew of someone who logged into their Qantas account and found that their 100,000+ Qantas frequent flyer points was now 0! They had not earnt or spent any points in 18 months because of illness. In fact, the points had expired for a few months already. As the devastation settled in, the bitterness towards Qantas set in. Then the obvious question came to mind, surely they were notified that the points were about to expire? The truth is, they were. It was in the monthly emails with the subject line "Your Qantas points are about to expire" no... this one -

Your February Qantas Points balance plus great offers

Yep.. we warned you. Where? There.. just below the mailing address and just before the other large advertisement graphics and the points earned.

There is the warning. Would you have missed it? Anyway, they called up Qantas and after a lengthy conversation with various people, the person was issued with a points challenge. Earn 2500 points from two separate sources (eg credit card, woolworths rewards, qantas flight etc) within six months and the points will be credited back. We're not sure whether a similar "challenge" is offered by other airlines (so please leave a comment if you know). The good news is that the person did complete the points challenge and the points were automatically credited back.

The bad news is that there are probably a lot of people out there secretly hating Qantas for robbing them of their hard earned points - with no idea that they could have had the points reinstated by a points challenge. Do you know someone who may lose their points or has already lost their points? Maybe pass this post on to those around you unless you fall in the camp of those waving their fists saying "serves them right".

Those Rare Properties in 2016 Maccas Monopoly

If you are one of those who can't resist the McDonalds Monopoly game, here are the rare properties you need to keep an eye out for.

• Piccadilly ($20,000 Flight Centre gift card)
• Park Lane (LED-LCD Samsung TV) 
• Fleet Street (Suzuki Vitara)
• Marlborough Street (Samsung Galaxy Tablet)
• Regent St (Samsung home theatre)
• Euston Rd ($100 BP gift card) 
• Whitehall ($500 ichoose gift card)
• Fenchurch St Station (Flight Centre $100 voucher)
• Old Kent Rd ($1000 ichoose gift card)