Companion membership: does it show under "my benefits?"

[777]

Just got off the phone from Velocity. This is a bit complicated...

Long story but as i've just clocked over my 1300 SCs for my membership year i enquired as to whether I now have a companion gold to offer someone. I was advised that i do not as i have already given someone companion gold in the last 12 months and i need to wait 12 months before i can do it again or will be assessed for it again.

The back story is that i rang up in April sometime and was casually advised that i had companion gold from the previous year i had not actually allocated so i gave it to my mother in law. My wife, who was originally given companion gold then platinum had requalified for platinum in her own right via family pooling so it seemed i should use-it-or-lose it given i would shortly be hitting eligibility for it again soon.

A few observations:
1. She straight out said that companion status can be earned once every qualification year but can only be given out once every 12 months -- this is a subtle but important point to note if, like me, you have had an earned membership sitting there unused for a period of time.
2. She very clearly said that it was my responsibility to check whether i had reached that status and that i should have known because it showed very clearly in the "my benefits" section of the velocity web site. I have honestly never seen the fact that i had a companion membership available show there. Has anyone else? Have i been incredibly unobservant or just straight out lied to here?

Frankly, the call centre lady seemed to making it up as she went along with half the things she said.

Anyhow, it's a small thing in the grand scheme of things but had i known in advance that i would be unable to offer a fresh gold membership when i qualified for it i wouldn't have bothered. Right now i don't even particularly need to give it to anyone. But I could have easily family pooled the last 500 SCs i earned to my wife and she would have a companion gold now without there being a fuss.

Anyone else had similar experience?

 

[medhead]

I do think I've seen the partner availability show in my profile. However, that was pre sabre. You could try ringing back and ask for a sabre stuffed it up exception.

 

[mickeyc747]

They have it wrong since introduction I have gifted it 3 times.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

They have it wrong since introduction I have gifted it 3 times.

Well to be fair, they have something wrong.....either your 3x or 777s 1x! Which do they have wrong?

I cannot recall seeing companion availability (and I was looking and counting as it meant the difference between taking our own ski gear to NZ or hiring there). I'd also say a stuff up is apparantly easy to make and I'll say no more on that !

 

[koonyaflyer]

My experience is yet another version of the above. I gifted my husband Platinum in June last year. My anniversary is September. He has since retained Platinum in his own right. I rang in April to gift Platinum to my son, and was initially told I could not as my husband's gifting was still current, with his anniversary being June.
After a fairly firm discussion on my part, stating that at 3550 SC since September 2012 I had well and truly qualified for Platinum gifting she agreed to check, and came back and advised I was in fact eligible to gift again.

a long winded way of saying that it is my understanding that you can gift anytime in your earning year, even on day 364, and you can then gift again as soon as you qualify in the following year.

i am not aware of anywhere you can check on the Velocity website.

 

[Jama]

I earn't companion membership last year before requal in Dec. I gave that to my wife early this year. I requal'd and earn't another Platinum companion membership already this year, or so I thought. I called to have this allocated to my daughter and was told in no uncertain terms I have already given one, that's it. On the phone yesterday though I was reminded about the Platinum companion membership available on my account. Shame I can't use it. Seems no one knows what's allowed and what's not.

 

[777]

Just to be clear.

I have gifted platinum once (1st year) to my wife. She was originally gifted gold nearly two years ago but upped to plat just less than one year ago - her year of platinum gifted ends in the next two weeks but she has requalified through family pooling so has no further need for it any time soon.

I have gifted gold once to my mother in law back in April because a call centre person happened to casually mention that i had had an unused companion membership since "late last year" (i'd earned approximately 3000 SCs between when my wife had been gifted gold and that date).

For a while I actually stopped accruing to my account to direct points to Mrs 777 so she could reach plat in her own right) in the expectation that when i went back to directing to myself, if my flying patterns held up, i'd hit companion gold again for this year and then have a choice of who I directed it to. I hit that threshold in the last couple of weeks and now find myself being advised what koonyaflyer was originally told.

If I'd know i could have directed the 500-odd SCs i'd earned in the last month to my wife and she'd have a companion gold of her own to give away. As it stands it seems i'm in a weird limbo where any excess credits i earn don't contribute toward getting my MIL to Plat (wasn't my original plan because she'd rarely use the additional benefits but OK) nor do they count towards any kind of companion membership.

Not does there seem to even be a guarantee that when the MIL's gold expires next year that there will be a new companion membership to offer anyone despite the fact i have clearly earned 1300+ SCs this year.

Basically, i'm just confused. If the rules were clear i could have made much better decisions. I've (well, the family: 70% me, 20% Mrs 777 and 10% young .777) have earned just shy of 3000 SCs in 12 months.

 

[777]

Sounds like my confusion is not unique.

To point out the obvious to Virgin: THESE ARE YOUR VERY BEST CUSTOMERS.

It's odd that you can have a system for rewarding them that it is so poorly understood and communicated that your Platinum call centre staff resort to blatant untruths "It shows very clearly on your account page" to make sense of it and put the onus back on to us to figure it out.

Sounds like the run-around is pretty universal.

Simple question: Am i going to ever get the opportunity to gift a gold membership based on how many SCs i earn *this* year? Will it magically appear in my account next April or something when my current gift to my MIL expires? How will i know given it doesn't show anywhere? Is there any point at all in me earning additional SCs? Do they count for anything?

 

[koonyaflyer]

777 you raise an interesting point. If a Platinum retains Platinum through Family Pooling, and hits the threshold for Gold Gifting does that mean they can actually gift. I had just assumed that as it was family pooling it would only be the "primary earner" who could gift.

 

[777]

777 you raise an interesting point. If a Platinum retains Platinum through Family Pooling, and hits the threshold for Gold Gifting does that mean they can actually gift. I had just assumed that as it was family pooling it would only be the "primary earner" who could gift.

I dont see any reason why it would be. It's based on how many SC's you earn not where you earn your SCs from. Also "primary earner" is a bit of an odd distinction in some households (not mine) where two or more family members contribute a lot to the pool.

I switched to family pooling this year just because i was wasting so many SCs. Last year i earned about 1200 above the threshold for gifting platinum so they were wasted. This time i around i thought i would pool to get my wife to (re)qualify as platinum so those extra SCs didn't go to waste if i could get up to gifting levels again.

I'm basically just completely confused about the rules. Can't it just be as simple as "Every year, when you're account earn more than 500 SCs above requalifying for platinum you get a companion gold membership to give away (and if you earn 1000 SCs above platinum you get plat membership to give away)" ... Id' also like it show me when i have that option. Is that asking too much?

 

[VRC]

Sounds like my confusion is not unique.

To point out the obvious to Virgin: THESE ARE YOUR VERY BEST CUSTOMERS.

It's odd that you can have a system for rewarding them that it is so poorly understood and communicated that your Platinum call centre staff resort to blatant untruths "It shows very clearly on your account page" to make sense of it and put the onus back on to us to figure it out.

Sounds like the run-around is pretty universal.

Simple question: Am i going to ever get the opportunity to gift a gold membership based on how many SCs i earn *this* year? Will it magically appear in my account next April or something when my current gift to my MIL expires? How will i know given it doesn't show anywhere? Is there any point at all in me earning additional SCs? Do they count for anything?

Sounds like a PM directly to the VA rep is in order for this one. As one of VA's best customers as per Koonyaflyer's experience, you should be able to have this sorted. Some clarification around the T&C's and some examples in the web sites frequently asked questions are also in order as well.