3mobile have declined my quidco cashback.

Old_Gold

I bought a phone from 3 through quidco. It tracked and everything was okay until I found out that my cashbback had been declined. I challenged this to find it was again declined with the explanation that anouther marketing channel had been used. This could only be then at their end and would be very convenient for them to use this as an excuse. I know that you cannot rely on cashbacks but surely the reason if declined must be valid.
Has anyone had similar experiences?

OneADay

Did you clear you browser cache before visiting 3 site via quidco?
If there are any cookies lying around, they will get eaten - I mean read and negate the quidco or vice versa.

DarkConvict

As above if you visited via another website first, even if it was a week before hand, you are very likely to have had the original cookie still in the internet files, so when visiting via Quidco a new cookie would not have been placed as such, they (the retailer) would not know you visited via Quidco, so they wouldn't pay Quidco any money. Odds are if you used a search engine it might have gone via that instead.

Before any cashback website, find what you want. Then empty the temp cache and cookies, (use CCleaner (free) to be sure) and then open up the cashback website and click to the website you want. It hasn't failed me yet.

kayceejayh

I'm in a similar (read identical) position to you - I actually blogged about it today. I can't understand how it can be tracked by them and then not paid, very frustrating, glad i'm not alone!

K

Old_Gold

Thanks for your replies. As far as I know I cleared cookies. It tracked through quidco and so as far as i know this was fine. If someone else is getting the referral then surely this must be fraud. The order was not made through anyone other than the three website via quidco.

Astec

It's not fraud, it's how it works unfortunately. I tend to use firefox and clear all recent data when using quidco, never had a problem in 2 years.

DarkConvict

Its not fraud, cashback is a gift and it is not guaranteed gift at that either.

All you can do is follow the above steps to ensure your cookies are cleaned (preferably with the browser closed to be sure) to increase the chances of it tracking successfully. Even if they say you visited by another retailer it is not fraud because the odds are they might not get paid, i.e a cookie left by you clicking via google.
Fraud would involve you clicking via several referral sites and hoping they all track.

scoobydoob

Yes it definitely IS a scam. I've been hit with it too this week.
Just do a search on Quidco's own site to see how many people have been getting the exact same excuse about another marketing channel with "3" to stop paying out.
I know when I ordered through 3's site there was no chance of any other cookies apart from quidco's.
I asked Quidco to request info on which other "marketing channel" had claimed the cashback, but they say decision is final and they can't do that !!
To say cashback is just a "gift" is just encouraging retailers to take advantage of that nice get-out clause. If more retailers adopt that view then what will be the point of sites like Quidco?

Old_Gold

It is fraud if another so called marketing channel receives money intended for another party.
It is fraud if a retailer advertises something with no intention of giving it.

OneADay

Old_Gold wrote: »

It is fraud if another so called marketing channel receives money intended for another party.
It is fraud if a retailer advertises something with no intention of giving it.

Have you checked out how google ads work - just for starters.

If you are researching a mobile phone deal on the net, find one you like and then use something like quidco in the hope of getting commission for that transaction, its down to you to make sure your browser cache is completely empty before you visit the quidco site. Its also down to you to only go the chosen retailer from quidco to make sure nothing else interferes with that transaction. Visit no other sites throughout the transaction (just to be sure).

As a basic rule I use Firefox for main browser. When it comes to quidco, I use IE (and always empty IE cache first). Either way, use one browser for your day to day browsing, the other for things like quidco.

scoobydoob

People having stray cookies on their PC when ordering at 3 through Quidco is not the issue here.....well it is 100% definitely NOT the issue in my case.
The issue is a retailer falsely advertising a cashback incentive (which they have no intention of paying) in order to gain a sale. I have to say I agree with Old Gold on this one.