Topcashback Questions & Answers

TopCashBack_Company_Representative

Hi all,

@POPPYOSCAR, I can confirm that a purchase does need to be completed wholly online and if you do find that a merchant requires you to ring up to complete this, then we do suggest phoning the merchant up to clarify what the issue is, but try to make it clear that you do not wish to complete your transaction over the phone. Their customer services may not always be aware of how cashback works, this is often dealt with by a different department, but I can confirm that we are not able to organise payments as we are just the middle man, so to speak. I am really glad to hear though that you were able to get this issue sorted with them and complete your transaction online

@ColaCube, if your transaction was completed over the phone then I am afraid that you would not be eligible for the cashback on this. Why they requested you to call I do not know, but if this does ever occur for you again, as mentioned above, give them a call and try to find out what the issue is, but do try to make it clear that you do not wish to complete your transaction whilst on the phone. Hopefully they can then get this resolved for you to then be able to complete your transaction online!

@veryintrigued, thanks so much Hopefully we can get your claim overturned for you, but feel free to get in touch though if you would like any updates on the status of this at all.

Best wishes,
Samantha

zolablue25

I really think TopCashBack has gone downhill this last 12 months. It used to be that everything tracked no problem and it was also paid out swiftly but this year I have found it terrible. I do wonder whether they are letting the service drop for non paying subscribers and focussing their efforts on those that pay them a fee. I have had a claim for Auto Europe pending since January! In addition my last 2 purchases (made from 2 different PCs to 2 different merchants and having cleared my cookies both times prior to clicking through) not tracked. The clickthrough shows up OK but no record of the purchases even though the TCB website states that the majority of tracking occurs within the first hour for both merchants. The service has become so unreliable I would proceed with a purchase on the assumption that you aren't going to get any cashback, rather than on the assumption that you probably will.

Very disappointing to see what was a very good service deteriorate so badly. It's also a shame that they removed the forum from their website. This is presumably because too many people were having issues and it was putting other [STRIKE]mugs[/STRIKE] punters off.

BartyBoy

zolablue25 wrote: »

…I do wonder whether they are letting the service drop for non paying subscribers and focussing their efforts on those that pay them a fee...

Although some members don't pay to upgrade to a 'higher up level' membership, at the end of the day TCB still gets paid by the advertisers/merchants when any members click the link and place an order. So really it is a good earning business (multi-million pounds turnover I have heard), and TCB should be looking after every single member and provide the same level of service to all members.

zolablue25 wrote: »

...It's also a shame that they removed the forum from their website…

I think TCB doesn't want to show its dirty laundry to the public. Anything on the forum could be searched and found via search engines on the internet. Can you imagine if someone is searching for TCB's services on the net and Google lists pages of bad comments from the TCB members. That doesn't make the company look good, does it?

It's like some companies they don't accept negative comments/reviews of their services and products, those companies are better not to have 'customer's reviews' feature (or forum) on their websites.

TopCashBack_Company_Representative

Hi there,

@zolablue25, I am sorry to hear that you feel our service has gone downhill in the last year, the tracking of a transaction can be affected by many factors and whilst we do suggest clearing your cookies, we do also advise turning of any ad-blockers that you may have installed and, be sure to purchase directly, if you use a search engine prior to making your purchase, the sale may not be attributed to TopCashback.

We do have the claims system for this purpose and whilst we do aim to have these resolved within around 12 weeks from when they are submitted, we are reliant on a resolution being received from the merchant and occasionally, although very rare, it may take longer for resolution to be produced. We are able to query these when this does occur though, in a bid to get this resolved for the member.

I can confirm that the reason we decided to remove the forum from site is because we have found that we are better able to assist our members when a support ticket is sent in, rather than when we are trying to respond to many members via the various forum threads.

@BartyBoy, I can assure you that all members, whether Plus or Classic, receive the same level of service, the Plus Member admin fee goes towards a selection of added features including a higher top-up rate, additional promotions, competitions and cashback deals, a higher tell-a-friend referral bonus and no additional adverts around the site.

As mentioned previously, this was not the case at all for removing the forum from site, we feel that we can assist our members more effectively via the support ticketing system.

Have a great weekend!

Best wishes,
Samantha

Danceswithhorses

TopCashBack_Company_Representative wrote: »

Hi there,


@Danceswithhorses, I am sorry that this has not tracked for you, it could be an odd one, but, if you find that this occurs with your next purchase, could you get in touch with us on a support ticket? We can then go through with you what may be causing this. In regards to your claim, we submit these in batches to the network every few weeks and you should see yours submitted for you soon. Our Claims Team will be sure to update you on your claim thread once this has been sent. I hope that this goes on to be successful for you!



Kind regards,
Samantha

3.5 months later...my Santander claim was turned down.
I waited ages, only to be disappointed.
From my research, it appears Santander have a very poor record of paying out.
That being so, maybe TCB should consider dropping them, as poor payers give TCB a poor reputation.
In this case, it has also lost them a customer-ie me, as i closed my TCB account.

B_M

@Danceswithhorses, don't give up as this is very easy to resolve. But by yourself initially unfortunately.
Contact Santander and issue a complaint (mis selling of a financial product due to the non payment of cash back via their affiliate marketing via their agents).
http://www.santander.co.uk/uk/help-support/complaints
They will then have 8 weeks to fully resolve your complaint (you have to allow them this time) and if not fully resolved, then pass your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) and they will take up your case. If it does get as far as the FOS, then you have the satisfaction of knowing Santander will at least be charged £550 in referral fees (at least). I personally know Santander try and avoid letting it escalate as far as FOS, so you should be ok as long as you have made a legitimate purchase.
The FOS aren't bothered in tracking and cookies etc, only if you have been paid what was promoted as cash back for taking a financial product. There will be a trace (date and time) to prove where your transaction originated (ie Top cash back).
I wouldn't bother getting tcb to try and resolve your issue, they have had their chance. FOS have much more 'clout'.

re tcb forum. It was always stated that the forum was mainly for members to help each other. So to state that it was taken away because tcb offer a better service via tickets is ludicrous! The forum could have been left with a notice / disclaimer that tcb don't monitor the forums. Members could then assist each other as they had done. The forum was closed because of all the flak tcb were getting, along with members suggesting how to resolve issues via regulatory bodies. Make no mistake about that. If that wasn't the reason, then simply put it back for members only (tcb can stay away).

I've had a little break from tcb (used two other sites), but to be fair everything has been paid up.
Back with two more financial purchases (both tracked) and hopefully no more chasing. The estimated payment dates for both were very reasonable and none of the silly six months plus estimates.
More to follow. ;-)

ailey

I had a large purchase for a cooker and, even if I look for discount codes, I always make my last move of going back into my TCB tab and then making my purchase. I didn't receive my cashback of around £55 even though the click to merchants showed up at the right date and time and, eventually, after 9 months, I was told that the cashback had gone to another site! I was incredibly disappointed at this because I knew for definite that my last action was into TCB and onto the store selling the cooker. I just can't fathom out the reason for it going to another site - can anyone else work this out?

I also have various Tesco payments waiting to be paid for months now and one which they rejected even though I had not returned any of the items.

I was getting a new mobile phone a few months ago and, through T-Mobile/EE, it also said that I had to phone them to complete the transaction so I knew that I would not receive the cashback if I did not complete it through TCB. The money was for just over £100. I had to change my mobile phone company to be able to complete the transaction through TCB and I received over £80 so was still happy but did not want to change companies. I didn't receive the cashback and had to pursue this also but at least I got it in the end. I think TCB need to go through their site and address these issues each time someone brings it to their attention about a company asking customers to phone them to complete the transaction as neither the customer nor TCB will receive any money this way. These companies should not be on TCB if they are luring people onto the phones so that they don't have to pay any cashback. It's in TCB's best interests as a company to discuss these issues with the companies concerned and ditch them if they are trying to get out of paying cashback!

I also had a hotel booking a short while ago which was for over £100 cashback and I know for definite that I had made my last action to go through TCB and straight into the hotel booking site to make my purchase. It also shows through Clicks to Merchants although I do understand that this part doesn't prove as we don't always make a purchase when we click through, but if we do, then the click is there to prove it. Apparently this money also went to another site as per "I am sorry to tell you that your claim has been declined as the network has not identified ourselves as the last referral to the merchant’s site and this transaction".

It only seems to be the large amounts of money which are not getting paid out and it's making me a bit suspicious now unfortunately.

I have read where you should clear your cookies before making a purchase but, even if people don't do that, and go through TCB then onto the website they wish to purchase from, then the transaction should be valid. Surely the same goes if people have an adblocker. Maybe someone could enlighten me as to how this can block a payment if we go onto TCB and straight onto the website we're looking for and immediately making the purchase. I also work with tabs so I would have thought if I did leave the website to go onto another tab then once I went back onto the store's tab (which had already gone through TCB) then nothing else should interfere with that.

Maybe TCB need to have a banner at the top of their page which reminds people to clear their cookies and disable adblockers before making purchases.

abandonded

Got an insuance quote last week and joined cashback today. Intended to accept offer via email but it wont go through and I am advised to phone. Would I qualify for casback in this instance?

ailey

abandonded wrote: »

Got an insuance quote last week and joined cashback today. Intended to accept offer via email but it wont go through and I am advised to phone. Would I qualify for casback in this instance?

No you wouldn't get your cashback. Have a read of a few of the comments a page back and you'll find an answer from one of the TCB team. That's what happened to me when I was getting a new phone from T-Mobile/EE and I could not complete the transactions without phoning so I had to change to Vodafone to get the money as I could complete it on their website through TCB. It was £84 I got but I could have got over £100 with EE. Still happy with the cashback I received although I would have preferred not to change companies.

POPPYOSCAR

TopCashBack_Company_Representative wrote: »

Hi all,

@POPPYOSCAR, I can confirm that a purchase does need to be completed wholly online and if you do find that a merchant requires you to ring up to complete this, then we do suggest phoning the merchant up to clarify what the issue is, but try to make it clear that you do not wish to complete your transaction over the phone. Their customer services may not always be aware of how cashback works, this is often dealt with by a different department, but I can confirm that we are not able to organise payments as we are just the middle man, so to speak. I am really glad to hear though that you were able to get this issue sorted with them and complete your transaction online

@ColaCube, if your transaction was completed over the phone then I am afraid that you would not be eligible for the cashback on this. Why they requested you to call I do not know, but if this does ever occur for you again, as mentioned above, give them a call and try to find out what the issue is, but do try to make it clear that you do not wish to complete your transaction whilst on the phone. Hopefully they can then get this resolved for you to then be able to complete your transaction online!

@veryintrigued, thanks so much Hopefully we can get your claim overturned for you, but feel free to get in touch though if you would like any updates on the status of this at all.

Best wishes,
Samantha

The problem when you ring the insurer is that they say they cannot help. They just say you can pay them. They do nothing to say why you cannot complete on line.