Milenomics² Podcast Episode 213: “High Risk Fraud” and More

0:22 Amex High Risk/Fraud Team

• Last we spoke, I submitted letter from bank and IRS tax form
• Waited a week then saw on Slack that others were getting approved with ID verification by calling 800-450-8738
• Really hard to get through to them, so after getting their voicemail for a couple days got through right at 8a when they open
• Rep noted that I’d sent in letter and IRS form but kinda dismissed it saying she get the application processed with ID verification
• Rep sent me a text to scan DL and take a selfie and was able to approved on the spot
• Discuss

09:03 Fluz Update

• Uncertainty Abounds
• Silent Malfunctions make velocity hard to achieve
• Constantly changing landscape
• 10% of users with a bug that doesn’t drain balance when MUVC used
• Sam: Trains running on schedule and all is well.  PPBP and Citi PBP

13:40 Elan 4x Card

• Card arrived, established a balance w/Fluz dining load
• Called to pay by phone and…they only take checking or savings, no debit
• Oh well. We’ll see how much I work this into the mix vs other Fluz options.
• Compare: A 4x card you can’t pay by phone vs a 3.5x card you can pay by phone with uplift towards airfare
• PPBP?

18:10 Schwab Platinum: No Bonus Edition

• My p2 has a mountain of MR
• My balance is creeping up too
• I want to get hers off the books, knowing that an empty bucket fills itself faster
• Right now a Schwab card without a bonus makes sense due to 3x airline incidentals and Uber credits
• Applied and….popup confirmed no bonus but she was approved.
• This is a good development because she was denied a business platinum the day before for unknown reasons.
• I think I will keep this for 12 months. I'll be able to cash out again late next year, or even as I go. It'll inspire me to do more.

22:50 Vacasa Flub: Owner Cancels Booking

• Others have been bit by this, my turn I guess
• <2 weeks before the trip I get a text/email that my reservation is no longer going to be valid, owner canceling contract with vacasa.
• Options this close in are….not great
• Vacasa proactively moved me to…. a 1 bedroom
• There's a lot of leeway if other options exist. (Bigger units, 2 units…. cash or points refund)
• But there’s nothing else. So what to do? Ask for compensation?
• I asked for 50% back. We’ll see what they say.
• More to come, reminds me a LOT of our discussion about pre-booking things. All good until the condo is sold, or the owner is tired of renting…

33:55 What would you do? Giftcards.com - Mistakes were Made

• $1000+ in One4all cards bought on accident instead of eMCGC.
• Clicked through the email from Capital One which took me straight to these cards. Must have got distracted and just bought them.
• Is this actually the best way to buy a home Depot gift card from home?
• The build out on the IT for this is pretty impressive. I will assume there are going to be more deals on these cards as gift cards.com starts pushing them
• Call and ask for a refund?
• Organic Use (expensive!)
• Resell? What would you do?

41:59 Last Call: 2023 Incidentals

• What were working on:
• Sam: 2 Aspire cards with late year anniversaries can double dip the resort credit.
• BofA cards (2)
  • Be careful, United not yet confirmed. Also give charges >24 hours with United so they ‘stick’
• New business platinum (2)
• New Schwab personal platinum

48:20 Trip Report: PNC Championship Golf Tournament in Orlando

49:40 JetBlue Outbound: My One Use of JetBlue Mosaic?

• Upgraded 2 seats to EvenMore Room
• New program terms for 2024 limit alcoholic beverages to 3. Seems kind of bizarre because the service standards are such that you’d really have to be a pest to order more than 1 drink (or maybe you’re supposed to order more than 1 drink at a time?).
• Any way, it seems my run as a Mosaic resulted in 2 seat upgrades and 2 cans of wine
• Puzzler: I could have retained Mosaic status through 2024 if I did $2,000 worth of hotel bookings through JetBlue. My stay at the Ritz would have qualified, but the price was inflated vs market rates and I used points & an expiring 85k certs so it would have been painful.

54:20 Ritz-Carlton Orlando

• The tournament is at the Ritz-Carlton Orlando golf course so it’s super nice to stay on-site
• The Ritz/JW combo is confusingly similar to the Waldorf/Hilton Signa combo that’s closer to Disney
• Booked 2 nights on points at 54k and 1 night with an 85k cert
• Hotel was going for $600/nt a couple months out, $1,000/nt closer in so a very good use of points
• $30M renovation in 2021 improved
• Cash Upgrades? Me and BB_PCola both kicked the tires on paid upgrades to the Club Lounge ahead of time and close in. They wanted $700-$800 for the first person (plus more for additional guests) per night. Wow. That’s bonkers. Makes me think of booking a cash stay next time for the Chase Ritz complimentary upgrade benefit.
• Place is quite Festive with a Gingerbread School, Santa’s Teddy Bear Tea, and Winter Wonderland Market. Could be fun for the whole family for those who don’t want to watch golf.
• JW Marriott next door next time? Both properties were quite nice, but next time I think I’d stay at the JW Marriott. Costs fewer points, resort fee is less, and it’s closer to the course entrance.
• Early Check-Out
• Weather was coming in, the tournament was over, and we were ready to head home
• Debated whether to tell the front desk I was leaving at all (in case our flight ended up getting cancelled) but decided to see whether I could get the last night’s $60 (with tax) resort fee waived
• Front desk said, “I’ve already gone ahead and waived the Early Departure Fee” - uh, what’s that?
• Was there a chance I could get the 85k cert back for the last night even though I stayed until 6p? If I paid some $75 or whatever Early Departure Fee?
• Rep said he couldn’t remove the last night’s resort fee, because it hadn’t been charged yet
• Another front desk agent came over with “a code” for suppressing forthcoming resort fee charges and I left it at that. Seems to have avoided the resort fee, but no points nor cert came back.
• Discuss: Situations where it’s nice to have a room for the rest of the day without sleeping in the room over night. Is this an indefensible splurge? Theme of the weekend was avoiding doing things just because you’d already paid for them.

1:04:09 Delta Return?

• Once again, Delta bungled putting me and a companion on the upgrade list on the return
• It’s hard to tell if you’re on the upgrade list until it’s too late and others have been upgraded before me
• I call and they smugly insist I must have a setting wrong in my profile -or- I’d opted out of upgrades. As if!
• Agent said she’d file a ticket but I haven’t heard anything
• This is seriously going to be an issue that’s clouded my entire time with Delta status. What an operation!
• JetBlue/Same Day Change
• I ended up bagging it and flying JetBlue back the night before
• The 8p flight was $400/pp one-way, the 9p and 10p flight were $200/pp
• Booked the 9p flight then did a same-day complimentary change to the 8p flight. Nice Mosaic perk!