Swagbucks have ripped me off.

From the heart, I am so irritated and let down. Genuinely. I feel insulted and patronised. Here are some of our communications:

1) I was locked out of my account, with no email or other communication sent. On attempting to login I recieved a generic 'your account has been deactivated message'

2) I mailed them. I thought it was for some time outs on entering 'capcha' codes (time dependent codes to prove you aren't a robot). As I genuinely multi-task, such as clcik sites, and sometimes miss a few codes. A minor matter.

Turns out, because I have been clicking the swagbucks search bar as I would naturally to click off of seach sites and probably searching terms like 'per day' , 'Berlin' , 'Russia' , 'Oslo' , New York' , etc: i.e. when I've been using holiday websites via cashback/daily click sites and then deleting my search history in a short amount of time - they think I have been running 'third party' or 'automation' software.

3) So I wrote them again and explained this after they originally stated that they had detected 'third party software' and 'continuously searching by automation'. Notice they arrogantly write, non diplomatically as a matter of fact, not 'we believe' or 'we suspect'.

4) Then they basically wrote back repeating themself and stating 'Please keep in mind that your case is officially closed and this will be a final resolution to this issue. No other response will be provided'. I.e. We won't listen to you anymore. Tough !!!!.

I've left messages on their facebook, irritated but not trolling or swearing or anything like that. I've had some response but it looks like I'm basically being fobbed off.

Anyway people. Be warned. Don't use Swagbucks between your daily click searches and history clearing or it will likely trigger their 'automation' however the f**k they define it...Use google or something instead.

Super peeved by the way. Can't help it. Generally a pretty stoic person. I feel literally robbed out of £55, which is what I had the equivalent of in Amazon vouchers which I was literally going to withdraw in the next few days. I go camping and hiking. Was going to get a nice kelly kettle.

But more than that it's being called a 'cheat'. Yes, I was in a round about way called a 'cheat' also. Knowing I've for two months entered every search, filled in offers for about 3/15 which I was credited for, attempted and been kicked out of surveys and clicked thousands of SBTV's and personally clicked each and every time then being told I'm attempting to 'cheat' and 'exploit' is pretty damn insulting. I used to game a lot. I had literally 1 million gold (a fortune) on warcraft in Cataclysm. I've never botted in my life, I've never ran dodgy or automated programmes. I used to report people that did.

Absolute sods.
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Comments

  • cally6008
    cally6008 Posts: 7,629
    First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Forumite
    As of 1-13pm, Swagbucks Nick (UK rep) has posted on facebook that he is looking in to this for you

    I do hope you get it sorted out so that you can then add your £55 amazon vouchers directly on to your amazon account and keep them safe in there until you wish to use them
  • Nick got back to me. He was nice about it but is unfortunately unable to help. Compliance won't shift. Compliance won't hear me out anymore either. So it's a catch 22 there. I'll keep complaining. I'm looking into legal action also. Though I'm not sure if that is a possibility but I will try.
  • What is Swagbucks?
  • clarebeany wrote: »
    What is Swagbucks?

    Its a hybrid site for surveys and other things where you earn points but they can't be trusted. Heard the stories and I thought that's silly, until it happened to me.
  • I'm sorry to hear that.

    Perhaps this is the displays that one should cash out in with whatever reward wants as soon as you the smallest redemption threshold.
  • Swagbucks_company_representative
    Swagbucks_company_representative Posts: 26 Organisation Representative
    [FONT=arial, sans-serif]"For the privacy of our members, the Swagbucks Compliance Department does not publicly discuss any specific accounts found exploiting our reward-earning services. We would like to make it clear that we do not, and will not, deactivate a member without a valid compliance reason. You can write into us at [/FONT][EMAIL="compliance@swagbucks.com"]compliance@swagbucks.com[/EMAIL][FONT=arial, sans-serif] for further information about your account and the possibility of starting a fresh, new account as long as you are willing to adhere to our Terms of Service. You can review our FAQs to see our compliance policies at [/FONT]help.swagbucks.com."
    Official Company Representative
    I am the official company representative of Swagbucks. MSE has given permission for me to post in response to queries about the company, so that I can help solve issues. You can see my name on the companies with permission to post list. I am not allowed to tout for business at all. If you believe I am please report it to forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com This does NOT imply any form of approval of my company or its products by MSE"
  • Do you robots ever listen instead of just parroting that? Can you understand - compliance wrote a message to me:

    'Please keep in mind that your case is officially closed and this will be a final resolution to this issue. No other response will be provided'.

    What you mean, I think, is Please don't post in a negative light about us on our public Facebook page. If you won't listen to me in compliance I will keep posting on your Facebook page. I will expect human conversation and ultimately, what is owed to me.

    Furthermore, if you insist on denying me what I have rightfully and honestly earned and calling me a 'cheat, an exploiter', and stating that you have found 'automative/third party software' - which I have not used.: I'll make a blog and spend the time on google analytics to make sure it's the second or third result in the google page results. I'll call it 'Swagbucks exposed' or 'Swagsucks' or similar, and invite others to post their negative experiences with Swagbucks and offer them alternative links to competing businesses.

    I will write compliance again and expect a response.
  • Happi
    Happi Posts: 1,523
    Photogenic Combo Breaker First Anniversary
    Forumite
    I doubt you can do anything legally it's an american company.

    It looks like they are not budging either, perhaps the only thing left to do is ask for a fresh account and start anew.

    Cash out sooner too, like every £5 and use a different browser for just swagbucks so the same thing doesn't happen again.
  • Do you robots ever listen instead of just parroting that? Can you understand - compliance wrote a message to me:

    'Please keep in mind that your case is officially closed and this will be a final resolution to this issue. No other response will be provided'.

    What you mean, I think, is Please don't post in a negative light about us on our public Facebook page. If you won't listen to me in compliance I will keep posting on your Facebook page. I will expect human conversation and ultimately, what is owed to me.

    Furthermore, if you insist on denying me what I have rightfully and honestly earned and calling me a 'cheat, an exploiter', and stating that you have found 'automative/third party software' - which I have not used.: I'll make a blog and spend the time on google analytics to make sure it's the second or third result in the google page results. I'll call it 'Swagbucks exposed' or 'Swagsucks' or similar, and invite others to post their negative experiences with Swagbucks and offer them alternative links to competing businesses.

    I will write compliance again and expect a response.

    It's a drastic step, and will involve a lot of time and effort. But if you do it, be sure to have a comments section so users can share experiences. I agree they don't listen, I have a minor problem, which I've told them about 3 times with no response. Good luck.
  • DaveTheGeordie
    DaveTheGeordie Posts: 222
    First Anniversary First Post Combo Breaker
    Forumite
    edited 15 February 2013 at 5:57AM
    Thank you for your support everyone. I know better now, but honestly, Swagbucks being a reputable and such a large company I thought there was very little chance of them doing something like this and I was not doing anything dodgey. I was saving for as long as I could because you get a greater discount in their points cost for each 'tier' of Amazon vouchers you reach.

    The browser history reset didn't even trigger the thought process to me, genuinely. That's how innocent it was. This was, quite literally, natural browsing behaviour as I was going through my daily clicks. It even took a couple of days for me to realise after my deactivation. I would not put it past them, even if their belief is genuine, that they have banned others this way. I know many people on Swagbucks, using similar sites and members of MSE use daily click sites.

    Furthermore, I can't get my head around why you would offer someone known to use 'third party software' or 'automation' programmes, or other such bot-like exploits the chance to make a new account. No good company does that. If you use bots in any online game, unless your have been hacked, your account is dead. No discussion. Game over. What an odd policy. I have to say that raises the 'cowboy' alarm to me.
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