Based on my experience, this is what will happen:
- You will remain on Explore Gold status until 14th Sept
- At some point after that (anything up to a couple of weeks) a status review will happen and you will go to full gold
- Your SC balance will now be ~ 723 (based on your figures -- 393 + 30 + 50 + 130 + 120 -- assuming the initial 393 pts were earned post 14/09/2016), target to reach plat will be 723 of 1000 (obviously need to earn the additional 277 within 12 months of whenever you earned the 393, after which your balance will start to drop as the oldest SCs hit their 12 month expiry) and target to maintain gold will be 0 of 400 (need to earn 400 by 14/09/2018).
So yeah, without the promo you would have been at least 120 points further towards maintaining gold. On the other hand you get the Gold benefits earlier than you would have otherwise.
However, given that your 300 "missing" SCs aren't really missing at all, it is possible that hitting 500 SCs in the 3rd week of July will trigger an immediate account review anyway -- I was nowhere near that so can't comment either way. If it doesn't happen, I'd say it's worth a call to Velocity when you reach 500 to see if they can move you to full Gold straightaway. Especially as they seem to have opted you in without you requesting it.
I got a new card, yes. Arrived a couple of weeks after my status changed to Explore Gold
As per my previous comments -- if they were earned more than 3 months ago then the Velocity website will show your balance incorrectly. If you have an iPhone try installing the
Virgin Australia app and see what it says.