Topcashback Questions & Answers

B_M

digital wrote: »

Can someone remind me, please, which official/regulatory body I should go to when cashbacks and bonuses are not paid when they should be?

If the purchase is for a merchant which is regulated, then an Ombudsman is an option, but you have to allow a direct complaint to be looked into first. If it's just TCB bonuses being delayed, then join the queue and wait. Many times these bonuses need chasing up. More effort is given to promoting these bonuses, than actually making sure they are paid in a reasonable time.
Good luck, one day the bonus system might just work smoothly, although I've actually received Quidco bonuses before the transaction has been confirmed as payable! So, it can work both ways!

I have another one of TCB's transactions that track at £0.00 or £0.01 and should uplift, but at the moment it's sitting at confirmed with no uplift. Not unusual as this is a regular problem area. My purchase is for another financial product and if this purchase goes to payable at £0.00 or £0.01, a direct mis-selling complaint will be raised with Barclays.
Go on TCB, suprise me.

Xmas wishes to all MSE members and staff at TCB.

TopCashBack_Company_Representative

Hey B_M,

Thanks for your well wishes and I hope you have a great festive period too

Best wishes,
Matt

carh

I have yet again had another refusal from TCB about not only paying the cashback from Holland and Barrett:( (it has been paid before with no problem) but also it was linked to a £2.50 cashback bonus from TCB. This seems to be a regular occurrence.:mad: I see the offer, click through and make an order in the allotted time, and guess what? I never ever get the £2.50 or the cashback as TCB says the "company has refused to pay out" so they won't either. Anyone on the team there can clearly see I have followed the procedures and have paid for a valid order but refuse to acknowledge it and use the merchant as their excuse not to pay. I am so sick of this.:eek:

booter

I bought pet insurance on 1st May, but there was a long period before it would be payable according to the t&cs. Setting a date in my diary, I checked my account at the beginning of October, but it had not appeared in my account, so on the 9th October I submitted a support ticket.
On the 10th I was told that the 100 day lock had been overridden so I could claim. But although the retailer appeared on the claim form, there were no other drop down boxes (date/time/amount) for me to complete, so I could not submit a claim.
Following a few more messages, and somewhat of a delay (on my part), I was informed that:

"On the 30th of November, MoreTh>n changed their affiliate network. More Th>n's new network have made a decision to not take on any of the old networks claims. This unfortunately means any member needing to claim who made a transaction before 30th November can not claim any more".

The cashback should have been £60. Despite a number of attempts to make a claim, topcashback's systems prevented me from doing so. Topcashback's response?

"At the time of your initial enquiry, we could lodge a claim, however in the period between 17th of October and 4th of December, the claims for this retailer were closed when they switched networks."

And yet Topcashback mentioned nothing of this in the message they sent me on the 17th October asking me for the amount paid before they can claim. Apparently, they could never have claimed - maybe this was just a delaying tactic to avoid claiming/paying?

:mad::mad:

B_M

B_M wrote: »

I have another one of TCB's transactions that track at £0.00 or £0.01 and should uplift, but at the moment it's sitting at confirmed with no uplift. Not unusual as this is a regular problem area. My purchase is for another financial product and if this purchase goes to payable at £0.00 or £0.01, a direct mis-selling complaint will be raised with Barclays.
Go on TCB, suprise me.

:rotfl:

You have got to laugh, but after my post yesterday, I've woken up to find this......

Barclaycard Platinum Travel Credit Card 22 Nov 2017 £0.00 Payable £0.01

Not surprising, as this seems the norm now with TCB. Tracks, but never uplifts! Same old, same old.
Not to worry, a support ticket is in and hopefully this is just a 'simple admin error'.
So, I'll leave this until Friday morning and if not fully resolved I'll contact Barclays and raise a mis-selling of a financial product complaint - non-payment of promoted cashback (£26.25) from their Appointed Representative (AR) - along with a request for £20 nominal compensation for the hassle and doing the work of a cashback site myself!
I'll update as and when.

booter wrote: »

I bought pet insurance on 1st May, but there was a long period before it would be payable according to the t&cs. Setting a date in my diary, I checked my account at the beginning of October, but it had not appeared in my account, so on the 9th October I submitted a support ticket.
On the 10th I was told that the 100 day lock had been overridden so I could claim. But although the retailer appeared on the claim form, there were no other drop down boxes (date/time/amount) for me to complete, so I could not submit a claim.
Following a few more messages, and somewhat of a delay (on my part), I was informed that:

"On the 30th of November, MoreTh>n changed their affiliate network. More Th>n's new network have made a decision to not take on any of the old networks claims. This unfortunately means any member needing to claim who made a transaction before 30th November can not claim any more".

The cashback should have been £60. Despite a number of attempts to make a claim, topcashback's systems prevented me from doing so. Topcashback's response?

"At the time of your initial enquiry, we could lodge a claim, however in the period between 17th of October and 4th of December, the claims for this retailer were closed when they switched networks."

And yet Topcashback mentioned nothing of this in the message they sent me on the 17th October asking me for the amount paid before they can claim. Apparently, they could never have claimed - maybe this was just a delaying tactic to avoid claiming/paying?

:mad::mad:

I'm not too sure from your post whether it's a tracking issue, a declined transaction or incorrect amount.
But thanks for alerting me as I too have a More Than transaction from what would appear to be their 'old Affiliate Network).
I'll monitor this and yes, More than does seem to take a long time to pay, that's when they don't decline! I normally go direct to the merchant at 4 months if not paid and raise a mis-selling complaint - this is what the Financial Ombudsman advises - but I'll be leaving this one 6 months, unless (hopefully) it's declined earlier.
More Than issues are very easy to resolve when going direct (RSA Group) and their level of compensation seems to start at £30. Last time I requested £20 and they actually raised it to save it going to the Financial Ombudsman!
Don't worry though as More Than (RSA) have a very good Complaints Resolution Team.
https://www.morethan.com/complaints/
Good luck and please update. Any issues with More Than, then just advise them they are fully responsible for actions, or lack of, from their Appointed Representative - https://register.fca.org.uk/ShPo_firmdetailsPage?id=001b000000MgCI0AAN

TopCashBack_Company_Representative

Hi everyone,

@carh – The Bonus is linked to a purchase you make. If that purchase is deemed invalid for cashback then your bonus will not be awarded. I am sorry if you feel we should award the bonus even when cashback gets declined but this just would open the floodgates to people purchasing, cancelling orders to get a free £2.50. I’m sure you wouldn’t do this but we have to treat all people equally and therefore we progress it inline with the purchase made.

@booter – If it was true merchants just moved tracking networks to get out of paying then not only would every (or most) transactions get declined but we would also see this and remove them. Merchants can decide to change networks for a variety of reasons including to access new tracking features like the ability to track when people purchase on an app.
Merchants do not move tracking networks regularly, the move is very rare. I understand if your transaction did get declined it can be frustrating and it is unfortunate you are not able to claim I am afraid we are unable to do anything further no matter how much we tried.

@B_M - I believe you are speaking to our customer support ticket and so they will reply back asap if they haven’t done so already 😊

Best wishes,
Matt

B_M

TopCashBack_Company_Representative wrote: »

@B_M - I believe you are speaking to our customer support ticket and so they will reply back asap if they haven’t done so already ��

Speaking to?
Well, I did have a response from Michelle, but asking to submit another claim and waiting months and months isn't my thing. I expect what is promoted to be paid. Quite simple.
After that response, I've immediately raised a couple of complaints with Barclays and requested £20 compensation for having to do the work of someone else.
To be fair, they know about TCB and understood my concerns.
Simply a waiting time now, but I'll update accordingly as it may help others who fall victim!

Hopefully yet another victory against yet another financial product purchase taken via TCB.
One common denominator, many different merchants!

hybernia

OH and I are in receipt of fortnightly emails from the insurer RIAS, with whom our home insurance for buildings + contents + legal expenses was placed on Monday, July 17th last, the policy commencing on July 27th last. We contracted with RIAS because of the following on the Top Cashback website:

"Exclusive Offer, ends in 6 days: £73.50 cashback".

OH isn't stupid when it comes to Internet activity, so each stage of the purchasing process was screen-captured in such a way as to show the sequential urls as they progressed and the date/time of their occurrence, concluding with:

https://www.topca*hback.co.uk/rias-home-insurance/

(link obfuscated)

at 19:33 on 17/7/2017 and the Top Cashback splash screen with large green 'ticked' icon:

"We've recorded your visit"

and the statement:

"Any cashback earned should show in your account within 7 days, and we'll confirm by email".

Well, er, no. No cashback has shown. Not within 7 days. Not within 7 weeks. Not within any period of time in the almost FIVE MONTHS that we have had this insurance and been in receipt of RIAS emails as an RIAS customer.

OH has been in correspondence with Top Cashback and has achieved merely this: "Claim status: Waiting For Merchant". Waiting for what isn't clear: waiting until RIAS has earned enough interest from the funds it has collectively retained in unpaid cashback? Wait until the insurance policy has run its entire 12-month course??

If OH hasn't received that explicitly promised £73.50 cashback from Top Cashback within the next 7 days -- no ifs, no buts: £73.50 is on the screencap I'm looking at right now -- then he won't be doing any further "nudges" but instead complaining to RIAS direct.

However: given the silence, and the inertia, that has obtained thus far, OH is inclined to the view that the insurer will likely dream up all manner of excuses as to why no cashback has been forthcoming, thereby delaying things yet further.

No wonder, then, that both of us are beginning to wonder if greater regulatory oversight of the entire cashback model as practised in the UK is now overdue, such oversight to incorporate the stipulation of a maximum repayment period on all cashback transactions.

For the moment though, it's very much the case that we're angry with RIAS and frustrated with Top Cashback, rather than t'other way around. However . . .

The longer Top Cashback holds up its hands to say, in effect, we're sorry we can't actually achieveanything because we're. . . "waiting for the merchant" -- this despite the fact that Top Cashback earns its income from publicising consumer inducements such as the RIAS cashback it offered to us -- the shorter our patience becomes.

Five months is long enough to be "waiting for merchant" and waiting, too, for Top Cashback to do something about it other than give every appearance of being utterly supine in the face of unacceptable delay.

Top Cashback is a UK Financial Conduct Authority-registered "Appointed Representative" permitted to "offer or sell sell insurance products and services". As long as it's doing so, standing around for months wringing its hands as if pretending an issue such as this has nothing at all to do with it / is sadly out of its control simply doesn't wash..:mad:

hybernia

How. . . am-az-ing. No sooner had I completed my post about non-payment by RIAS of cashback it's owed for months than an email landed in the family inbox.

From RIAS. It says:

"MERRY CHRISTMAS! Even Father Christmas needs a little extra help at this time of year and here at Rias we want to be there to support you when you need us most."

Either this insurer's marketing department is wretchedly infantile or my sense of humour can't quite grasp the notion of RIAS helping Santa with the leaking garage roof over his sleigh, but whatever: how wonderful it isthat this insurer is here to support me when I need it most.

C'mon then, RIAS. Hand it over. £73.50p and we'll ho-ho-ho together with jingle bells all round! :rotfl:

B_M

hybernia wrote: »

Top Cashback is a UK Financial Conduct Authority-registered "Appointed Representative" permitted to "offer or sell sell insurance products and services". As long as it's doing so, standing around for months wringing its hands as if pretending an issue such as this has nothing at all to do with it / is sadly out of its control simply doesn't wash..:mad:

https://register.fca.org.uk/ShPo_firmdetailsPage?id=001b000000MgCI0AAN

Status: Appointed representative (Reference number: 476080) This is a firm or individual that can act on behalf of another firm (its principal) that is authorised in the UK or regulated in another EEA country. The principal is responsible for the appointed representative's activities.

The important bit, as advised by the FCA and confirmed by the Financial Ombudsman, is the 'principal' part.
The 'principal', Rias in your case, is fully responsible for the actions, or lack of, from their Appointed Representive (AR).
I've lierally quoted the whole script to Barclays today! Lets them know they can't fob you off!
Fire off a direct complaint to Rias - mis-selling of a financial product due to non-payment of promoted cashback via their AR. If they tell you to wait, advise them the Financial Ombudsman states any cashback incentive offered should be paid in a reasonable time and certainly within four months. They would take on your claim if you haven't been paid within four months, but you must lodge a direct complaint first, to allow up to eight weeks for the merchant to investigate your complaint. Just in case it's a simple 'admin error'.

Good luck, you will get paid, but with many financial cashback offers from TCB, it's best to get it yourself! Rarely does it go smoothly!
Rias will know the exact time and date you clicked via TCB to Rias, it's time-stamped.
Please update as it appears to be the 'silly season'.