MSE News: Beware costly subscriptions when shopping online

wild_life_fan

wild_life_fan wrote: »

You would gain by getting cahback on purchases made through the links on their site. You get a minimum of 10% for most links, eg Apple, Burton, Groupon, Dell, Play, Screwfix, etc.
For most, this is much more generous than TCB or Quidco.
Their payment times tend to be shorter too, eg average 2 mths.
:T

Having previously posted several messages saying how useful the SD&R service is, I'm beginning to realise that this is no longer a useful service.
Unfortunately, these people are actually really inconsistent and increasingly useless.

Several of my cashback transactions have tracked correctly, but are subsequently reversed. This is for genuine transactions, goods not returned or exchanged and still in my possession. On querying this, you either receive a template/standard response, or no response at all.
When you telephone them, their call centre staff give contradictory information, some of it completely incorrect and inaccurate.
Chasing this up by email is equally tedious, as they don't respond to all emails.

When large cashback transactions are reversed, they claim this is done by the 'merchant', but without providing a reason or evidence. Why does this (almost) always happen to high value transactions and why is it always outside their control?

Their website, sign-up emails and monthly emails all refer to "10% cashback".
However, cashback rates randomly drop to much lower levels, eg 2 or 3% instead of 10%.
When I queried this, they don't have an explanation.
When you then complain, because this is contrary to their own website and literature, they ignore you.
Great customer service! :mad:

The time it takes them to send cashback payments is erratic - some months it's very prompt, other months you wait for weeks to receive your cheques.

Their website is also rather useless. Some of the info is very out-of-date, some info is incorrect and some contradicts itself.

For anyone wondering whether it's worth signing up with SD&R, I am no longer able to sing their praises. Their service is getting poorer and less reliable as time goes on.
It's just not worthwhile chasing up their errors each month, especially as they don't always respond.
So, don't bother, unless you have lots of spare time and don't mind being fobbed off by call centre staff in Switzerland parroting a standard script that doesn't address your issues.
Instead, stick to the 2 large, established UK cashback sites.

It seems that SD&R's business model is based on signing up as many new users as possible, then charging them £10/month. Many people don't read the 'small print' and don't realise there is a membership fee. Many don't bother to (re)claim.
Getting new 'members' is probably far more profitable for SD&R (aka Webloyalty/Affinion Group) than having to pay cashback and provide a decent customer service!

If others have the same experience, perhaps MSE can look into SD&R and highlight the pros and cons?

Former_MSE_Megan

Shopper discounts and rewards have contacted us with the following message. MSE does not endorse anything posted by company reps on the forum.

Hello Wild_Life_Fan:

We are very sorry for the service issues you encountered with your Shopper Discounts & Rewards membership. Please be assured that we are committed to providing a very high level of customer services. We are aware of some issues you mentioned in your post and we are diligently working on resolving them.

So that we can thoroughly address and resolve your specific issues, we would need to identify your individual Shopper Discounts & Rewards membership record. Please contact me directly at mary@shopperdiscountsandrewards.co.uk so that I can look into the issues you have encountered and work to get them resolved for you.

Thank you for being a Shopper Discounts & Rewards member and we hope that once we resolve your issues to your satisfaction you will remain one of our valued members.

Kind regards,
Mary
Shopper Discounts & Rewards