Topcashback Questions & Answers

B_M

@bristolleedsfan, I use TCB mainly for insurance and contract based transactions. Yes, some are not available on the smaller sites and if they are, generally pay lower rates (probably due to volume - it's a numbers game to get higher tier rates). I've been to the Ombudsman a few times and no doubt I'll be making return visits, but I have always been paid for every single financial purchase made via TCB. Yes, a lot of the time I've had to do the work, but I've got there! I take the Ombudsman route as my 'cashback guarantee'.

The plug for imutual.co.uk guarantee, is not obviously for Snap & Save type of offers, but for those frustrated with TCB. It's not compulsory to use other sites, but an option and one I think others may find valuable, albeit not for all purchases. I've used the imutual cashback guarantee service and can confirm it works.

I do pay for TCBs 'Plus' service, but I get that back from insurance / financial transactions. It may not be worth it for small spenders / users and that's where imutual may be the best option. But, always do what's best for yourself, only you can choose. Silly really not to be a member of several cashback sites, especially if there are no fees.

re TCBs 'fair play policy' - I personally think it's hype. You don't see many (if any) posts where Matt (TCB) and other reps state, "Don't worry, we have a policy that will cover you". What you now hear is words along the lines of we haven't been paid, so can't pass it on. If that is indeed the case, then tear up the 'fair play policy.

Fair Play is a very simple concept for us

How simple TCB?

bristolleedsfan

B_M wrote: »

Those having issues may well want to consider imutual.co.uk.
They are customer focused and do offer a cashback guarantee. I'm assuming they pay out of their own funds when merchants fail to pay?
!

I dont want to appear unkind to Imutual and havent previously commented when you have previously plugged its Cashback Guarantee on MSE but being as you have now done so in reply to my posting and specifically ask with a ? mark I feel minded to do so on this occasion.


On the face of it reading this Imutual doesnt appear to have any "funds" that it can call its "own"

http://www.imutual.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=60711&sid=535b81921649e622e06c9e0794d11c61

In order to show a operating profit of £4,628 it appears to have had to significantly reduce renumeration to its two directors by the difference between £31,236 and £59,830

"closing reserves were -£32,715" ( Minus)

http://www.imutual.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=60711&sid=535b81921649e622e06c9e0794d11c61#p148752

"pabenny wrote trade debtors - which I assume are mostly (entirely?) commission due from affiliate networks - £30k
Trade creditors - which must be mostly cashback due to members - £69k"

"Correct. The difference is largely due to the fact that we get paid faster than we pay out to members (due to those who don't use our auto-redeem feature). That's very common with this business model, though it does create a potential concern that, if all members requested their o/s balances at once, the company would have a cash flow issue. We (uniquely) resolve that by providing a Directors Guarantee to protect cashback balances"


The above relates to Financial Year ending 30 June 2015, its Cashback Guarantee started approx October 2014 ( 4 months into Financial year) wasnt plugged on third party forums until January 2015( 6 Months into Financial year) and then there is a lag factor to when Cashback Guarantee kicks in from transaction date(s)

B_M

re my imutual cashback guarantee experience.
I had an issue with a wrongly declined transaction. Once declined, I used the cashback guarantee and it was honoured straight away.
A highly polished 'fair play policy' and not one that's old, dusty and covered in cobwebs!

A TCB positive for today,
Two financial purchases have moved to confirmed overnight and one of those I consider 'very, very dodgy' (past experience anyway). Maybe I'm in for a pleasant surprise this time? I decided to try them again after a couple of years break, just to see if they have learned anything. Maybe they've changed?

bristolleedsfan

TopCashBack_Company_Representative wrote: »

@bristolleedsfan - As a company we want to be honest with our members which is why I have further explained in this public forum how cashback works. This is also fully explained throughout our own website. It would be incredibly wrong for us to suggest anything otherwise.
We do indeed display a button that says ‘get cashback’, however as with anything else this is of course bound by the terms and conditions of the site and is more of an alert to tell a member that there is cashback available. If you do have any suggestions on what we could re-name this button to please do let me know and I will certainly be sure to pass this on.

http://www.asai.ie/complaint/telecommunications-13/

"The advertisers’ website acts as a third party site for retailers and consumers to enable consumers to make savings. By using the fatcheese.ie website as a link to the retailer the consumer is offered the opportunity to make savings on their purchases. In this case the advertisers offered consumers the opportunity to avail of:"

B_M

B_M wrote: »

@TCB Matt, can TCB apply the discount code to Venere (like another site) and like TCB did a few weeks back and also give the cashback (as they did and others do now)?
Basically, discount and cashback again?
Thanks

8% code available now along with cashback.
http://www.topcashback.co.uk/search/merchants/?s=venere
Rate shows as 14.17% (when signed in with 5% top up), but actually drops down to 10.5% (signed in).
Please confirm.
Ta.

No movement at all on the Snap &Save promotions. Very, very poor performance (lack of).

minislim

Hi, did anyone else take out the talktalk Black Friday deal of 12 months half price line rental with simply broadband free for 18 months? It was meant to pay out £126 cash back but on the day our services went live 17th dec the cash back was declined.

I've put a claim in for the missing cash back but tcb come back with a list of deals to confirm which one I went with. And that only lists some of the deals available at the time. Plus some that weren't available too until after Black Friday weekend was over. But it doesn't list the deal I went with.

bristolleedsfan

If you scroll down -

http://milled.com/top-cashback/L6BbdPz4WSmHt4Nz

TopCashBack_Company_Representative

Hi Everyone,

I hope you are all looking forward to Christmas!

@G_fella – I would like to clarify this a bit. Pixmania did go into administration, but like all companies when they go into administration they can be brought out of it. This is what happened with this merchant and we have been told we will not be paid any money from them. I understand this is frustrating news and I am sorry. However this is not a situation we can change.

@sue1976 – Please do lodge a Missing Cashback Claim for this. I will also raise this with our Team to take a closer look into.

@B_M – Thank you for your thoughts. Unfortunately administrations are very hard to deal with and while we understand it is disappointing we would not be able to run viably if we paid off all the cashback ever owed by a company who has gone into administration.

In regards to Venere we can only ever add a voucher code if the merchant or their network gives us confirmation that cashback is eligible, in addition to a voucher code. I can see you have seen the code on our site now and I can confirm the rate is 10% plus the relevant membership top up.

In regards to snap and save, this has still not passed the 30 days we ask. It is disappointing you have started to judge your experience before the timeframes we do set out have been passed. We have the 30 days in place to manage our members expectations therefore please allow this time to pass.

@washable – Please do drop me an email to mse@topcashback.co.uk. I will certainly look into this for you and see what I can do with this transaction.

@Bristolleedsfan – Thank you for your feedback on this matter. We do have to be responsible when making any decisions. When a merchant goes into administration all possibilities are looked into but there are some cases when it is not possible for us to pay out the funds we will never get back. Another cashback site may react differently but that is not to say that in the future a similar circumstance happens and our members are better off. It is important to note that unlike other 100% cashback sites we also give most transactions a top up. This is money we pay out of our own pocket.

@Minislim - the system is set up so that when lodging a claim only offers available at the time of purchase will show up. If you believe the offer you saw wasn’t there please either mentions this on your claims thread or in a support ticket. Our Teams would be more than happy to take a closer look into this for you.

I do hope this helps everyone.

Best wishes,
Matt

minislim

Hi Matt. thanks for the quick response.

i looked into it and i was mistaken. the black friday deals when i took the deal out on the monday had been renamed as cyber monday deals. i had taken a screenshot on my pc and only checked it today.

i had sent the claim in and they had said the black friday deals had expired. i have replied and hopefully they will respond soon.

B_M

TopCashBack_Company_Representative wrote: »

@B_M – Thank you for your thoughts. Unfortunately administrations are very hard to deal with and while we understand it is disappointing we would not be able to run viably if we paid off all the cashback ever owed by a company who has gone into administration.

In regards to Venere we can only ever add a voucher code if the merchant or their network gives us confirmation that cashback is eligible, in addition to a voucher code. I can see you have seen the code on our site now and I can confirm the rate is 10% plus the relevant membership top up.

In regards to snap and save, this has still not passed the 30 days we ask. It is disappointing you have started to judge your experience before the timeframes we do set out have been passed. We have the 30 days in place to manage our members expectations therefore please allow this time to pass.

Thanks Matt.
I'm surprised that TCB feel that they may not be able to run viably if they paid out under the 'fair play policy'.
Other sites that offer guarantees, or do pay their members out of their own pockets, don't feel the same way.
More member focused perhaps?
Hope the Xmas giveaway is going well.

Thanks for confirming that it's the lower of the two rates promoted that's effective.

Snap & Save - I personally promise I will never take up one of those offers again until TCB change their timeframe to a more realistic seven days.
I'll stick to those that can and of course do.