Westpac Altitude Black - Fee Rebate Not Stacking?

SaberX on 15/02/2023 - 19:45
Last edited 16/02/2023 - 10:07 by 1 other user

Hi all.

Finally gone to redeem my Westpac points from the altitude black deal nearly a year ago.

Racked up 215k points and thought I'd do 4 X 50,000 point rebates and a 15k point rebate.

https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/686857

Have they closed the multiple redemptions? Anyone tried it recently? I get an error:

The highlighted item or items exceed the maximum redemption limit.

Sucks to be me that I held on to pool more points, but it seems everyone was not having issues redeeming multiple fee rebates in their cart back then?

If anyone's aware if I'm doing something wrong or have they closed this redemption method?

Related Stores

Westpac

• 

  donkcat on 15/02/2023 - 21:12

  +1

  Yes I found the same thing, redeemed a couple of weeks ago, I had like 110k or something and it wouldn't let me stack 2 of the same rebates so had to basically choose 1x250,1x150 so on and so on, I thought once they cleared it might let me order again but it sill won't.

  • 

    SaberX on 15/02/2023 - 23:35

    Fair enough. But with 110k points you can make up the various balances at least … The max points you can redeem doing one of everything seems to be 145k.

    Guess that also answers my q of doing another fee rebate order after. I googled and looked everywhere but there isn't any t and c's on max redemptions. Seems abit odd you can do one of every rebate yet somehow 2 X $100 rebates isn't allowed.

    Did you try ringing to redeem to see if they let you do multiple of the same fee rebate?

  • 

    SaberX on 16/02/2023 - 11:09

    Hey mate. Just spoke to customer service and can't do more than one as you've said. Can I confirm when you processed yours it came up as a credit to you statement balance immediately. The call centre person seemed to imply it comes off your annual fee in the future when first due. Obviously I want to close the card before 1 yr hits and the annual fee comes up… And don't want to redeem and wait for several yrs of annual fees to offset.. just want the credit balance now! Thanks

    • 

      donkcat on 16/02/2023 - 11:13

      Thats a bugger they closed this down, means ill cancel card sooner.

      It wasn’t straight away as such but took like 2-4 days to come up as a credit on my statement, definitely not what he said as im like 6 months off annual fee due date.

      • 

        SaberX on 16/02/2023 - 11:15

        Wouldn't you cancel your card anyway before the annual since you've redeemed it?

        That's fine. By instant I guess I meant allowing for processing. The main thing was it comes as a credit and not an offset only when annual fee rebates are done.

        How long ago did you process yours?

        Be darned if they changed it again recently and I'm stuck holding this for yrs haha

        • 

          donkcat on 16/02/2023 - 12:28

          @SaberX: Yeah I would cancel before annual fee anyway but I was hoping to claim a few more points via rebate. I'll prob keep until then anyway as their offers are pretty good (shopback etc).

          I think it took 5 days to process

          • 

            SaberX on 16/02/2023 - 12:46

            @donkcat: Yeah I like the shopback too. But I think the bank account you setup to get a reduced fee comes with a debit card that I think is eligible for the shopback Westpac lounge linkage? I tried buying a $5 lotus Biscoff spread via ozb postings to test the theory but still waiting for cashback to process to see if the bonus Westpac activates. If so you could cancel your credit card and keep the debit MasterCard bank account?? That way you still get shopback. Also makes it easier churning another card 12+ months later when you have the bank account ready to go.

            Trying the rebates shortly. Praying it hasn't changed since a few weeks ago when you did it haha.

• 

  WookieMonster on 15/02/2023 - 21:43

  When I tried a few days ago, I could only redeem one of each type of annual fee rebate in the same cart (e.g. 1x $250, 1x $150, 1x $100, etc). As soon as I added more than one of each rebate type in the same cart (e.g. 2x $250) and tried to redeem it, I got the same error message as you.

  That also means the maximum number of points you can exchange for annual fee rebates is 145,000 per year (i.e. $725 worth of annual fee rebates). Hopefully you have a plan for what to do with the remaining 70,000 points!

  (And yes, I also attempted a second redemption of the annual fee rebate after the first redemption and it would not even let me add any more annual fee rebates to my cart.)

  • 

    SaberX on 15/02/2023 - 23:32

    Haha thanks you covered my follow up question. Just peeved I didn't follow everyone and redeem my points immediately. I was in the 180k march 2022 offer and everyone would have gone through the fee rebate without issues.

    It seems sometime after june-july 2022 they changed it as I can see another card ozb post mentioning the same error. Just thought I'd confirm it here to be sure :(

    Don't suppose you also tried ringing to redeem it?

    As for the remaining 70,000 the closest I can find is wish /Amazon and a few other gift cards that are 23,500 points . One 21,000 $100 endota gift card for the Mrs…

    Would have rather the cash to pay off my card tbh….

    There is also a cashback which is slightly better than pay by points. Not sure the difference but both start at 28k points up…so nowhere near the 20k/$100 fee rebates :(

    Just to confirm your fee rebates come off your credit card statement like a repayment?

    • 

      WookieMonster on 15/02/2023 - 23:59

      Don't suppose you also tried ringing to redeem it?

      I didn’t even think about doing that. It should be possible to redeem points over the phone, but who knows how helpful they will be for your situation.

      I think you will need to talk to the card services team (1300 651 089), but have fun if you choose to do that. I called the team a few days ago to find out if retention offers are still something Westpac offers for credit cards; I ended up talking to seven different people over the phone in the space of 45 minutes and I kept on being transferred to different people who all gave me wildly different answers as to how I could go about discussing a retention offer, with the last person finally telling me to go to a branch. (My point is that different people over the phone will tell you different stories, so it may be worth trying a couple of different people if possible.) If you were wondering, I went to a branch the next day and was told to book an appointment with a banker for today, so I told the staff member to close my credit card, because I was fed up with the situation lol

      As for the remaining 70,000 the closest I can find is wish /Amazon and a few other gift cards that are 23,500 points . One 21,000 $100 endota gift card for the Mrs…

      Would have rather the cash to pay off my card tbh….

      I guess you cannot have it all your way!

      The $100 Westfield EFTPOS gift card is not half-bad, because you can redeem it anywhere where EFTPOS is accepted (as long as the merchant accepts prepaid gift cards and magstripe payments), so it is more flexible than a WISH gift card or Amazon gift card. The only downsides I see are that (1) it is a physical gift card that has to be mailed to you, so hopefully it does not go missing in the mail and (2) it is 24,100 points for a $100 denomination, so it is worse value than pretty much all other gift cards on the portal…

      There is also a cashback which is slightly better than pay by points. Not sure the difference but both start at 28k points up…so nowhere near the 20k/$100 fee rebates :(

      The cashback option is kinda awful, which is why I ended up transferring out my leftover points to an airline loyalty program, although I almost got myself a gift card with my leftover points.

      Just to confirm your fee rebates come off your credit card statement like a repayment?

      Yep. It effectively behaves like cashback from Westpac Extras or repayments, and it will be categorised as Service Charges & Fees.

      • 

        SaberX on 16/02/2023 - 11:06

        Tried the Westpac number line and the guy said it basically does one of each annual fee rebate max… He seemed abit black and white about it but basically he couldn't or wouldn't say he could process 4 X $250 annual fee rebates in one go.

        The one thing he mentioned when I clarified was he seemed to say if you haven't an annual fee charged yet you won't get the rebate until your annual fee is charged in say 2 months time. So in other words it credits off the fee and not off your statement /credit card as a current credit as at today(or when it's processed in the day or two). Supposedly you have to "cashback" for that?

        Which makes me worried because I want to chuck through one of every annual fee rebate. And I want to basically receive it as a statement credit now…so I can close the card and not pay the annual fee past a yr haha.

        Can I just confirm you processed yours a couple days ago and indeed they just show up as credits now on your transactions and you haven't had an annual fee yet e.g. your rebating it before your one yr anniversary of having the card ?? It'd be a real pickle otherwise having $500 off the next few yrs of annual fees when I just want to close the thing and run haha.

        As for the Westfield I thought it was a Westfield shopping centre card only. So basically it's a prepaid EFTPOS card essentially so could be used anywhere e.g. woolies. Albeit higher slightly than getting a wish card altogether…

        Drats wished I just redeemed this all back in april- June 22 alongside everyone than waited haha

        • 

          WookieMonster on 16/02/2023 - 18:24

          @SaberX: I redeemed my annual fee rebates a few days ago and it appeared on my statement on the next business day. Keep in mind my annual fee was due to be charged in a couple of weeks from now, so I wonder whether the “two months” advice you got actually has any weight to it.

          As for the Westfield I thought it was a Westfield shopping centre card only.

          Yeah, a lot of people think that, because that is how Westfield describes their EFTPOS gift cards. However, last time I used a Westfield EFTPOS gift card, it was at a Woolworths outside of a Westfield shopping centre a few months ago and I had no problems redeeming it. … and I’m not the only person who’s noticed this!(7news.com.au)

          If you are going to be spending a few hundred dollars at a particular retailer anyway (e.g. WISH, Amazon, Apple), save the hassle and get a retailer-specific gift card.

          • 

            SaberX on 16/02/2023 - 19:09

            @WookieMonster: Did you also get your card in the march 22 deal period? Seems your fees due soon in March much like mine.

            I submitted my rebates. They refer to them as cash backs being processed. Praying it goes through as a credit soon. I wonder as we pay the $49 annual fee reduced that the system tries to offset the prior paid one? Whatever it is I hope it works!

            Actually now that I think of the Westfield. I think I did the same for virgin. I ordered the Westfield and used it in the same manner you described. This was when virgin was going under and we scrambled to redeem out points for whatever we could. Wine, blenders, Westfield gift cards haha. It's coming back to me now!

            • 

              WookieMonster on 16/02/2023 - 19:47

              @SaberX: I applied for my credit card at the end of February 2022, just before the March 2022 deal you referenced (which is how I was able to post this table the same day the deal was posted), but I actually picked the Westpac Altitude Platinum instead of the Westpac Altitude Black, because:

              • I did not want to pay an annual card fee, and only the Platinum card would let me pay no annual fee for the first year.

              • I didn’t think I could spend $6,000 in 120 days. What I forgot to factor in was the 10% off Coles Mastercard gift card deal in June and the fact that I had a massive ATO debt at the time, so hitting $6,000 was something I managed to do in that timeframe anyway…

              Haha maybe I was crazy, but I did not redeem a single Velocity point whilst Virgin was under voluntary administration! My old man lost a decent number of Ansett Global Rewards points when Ansett went down, so I definitely accepted that I was playing with fire…

              One more consideration; if you shop at Bunnings a lot, a little quirk with physical Bunnings gift cards (and I believe Bunnings eGift Cards are the same too) is that if you purchase an item and pay using a Bunnings gift card, you must surrender the gift card to the staff member, but any change given to you will be Bunnings gift cards and/or cash. For example:

              • If you have a $50 Bunnings gift card and use it to purchase $42 worth of items, you will be given $8 cash as change.

              • If you have a $50 Bunnings gift card and use it to purchase $34 worth of items, you will be given a $10 Bunnings gift card and $6 cash as change.

              Worth considering if you shop a lot at Bunnings, especially since Bunnings gift cards should be one of the cheaper redemption options on Westpac, and you said you’d prefer cash…