Topcashback Questions & Answers

B_M

Re Barclays complaint.

I've had yet another letter from Barclays, the second one, basically saying they are still investigating my complaints (mis-selling and agent complaints) and they'll reply back by the 7th February.
God knows what they are investigating, but I'm looking forward to their conclusion.
The background is TCB offered £26.25 for taking a Barclays credit card. But, TCB paid an initial 1p. Yes, 1p. After a bad response to my ticket from TCB, I went direct to Barclays and registered my above complaints. Barclays were initially excellent and stated they would act immediately. This they did and my cashback was showing as payable the very next day at £26.25 on my TCB account. Top marks there to Barclays.
I also requested £20 compensation form Barclays for the hassles and doing the work of TCB. I'm still waiting for that and I'll update accordingly, hopefully well before the 7th February. If declined, it will go to the Financial Ombudsman to govern.

yellow44

TopCashBack_Company_Representative wrote: »

@yellow44 – If we do not have an exclusive rate top up does typically apply and so we will indeed beat the rate through the highest cashback guarantee and you will then get any relevant top up on top.

In addition, I will get the team to check over that page to ensure if necessary, that it is updated as soon as possible.

Best wishes,
Matt

@yellow44 - Just to clarify with our exclusive Aviva rate. We are giving you 100% of the money we are paid. We will look into reports of other sites being able to offer more as it has been agreed that we have secured an exclusive deal with this retailer.

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Matt,

Thanks for your replies although I'm still not exactly clear on what you are saying in regards to the top up.

Surely if you have an "exclusive" rate then by definition this rate will be higher than any of your competitors and therefore nobody else will be able to beat you and therefore there would be nobody else to match against.

Also in your first reply you state that the top up "typically" applies.
Do you mean that it applies in all cases except the following which are copied from your Highest Cashback Guarantee Page or are there other exceptions which aren't listed?

What’s not covered in the guarantee:
Special promotional rates offered to individual members and free cash back offers.
Special promotional rates offered to individual members.
Rates offered by saving schemes or discount clubs that are paid for, or are only available to a closed group of people (i.e employees, council members).

As an example you have mentioned Aviva in your reply.
Although you claim this is an exclusive rate I see that TopCashback are currently offering £42 cashback whereas Quidco and Imutual are offering more.
As I have already stated by definition you can hardly claim to have an "exclusive" rate on this merchant, so would the 1% or 5% top up apply here on a highest cashback guarantee?

B_M

yellow44 wrote: »

As an example you have mentioned Aviva in your reply.
Although you claim this is an exclusive rate I see that TopCashback are currently offering £42 cashback whereas Quidco and Imutual are offering more.
As I have already stated by definition you can hardly claim to have an "exclusive" rate on this merchant, so would the 1% or 5% top up apply here on a highest cashback guarantee?

If you've had an issue achieving the HCG with the below 100% cashback rate with Aviva home insurance, it doesn't make sense. Maybe they've just been trying it on?

The current TCB Aviva home insurance promotion isn't even listed as an 'exclusive'.
https://www.topcashback.co.uk/search/merchants/?s=Aviva+Home+Insurance
*(that was for the £42 and £40.40 rates)
*(now upgraded to 'exclusive, but below the 100% rate) lol

But you are right, if a rate isn't higher than anyone else, how on earth can it be an 'exclusive'? Crazy!
Since mid-summer 2017, TCB have excessively used the 'exclusive' tag on many merchants, but this is only, in my honest opinion, to stop TCB from adding the top-ups (1% or 5%). Watch when the Aviva rate increases soon.
Incidentally, there is also another small cashback site that offers the full Aviva 100% rate (£60 - excluding any bonuses).
https://tbseen.com/retailers/aviva-home-insurance?search=aviva%20home%20insurance

I repeat, TCB is no longer a full 100% paying cashback site.
The next time I see a TCB rep stating they pay out 100% of what they receive, I'll post five promotions where they don't. The links will be factually correct and can easily be confirmed by MSE, as they too use affiliate links. If they are wrong, they can be removed.
Nothing wrong of course paying less than the 100% rate, but what is wrong is trying to hoodwink members.
If the TCB 'mission statement' has any credibility (left), then it shouldn't happen.
A quick reminder of what TCB want you to believe-
https://www.topcashback.co.uk/about?cat=Mission

laudan

If I transfer to my wallet & choose cash back as a Debenhams voucher I can use on line what is the timescale to receive it? Thanks

B_M

yellow44 wrote: »

As I have already stated by definition you can hardly claim to have an "exclusive" rate on this merchant, so would the 1% or 5% top up apply here on a highest cashback guarantee?

B_M wrote: »

Watch when the Aviva rate increases soon.

You have got to laugh, but updated today to 'exclusive' status at £10 below, yes below the 100% rate.
A £50 'exclusive' and the same rate for both Plus (fee paying) and Basic members. The 'exclusive' tag has removed the top-ups!
Hopefully TCB will see the higher rates elsewhere and realise their 'exclusive' error and of course correct it.
We'll see. :whistle::whistle:

Still available at £61.20 at Imutual (equivalent to the 100% rate plus a 2% top-up) and not listed as an 'exclusive'.
http://www.imutual.co.uk/aviva-home-insurance

And, still at the 100% cashback rate (£60) at TBSeen.
https://tbseen.com/deals?ordering=-publishedOn&category=money&subcategory=money-home-insurance

So to get maximum benefit form Aviva home insurance, you need to get TCB to match and beat the Imutual rate. The question has been asked by a fellow MSE member if TCB will match rates. Confirmation awaits. If not, then Quidco is your best bet, get them to match Imutual and apply their Highest Cashback Guarantee.
Or, get the generous high rate direct from Imutual and feel safe with their cashback guarantee (white tick in yellow circle confirms).

Welcome to the jungle and remember, not everything is quite what it really is. It's an illusion.

TopCashBack_Company_Representative

Hi everyone,

@yellow44 – Indeed, when we have an exclusive rate this should be the case. If other sites are not following correct processes and managing to get higher rates this is something that will need investigating and I have asked the team to do that.

There are some exceptions to top up across the site, but if we are lower we will add a top up and should you have any issues with this please do let me know.

I will also add here an exclusive is not something we have created. An exclusive is an exclusive rate that has been awarded to us by the retailer and will either cover a specific cashback rate or all cashback rates across a merchant.

@laudan – Normally your request is processed the next working day (or same working day if you request early enough) and then we normally get the voucher the following working day but sometimes it can take longer.

Best wishes,
Matt

yellow44

TopCashBack_Company_Representative wrote: »

Hi everyone,

@yellow44 – Indeed, when we have an exclusive rate this should be the case. If other sites are not following correct processes and managing to get higher rates this is something that will need investigating and I have asked the team to do that.

There are some emotions to top up across the site, but if we are lower we will add a top up and should you have any issues with this please do let me know.

I will also add here an exclusive is not something we have created. An exclusive is an exclusive rate that has been awarded to us by the retailer and will either cover a specific cashback rate or all cashback rates across a merchant.


Best wishes,
Matt

Matt,

Thanks for claryfying the position which I thought seemed fairly clear, but clearly not to all your staff and you are correct that there have been "some emotions".

I personally am appalled by the service I received from your support service staff in relation to this matter which fell far below the standard that should be expected from your members.

I was forced to play 'support ticket tennis' for a week during which time I was given incorrect information by not only a customer service advisor but then also a senior customer service advisor, given excuses as to why my Aviva HCG was not eligible for top up when they clearly were not in the list of exemptions and then "insulted" by being awarded the top up as a gesture of goodwill rather than on its own merit even when it should have been done in the first place. Had it not been for my perseverance the correct result would not have been reached.

To avoid any future confusion perhaps you would be good enough to look into it and confirm to me that it should have been awarded from the start and not as a gesture of goodwill (username greenlizard).

I am not one to come out publicly and create bad press but as you can probably tell (and will see on the ticket) this has left a very bitter taste.

I will qualify this by saying this is the first time in many years with TCB that I have had a problem and I hope that this will be the last.

Sellins

MORE TH>N Pet Insurance Offers
Cashback
Pet Insurance
Exclusive Offer £80.00

Took out a policy with Morethan thru TCB in good faith to take advantage of £80 cash back (not upto) on the 11th. cash back only tracks at £40. Response: "On Ice" and suggests I wait till June to see what happens. Despite knowing there is a problem they still continue to offer this deal. Customer service is terrible, I never get the feeling they have read or understood the issue. Have been direct to Morethan and am expecting a call back.
When it works it is great, when it doesn't it is terrible.

B_M

Sellins wrote: »

MORE TH>N Pet Insurance Offers
Cashback
Pet Insurance
Exclusive Offer £80.00

Took out a policy with Morethan thru TCB in good faith to take advantage of £80 cash back (not upto) on the 11th. cash back only tracks at £40. Response: "On Ice" and suggests I wait till June to see what happens. Despite knowing there is a problem they still continue to offer this deal. Customer service is terrible, I never get the feeling they have read or understood the issue. Have been direct to Morethan and am expecting a call back.
When it works it is great, when it doesn't it is terrible.

Please update once you have been paid.
if you ask, More Than will give you compensation for you hassle.
The last time I requested £20 nominal compensation and they offered £30 to fully resolve and close. More Than staff are usually very, very good.
No doubt I'll be going the same route again.
Good luck, but yet another financial issue via TCB.

B_M

@yellow44 - I'm surprised, believe it or not, that you had issues with achieving the HCG with Aviva home insurance. I always ask for the 5% top-up within my claim notes and honoured.
The HCG page does need updating and further clarity given. They either beat rates every time from other cashback sites, or they don't. The TCB staff also need to fully understand the HCG.
But, TCB staff don't even seem to understand the TCB 'mission statement', so much work is needed. Homework please.
I hope you receive a full public apology!

Another page that needs updating, unless it's there to deliberately mislead, is the Quidco v TCB comparison. A bit of a fanfare when it was originally written, but very slow to update.

https://www.topcashback.co.uk/quidco

No ebay on Quidco? Really? Really, really?
Cashback guarantee (match rates)? Really? Really, really?

Hopefully this will be updated and I won't have to post this again. But, I'll give it a full week.

Regarding the TCB 'exclusive'. What a very silly response.
For the record again, the 100% Aviva rate for home insurance (combined) is £60 (excluding bonues).

https://ui.awin.com/merchant-profile/3788

Joint Home insurance sale – £60 commission per sale

The best way to read TCB 'exclusive' is to see it as top-up removed. It does not mean it's an exclusive top rate. Better rates are out there, believe me. Get those rates both matched and beaten.
Moneysaving, not Moneylosing!