I was looking at my credit card benefits and I noticed it has free concierge services to help you look for places and book/buy on your behalf.
Not entirely sure what the limits are except that:
Just about anything that you need researched or organised*.
I am wondering if you guys use this service, or is it just not worth the hassle? I assume they would book with their partners, so it would mean more expensive and less bargain? Looking to try it over something trivial down the track.
It's not the most expensive.
You can give them a price range and they'll stick to that.
Hi Siri
Hey Google
Bixby
Are all free and you don’t need a credit card.
Nothing is free.
When the product is free, you are the product.
twirls mustache
I don't believe your moustache is long enough to twirl … we will need to see a video!
What a glib statement that people love parroting.
Energy from the sun?
Yes.
I use them all the time.
here's a list of requests i've made, in no particular order.
.. I can't remember others right now.
I am very happy with them.
They never make any financial transactions for me. They patch me through to the retailer and I make the purchase that way
I actually find the last one to be very useful! Thanks for the insight.
Yeah, it was awesome. I was trying to book them at the AO website just wouldn't let me click on any seats! I called the ticketek and the number kept dialing busy … so I wasn't going to waste 2 hours of my time dialing and dialing … I got my Visa-slaves (as I like to call them) to do it for me.
They called back an hour later saying that they had a ticketek lady on the phone who would complete the transaction of my tickets.
I was so happy.
Still though, the tickets were $700 per person but that is standard for the finals-weekend of the AO.
Surely it's quicker for you to just book the restaurant yourself?
I was driving home after work. It's a 1 hour commute.
Do I wait 1 hour to get home, have dinner, google where to book it, book it? - and risk forgetting it because I got distracted by ozbargain deals?
or do I make a call while driving (Phone in cradle, and i'm using it to make a call so it should be legal)?
Why not?
Saved me maybe 15mins or so.
Makes more sense with the scenario.
@nurries:
yeah. I get them to do my stuff mostly when driving.
Oh - I even once called them, while driving, asking for the nearest Kmart that had an adult sized bike in stock that was open late.
They called me back a few minutes later and said Kmart broadway. Perfect!
So I drove over to it - and bought it
After using it I later sold the bicycle for more than what I paid for. Win.
NB: Kmart bikes are shit.
Ie: Today i'm really busy at home - with all this ozbargaining and other things.
I didn't want to get distracted with checking for those flights, etc, so I offloaded it to them.
Sounds good if you can actually remember to use them. I wish I could find a use for them haha
@nurries:
Yeah, the most important thing is keeping them in mind and knowing when to use them.
I also have used them in the past to get me touristy places to go in Japan while I was there for work.
and also stuff to see in Argentina.
I mean, I could spent hours and hours doing this or … get them to give me a shortcut.
The stuff they produce looks like B- Grade school assignments.
Everyone should call their visa-slaves and ask them for holiday info for their next holiday.
They'll build you a leaflet.
Will definitely try keep this in mind for my next holiday. Best call before you leave or when you get there?
@nurries:
I do it before leaving.
Sometimes they won't find amazing things. Sometimes they will.
Sometimes the amazing things they find are not running because its Winter.
But it's worth giving it a go.
I'm looking for alloy wheels for my Prius C, the OEM Toyota alloys (since my Prius has steelies)
Do I
A) call around during business hours the wreckers asking if they have any?
B) ask the visa guys to do it for me.
The answer is b.
They'll let me know by Wednesday.
:-)
Found me a place in Coogee for $20 they'd hose it down for me
Not a car or cleaning expert but it sounds expensive for a potential DIY job.
Yes but I was living in an apartment, I didn't have a hose and I had to spray under the car. I didn't have jackstands to lift all four corners high enough etc
Fair enough.
Is this AMEX concierge or Visa Signature?
I'm using "Visa platinum concierge"
Awesome shall try it out!
Sounds like they will find anything for you.
Does MasterCard have it?
I think all platinum cards or Higher have something like it. But the visa guys I talk to say they only do visa. So MasterCard would have their own call centres.
If they can help me find the cheapest slab of decent beer in town then I might give it a run! Otherwise Mr Google is my Concierge.
Nope. I have ‘bronze’ taste and expenditure. 🤗
None of this fancy platinum stuff
That IS brazen !
Yes I use them for concert tickets all the time. Especially good if you want good seats and are prepared to pay for them. Amex concierge is great for this as they get an allocation to most big artists.
not once
My wife has an Amex platinum.
I just use it for points and lounge access. I should encourage her to use concierge then…
FYI Bankwest world card has lounge key.
Appears to be unlimited access for unlimited guests.
I've used it several times, and my additional card holder has used it too (without me being there)
Free :)
They use the same lounge as the premier lounge.
It has been good for work related dinners. Ie you have x clients and need a good restaurant in 15 min within 10 min walk.
I've used them twice.
First Time was to test them, get them to book at a restaurant for me (not hard to greet a booking) for the weekend. Waited 2 days and got no reply/confirmation, so I booked it myself. It wasn't until 3 days later (the day before the dinner) I got a reply asking if I've made a booking already.
Second time was to find cheapest hire car in NZ, their findings were at least $300 more than what I found for same type of car.
They Might be useful for things that are hard to get. But if it's just a regular booking/call, I can easily make a call while driving via bluetooth and I don't have to worry whether they've done it or not.
just like the old saying; if you want something done right, you've got to do it yourself
Once in a blue moon.
Useful when travelling for questions like find me a pharmacy open late or book me a restaurant when I don’t speak the language.
That said, I usually forget they are there for months and months, then ask them 5 things in a weekend.
I used them once, to book a hotel in Singapore.
I was at the airport on the way to Singapore. About 20 minutes before boarding, I used the concierge to find hotel in Singapore and they did it within that 20 minutes.
Price wasn't exorbitant for the grade of the hotel so I am quite ok.
Would definitely use it next time.
The other time I used them when it was particularly useful was when we were dining with an acquaintance who was gluten free.
I got them to send me a list of gf menu items at a bunch of restaurants so we could quickly find a suitable choice.
You can ask them to do stuff like that at 10am and you can go about your day and get an email at 4pm. I wouldn’t trust them to make the decision, but maybe ask them to check for an available table at the best 3 results would work.
The only time I've tried using them was when I was overseas and my kids wanted me to book tickets for Ed Sheeran for them. They were going on sale at something like 4am where I was, so I rang the concierge service. They couldn't take an order before the tickets went on sale but they offered to email me details of the "offers from their premium ticketing partner" (which I read as organised scalping scumbuckets).
This is what they offered me:
C Reserve A$290.88
GA (Rear) A$355.88
B Reserve A$355.88
A Reserve A$418.50
General Admission A$418.50
I declined their offer, and found tickets elsewhere.
i have a commonwealth patinum debit credit card…? is that the same thing?
Yea
Citi Signature Visa card: used it a few times. Usually make requests via email.
They've come through for me on a few things. Biggest problem has been that their response time is very variable, so I don't feel I can rely on them if there is much urgency to the request.
Best used by people who are effective delegators or are time starved. Otherwise, you'd be better off doing the task yourself.
And as others have said, they may not necessarily get the cheapest thing but they can be good to use if you need something done in a hurry and you don't have time to do it.
I've used them once when I was juggling the renovations on a new property and didn't have time to find something. I can't remember what it was but what they found wasn't the cheapest compared to what I found later.
I'd use them for things such as "Please find me an osteopath who's available this evening after 5pm within 20min drive of my workplace" if I was at work and couldn't do the search myself.
So basically a human Siri?
Can they help me to find a girl friend?
Never used them. I've just assumed I can get a better deal myself.
You nearly always can get a better deal yourself. Sometimes though they can be convenient for things like tickets or bookings, but don't expect to save money.
Found them useful to make bookings in Japan where there wasn't any direct booking available via the internet.
They'd contact their Japanese office to make the booking in Japanese for me on my behalf.
They also hand delivered a set of tickets to my hotel.
This seems to be the best benefit - when overseas and internet bookings aren't easy. Second to that, hard to get concert tickets.
Tried it a few times but need to realise they do not look on ozbargain for best deals.
Today I called visa concierge and asked them to call the dealership/stealerships of my car's make to find me the cheapest towbar supply and install in and around Sydney
For non-financial reasons I need to stick to the OEM towbar
Sure beats me calling them individually.
Maybe I'll do the same for a bullbar I want too.
So you want someone to show you the most expensive options that they can get you to spend money on.
I'm not really seeing why you would want to use the services of someone who is paid to have you lose money.