Quidco/3 Mobile Cashback Fiddle?

Paulee

I took out a contract in February with 3, through Quidco, for the Direct Talker 1000 tarriff. Quidco showed a cashback of £100 on this deal. I also used the "Refer A Friend" option which is worth £30 from 3. I have used Quidco a lot in the past & have never had a problem receiving the cashback.

Along with a lot of other users of this forum I received £70 back from Quidco and I have been chasing the balance for a couple of months now. On 11.3.07. I posted a thread regarding this shortfall and no one seemed to have received the promised amount. After further requests for information I received the latest reply from Quidco today. It shows my latest query to them followed by their comments:-

TransactionsPaymentsEnquiriesView Enquiry
Type: Enquiry - Incorrect
Status: processed
Create Date: 2007-05-09 16:28:21
Close Date: 2007-05-22 16:28:57

Date Comment

You 2007-05-09 16:28:21 -

I have already enquired about this but you have not advised me of the current position. I ordered a Direct Talker 1000 contract from 3 & it clearly showed a c/back of £100 through Quidco. This was the major incentive to me taking out the deal. Please get back to me or advise me if I should take up this matter directly with 3. Thanks, Paul.

Admin 2007-05-22 16:28:57 -

The status has changed from being processed to processed The ticket has been closed

Admin 2007-05-22 16:29:25 -

Hi Paul, Your first 3 Mobile enquiry was first sent to the merchant on the 1st of March. We do continue to send outstanding enquiries monthly to the merchant; unfortunately there is little else that we can do. Technically, there is no obligation to pay out on enquiries that do not track and considering they have already secured a sale there is also little motivation. It varies wildly between merchants, some resolve enquiries very quickly and others never do. Hopefully we may still hear back from the merchant about your cashback. Kind regards, Stuart


Has anyone else managed to get paid in full from Quidco on this Tarriff? It looks to me as though 3 do not seem to be too bothered about paying £30 short to their customers. However, it was clearly stated on the Quidco site that 3 paid £100 for contracts to this tarrif. Surely someone is responsible???

BTW, I've not had the Refer A Friend cash back yet either. After speaking to 3 today (again) about it they advised me that it will be deducted from my June bill.

Reestit_Mutton

Paulee wrote: »

Has anyone else managed to get paid in full from Quidco on this Tarriff? It looks to me as though 3 do not seem to be too bothered about paying £30 short to their customers. However, it was clearly stated on the Quidco site that 3 paid £100 for contracts to this tarrif. Surely someone is responsible???

In legal terms, you have no contract with 3. Your contract is with Quidco. If you must chase up the shortfall then it is Quidco that you must hold responsible as it is Quidco that offered you a £100 enticement to purchase through their site.

HtH
Reestit Mutton

Scrooge2

I have also just signed up to the Direct Talker 1000 plan the other day with 3 via Quidco. The cashback has now been reduced to £82.50 ! I also went through their Refer a Friend scheme to get the £30 credit. But I've noticed in all the confirmation emails from 3, it does not mention that I signed up to the plan via 'Refer a Friend' - there is no documentation that I did it via that route. Therefore in 60 days time when I do not get the credit, it would be my word against them and I can't prove it !!!!!

jpwilliams

I took out a contract with 3 at the end of March, and like you, didn't see anything about the £30 RAF offer on my summary page. I opened a chat window with one of their sales reps, he said that was normal, sure enough the £30 credit appeared on my bill a few days ago, so don't worry about it, it's just the way their system is set up.

Scrooge2

Thanks, jp. That's a relief to hear - I must have more faith in the system !!!

wolvesinwales

My £30 RAF did not appear on my paperwork but was applied last week.
I also qualified for the £50 free credit offer but have not received this yet but at least it is mentioned on my invoice so i will have some evidence if i have to query it.

Reestit_Mutton

Scrooge2 wrote: »

I have also just signed up to the Direct Talker 1000 plan the other day with 3 via Quidco. The cashback has now been reduced to £82.50 ! I also went through their Refer a Friend scheme to get the £30 credit. But I've noticed in all the confirmation emails from 3, it does not mention that I signed up to the plan via 'Refer a Friend' - there is no documentation that I did it via that route. Therefore in 60 days time when I do not get the credit, it would be my word against them and I can't prove it !!!!!

To be perfectly honest, I think some people are getting unnecessarily wound up about extracting every last penny out of this deal.

I dare say that many have gone for this deal because of the high additional cashback on offer from Quidco and the £30 refer a friend offer was simply considered as an added bonus (not a deal maker). I wouldn't jump the gun just yet. You probably will get your additional £30 credit on your bill as promised.

As for the discrepancy in cashback amounts from Quidco - 3 are perfectly within their rights to periodically adjust their affiliate commissions - it is Quidco's responsibility to be on the ball about such changes and update the relevant offers for their members in a timely fashion.

Of course, this can't always happen with minute-perfect precision so there may well be some people who purchased AFTER 3 adjusted their commission rates but BEFORE the change filtered through to Quidco's website information. These people may well have to decide whether or not to chase Quidco for the difference.

Reestit Mutton