I love credit cards so much! v3.0 (see first page for add'l details)

[Judique]

I was just checking my AmEx account and the strangest thing happened. As many of you know, I prepaid a portion of our WA Maldives stay last year to trigger the Aspire resort credit. I also made another prepayment to see if it would trigger an offer on the Aspire (it didn't). When it became clear that we wouldn't be going on this trip, the resort very kindly refunded me both of my pre-payments. It appears that the refund from the resort triggered the $250.00 resort credit for this year (even though both transactions are refunds). Thankful for the money, but it seems odd! Any chance AmEx will claw back the $250.00?

No. Yes. Maybe. It's really hard to say with Amex. They gave me an extra $40 last year and I didn't get into it with them as it was a similar type transaction as yours. Afraid they would screw up everything by going to take a look at my account. I'm not usually dishonest but I feared a mess. Yours being a credit that you might actually stay and would eventually trigger, I'd leave it alone. Wait and see.

 

[havaneselover]

That sounds like 'licensed contractor' type work. There are some things that I feel okay with going to 'Joe the painter' for. My roof, no, I needed warranties for the next 30 years or so. A bad paint job is an eyesore that can be touched up. A leaking roof is a destructive issue. Either that or you have a 3500-4000 sq ft house/2 story with lots of gables, etc.

My $4,000-$4,600 quote is with a Class A contractor. It's not a huge house (2,200 square feet) and the trim is vinyl wrapped. Central VA isn't cheap for labor, but it's not expensive either.

 

[DisneyMandC]

I have my painting estimate if anyone wants to give me advice. So my price to paint the house and stain the deck is $4,000 for a mid-range SW paint and $4,600 for a super premium (Duration). Plus I have about $750 of siding/deck railing to be replaced.

I can provide my own paint--didn't ask what the cost would be if I did that.

Definitely leaning toward the better paint. No plans to move anytime soon.

Any negotiation tips? They are saying these prices are discounted 20%. I was thinking of telling them if they could use the super premium paint and do the repairs for $5,000 they could have the job.

I think that's reasonable to offer $5000. Worst they can say is no. Any Lowe's offers on your Amex? Maybe you could get paint for 10% off, but I don't know if they carry SW. I swear I've seen SW offers on Chase before too though.

 

[Oscar Madison]

I have my painting estimate if anyone wants to give me advice. So my price to paint the house and stain the deck is $4,000 for a mid-range SW paint and $4,600 for a super premium (Duration). Plus I have about $750 of siding/deck railing to be replaced.

I can provide my own paint--didn't ask what the cost would be if I did that.

Definitely leaning toward the better paint. No plans to move anytime soon.

Any negotiation tips? They are saying these prices are discounted 20%. I was thinking of telling them if they could use the super premium paint and do the repairs for $5,000 they could have the job.

Get some more estimates and then use that in negotiation.

 

[WVMomof3]

I was just checking my AmEx account and the strangest thing happened. As many of you know, I prepaid a portion of our WA Maldives stay last year to trigger the Aspire resort credit. I also made another prepayment to see if it would trigger an offer on the Aspire (it didn't). When it became clear that we wouldn't be going on this trip, the resort very kindly refunded me both of my pre-payments. It appears that the refund from the resort triggered the $250.00 resort credit for this year (even though both transactions are refunds). Thankful for the money, but it seems odd! Any chance AmEx will claw back the $250.00?

Could it be this?

https://thepointsguy.com/news/some-...om&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=MilesFeed.com

 

[Judique]

My $4,000-$4,600 quote is with a Class A contractor. It's not a huge house (2,200 square feet) and the trim is vinyl wrapped. Central VA isn't cheap for labor, but it's not expensive either.

Sounds fabulous to me!

 

[DisneyMandC]

My $4,000-$4,600 quote is with a Class A contractor. It's not a huge house (2,200 square feet) and the trim is vinyl wrapped. Central VA isn't cheap for labor, but it's not expensive either.

For comparison, when I previously got a quote for my 1200 square foot home plus painting two sheds (one is a pretty good size), it was $2600. So that price sounds pretty fair.

 

[Judique]

I think that's reasonable to offer $5000. Worst they can say is no. Any Lowe's offers on your Amex? Maybe you could get paint for 10% off, but I don't know if they carry SW. I swear I've seen SW offers on Chase before too though.

They've had 25 off 100. I used it and bought 250's worth of paint using two offers.

 

[Judique]

If anyone didn't get the amex happy card offer $15 off $100, it's on the site where you can add it to a card. https://www.americanexpress.com/us/network/shopping.html

 

[gottalovepluto]

I had to bite my tongue today with the news of the Fall Advantage cancellation. Some of the kids were saying they were mad at Disney for not giving them automatic acceptance into the Spring 2021 program and I wanted to go off telling them how my dd paid the program fee and unlike the kids cancelled today, she did not get hers refunded. She had to move a bunch of things down there (which cost money...) and she gave up a semester of school that now turns out to be a complete waste...all for the 43 days she had down there. If anyone deserves to be automatically placed into the next available program, it's kids like her. But I bit my tongue and moved on. This program is such a dream for so many of these kids and I get that they are all feeling the loss, no matter how their program is playing out.

That’s very understanding of you. I would not have been that understanding. And then people would have gotten mad at my selfishness and I would have mad at their selfishness and we all would have ended the day angrier than before making that journey to healing and acceptance ever longer. I’m going to remind myself to take the @wendow approach more often these days! Less stress on me, less stress on others = better life

 

[havaneselover]

I think that's reasonable to offer $5000. Worst they can say is no. Any Lowe's offers on your Amex? Maybe you could get paint for 10% off, but I don't know if they carry SW. I swear I've seen SW offers on Chase before too though.

Yeah, I was wondering if I should just get Behr premium at HD with gift cards. And I've used all my Lowe's offers.

 

[havaneselover]

Get some more estimates and then use that in negotiation.

Yes, thanks. Have one more today then waiting for my old painter to get back to me. Not sure if he does exterior--I know he doesn't do decks. He did my entire interior including ceilings and trim for $3,500 in 2013 and he's a super nice guy.

 

[WVMomof3]

@Hoosier John I use Venmo as well. Very easy. DH has used Zelle in the past - also very easy. One caution about Venmo - it combines this service with social media so unless you set everything to private people will be able to see who you are sending money to and receiving money from. I have everything set to private so people hopefully can't see my transactions. But I can see who is sending money to who if they are in my phone contacts.

I don't think that is necessarily true. I can see my DDs activities I think because I friended them on there. I have paid or been paid by my mom, my sisters, my brother etc. I can't see their activity. Actually, if I click on them I can see who they paid or were paid, but not the amount. I think you would have to search that person out to see their stuff because I am sure I have plenty of people in my contacts that use it but I don't see them. It doesn't bother me for people to see who I have paid. I actually try to make the note funny because other people can see it.

 

[pillow]

I have my painting estimate if anyone wants to give me advice. So my price to paint the house and stain the deck is $4,000 for a mid-range SW paint and $4,600 for a super premium (Duration). Plus I have about $750 of siding/deck railing to be replaced.

I can provide my own paint--didn't ask what the cost would be if I did that.

Definitely leaning toward the better paint. No plans to move anytime soon.

Any negotiation tips? They are saying these prices are discounted 20%. I was thinking of telling them if they could use the super premium paint and do the repairs for $5,000 they could have the job.

How big is your house? I'm cheap. I'd probably pay a handy man to replace any rotted siding and decking boards. Then pay my kids to paint! I have an enormous deck, and I stained it myself. It took time, but DD helped with the railings, which was the most tedious part.

 

[pillow]

@havaneselover On second thought, DH might be out of a job pretty soon. I'm sure he'd give you a really good price!

 

[havaneselover]

How big is your house? I'm cheap. I'd probably pay a handy man to replace any rotted siding and decking boards. Then pay my kids to paint! I have an enormous deck, and I stained it myself. It took time, but DD helped with the railings, which was the most tedious part.

2200 square feet.

I’m frugal but we’re definitely not painting it ourselves. Ds and I have the attention span of a gnat. And I have zero confidence in our ability to do it right.

 

[snugglebug]

I was just checking my AmEx account and the strangest thing happened. As many of you know, I prepaid a portion of our WA Maldives stay last year to trigger the Aspire resort credit. I also made another prepayment to see if it would trigger an offer on the Aspire (it didn't). When it became clear that we wouldn't be going on this trip, the resort very kindly refunded me both of my pre-payments. It appears that the refund from the resort triggered the $250.00 resort credit for this year (even though both transactions are refunds). Thankful for the money, but it seems odd! Any chance AmEx will claw back the $250.00?

Doc has an article about the resort credit being given randomly. Last I checked it there was no known reason, no known time frame or anything, just completely random.

 

[wendow]

That’s very understanding of you. I would not have been that understanding. And then people would have gotten mad at my selfishness and I would have mad at their selfishness and we all would have ended the day angrier than before making that journey to healing and acceptance ever longer. I’m going to remind myself to take the @wendow approach more often these days! Less stress on me, less stress on others = better life

Well, I don't always take the high road but I wasn't up to fighting with a kid online lol.

 

[wendow]

2200 square feet.

I’m frugal but we’re definitely not painting it ourselves. Ds and I have the attention span of a gnat. And I have zero confidence in our ability to do it right.

We had our house painted a couple years ago. We are DIY'ers for just about everything but we paid to have the house painted. We have a tall 2-story and neither of us wanted to be up high on ladders. Just for reference, we paid $3500, that was for SW paint (premium) and included our covered patio but not our deck. Our house is 2800sqft above ground and much of the ground level is brick. If most of your house is siding that has to be painted, your quote seems fair.

 

[amcc]

I’m so upset right now! Dh and I finally saw the hogwarts castle LEGO set available on amazon. We put it in our cart, added the Amex 20%, and then it said the item is no longer available! We were all ready to shell out $400 on it lol. It still shows available so something’s going on. We’re gonna try again later.

On a separate note, Dh was able to get a Shipt delivery time for tomorrow night! He said one time randomly showed up this morning after he had been looking for two hours.

Are you using Shipt because it's the only service available in your area? I've been using Instacart and they consistently have delivery slots - might be 2 or 3 days out but there hasn't been anytime when there were none. Well, Publix liquors didn't have any last weekend but I think that has more to do with the fact that there aren't very many Publix liquors here than with Instacart . Instacart is more expensive than going to the store but I have really liked their service. Here, they have Publix, Target, Winn Dixie, Aldi, the Fresh Market, CVS, a couple of liquor stores.