Topcashback Questions & Answers

TopCashBack_Company_Representative

Hi there,

@Bugalugs, I have taken a look at the statistics for this merchant and can see that the majority of transactions were paid for this month. There are a few that are still outstanding, but we will do all we can to get any of the outstanding amounts to our members as quickly as we can. Unfortunately these processes can take this length of time due to the routes that we have to follow, but in the majority of cases, the cashback does eventually come through.

@Danceswithhorses, I am sorry that this has not tracked for you, it could be an odd one, but, if you find that this occurs with your next purchase, could you get in touch with us on a support ticket? We can then go through with you what may be causing this. In regards to your claim, we submit these in batches to the network every few weeks and you should see yours submitted for you soon. Our Claims Team will be sure to update you on your claim thread once this has been sent. I hope that this goes on to be successful for you!

@B_M, regarding our performance, we are doing all we can to get this chased up with the merchant and I can confirm that the affiliate network is doing the same and we are seeing payments start to come through because of this. Unfortunately, there is nothing further I can say regarding this matter which I do apologise for.

@Pinkcalculator, I have looked into the statistics for this merchant and although they are no longer on site, I would still hope to see that your cashback is received within the estimate. As this is only an estimate though, could you kindly allow a further 4 weeks on top of this time for the cashback to be received? If this does not go on to progress for you for any reason, could you get in touch with our Customer Care Team on a support ticket, we would then be able to get this looked into for you.

@legendkiller2k8, I am sorry that you feel this way, I can assure you that we are not lying to our members. Ourselves and the affiliate network are looking into this with the merchant and I can confirm that we have received some payments for outstanding transactions. We will continue to follow this up with the aim of getting all outstanding cashback paid to our members.

@haybel19, please do not be concerned at this stage, it can take up to 7 days for a transaction to track to your account. If for any reason though these have not tracked for you in the 7 days estimated, could you proceed to lodge a claim for each as an untracked transaction? We would then be able to look into getting these tracking as expected for you.

@debtqueen, I am sorry to hear that you are not happy. In regards to the estimated payable speeds, these do not count down, the estimate shown will be the number of weeks estimated, for your transaction to become payable, from the date of your purchase, I do apologise for any confusion caused. The majority of policy transactions do have a longer estimate for becoming payable as many of them will require a validation period to be completed prior to the transaction being confirmed, this is usually to ensure that the policy has not been cancelled before the cashback is produced. Hopefully you see your transactions progress for you soon, but our Customer Care Team are always more than happy to answer any questions you may have regarding your transactions tin the meantime.

Kind regards,
Samantha

B_M

Thanks Samantha and I want to say nothing I post is aimed at you personally, sadly you seem to be the tcb rep at wrong end and I do actually feel sorry for you. Tcb is in a mess and it's the likes of yourself who has to try and offer updates with your hands tied. Maybe it time for the 'main men' to man up and answer all these issues?

Anyway, it looks like my issue has been resolved after a long fight!
I complained direct to Direct Line and they investigated my complaint (mis selling of a financial product due to the non payment of the cash back offered from DL's affiliate marketing). Initially my complaint was upheld by DL (1st April ironically) and I was advised tcb would pay me my cash within 2 weeks. 2 weeks passed and nothing, zilch! I enquired with tcb via tickets and asked if they had my cash, they repeatedly denied they were holding onto my cash back. I then contacted the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) and they took on my case. Long story short, but it was a fight and I had to explain to the FOS about affiliate marketing. There was a mix up with my initial complaint and DL stated it wasn't them to blame, but purely tcb. Today my cash back has finally been agreed by DL along with a decent level of compensation. I'm just waiting for my cheque and this sorry saga will be over. I have achieved with the help of the FOS what tcb clearly can't and couldn't despite claiming for over 5 months that they were giving the known issue their 'full attention'!

I would recommend anyone that has an issue with a financially related product (covers road cover etc) and is having issues (including declines) to go direct with the merchant and issue a complaint (it MUST be a complaint). They company then has 8 weeks to reach a conclusion / resolution and if not favourable (or not fulfilled as in my case), then straight to the FOS. It costs the merchant £550 (fees) once the FOS get involved and that's whether they win or lose (so some compensation I suppose). Most responsible companies will resolve issues (several experience of this with tcb) and you won't need to take it to the FOS.
The FOS are now looking into affiliate marketing to see what role cash back sites take. Are they agents or is the responsibility on the cash back site to make payments for what they offer (regardless of whether they receive payments from their paymasters).
I've today issued a complaint against tcb to CAB and strongly asked for my complaint to be passed to Trading Standards. I believe cash back should not just be a possibility as tcb want you to accept, but what is promoted should indeed be paid.
If tcb (or any other cash back site) doesn't want to take, or is frightened to take action against non paying merchants, then they should take the loss and not their members. It should not be the purchaser of products to be the loser for the cash back sites incompetence.
CAB also gave me a number for Action Fraud, in case I thought the non payment was a scam. I don't believe the issues are intentional, so Action Fraud is not for myself. I do believe tcb are being / have been wreckless though for allowing their members to continue to be caught up in the known mess. That in itself is a disgrace and is still ongoing!
So there are options to get your cash back, you will need to fight though as tcb won't it seems.
If you are a victim here, go and get your cash and that's even if you were denied a long while back. Not on the scale of the PPI scandal, but nevertheless a scandal.
Thanks for reading and good luck.

pinkcalculator

B_M wrote: »

Thanks Samantha and I want to say nothing I post is aimed at you personally, sadly you seem to be the tcb rep at wrong end and I do actually feel sorry for you. Tcb is in a mess and it's the likes of yourself who has to try and offer updates with your hands tied. Maybe it time for the 'main men' to man up and answer all these issues?

Anyway, it looks like my issue has been resolved after a long fight!
I complained direct to Direct Line and they investigated my complaint (mis selling of a financial product due to the non payment of the cash back offered from DL's affiliate marketing). Initially my complaint was upheld by DL (1st April ironically) and I was advised tcb would pay me my cash within 2 weeks. 2 weeks passed and nothing, zilch! I enquired with tcb via tickets and asked if they had my cash, they repeatedly denied they were holding onto my cash back. I then contacted the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) and they took on my case. Long story short, but it was a fight and I had to explain to the FOS about affiliate marketing. There was a mix up with my initial complaint and DL stated it wasn't them to blame, but purely tcb. Today my cash back has finally been agreed by DL along with a decent level of compensation. I'm just waiting for my cheque and this sorry saga will be over. I have achieved with the help of the FOS what tcb clearly can't and couldn't despite claiming for over 5 months that they were giving the known issue their 'full attention'!

I would recommend anyone that has an issue with a financially related product (covers road cover etc) and is having issues (including declines) to go direct with the merchant and issue a complaint (it MUST be a complaint). They company then has 8 weeks to reach a conclusion / resolution and if not favourable (or not fulfilled as in my case), then straight to the FOS. It costs the merchant £550 (fees) once the FOS get involved and that's whether they win or lose (so some compensation I suppose). Most responsible companies will resolve issues (several experience of this with tcb) and you won't need to take it to the FOS.
The FOS are now looking into affiliate marketing to see what role cash back sites take. Are they agents or is the responsibility on the cash back site to make payments for what they offer (regardless of whether they receive payments from their paymasters).
I've today issued a complaint against tcb to CAB and strongly asked for my complaint to be passed to Trading Standards. I believe cash back should not just be a possibility as tcb want you to accept, but what is promoted should indeed be paid.
If tcb (or any other cash back site) doesn't want to take, or is frightened to take action against non paying merchants, then they should take the loss and not their members. It should not be the purchaser of products to be the loser for the cash back sites incompetence.
CAB also gave me a number for Action Fraud, in case I thought the non payment was a scam. I don't believe the issues are intentional, so Action Fraud is not for myself. I do believe tcb are being / have been wreckless though for allowing their members to continue to be caught up in the known mess. That in itself is a disgrace and is still ongoing!
So there are options to get your cash back, you will need to fight though as tcb won't it seems.
If you are a victim here, go and get your cash and that's even if you were denied a long while back. Not on the scale of the PPI scandal, but nevertheless a scandal.
Thanks for reading and good luck.

Wow that's quite some eye opening and very informative post, thankfully I've never had quite such a level of issue but I shall certainty take a copy of this for future reference.

I'd also like to thank Samantha for the reply to my question I quite expect to wait but was concerned about the disappearance of the company from your books as such I shall await payment hopefully in a reasonable time.

legendkiller2k8

@Samantha as B_M said no-one is blaming you you're just in the firing line sadly of Topcashbacks failure.
I'm pretty sure it is Topcashback who are responsible to pay any cashback regardless if they recieve it or not as they are the company refering people to companies.
I'm quite certain too that all incentives must be honoured as long as a order isn't cancelled, companies such as Sky and direct line are infact in breach of the contract between themselves and the customer if they do not honour the incentive.
This could also mean that the customer would be entitled to take Topcashback to court and file a CCJ against TCB, aswell as cancel any contract with sky etc without penalty.
Regardless of cashback sites being regulated or not.

johnk

legendkiller2k8 wrote: »

I'm pretty sure it is Topcashback who are responsible to pay any cashback regardless if they recieve it or not as they are the company refering people to companies.

I am not sure where you got that idea but for me, cashback is always an add-on benefit rather than a legal right. I also had problem with TCB before but found TCB reps here, both Samantha and earlier John, extremely helpful and going to depth to resolve issues. I am personally very grateful of them and feel lucky that I am in this forum with their presence to help. That gives me confidence that I will receive whatever I am entitled by my transactions through TCB, even though there is no contractual terms as such with them.

legendkiller2k8

johnk wrote: »

I am not sure where you got that idea but for me, cashback is always an add-on benefit rather than a legal right. I also had problem with TCB before but found TCB reps here, both Samantha and earlier John, extremely helpful and going to depth to resolve issues. I am personally very grateful of them and feel lucky that I am in this forum with their presence to help. That gives me confidence that I will receive whatever I am entitled by my transactions through TCB, even though there is no contractual terms as such with them.

From trading standards themselves, cashback sites used to e overlooked but with more and more complaints they have been included now. They are offering incentives to use their site to gain custom for their partners. It's still a pretty grey area but trading standards and the fsa are starting to clamp down on them now and take action.
It'll be interesting to see where it all goes.

MollieDollie

I have been waiting for over 7 months for my Argos Pet Insurance transaction to become payable! Took it out on the 5th November 2013 and it has been showing as confirmed for months. :-(


Edited to add. I have just seen that Topcashback haven't received any money from Argos since July 2013! So why are they still advertising them nearly a year later knowing that nobody has received their cashback since then? That is just plain wrong and makes me really annoyed.

B_M

@MollieDollie, yes tcb will still actively promote these well known non paying merchants and presumably purely for personal greed!
My wife has a tcb account and she actually received a tcb email yesterday promoting an enhanced rate from Direct Line! Sickening and disgusting behaviour giving that tcb have been stating for at least 5 months that they have known of DL issues and as yet not resolved. How much lower can they stoop?

Argos pet insurance.
1st I would advise asking tcb to confirm they have not received and are holding onto your promoted cash back.
(just because you haven't been paid doesn't necessarily meant the merchant hasn't paid. The cash back site or the affiliate network acting for Argos could have your cash. Equally, it could well be Argos in your case). Tcb will probably confirm that they don't have your cash.
Give tcb a couple of weeks to get your cash or advise them that you will complain direct to the merchant that you may have been mis sold an insurance product due to the non payment of the affiliate marketing they actually use).

Step 2 is when you issue your complaint to the company. Keep it simple, but stress it's a complaint. They sometimes tell you they don't know who tcb are, but insist you want your complaint passed to their customer resolution team (they will know about affiliate marketing or can get the info from their marketing department). This is where the clock starts and they have 8 weeks to reach a verdict. Most are very good (Aviva, More Than, Legal and General etc - yes I've been to them all and more!) and you will get your cash back within 4 weeks and sometimes even less. There is also the chance of compensation from some (say £20), but not from all.
If your complaint is declined, then you need to contact the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) and they will take on your issue for you. Tell them you haven't received the promoted cash back from the merchants agent (tcb) from their affiliate marketing. The Fos will send you the forms out to sign and return along with any evidence (screenshots of promotion / timescales etc). This can take a while as the FOS are very busy dealing with many financial issues!

It rarely gets as far as the FOS though as there would be the £550 fee. Hence early resolution with some small compensation. Cheaper and no black mark against them.

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/contact/index.html

Argos insurance contact-
http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CreditAndInsuranceView?langId=110&storeId=10151&page=Contact%20Us#pet

For the record, the FOS advise promoted cash back incentives should reasonably be paid within 3 - 4 months max. 6 months of waiting would be considered excessive! Taking that into consideration, it would be advisable to start your initial complaint after 4 months of waiting. Also, the FOS aren't interested in non trackers, but only whether the promoted incentive has been paid. There will be an electronic trace anyway showing where your purchase originated (ie, from tcb on a definite date and time).

That's for the financials, for any other issues and especially regulated ones, look for an Ombudsman service and go down the same route as above (starting with cash back site). Utilities, communication industries are examples.

One day hopefully, cash back sites will become regulated and will have to follow a code of practice. The big sites are handling millions and millions of pounds per year, yet are still unregulated. Madness!
It may take a Which campaign or pressure from someone like Martin Lewis OBE and his team to achieve this as cash backs sites won't want regulation I'd imagine.

Sorry for the long posts (and typos), but unfortunately there is some naughtiness going on and it needs highlighting and we as consumers need to help each other. Hope some of the info helps even just some. Don't be a victim of this scandal!
Good luck.

@tcb, please, please get back to the 'good old days' and stop messing and misleading your members. Have a read of your 'fair play policy', have a read of your 'mission statement', have a look in the mirror. You will see where the problems have come from!
There is a BIG chance now I will have my tcb account terminated, if that is the plan, please do it asap. If that's not the plan, then thank you tcb for allowing me to air my views. We all have differing opinions, but I will never be one of those who will accept that cash back should only be considered as a possibility. If that was allowed, then merchants would gain an unfair advantage (trading unfairly) against those who aren't active with affiliate marketing.
I'll update if and when it happens.

TopCashBack_Company_Representative

Hi there,

@a155sjd, we are aware of this issue and it is something that is being taken very seriously. We are working alongside the affiliate with the aim to get any outstanding cashback to our members, however, I do apologise that this is taking much longer than anticipated. I hope that we are able to get this resolved for our members soon and we will continue to do all that we can to achieve this.

@B_M, I am glad to hear that you have now been able to get this resolved and that you are going to be receiving your cashback soon along with a bonus of compensation also.

@pinkcalcualtor, I am happy to help, hopefully you see this progress for you soon but we are always here to be of assistance if for any reason, you do not see this become payable for you.

@legendkiller2k8, it is the merchants responsibility to pass the cashback to us before we are able to pass this on to the member, we have tried to make this clear within our Terms and Conditions under section 2, Cashback Rewards - http://www.topcashback.co.uk/Terms. I can assure you that we will continue to do all we can alongside the merchants network to retrieve your cashback for you and I do apologise that this has so far taken longer than we would like.

@johnk, I am glad that we have been able to be of help and I have been sure to pass your thanks on to John for you. If there is anything that we can do to be of assistance in regards to your cashback, please do not hesitate to contact us

@MollieDollie, I am sorry that this has not yet further progressed for you, I can confirm that we are waiting for the merchant to produce the cashback and that this is something that the network is chasing. Hopefully, we are able to get any outstanding cashback to our members soon and I do apologise that this has so far taken longer than anticipated.

Kind regards,
Samantha

legendkiller2k8

@TCB no offence you can say what you like in your T+Cs if trading standards say you're in the wrong then i'm afraid you're in the wrong.
Let's just hope all this gets sorted without the drama of court, trading standards etc. I will not back down.

My make it cheaper claim is another example been on "ready to submit" for over a month now, TCB clearly only care about their own pockets and not their users.