Qantas Points loophole? You keep QFF points you get while shopping if you return the items and get a refund (and not use a Qantas credit card)?

[Flyerwin]

From this news article published today:

https://www.news.com.au/travel/the-qantas-points-hack-i-stumbled-across-while-shoe-shopping/news-story/de5bea6e2768ae9bbcfcdfd9c34ff486

From the article:

The fourth and final pair of Dr. Martens arrived in the mail and fit me. I waited for my refunds to come through (an eye-watering total of $768) and went about my business.

This was until I logged into my Qantas app and noticed that I had four new transactions in my points activity statement. It never occurred to me that with each new Eviee purchase, I’d been accumulating another 512 points.

$1 = 2 Qantas Points

$256 = 512 Qantas Points

512 x 4 = 2048 Qantas Points

....

I’m almost a month out from the Dr. Martens debacle and I’ve yet to see any of my points withdrawn. Maybe it’s because I didn’t use a Qantas credit card and only linked my FF number. Maybe airlines don’t have a way of tracking whether an order is refunded on another bank card (albeit three times). Maybe this is the confirmation we all needed. And in a world where it’s only getting harder to accumulate points and reap those rewards, I see no real problem with making honest mistakes and finding loopholes.

Seems like a major loophole. I guess Qantas has no way of knowing when you get a refund if you didn't pay using a Qantas credit card. Not very ethical though.

 

[aikman]

Technically she paid $30 in postage for 1536 points.

There are cheaper ways of acquiring points.

 

[Human]

I always thought that this is why it often takes some time (frequently, weeks) between the date of purchase and the points being credited — they’re not credited until the return window has closed.

Interesting question, though: If I made a purchase via the Qantas shopping portal (or any of the other airline portals such as Velocity eStore) and returned them for a refund using a totally different payment method and in a way that’s less easy to track (eg. personally in-store), would I keep the points?

I do agree, though, that making a purchase with the intention of returning the item/s and keeping the points is at best unethical and at worst fraudulent. I might expect to get away with it once or twice, but I’d also expect to be found out eventually and to probably have my Qantas FF account closed and all my points forfeited.

 

[33kft]

This is on the merchant, the whole reason that Qantas Shopping makes you wait for the points is so that the merchant can cancel the points if you return or cancel the purchase

 

[oz_mark]

Seems like a major loophole. I guess Qantas has not way of knowing if you get a refund if you didn't pay using a Qantas credit card. Not very ethical though.

It's not on Qantas to know - it's on the retailer. The points should be tied to a specific purchase, and if the purchase is returned, no points should be awarded.
That said, this is one of those things that seems to be a lot of trouble for a handful of points. And I'd agree if you are doing it on purpose, I'd say unethical.

 

[bam71]

But it’s a “news” reporter from news.com.au.

 

[Port Power]

Well, my goodness, I have known about a similar points "loophole" for years! When I returned items from a particular retailer that were purchased on my QF MasterCard, I would tap my EFTPOS debit card for the refund to go back into my savings account, and therefore not lose points. That company now goes on barcode, so any refund automatically returns to the card used for purchase.

Edit: Genuine return due to incorrect sizing of product.

 

[RooFlyer]

For any card. Pay a medical fee with Medicare rebate - get the points on the card spend, but get a chunk of the outlay back to your savings account.

 

[Human]

For any card. Pay a medical fee with Medicare rebate - get the points on the card spend, but get a chunk of the outlay back to your savings account.

When I’m trying to collect points in a hurry, I’ll pay all my ancillary medical bills in full and then claim from private insurance, rather than asking the provider to claim directly and reduce my up-front payment.

 

[odysseus]

A few years back I recall a poster here who had his QF account terminated because of repeat returns through Qantas Shopping.

Qantas are aware, and enforce their terms as appropriate.

 

[Mwenenzi]

It's not on Qantas to know - it's on the retailer. The points should be tied to a specific purchase, and if the purchase is returned, no points should be awarded.
That said, this is one of those things that seems to be a lot of trouble for a handful of points. And I'd agree if you are doing it on purpose, I'd say unethical.

The retailer is buying QF points to reward(~bribe) the purchaser for using purchasing items from them Same with the cc provider.
Up to the retailer to control the points. If the points are not refunded/withdrawn they will still be paying QF.

Selling frequent flyer points/miles/avios for cash is a far better business than ramming pax in a metal tube.

 

[Rich]

Gosh what a terribly written article on news.com.au. (Not unusual.) Reads like a 10 year old talking and half the article was reporting on what "one user said" on Reddit and "another user wrote" etc. How do you become a journalist nowadays? Plus she quotes the QANTAS Marketplace terms about returns but she earnt the points by buying the shoes directly from Dr Marten's. I don't think there will be a Pulitzer coming out of this for investigative journalism.
Ok Gen X rant over. I only came here to point out the purchase was not through Marketplace and that is covered in the rant.

 

[Big John]

But it’s a “news” reporter from news.com.au.

I avoid news.com.au with a passion. Its full of click bait that I have to keep navigating around.

Agree that frequently returning purchases is, at best, unethical (at worst, its probably fraudulent). Apart from the $ incurred, who has the time to keep on doing this ?

 

[Aeryn]

Ive unfortunately experienced a loss of all points for a partial refund.

I ordered 3 pairs of sunglasses through a qantas shopping partner, the supplier was unable to fulfil one pair and so refunded me a portion of my order. I then received no QFF points via Qantas shopping at all due to my "return" - noting i never received the product to return. Lodging a case went no where.

 

[SeatBackForward]

But it’s a “news” reporter from news.com.au.

I'm not a fan of Ai, but that job might be a legitimate case where Ai performs a better result