MSE News: Over 40% of cashback site users don't get paid 31 August 2010 at 11:21AM in Shop but don't drop 65 replies 18.2K views

k4ssie

Yes, the article doesn't stack up. BUT, i too have had a lot of problems with Quidco - after a good couple of initial transactions, I lost £50 on insurance with SimplyBusiness who then disappeared off the site without paying any money. I wasn't quick off the mark enough to challenge it because, y'know, i have other things to do. I' ended up paying over the odds for that insurance due to taking the cashback into account when comparing products -lesson learned, won't be doing that again but the smoothness of my first few transactions lulled me into thinking that the system was reliable.

Since then, I currently have around £165 of "validated" cashback owed, related to transactions from april to july of this year. None of it ever seems to progress to Paid, and when i contact their email support i just get responses which amount to "don't worry, it's within normal parameters" even though all of them are well over the average payment time listed against the individual providers.

I'm pretty disillusioned with Quidco cos one thing's for sure, they've had their share of the commission generated by all of my transactions, and I haven't. I might try another site, but i'd definitely advise other MSE-ers to go with one of the others mentioned above and give Quidco a miss.

barrow08

Hi

The general feeling from the replies posted about this article is that most people do get their cashback from Topcashback and Quidco. In my eyes the two best cashback sites. I've been using both of these sites for 2 years and have saved over £2k. Sometimes my cashback is declined, recently by Jarvis Hotels. My transaction didn't track, I put in a claim with all of the relevant details about my stay at the hotel and Jarvis replied that my booking had been cancelled and declined my cashback. Yes this was frustrating, I lost out on £7. I don't hols TCB responsible, I feel cheated by Jarvis. I had a booking reference, receipt and credit card slip.:T

I Have difficulty recommending these sites to my friends, because they always think there's a catch. Articles like this one just adds merit to their fears - it is unhelpful.

donaldtramp

But I have had dozens of successful payments totalling over £600, and would (and do) wholeheartedly recommend them.

So, Martin Lewis, please assert your principles with those you employ as writers, and make sure MSE does not end up in the "Daily Nail" journalistic mould.

I agree this is Daily Mail, story grabbing with a twisted headline. This figure doesn't stack up in my experience either. I'm up over a grand since I've started using quidco.

Still isn't this a fine example of the "journalism" we are now seeing on MSE?
Everything is a "secret" method or they show a "trick" to save money.

In my mind it is becoming more and more about generating click through links(and money) for MSE.
The cashback for changing energy suppliers is a crystal clear example of this.

snugglepet20

stampede wrote: »

It sounds like you are blocking cookies on your system.

I don't think I am (not that I'm a computer genius or anything!) because all my other cashback works but just not for Mothercare, it's weird. Anyway I will check, thanks.

Mekmj

I wasn't even aware that you wouldn't get the cashback if you clicked on the links properly and took up the offer as specified on Quidco. I joined Weightwatchers via them in May, and after seeing the MSE email, I thought, I will just check if I got the £30 promised. I didn't get it, Quidco say not their problem, Weightwatchers say not their problem, so that means it's just my problem. Thanks Quidco! I have used Quidco for other things, but that £30 = 60 weeks of getting my Sainsbury's shopping via them! As a previous poster said, the cashback was part of the offer, and a material part of the contract, so am not sure how they can just decline to pay it or try and be helpful at all...

N9eav

smk77 wrote: »

Are you serious???

I...

Yes I am serious. The only reason I bought Norwich or now Aviva insurance was the cash back made it a great deal.

I am not saying that cash back sites are no good as Top cash back seems to be working for me. But in my case Quidco claimed to have no record of my £70, so they say..... basically tough luck was their response.

smk77

N9eav wrote: »

Yes I am serious. The only reason I bought Norwich or now Aviva insurance was the cash back made it a great deal.

I am not saying that cash back sites are no good as Top cash back seems to be working for me. But in my case Quidco claimed to have no record of my £70, so they say..... basically tough luck was their response.

So you seriously think that Quidco is a scam because of your single bad experience? If it didn't track then, as they said, tough! What exactly do you want them to do?

I've made just under £500 from quidco. Scam? I think not!

jackdaw

The majority of my transactions don't track (I don't know why, I've followed all of the troubleshooting with regard to it and it's the same in IE/firefox), so I have to put in claims. Sometimes they won't let me claim because the amount is too low, so I don't get compensated for that, but mostly I do get the money. However, I have to manually submit and keep an eye on it all, which means time and effort - can imagine other people not doing that and not getting their cashback as a result.

Some of my transactions are still there many months afterwards and I've had to put in reminders to get the money.

Overall, though, I do think the article is misleading and that cashback sites aren't a con and are good since I get most of the money, but there are a few caveats.

Distorted_Vision

I use Quidco and the main issue I've had is with bookmaker sites. I used them during the World Cup and despite all tracking none have paid so far.

Zanderman

Am inclined to agree that the original MSE article is misleading - and I look forward to "Guy Anker, News Editor" responding to the points raised in this thread. The article doesn't help at all - in fact it hinders, putting people off. That's not what MSE should be doing - if there's a problem then investigate it properly, don't fudge the stats, and come up with some proper ways forward.

Personally I largely use TCB these days - don't like Quidco's £5 fee system. And I keep a browser specifically for it to make sure there's no confusion with cookies (a tip I got ages ago on MSE I think). The one I use for cashback is Slimbrowser, set to delete cookies on closing each time - and only ever used for cashback.

Yes it's a bit of hassle - I generally check out the deals on my usual browser first and then have to reproduce the transaction (without worrying about cookies stored on my main browser) in Slimbrowser after going through TCB's site - but it's effective, and saves a lot of money. So the hassle is well worth it.

And if things don't track I raise a ticket - and, more often than not, these are successful. I have not, so far, had any major claim refused. A few small (50p or similar) claims haven't worked - but so what - that's not worth worrying about.

Some better guidance from MSE on this sort of tactic would be better than the scaremongering, out of perspective, article that prompted this thread.