So I was reading about this yesterday and now all record of it has disappeared from ozbargain…
Mod: The deal was removed per request of the company. Here is what happened.
IAIM DISCOUNT CARD
macfanboy on 04/05/2014 - 08:58
Last edited 04/05/2014 - 16:22 by 1 other user
Last edited 04/05/2014 - 16:22 by 1 other user
Related Stores
Comments
<edit> nevermind, got my answer already.
so when they reopen the membership on 1/7/14 what will they have changed?
For those that managed to get the cards what membership did you sign up to? If one at all? Or what did you put under name of organisation or membership number?
Thanks.
Thanks, in regards to iaim i see that they now offer the membership on their website again except it is now $180 not the $65 or whatever it was originally. Also I have not received an email offering that half price discount on their membership due to their stuff up. What's going on there?
No idea, I never applied for it (IAIM) in the first place.
quop you joined kajita ? thanks
Signed up with Kajita. They gave me an individual membership number as well as one with Affinity Alliance. It basically consisted of my Kajita membership with "KAJITA" written after it.
Got this from Iaim looks like they won't be doing it anymore.
Will have to go with Kajita if I want the benefitsHi Ben.
Actually our public memberships are not yet up and running again -so not sure which you are referring to? Our Board has decided to review the whole program in more detail after the end of the financial year, and with some independent advice as it may not be a viable program for us. If you are looking for the benefits program then I can suggest contacting Affinity Alliance directly - I am sure that they will be able to refer you to another member organisation offering the benefits package. Let me know if you would like me to send the contact details. Hopefully that helps Ben…let me know if you have any other questions at all.
Kind regards,
What do the discount vouchers look like? Any different? Do they have affinity on them or anything?
It's not a discount voucher. You are buying the Wish/Coles gift cards (same as from anywhere else that sells them) at a discounted price.
Yeah thanks quop, that's what I meant. What do the gift cards look like. For example if you buy wish cards from RAA/RACQ/RAC etc they have that written on the card in the corner. Do these cards have anything written on them?
No idea about the RA* ones. The only thing written on the cards I received are the initial amount and the issue date.
Just tried ordering some new cards so will update with progress. Doesn't look like it will be fun according to everyone else here. Luckily, I've still got a couple hundred dollars left on my old cards.
Keep us updated with your progress! I am also looking to put through another order.
Bought and paid a couple hours after the post on the 28/07/14, received an invoice. No sign of cards sent yet.
Thanks for the update. What method of payment did you use?
Used Paypal, which is probably moot as their protection doesn't seem to extend to gift cards.
has anyone received an e-giftcard yet?
Not me. Closing in on 4 weeks since ordering. Was assured earlier in the week that I'd be getting them this week. Guess it could still happen tomorrow…
It ain't over til its over… but Kajita haven't been super speedy in the past.
@quop: did you look into "Fuel For Less" - it's in the Affinity Alliance program but details are sketchy and smells like a scam. Thoughts?
Kajita has nothing to do with it; all the processing is done by Affinity Alliance.
Can't say I recall seeing Fuel For Less… directory is huge and most of it didn't seem relevant to where I am. Might take another look.
<edit> can't even find any details about it in the directory, only a mention in the index. At least that's what the search function is telling me… CBB flipping through all 300 odd pages of it.
@quop - are you given any reasons why it's taking so long?
"The admin team are working through a huge list of backlogs on orders". That's about as much as they'll say, and is basically same line as when I was waiting on my first order. Do I believe it? Well all I can see is that the process is taking much too long (longer than it needs to be and longer than the timeframes they themselves promise), and the delay mostly lies within Affinity Alliance's control.
Must be stressful having all those dollars into the company waiting for gift cards and hoping it is not some scam.
@quop: This is quite a confusing thread for onlookers such as myself so I have tried to summarise what I understand. Please feel free to correct me.
From my reading @quop purchased the Kajita membership and ordered gift cards directly through Affinity Alliance as follows:
1) batch of 5 cards on 30/5 which took 25-34 days to arrive
2) batch of X cards mid-July which have not arrived yet
- there are no charges if paying by PayPal and delivery is freeHowever @ballistykx purchased the Kajita membership and was initially ordering through Kajita (before they handballed the direct Affinity Alliance link towards the end of May) as follows:
1) few cards on 5/5 - didn't directly report receiving them but on 28/7 mentioned still having money left on 'old cards' so I assume the old cards are the ones purchase here
- Kajita charged extra charges if paying by credit card (not PayPal) and a $2.50 delivery charge for every purchase, which bring the saving down to 8-10% depending on how many cards you buy.then after Kajita asked members to buy direct through Affinity Alliance:
2) few cards on 28.7 which have not arrived yetLastly, @googoogaga has ordered three batches of cards (unsure who through) as follows:
1) first order took 5 weeks to arrive
2) second order on 9/7 which has not arrived yet
3) third order on 24/7 which has not arrived yet
- no mention of charges but confirmed eGift cards from 9/7 onwardsAs treeman says, it must be frustrating. But a 12% discount is worth waiting for - you just need to plan your finances. Even through Entertainment Book my gift cards take 3-4 weeks to arrive so it's not that much longer.
FYI: I am thinking of registering with the Lung Foundation for $65 per year to access the same Affinity program and that is why my interest has rekindled on this thread. I'm choosing Lung Foundation over Kajita only because lung research is close to me, plus I believe Kajita is ~$63 after fees so only $2 extra plus my money is [hopefully] going to a better cause than a candle onseller.
@treeman - more annoying than stressful. I don't think it's a scam, but there's enough risk still that I remain cautious and keeping my eyes open. On the one hand they've delivered (at least once), on the other the (lack of) performance doesn't inspire 100% confidence. So it's a bit of a catch 22… put in a larger order each time (so the funds will last until the next order gets delivered), or have multiple orders on the go? Either way it's increased exposure…
@apate - that's the nature of most online conversations, isn't it? I think yours is a pretty fair summary though :) I don't have/use an EB myself but was under the impression they are faster than 3-4 weeks. I can get 5% discount through another source which consistently delivers within a week (5 business days), but they have credit card fees which makes the Affinity 12% attractive enough to persevere with them for now.
I can get 5% discount through another source which consistently delivers within a week (5 business days)
Hmmm, the only two sources I've used (EB and UnionShopper) both are 3 weeks wait at least. Been using EB (both Coles & WISH cards) for years and never received one card within 10 business days. And I'm in Sydney metro so it's not Auspost's fault.
By the way, thanks for coming back and keeping us updated :)
@apate: The ones I ordered on 5/5 I received on 22/5 as I mentioned on the first page. I'm not sure if they came straight from Affinity or they were forwarded from Kajita.
The cards I bought that time totalled more than $1000, whereas this time (28/7), I bought about half the dollar amount.I'm just keeping an eye on this thread to see what happens. But seriously if you ask for the online vouchers it should not take any longer than a couple of weeks.
For example I know it's kinda different but I won a wish one through ozbargain and got sent online the next day. Surely it is pretty straight forward…
I don't know their process but for the purposes of comparison, the supplier Woolworths quotes a processing/delivery timeframe (for physical cards) of
* Within 5 business days for delivery by courier.
* Within 7 business days for delivery by registered post.Elsewhere in their FAQ it states:
The eGift Card email is sent to the recipient on the date of your purchase […] Gift Cards will be delivered to the provided address within 8 business days.
Compare this to what Affinity Alliance quotes in their order form:
Once your order has been received, an invoice will be generated and emailed to the email address supplied above. Orders will only be processed and delivered after payment has been confirmed. After confirmation of payment, orders will be processed and dispatched Within 5-8 business days for delivery by courier OR Within 7-10 business days for delivery by registered post.
I think most payments would be by credit card/paypal, so the confirmations would be effectively/close enough to instantaneous. Fair enough that with a middle man involved, the processing timeframe goes up by a few days to allow them time to put the order through and on-forward the cards ie. the bulk of the wait is attributed to processing timeframes from the end supplier, but to the extent of pushing it out to a month or more? Part of the issue is the unmet expectations - AA not delivering what they promise, not being proactive in communicating delays, giving conflicting responses/incorrect information, and all this looking more like the norm than the exception. This is exacerbated by the almost neglibible wait on eGift cards, ie. the bulk of the wait is then only attributable to [insert appropriate in/action] on the part of Affinity Alliance.
For the record, despite assurances I would get my orders last week, they did not arrive. The impression I get is that AA are yet to put my order through with Woolworths/however else they source the cards, ie. we're not even at the stage of waiting for the cards to be delivered to AA.
Now it has past the 4 weeks mark since I placed my order. Am a little worried that I will have to do a chargeback
@googoogaga: Emailed her 7/8, no answer. Phoned (left message with answering/reception service) and emailed again 11/8, got a reply, not that it changes anything as still no cards or ETA.
@googoogaga: I received a $100 Wish eGift card yesterday, and she said "The rest will follow". No other details provided, no response yet to my request for further information or ETA. You could either keep pressing her, or pull the pin and ask for a refund (which is what I was pretty close to doing myself).
she haasnt replied to emails sent on 4th and 11th of august. thinking about pulling the pin.
how much was your order?
It was for a fair bit more than $100… have you tried calling as well as emailing?
I ordered $2500 wish gift card on 10/7
Still nothing yet.
Thinking of go thought the PayPal open case on this Friday(45days).
This is taking way too long.
Fiona reply mine email three times .1/8. 8/8 and 15/8
Every time she say they will send them out in one or two days. Which is never happened.
FHHmm… you ordered earlier than me and I got a partial fulfilment, but still no news about the rest of the order. I'm guessing maybe she gave me something cos I'm on her back more often! But yeah it's getting quite a ways beyond reasonable.
I don't think Paypal will do anything for you (see previous comment). You can try a chargeback if your paypal payment was funded by a credit card.
I'm going to nominate a deadline for either fulfilment of the entire order, or a refund. Failing that I'll lodge a chargeback claim.
If anyone waiting on an order is on social media you could also use those platforms to publicly ask some (calm and polite but) direct questions - seems to be the way to get things resolved these days. Twitter|Facebook.
Hi quop,
Thanks for the information.
Is there a time frame for the chargeback?
I will try to email them more often and see what happen.
What's kind of words should I use? Accc? Fair trading?
ThanksNot sure if it differs from one provider to another - mine is within 30 days of the date of the statement which shows the transaction. I personally wouldn't be dropping the ACCC/Fair Trading names without checking what support, if any, they would have for consumers in this situation. I haven't researched this sufficiently to know either way.
If anyone feels sufficiently inclined, The Checkout might be another point of contact (e.g. submit a tipoff, or upload a video to F.U.Tube).
Sounds awfully suss to me.
i lodged a paypal dispute and fiona says i will get them this week guaranteed.. will see how that goes and let you all know
fiona has just sent me an e-giftcard for one of my orders
damm, i will do the same
no pain no gaintried to use the e-giftcard to fill up at caltex, they didnt accept it…
the issue is to enter the codes and pin, which they didnt know how to.
With the eftpos machine they didn't know how to do it and theres no option to enter the unique e-giftcard code.@googoogaga: could you go in-store and convert the eGiftcard to a physical card by explaining that it doesn't work at Caltrex?
It has become evident that AA is still incapable of handling their orders. To be more accurate, it seems that the situation may have even worsened. With the implementation of e-giftcards, AA now has no excuse to delay the purchase. Any delay in the purchase implies that they have a cash flow crisis and need to use other people's money to fulfil someone else's previous orders thus the massive delays. This whole business seems like a Ponzi scheme until they get found out. AA could keep this up indefinitely as long as people keep ordering and the delays are 3 months at a time.
I have finally received my e-card after ordering my cards 10 weeks ago. After mix ups and humongous delays and incorrect order quantities, I now have it.
However, I still have two massive orders that I placed almost 6 weeks ago now, nada, absolutely nothing to date.
Furthermore, these e-giftcards don't seem to work at Woolworths Caltex and only work at Woolworths. Seriously contemplating buying the entertainment book just to avoid the mass stress that comes with not having giftcards on account of having to wait 7-12 weeks per order and being constantly lied to. Each time I receive the orders the date stamp is on the day or a few days ago, never the we've ordered it 4 weeks ago business that I keep getting told.
I inquired about my gift cards purchased on the 28/07 and got a response from Karen saying that I should have received an automated response about the delay and that I should be getting my cards in the next week or so.
just a follow up i used my e-giftcard to purchase a wish giftcard at woolies, no hassles at all and so now i've got a single giftcard with a big balance.. works for me perfectly, less bulk. You can state the $ amount you want at the checkout for the wish giftcard.
6 weeks+ and I'm done waiting. Contacted Fiona last week, giving her a 1 week deadline to either fulfil the remainder of my order or refund the outstanding amount, failing which I would pursue a chargeback. She said she would ensure I have my delivery within the time frame indicated. This assurance has turned out to be another broken promise. I've now contacted my credit card provider to dispute the relevant transactions - hopefully they can get further than my attempts to get some resolution.
you should have done a paypal dispute first then they'd have a chance to send it to you. With a creditcard dispute do they still have a chance to send it ?
They've already had numerous chances to send it to me. In any case, as pointed out earlier
purchases for "Quasi-cash items such as gift cards, pre-paid cards or deal vouchers" do not meet the requirements for eligibility of Paypal's Buyer Protection
So I went for a chargeback because
- this is what I told her I would be doing if neither the cards nor a refund were provided within the specified timeframe
- I didn't want to potentially waste any (more) time with Paypal
- the amounts on the credit card statement under dispute do not need to be paid, so I don't need to be out of pocket for something I haven't received.
yes quop i completely understand what paypal covers and doesn't cover. But when I used the paypal dispute, they sent over the e-giftcard. So that is why I was thinking if you did that then they'd probably send it over to you. Do keep us posted on the outcome.
Ok I may have misread what you reported earlier but it sounded like your dispute only got you some of your outstanding orders. I just want everything sorted one way or another.
follow up
19/08 i lodged a paypal dispute and fiona says i will get them last week guaranteed
which she did not. then she say she can't fill up mine order and then she refund me the money on 25/08.
48 days wasted.
but i got my $2200 back~then she say she can't fill up mine order
Serious? If AA can't fill up the order it doesn't bode well. Means their supplier (Woolworths?) relationship has soured. Just wish they were more transparent about their dealings.
Thanks everyone for keeping this thread updated
I decided to contact the Woolworths to verify whether AA's 12% discount is a legit thing. I emailed the bulk gift cards team, who forwarded my query to the gift card team. A rep replied to me saying
I will need to pass this onto our Product Manager, as far as I am aware, we only offer a 5% discount across the board.
Haven't heard anything further / more definitive, so interpret that how you will…
So what would you say that means exactly?
@treeman: I would say that means I'm even less confident my (or anyone else's) order had much chance of being fulfilled!
@quop: Unfortunately it throws more confusion as to how they could fulfil a couple of early orders @ 12% discount. Ponzi? Can't be if they refund the outstanding orders in full. And how many months/years have AA been taking orders before OzB hopped onboard?
Yes it does raise more questions/confusion. Ponzi could still be at play if they're only refunding as a last resort to the squeakiest wheels, but still getting orders in from other people. Not saying this is what's happening just not discounting anything at the moment.
Anyways I don't actually know how long AA has been offering the 12% discount. The ABR listing shows that the business name has been registered/active since April 2013, whilst the ABN itself is active from October 2012. I can't seem to find any earlier reference to the 12% discount apart from the now deleted/ozbargained post from May this year, and it was only sometime after that when the switch to AA processing the orders directly took place (see previous comment). It could be that whatever additional overheads this introduced made the whole thing uneconomical for them to continue.
But really, who knows! AA haven't been particularly forthcoming with answers/explanations, so all we can do is throw up guesses from behind our keyboards!
I opened a Paypal dispute for my purchase on 28/7 and was just refunded it, no questions asked. Looks like they can't fulfil any orders at all.
Just to update, the Paypal dispute was awarded in my favour but Affinity didn't have the funds in their bank so now I'm stuck with them holding my cash and no cards to show for it. I'll do this the proper way through emails but I'll keep an eye on what ACCC can do for me.
Wow so it's official affinity are out of cash.
Something has to be awry here!Did you pay via credit card? If you did, organise a chargeback
Luckily I'm just an observer I was so tempted to join but decided to wait and see what comments people had about the transactions.
the Paypal dispute was awarded in my favour but Affinity didn't have the funds in their bank
Don't PayPal now have the responsibility to cover your costs? What's the point of protection if the seller can simply run an empty bank account to defraud people?
You could try lodging a dispute with the Financial Ombudsman against PayPal, I did for an eBay gift scam that I was caught in (where PayPal stupidly didn't find in my favor) and within 48 hours of making the claim PayPal had deposited the funds back into my account. PayPal are very scared of them and the process was very easy and online.
Best of luck
That's what I thought…I thought paypal had the ability to go into any bank account and release funds if need be too.
Not sure what was the issue with Paypal as they should have refunded me regardless, but it took an extra week for the funds to come back to me. I got my money back in the end.
That sucks, should have taken the refund when I had a chance. She offered me an additional 5% ontop of the 12% 9 weeks ago to apologise for the huge delays, so I bought in big time.
Now I'm probably going to lose $3,000. Hopefully the ACCC can get my money back. Their website is displaying "Service Temporarily Unavailable", wonder if they will declare bankruptcy, that would make it impossible for me to get my money back huh?
I even asked her if AA was in a cash flow crisis and thus unable to sustain the 12% discount. She flat out lied to me and said that that is definitely not the case and they are bringing in more staff to deal with the demand. I asked why eWISH cards were taking so long when they were instant, she said, yes they are instant but it's a very different story when you are ordering hundreds of orders each day.
I did the maths in my head, my invoice number is around 90, how can they possibly have hundreds of orders per day? Decided to hold on nonetheless because I had such a big saving if this transaction went through (would have saved like $550). Came back on this thread to find out that AA's bank account linked to paypal is officially empty. FML.
She's offered me a refund on more than one occasion in the past, hopefully by some miracle she will still accept it. AA does have a lot of links to other businesses and it is her own company. Would look really bad on her if this company went bankrupt and got listed as a SCAM on the ACCC which is exactly what I will be doing next if there is no refund so that everybody else can know to stay far, far away from Affinity Alliance.
Lucky for me, I've already made some savings when buying a few cards the first time around, I can't imagine how annoyed the new buyers are with AA.
My invoice numbers have gone up to 140 something so, like you, I really don't think they're doing hundreds of orders every day.I've made some savings too with my first order but not enough yet to recoup the cost of membership.
My calculations back in late July suggest they would have been doing an average of about one invoice a day. Not quite in the hundreds of orders a day territory.
As for the eWish cards, there's really no reason why it cannot be instant, or say at least within 24 hours. I have another source where I can buy eWish cards (obviously not as much as 12% off), and it's about as close to instant as you can get - login, buy, pay, and the download link is in my account straight away.
Anyway, their twitter and facebook accounts are still active, and their (new?) domain/website affinityallianceco.com.au is up.
That means if someone put new order via paypal, paypal will get this money without sending it to AA and recover customers claims one by one…. after couple of weeks new customers also inquire about their money from paypal… again role going on… now paypal has to do AA job… anyway now I am just wondering where am I in paypal customer recovery list
Paypal don't work like that at all. You think PayPal are a ponzi? Lol
How are you going with the lung foundation apate?
I was waiting on the sidelines to see how the other OzBargainers panned out before I joined. So nothing yet and I really don't think I'm going to bother hearing all the horror stories about Afinity Alliance.
I had a 2 separate $1000 orders go through back in Junish, but still with delays, unfulfilled delivery promises etc. My order at start of July never came through. I eventually filled out the forms for small claims (I'm in Qld and so are AA so it was easy to do).. told Fiona that I would be lodging claim and requested refund. Also put through Payapal claim. Eventually got $1000 refund 21/8 - glad I'm not involved anymore. I feel for those of you who may lose money out of this.
Did the refund come through Paypal or through the Qld small claims? If through small claims did Fiona show up?
Refund was through Paypal.
Just made a reasonable post about their service on Affinity's facebook page and it was deleted within minutes!
If you use the review function within facebook they are unable to delete it
How are people going with this mob?
Any updates?Same excuses everytime I've asked about my cards. Still nothing in my mailbox. I think if you deal with them through the affiliation you joined then you might get better results. My initial batch was bought through Kajita and received them within 2 wks.
Every purchase through AA directly has been awful.
how many orders have you rreceived in total?
I did a payal dispute to get my refund.
She just sent me the $400 cards that I've ordered, took some threats though. Just have to be persistent and firm I guess.
Wow…can't believe you got some!
When did you order these cards?
Finally got the balance of my order from July refunded via a dispute through my credit card provider. It was almost as fun as dealing with AA… without going into the details, it took almost 7 weeks and had me on the verge of lodging a complaint about all the stuffing around.
Anyway, time to move on… anyone want a (now useless to me) Kajita membership? :p
@googoogaga:
Don't know about thousands of orders… I put in my second batch mid-July and the invoice number hadn't cracked 100. By my calculation (based on the time and invoice number difference between my first and second batches) they're averaging about an invoice a day.
Anyways the wait on my current order is 2 weeks and counting. Have been told my Wish cards will be delivered as e-giftcards, but still need to wait…! I'd prefer to not have two lots of orders outstanding at the one time but have used up my previous batch so will either have to put in even bigger orders or stagger it like you're doing and potentially have multiple orders outstanding.