"Complete Savings" scheme

stemcgoo

I've been a member of their other scheme ShopperDiscounts and Rewards since January 2011 and never had a problem with cheques other than the occasional late or lost one. In fact I dealt with Customer Service on one occasion and they kindly checked my history for cheques that I hadn't deposited (Probably lost in post) and reissued them (think it was 2 over 3 years).

noirre

Good for you stemcgoo. Meanwhile, I have sent numerous e-mails about my missing ones and not only am I waiting for the cheques, just receiving a reply to the e-mails seems to take anything between 4-9 days. Thus far, the track record for Complete Savings is

1. One cheque arrived after being enquired after.
2. Second cheque arrived after being enquired after (8 weeks later), but the cheque bounced
3. Four (4) cheques are nowhere to be seen, although I have been told some of them were processed on 15th of June. I was told to give 4 weeks for them to arrive. That time passed on 13th of July. I sent another enquiry on 6th of August. Reply received on 10th. I replied the same day, got a reply back on the 19th. I replied the same day, still waiting for a reply to that e-mail. I have also e-mailed the lady that posted her personal employee e-mail address as an response to my review on another website so she could help solve the issue, and that was 4 days ago as well - no reply.

Now, I understand that a big company gets a lot of emails, but from a customer service point of view, they need to have enough people to handle the volume. 9 days to wait for a reply is unacceptable, and 4 days is on the line of ridiculous as well. A good business practice is that e-mails are replied within 24 hours. I would forgive 2 days or over-the-weekend wait, but longer? Um, no.

If you do a search online for MarketWatch's article on how fast people expect a reply to their e-mail, most would say 12 hours, and only about 10% are willing to wait for a week - IF the e-mail is of personal nature. So I am not being unreasonable with this. (I would link the article, but as I'm a new member, I can't.)

All I can say is that if you used to receive your cheques without problems, then maybe in the past things worked. But right now they certainly don't.

//Update: I have heard back from the lady who replied to my review and she has confirmed that of the five cheques that I am waiting for, only two have been sent for sure - the oldest one (which bounced) and the newest one. One cheque had apparently ran into technical issues, and two she did not know what was going on with, but she might have more information on Monday. As for the reason the cheque bounced, she only said that should not have happened and asked me to provide the number of the cheque so she can check what is going on. At least there is progress.

Kiri-Heres

To my mind it's always a bit 'shifty' when a firm like Travelodge (a decent enough company as it happens) offer a chunky discount off your next booking - then as you follow through you realise it's not at all what you think! OK it's not actually a con - yet it is a skilled lead in to another company - Complete Savings - that in normal circumstances I would not have the slightest interest in.

noirre

An update: Today, I received all the cheques except the ones that still are within the processing timeframe. I will keep writing updates to this thread in case I have to chase back the two cheques I am now waiting for for August and September.

barafear799

I received my "welcome" reward cheque yesterday - although it was dated 25th Aug - not sure where it's been sitting!!

mazzaott

Have been a member of Complete Savings for about five months. Initially no problems getting cashback and monthly savings cheques which, thankfully, all cleared. Now the difficulty is getting any cashback registered or paid. I have made about seven purchases through them which have not been picked up by their systems and as some are now over their 30 day limit on reporting, I have indeed reported them to the Company using their appropriate form. However no response forthcoming, no response to follow-up emails, and most definitely no cash forthcoming. If they have a Facebook page I intend to comment on that. Bad publicity is never well received!

Riffs

Their adverts use stealth (in my view) to get you to sign up to and pay for a discount service by offering you voucher on next flight. If their product is so brilliant, why not just advertise it as such? Instead of hiding behind the legitimate products/services sold by third parties. Any discounts you later get take ages to come through and half the time you have to chase. It seems to me that the quality of their product is not the focus of their attention. The easy money is.

Cindy12

I noticed this morning they had taken £15 out of my bank. I phoned them and they said it was an order I had placed with Groupon on the 5th of Feb. I told them I had not done this and they have said they will unsubscribe me and refund the £15. I think it is terrible that anyone can take money out of my bank without my authority.

stemcgoo

So, I paid for airport parking today ahead of a holiday. I was offered £15 Cashback against a next purchase of airport parking. I had a splash screen show me this, a link with my receipt on Manchester airport......lots of promises of £15 free, but also very clear this was a one time offer which required me to enter my name, address and ...gee....my card details....
None of which seemed to deceive me about the offer, 30 days free then £15 per month....

I didn't sign up. I thought about it, but decided I ain't likely to need airport parking anytime soon.

Not sure where the deception is tho.

JamesJoyceBand

These sort of discount schemes are lethal. I bought some folders several months ago from W H Smith ( reputable high street retailers) and got stung by this click through scam. I thought it was a discount offer on this one purchase not that I was signing up to a permanent scheme. The Discount crowd assured me they sent my emails each month reminding me of the scheme but like all this junk it disappears into junk. I have rung and cancelled and have claimed a refund but I am horrified that a firm like W H Smith would be involved in something like this.