Quidco Question and Answers

lyndseyr75

Quidco really seem to be going down hill recently. I have used them above other cashback sites in the past as they have been more reliable. However recently I purchased a magazine subscription from (not so!)Great Magazines for £15 with the promise of £6 cash back. This didn't track and lo and behold Quidco are UNABLE to query this claim! Do Quidco not own this site then? I also had a trial from Graze with a promise of £1 cashback for the free trial and £1 for my first purchased box. I had the trial plus I purchased the next 3 boxes before deciding it really was too expensive for what you get. None of this tracked. I put a claim in for that which was declined with no explanation at all. As Quidco are not able to claim further I tried to write a review on Graze, only for Quidco to refuse to publish it, I only stated facts. So it would appear that you can only write a review on Quidco if it is in the sellers favour, hmm not really the point of a review site!. Think I will be trying Top Cash Back or Imutual again.

Cyberman60

I've just looked at this thread as I have had a cashback declined for car insurance on Quidco from over a year ago even though they sent me their archive today which I requested on which details exist, so it must have tracked. I am a premium member with them but will now be moving to a different cashback website. It appears I am not a lone disgruntled voice and that Quidco should be investigated.

B_M

@Cyberman60, have a look at my sig.
I'm not sure which cash back site you're thinking of moving to, but I've personally have had major issues with financial merchants via tcb. A few times now I've had to go to the Financial Ombudsman Service after companies still haven't paid after a complaint. Most pay up though once a complaint has been made.
My complaint goes along the lines of mis selling of a financial product due to the non payment off cash back offered by the merchant and its agent via affiliate marketing.
Btw, which merchant is it?
Direct Line and Hastings Direct are very bad and you really have to fight. Others like Aviva, More Than, L&G etc simply pay up.

ffacoffipawb

Quidco is a con. My wife had her account blocked because she did more than 5 direct flights clicks a week. This was not deliberate, not all clicks track and it is hard to keep track. . She has now lost all her cashback, so quidco have arbitrarily stolen the money from her, obviously not just the excess direct flights clicks but future cash yet to be received. At least with imutual the clicks are capped and you cannot go over. Quidco treat customers with contempt and should be avoided.

Cyberman60

Thanks for that information B_M. The merchant was RAC motor insurance and according to Quidco's activity archive it says 'seopa-declined', whatever that means.

This was a message they sent to me a few months after my purchase :

---

Quidco support

14 Oct 13 at 15:18

Hi,

We�re writing to you about your Quidco Compare Car purchase.

We�re afraid the insurer was unable to locate a purchase made via your Quidco account. In order to earn cashback, the sale must be referred to the insurer via the Quidco Compare pages and there is no evidence of this on this occasion.

We�re very sorry for any disappointment that this may cause, and we regret we are unable to take this matter any further for you.

Kind regards,

Quidco

---

This was the message I sent them today !!

Your options do not show the retailer for my car insurance that I bought last year. I requested an activity log as I was sure that I had not received my cashback for RAC motor insurance that I bought 25th June 2013. The activity log says 'seopa-declined' . Why was this as I bought the insurance in good faith via Quidco with the expectation of cashback. I was about to purchase car insurance via Quidco today but now feel that any cashback value quoted will be worthless as it will probably be declined after purchase. Apologies but I feel I've been scammed !!

B_M

@Cyberman60, I've not personally dealt with RAC, but put in a mis selling complaint as above.
http://www.rac.co.uk/complaints
I prefer to complain via phone, but you must stress it's a complaint.
RAC wil then have 8 weeks to reach a conclusion, good or bad! If not resolved or not resolved to your satisfaction, the you will pass on your complaint to the FOS. RAC will advise you with their final response that the FOS is a route you can take and will enclose a FOS leaflet.
FOS info is included on the RAC link above also.
FOS will charge RAC a £550 referral fee, hence why RAC should and want to resolve pre FOS.
The FOS aren't bothered with tracking, cookies etc, only in whether you have been paid what was offered for purchasing a financial product.
RAC will easily be able to check where your purchased originated (ie Quidco via their affiliate network) as this will have an electronic trace confirming time and date. RAC should be able to identify this in minutes (if wanted).
Good luck, but if RAC take things seriously and your transaction was genuine, I'd imagine you will be paid within a month.

seopa-declined - I'm imagining 'seopa-declined' means seopa is the company responsible for managing Quidco's compare service? Quidco would have to confirm that though!

Cyberman60

Thanks again B_M, further to this I received a reply from Quidco today to my message sent yesterday, which appears to be a standard get-out stating cashback was paid to somebody else... LOLLLL . I will as you suggest now complain directly to RAC insurance :

Quidco support

20 Jul 14 at 16:05

Hi,

I'm very sorry to hear that your cashback has been declined, as I do understand how frustrating this is for you. Unfortunately on this occasion we haven't received the cashback from the retailer, as they have advised us that this has been paid to another referrer.

To explain further (and apologies if this seems a little technical) cashback is actually a referral commission that Quidco receives from the retailer, for directing you to make your purchase through them. When you shop through Quidco, a browser cookie (a small piece of data on your browser) is recorded, and this shows the retailer that you visited them via Quidco. Sometimes, if you do not clear your cookies prior to purchase, you will have other cookies for different referrers on your browser, for example other cashback sites, search engines, comparison sites, to name but a few.

This means that on occasion, the retailer cannot identify exactly which referrer you made your purchase through, and will pay the commission to someone else other than Quidco. This is why we recommend clearing your cookies before making your purchase, to ensure that there are no other referrers for the retailer to pay the referral commission to. If you are at all unsure how to clear your browser cookies, do let us know and we can assist further, as this is something we'd recommend to do for any future purchases.

Regrettably once this has happened, we won't receive the commission to then pass on to you in the form of cashback.

I am very sorry for any disappointment this may cause but unfortunately we will not be able to take this any further for you.


Kind regards,
Quidco Support

ffacoffipawb

Cyberman60 wrote: »

Thanks again B_M, further to this I received a reply from Quidco today to my message sent yesterday, which appears to be a standard get-out stating cashback was paid to somebody else... LOLLLL . I will as you suggest now complain directly to RAC insurance :

Quidco support

20 Jul 14 at 16:05

Hi,

I'm very sorry to hear that your cashback has been declined, as I do understand how frustrating this is for you. Unfortunately on this occasion we haven't received the cashback from the retailer, as they have advised us that this has been paid to another referrer.

To explain further (and apologies if this seems a little technical) cashback is actually a referral commission that Quidco receives from the retailer, for directing you to make your purchase through them. When you shop through Quidco, a browser cookie (a small piece of data on your browser) is recorded, and this shows the retailer that you visited them via Quidco. Sometimes, if you do not clear your cookies prior to purchase, you will have other cookies for different referrers on your browser, for example other cashback sites, search engines, comparison sites, to name but a few.

This means that on occasion, the retailer cannot identify exactly which referrer you made your purchase through, and will pay the commission to someone else other than Quidco. This is why we recommend clearing your cookies before making your purchase, to ensure that there are no other referrers for the retailer to pay the referral commission to. If you are at all unsure how to clear your browser cookies, do let us know and we can assist further, as this is something we'd recommend to do for any future purchases.

Regrettably once this has happened, we won't receive the commission to then pass on to you in the form of cashback.

I am very sorry for any disappointment this may cause but unfortunately we will not be able to take this any further for you.


Kind regards,
Quidco Support

Don't just complain, vote with your feet - try imutual and topcashback, they treat their account holders well. Unlike quidco who treat them with contempt, as you have now discovered. How do we know they haven't pocketed that money?

B_M

@Cyberman60, there should be a trace which shows where your purchase originated. RAC will be able to check that. Paying the wrong referrer is not your issue.
It looks like a complaint direct is your best option. If RAC don't take you seriously, then the FOS will.
When complaining, it might be an idea to state you will involve the FOS if not fully resolved.

@ffacoffipawb, I'm actually trying to get away from tcb due to many problems. Their own forum is full of woes and issues! I have one financial transaction to resolve and that's it. I take screenshots of everything as proof and to pass to the FOS when needed.
Imutual do seem good, but I have only joined up recently due to the tcb issues. But so far perfect and no complaints at all.

quidco_Company_Representative

B_M wrote: »

Thanks and a shame the first purchase back failed to track.
I'm not having any issues with tracking via tcb or imutual tbh.
Lets see how quidco deal with claims before jumping in too deep with large insurances etc.

Hi B_M,

I am truly sorry to hear your purchase hasn't tracked and the disappointment it must be causing you. Unfortunately, sometimes from some unknown reason, a retailer may not track the purchase to your account and a claims process is the correct thing to do on these occasions. This is in place for out members as we simply don't like for our you to miss out on your earnings.

To explain a little further, Quidco do not carry out the tracking of purchases, in fact, no cashback site will carry out its own tracking. All of the tracking within the cashback industry is carried out by third party affiliate networks, who also process the cashback for us and other sites as well.

We monitor all retailers extremely closely for their tracking reliability and take measures to make sure the level of service is what it should be for our members.

Again, if you need any further help with your tracking or claim, be assured our support team will do what they can to advise and assist you further.

Kind regards,

Kim
Quidco Rep