Topcashback Questions & Answers

TopCashBack_Company_Representative

Hi Everyone,
I hope you are all looking forward to the weekend!

@zebusi - I am so sorry to hear you are having this issue. Could you kindly try clicking this once more for me? If the error does continue please send me an email to mse@topcashback.co.uk and I will certainly look into this for you.

@BartyBoy – People do tend to shop around a lot for insurance and often do not clear out their cookies and cache before logging in to TopCashback to make their purchase. Even if you shut down your computer before hand the cookies from browsing around do remain on your device and so could mean that the other places do get paid the cashback rather than us. I do understand it will be frustrating for you as it means not getting the cashback but it wouldn’t be fair for the merchant to pay twice in cases like this unfortunately.

@1D1F – Don’t worry too much about this message. It is to do with our fair usage policy and also because we can only allow £50 not including top up to be paid onto one Clubcard. If a couple have a couples Clubcard account and so have two different Clubcard numbers that link to the same account they are more than welcome to add their own card to their TopCashback account. Due to the £50 + Top up limit however, only one card number can be linked to one TopCashback account. I do hope this clears up any confusion or concern caused by this message.

@roddydogs - As with any cashback transaction we can only pay the cashback to you once we are paid by the merchant. The estimates we have created are estimates but have been created looking at previous pay out speeds and so there certainly has been some science behind them and are not just a random figure.

@legendkiller2k8 - Thank you for listening to my point. I do think how we look at cashback might have to be something we will have to agree to disagree on. Unfortunately in every case sometimes a line does have to be drawn once we have exhausted the routes we have available but we will certainly do everything we can to get the cashback for our members.

I do hope this helps everyone.

Best wishes,
Matt

Digital_2012

TopCashBack_Company_Representative wrote: »

Hi @Legendkiller2k8 and Digital_2012,

@Legendkiller2k8 - Thanks for getting back to us. Going by the information you have provided, it would seem that your cashback does relate to a contract related purchase. In cases such as this you do enter into a contract with the merchant which does require you to maintain payment as explained within the terms of your agreement. Cashback on the other hand is not contractual and unfortunately is not something that is guaranteed. Therefore we do rely on these amounts being paid to us from the merchant so we can pass these amounts onto our members as cashback. I can further reiterate that we will not hold onto our members’ cashback and pass this over to our members as soon as it is received.

@ Digital_2012 – I have just checked our email inbox and I am not able to locate a message from yourself. Could you kindly resend this for me? I will be more than happy to take a closer look into your transactions for you.

I do hope this helps you both.

Best wishes,
Matt

Hi Matt,

I sent you another email i also included my money saving expert username, hope this time you get my email.

Thanks

BartyBoy

No, it wouldn’t be fair for the merchant to pay twice. But the merchant hasn't paid twice, have they? And also, it wouldn't be fair for a customer like me getting nothing!!

When a merchant pays you the cashback then you pass it on to your members, doesn't the merchant make a note of what cashback goes to which purchase? This is why you asked me to supply an order reference for verification, isn't it?

The whole situation is well beyond frustrating. I spent time to work out the best deal here in terms of the policy premium and the amount of cashback, but now you turned around to me to say I am not getting any cashback. It is absolutely wasting my time and effort!!!

B_M

TopCashBack_Company_Representative wrote: »

@B_M - many thanks for your post and messages to other members. Your contribution is very much appreciated!

Thanks for that Matt, I'll try and help out more. When I have the time of course.

legendkiller2k8 wrote: »

I understand what you're saying but when TCB refuse point blank to help anymore what more can a person do than challenge the merchant themselves, cashback may be seen by you guys as a bonus but end of the day it is infact a incentive and the law clearly states incentives must be fulfilled.

I couldn't agree more there. Spot on. If tcb won't help, then do it yourself. It isn't really that hard and compensation can be achieved.

@BartyBoy - caught up as well with a financial issue. AXA is an easy one to resolve. Both AXA and tcb are governed by the FCA - bang in a complaint against both.
Before you contact AXA re a mis-selling of a financial purchase (due to the non-payment of cashback promoted by their agent on their behalf), open up a ticket asking tcb to confirm they don't have your cashback. Keep this ticket as it may be helpful later, especially if you need to escalate to the Financial Ombudsman. Once tcb have confirmed, straight to AXA with your mis-selling complaint. They have 8 weeks to resolve or dismiss. Asking for a small amount of compensation for your hassle is recommended. AXA are actually pretty good at resolving disputes and before it gets to the FOS stage.
For the record, the FOS are not interested in cookies, they are only interested in whether you have obtained what was promoted and in a reasonable time - they suggested to myself, 4 months maximum.
pm me if you need any help.

Another positive and a 5* review for Mobile Phones Direct. Great deals, a 'faster paying' merchant and cashback tracked within 5 minutes. All perfect so far and I'll update once paid.
I no longer leave reviews on tcb merchants pages now as I've had some removed or censored. No more wasting my time there, good or bad.
More chance of this thread being viewed anyway.

BartyBoy

B_M wrote: »

@BartyBoy - caught up as well with a financial issue. AXA is an easy one to resolve...

Excellent! Thank you so much for your advice, I shall now ask TCB to confirm whether they have my cashback from AXA or not. I will let you know how I am getting on here, and thanks for the offer to pm you for further help! Very much appreciated!

B_M

No problems and I only wish I was in your situation (to test something out). The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) gave me some info last time and they were looking into tcb, due to many complaints (tcb didn't fall under the FOS jurisdiction). I don't want to post on an open forum yet what I was told and I'd like to test it out myself first. But anyway, AXA is the company which uses affiliate marketing to promote their products and services and tcb have been allowed to be an affiliate of AXA to promote their products.
Asking tcb to confirm they aren't holding your cash? No suggestion tcb are telling porkies and no doubt tcb will confirm they don't have your cash. This confirmation just saves a little time and will prove you've tried to resolve things if it needs to go as far as the FOS. AXA may well tell you to contact tcb, but you will already have done that and have the ticket to support that. AXA may also tell you the commission has been paid, again your ticket shows you haven't received it.
Once you have the tcb response, assuming they aren't going to pay you - they do have a 'fair play policy' - https://www.topcashback.co.uk/about?cat=FairPlay - so they could pay you. You may be offered half, but I'd go for the full amount, even if it means getting the FOS involved. Penalties for AXA if it gets that far, hence why it's more than likely won't. Obviously time consuming too, but that's in your advantage.
AXA complaints data - http://www.axa.co.uk/about/important-information/complaints-data/
Assuming you have to contact AXA, then check their complaints procedure - http://www.axainsurance.com/terms/ - scroll down to 'making your complaint'. I like to call, but equally email will have the same affect. Make sure and stress it's a complaint. My route is the mis-selling of a financial product (due to the non-payment of promoted cashback). As you've stated, cashback was the main reason for your purchase and without that 'carrot', you may well have gone elsewhere. Nothing stated on the tcb tv ads that cashback is just a possibility, nothing in their emails and even the links on the tcb merchant pages state 'get cashback now'.
Once AXA have received your complaint, they have a duty to investigate. They will easily be able to tell that your online purchase came from the tcb website. An electronic trace will confirm this (date, time etc). But, AXA will have 8 weeks (before you can go the the FOS) to try and resolve the complaint. Usually within 4 weeks to be honest and if they dismiss your complaint, they will inform you by letter and provide a leaflet and advise you that the FOS is the next route (if you decide you want to go there). £10 - £30 basic compensation for raising a complaint (if resolved at AXA level) and depending on your work. £50 if it goes to FOS and they can grant that (as well as levying AXA with a referral fee).
Good luck, hope you can resolve this at tcb level, but I'd be very, very surprised if AXA didn't resolve it.
This is where cashback sites who offer guarantees save a lot of hassle!

BartyBoy

B_M wrote: »

No problems and I only wish I was in your situation...

Thank you so much for the advice and instruction. I have now asked TCB to confirm my cashback with AXA, once they get back to me, then I should be able to move to the next stage - making a complaint.

Once again, thanks for your help!

TopCashBack_Company_Representative

Hi Everyone,

I hope you all had a fantastic weekend!

Digital_2012 – I am sorry to say I haven’t got your email Could you kindly send in a Support Ticket? If you put within there that you got in touch on MSE if a member of staff needs any help they will give me a shout. All you have to do to lodge a support ticket is click on "Account" at the top right hand side of the screen, then "Customer Care" on the grey navigation bar and finally "Submit support ticket".

@BartyBoy – As this reason has been given, without knowing who the last referrer was for definite I can’t say that this was paid as it may have been an internal referrer such as their own website.

However, in the large majority of situations it does mean that the merchant has paid the cashback. The merchant itself is not In charge of tracking who the transaction has come from – this is down to the cashback network. The Network will see who this went to but due to confidentially we are not given this information.

I certainly do understand situations like this can be frustrating. In the same boat I too would likely be frustrated. This is why we do give members hints and tips to help transactions to track as we do as much as possible want to reduce the chance of transactions being affiliated to another marketing channel.

@B_M – No worries at all We do love members who can help others out. I would like to point out that we are not governed by the FCA as the cashback industry is not one that is regulated. I am delighted that your recent cashback was successful and this was paid to you in a good time frame. I can personally assure we will not remove a review just because it is negative - this is something we pride ourselves on. If you would like me to take a look at the reviews you have had not approved please do let me know and I’ll be able to look into these, review them and let you know why they were not displayed.

As with any cashback site we can only be what we are which is a site that passes you on the money we receive. As with any website or service you use you have to read and agree to the terms and conditions of the site before signing up. I know these may take a bit of reading and sometimes people ignore them but they are extremely important especially for cashback sites as they are very clear at explaining the process and also what cashback is and how it certainly is not guaranteed and neither is it a financial incentive to purchase which I know we have discussed with yourself in the past. These are agreements you make and understand before you make any purchase through our site.

I do hope this helps everyone and that you all have a fantastic week!

Best wishes,
Matt

B_M

TopCashBack_Company_Representative wrote: »

@B_M – No worries at all We do love members who can help others out. I would like to point out that we are not governed by the FCA as the cashback industry is not one that is regulated. I am delighted that your recent cashback was successful and this was paid to you in a good time frame. I can personally assure we will not remove a review just because it is negative - this is something we pride ourselves on. If you would like me to take a look at the reviews you have had not approved please do let me know and I’ll be able to look into these, review them and let you know why they were not displayed.

As with any cashback site we can only be what we are which is a site that passes you on the money we receive. As with any website or service you use you have to read and agree to the terms and conditions of the site before signing up. I know these may take a bit of reading and sometimes people ignore them but they are extremely important especially for cashback sites as they are very clear at explaining the process and also what cashback is and how it certainly is not guaranteed and neither is it a financial incentive to purchase which I know we have discussed with yourself in the past. These are agreements you make and understand before you make any purchase through our site.

Thanks Matt. Please re-read my posts.
Firstly, I never stated cashback sites are regulated. Sadly, they are not yet regulated and that's despite handling millions of pounds worth of business. One day though. I stated tcb are regulated by the FCA and they have indeed registered with the FCA and do have a license number. Please confirm that number for clarification. You can search the register, simply put in Topcashback Limited into the search facility. Tcb won't be regulated for financial products as they don't have any, that's why we have to take the company down the FOS route - though that may have changed. Tcb are responsible for the advertising of financial products they promote on their site though.
Secondly, my cashback hasn't been paid in a good time frame, not yet anyway. The 5* review was for the tracking and offers the merchant promotes.
Thirdly, my censored review was a 5* positive one, merchant being WeSwap.

Yes, we have discussed many times re the cashback re financial merchants and yes, tcb claim it's only a possibility, well not guaranteed. You know, I have had many issues with tcb and financial merchants and many different merchants. I have taken a few to the FOS and many others were resolved prior to the FOS involvement. Every single financial purchase I've made through tcb, I have been paid for. Many down to my own work and effort and the help of the FOS. The FOS state that any incentive offered for taking out a financial product, MUST be paid.
Now you can go with a employee of tcb stance or you can take the view of the FOS, the professionals here. The choice is obviously yours, but think logically.
Any purchase linked from tcb will have an electronic trace? So why would a claim for a non-tracker fail? A simpler route and one advised by the FOS would be to offer a discount code at source. But, until that happens, the FOS will be the route. As if they don't have enough on their plates with another financial scandal, that of PPI issues.
Have a nice week yourself and don't forget to post the tcb FCA license number.

sillygoose

Here is a little game I like to play once a month.. it goes like this,
Topcashback send me a spammy "Today's Top Trending Merchant" email.
I click on unsubscribe... again..again..again.. and get to this screen which
tells me I should not be getting it in the first place.



I tell Topcashback on here and they say "ooh no sorry send us the details and we will look into it, oops! sorry it was our mistake, all fixed"

Then wait a while and here we go again. Too many times to be accidental or incompetent. Which just leaves "oh heck! lets spam them anyway" as the probable explanation.

See you again soon