Topcashback Questions & Answers

B_M

Sellins wrote: »

Hi, and thanks for your help with this. My cashback went down to zero instead of up to 80. TCB still refused to do anything via their site (although Matt on here was helpful) and insisted I was on ice until June. I chased up Morethan and once you get to the right team it was as simple as sending them a scan of my TCB account showing the pet insurance ref number, thus proving I went through TCB to purchase the insurance. They have now sent me a cheque for £80.

Why TCB couldn't have done that I don't know......

Thanks again

Well done, I both applaud and respect you for going direct.
TCB are very unhelpful, but as I've previously stated, it sure helps!
My More Than case is currently still outstanding, but I have also escalated a complaint against TCB. They are still well within the 8 weeks (5 weeks left and initial letter received) they have, or it will go to the Financial Ombudsman. I can't see it getting that far though. I also have a £30 compensation claim against TCB with More Than.
Let TCB continue to be unhelpful and let them keep their mission statement and fair play policy. It shows merchants what type of company you are up against. By making it difficult, they are actually making it easy. Sadly, TCB know via stats that few go down the route you have taken and the one I always do.
Enjoy you cashback, you really have earned it.

hybernia

Sellins wrote: »

Hi, and thanks for your help with this. My cashback went down to zero instead of up to 80. TCB still refused to do anything via their site (although Matt on here was helpful) and insisted I was on ice until June. I chased up Morethan and once you get to the right team it was as simple as sending them a scan of my TCB account showing the pet insurance ref number, thus proving I went through TCB to purchase the insurance. They have now sent me a cheque for £80.

Why TCB couldn't have done that I don't know......

Thanks again

Hubby had the same experience with Top Cashback. He was utterly unimpressed with the workings of this £multi-million company and remains so.

Despite enticing him, as it has enticed so many others, into thinking a cashback transaction is "as easy as 1, 2,3", Top Cashback gave every appearance of hapless impotence when the failure of money to be returned from his purchase of a particular financial product was repeatedly, and blandly, shrugged off as "waiting for merchant".

He waited. And waited. And then, following B_M's excellent advice on here -- and really: every prospective user of Top Cashback should seek out B_M's helpful posts -- he contacted the merchant directly.

Within a week or so, he had a cash settlement split between the merchant and Top Cashback. And £30 from the merchant by way of compensation for the fact that his time is valuable and he should never have had to seek from it that which Top Cashback had every opportunity to do obtain. . . yet failed to do so.

Top Cashback made it clear to him that it doesn't like anyone by-passing its so-called help services and going direct to the merchant. No surprise there, because if every merchant who uses Top Cashback as a promotional platform starts being hit with claims for unpaid monies and financial compensation too, then Top Cashback is going to find itself shortly out of merchants and very soon thereafter, out of business.

But there's another reason why Top Cashback doesn't want those who purchase from a merchant ever to deal with that merchant, because the customer might then discover the positively labyrinthine goings-on that occur behind the scenes.

Hubby was unaware of this until the merchant he was dealing with provided him with answers to his specific questions about the where / when / how / who of his transaction. About when cashback to him had actually been approved by that merchant. About the route that the approvals process and the payments procedure had followed: the dates, the names, the entities.

What emerged from this information was that Top Cashback's website assertion that it's all-as-simple as 1, 2, 3 is -- to put it mildly -- disingenuous.

Far from a transaction being between the customer and the merchant with Top Cashback as the intermediary, all kinds of third parties clamber aboard the cashback bandwagon -- third parties of whom the customer has no knowledge at all . . .

. . .Until the time comes when the cashback fails to appear and suddenly, suddenly, it's no longer a case of 1,2,3 but defensive stuff from Top Cashback about the existence of networks and affiliates and God only knows who else, all of whom in one way or another are contended to be responsible for delays in the fulfillment of contractual financial promises.

You did exactly as you should've done by regarding -- quite properly -- the transaction into which you entered as involving you, the merchant, and Top Cashback as a mutually agreed intermediary . . . and no-one else: not an affiliate, not a network, not an agency, not any other third party at all.

When the agreed intermediary fails to fulfill a promise extended at the time of contract, and continues to express its helplessness -- "waiting for merchant" indeed -- then that's the time when you do NOT wait-for-merchant any longer because under Law, you contracted with the merchant, not with Top Cashback and you are fully entitled to ask of the other party to that contract just what the heck is going on with the rebate that was promised.

And after doing all that, and getting back that which was always legally yours, forget the "cashback model" altogether.

Money saved at the time of purchase via sales promotion or discount code is always going to be better than the promise of money back some day, some time, though maybe. . . Never.

B_M

hybernia - well done and I both applaud you and your husband and respect you both.
Simple?

When a company states this...
https://www.topcashback.co.uk/about?cat=Mission

....and tells you they have this.....
https://www.topcashback.co.uk/about?cat=FairPlay

...............and then acts in the way we know, it tells a story. Not a nice story, but a definite story.

Make no mistake, there are many, many issues with many, many different merchants (many financial), but ONLY one common denominator!

Bless you both, enjoy your hard earned cashback and compensation, you have earned it.

Others, please make note. What TCB tell you and the truth may not actually match up.

washable

Hi, still awaiting my casback from M&S food to order going back to October. Food has long since been consumed. I can't understand what the hold up is. How many times do I need to contact you before I can receive payment. It's not as if it is a large payment being £3.59. How can I take this another step up to find out who I can contact to supply me with an honest answer

hybernia

washable wrote: »

Hi, still awaiting my casback from M&S food to order going back to October. Food has long since been consumed. I can't understand what the hold up is. How many times do I need to contact you before I can receive payment. It's not as if it is a large payment being £3.59. How can I take this another step up to find out who I can contact to supply me with an honest answer

Honest answer could possibly be: it's fallen down the back of a corporate sofa.

Top Cashback is part of Topline Online Partners Group Limited whose balance as at 31st December 2016 was net assets of £6.3 million and pre-tax profits of £4.6 million.

Easy for your £3.59p to have slipped out of sight. If someone looks hard enough for you though, it's sure to be found.

TopCashBack_Company_Representative

Hey everyone,

@ dancingcleo – If you can provide a bit more info such as purchase dates and retailers for me in an email to mse@topcashback.co.uk I will help as much as I can.

@ hybernia – I am glad you found my information helpful. It is, however, disappointing to hear you have suggested to a member that we are just sitting on their funds.

Whether in jest or not such comments can very much cause a great deal of unnecessary unease for our members. We will continue to assist members where we can but if and would appreciate it if you could allow us to look into queries and reply back with accuracy.

@ washable – I am sorry to hear that you haven’t been paid yet. Looking into this more closely it looks like M&S have not decided if these purchases are eligible yet and without that the tracking network can’t invoice them for eligible funds.

Being one referrer of many who will also likely be waiting for funds it’s just not possible for me or anyone at TopCashback to ring up the retailer and demand that this progresses straight away. We will do our best to create a reliable estimate and I am sorry that in this case, it doesn’t reflect the payout speed you are encountering.

We will continue to do what we can to help members who are experiencing slow progressing cashback. I can’t promise I can get your transaction progressing immediately I would like to assure you we haven’t forgotten about your transaction and will continue to do all we can to get it moving asap.

Best wishes,
Matt

mamabuddah

Oh dear...not tracked yet/again

The Halifax C/C offer 29 months at 0%

When lodging a “not tracked” claim, TCB verifies the merchant, the promo and time of application when lodging a claim, yet has a couple of “standard” entry fields that don’t make sense.

“Purchase amount” ... it’s a C/C application, not a purchase
“Order Number” ... it’s not really an order

Halifax have already approved the application and I can view it all online,

Yet again...smaller amounts on eBay tracking...bigger amounts? there always seems to be problems...

So....TCB rep....how do I proceed?

B_M

washable wrote: »

Hi, still awaiting my casback from M&S food to order going back to October. Food has long since been consumed. I can't understand what the hold up is. How many times do I need to contact you before I can receive payment. It's not as if it is a large payment being £3.59. How can I take this another step up to find out who I can contact to supply me with an honest answer

Sadly, you are in the 'lap of the Gods' with this one.
TCB are OK when things go as they should (ie, those away from TCB do their jobs), but when things go 'pear-shaped', TCB are utterly useless, as you have unfortunately found out. You will get paid, but only when M&S and the affiliate networks decide.

I have an issue going back to last May, with Owners Direct. I knew there was an issue and reviews backed this up. So, I raised a query right here on MSE.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/72542184#Comment_72542184

See Matt's reply, which includes:

I am very pleased to inform you that the success rate is fantastically high - indeed much higher that the average.

Guess what? Yes, it all went wrong!
So, I raised a claim and chased it up. Bearing in mind what a TCB employee stated, I've asked twice (at least) for the TCB 'fair play policy' to apply to my purchase. Declined! I've asked to raise a formal complaint. Declined! What type of company refuses to accept and look into a formal complaint?
Today, this is my response from TCB 'Sam':

As we are still hopeful that we can receive a conclusive outcome for your claim, we are unable to consider any fair play, as there are numerous members in similar situations to yourself.

I appreciate this is a frustrating experience, and we equally share in these. We aim to try and get all the claims resolved within three months, so in situations where this is not the case, we do chase any outstanding claim further.

As mentioned previously, we already have senior management looking into this agency, and how we work with them. From this, they are chasing on resolutions for all outstanding claims, and your claim will be included in this.

Once we do have a resolution for you, we shall be in touch to let you know.

Best wishes
Sam

See, the bit where it states 'we already have senior management looking into this agency'? That's the second time I've been told that! If 'senior management' can't resolve it, what does it say? Please be polite with replies!

I'm going to give the 'senior management' four more weeks to show their worth and if not resolved, leave that ticket alone.
What I will do though, is next time I have to make a financial mis-selling complaint against a TCB purchase, I'll up the compensation request by £20 and use my Owners Direct ticket as evidence as to what members are up against!

Mission statement?
Fair play policy?

Hype?

TopCashBack_Company_Representative

Hey everyone,

@mamabuddah – If for your purchase amount you put the credit card maximum limit in the purchase amount and for order number please include the last 4 digits of the card.

I believe I have explained before why there may be an increased chance of a larger purchase being declined is often because people hunt around more for the larger purchases which can attract additional and unwanted cookies.

Best wishes,
Matt

mamabuddah

TopCashBack_Company_Representative wrote: »

Hey everyone, I believe I have explained before why there may be an increased chance of a larger purchase being declined is often because people hunt around more for the larger purchases which can attract additional and unwanted cookies.

Best wishes,
Matt

I think that statement might need a bit of clarification...I heard about the offer...I went to TCB and applied through you...so I don’t understand the significance of what you’re saying.