Cash back offer through debit card spending not initially honoured

Danbrowne88

I had to complain to Santander to get the cash back offer I was due when I purchased an item. 

I activated an offer for Lakedland for 7% cash back on debit card purchases. I bought an item on the last day of the offer, but because the transaction didn’t clear until after the deadline they didn’t initially pay me the cash back. They raised the problem with back office and it came back rejected until I was put through to the complaints department who then gave me the £30 straight away. 

I asked them to put the suggestion forward to resolve this as many people might have lost cash back due to this discrepancy in their banking system! 

Has anyone else came across this? 

I feel like it should be shared far and wide

jonesMUFCforever

They gave you the £30 to make you go away because it is cheaper than going the whole hog with their complaints procedures.
Personally I think you are overthinking this.
If you made a purchase last minute but the transaction did not go through until after the closure date I can see where they are coming from.
Was the £30 more than the cashback?

Danbrowne88

£30 was the amount of cashback I was due. So I am happy that I have received what I was due.

i don’t think I am overthinking it because they told me the reason I wouldn’t be getting it was due to the transaction clearing 2 days after the offer end date. On my app it said that the debit card transaction was processed on the last day of the offer. The first woman I spoke to could see this and wasn’t sure why I hadn’t received it which was why she sent it for investigation to the back office.

i think you are missing the point that the date of the purchase being made is not necessarily when it clears the bank and the offers just say spend with your debit card up until the last day of the offer,  or that it must clear the bank.

TOP_CAT

If you got the £30 then no issue exists.....leaving it late you can expect the same issue again and some customer service staff may or may not be helpful. 
 If you spend on the offers during the last days of the offer when transactions can take a number of days to process   .
Nothing is going to change on transaction process times which vary .
I have done alot of these over the years .

Danbrowne88

My point is that there are no terms and conditions that state the transaction must clear the bank before the end of the offer date. Only that you must spend with your debit card before the offer ends. So if you spend for example on the 13th, the day the offer ends and then it clears on the 15th then that is not your problem as you have fulfilled your end of the offer and if the bank refuse to pay the cash back then they have surely failed to fulfill the offer on there end

TOP_CAT

My point from having done this quite a few times is no one cares less unfortunately .
You have two options .
Spend early.... never during the last days of the offer .
OR
Spend during the last days of the offer and then scrap it out over the phone with the bank  .
Santander is probably the worst when doing so where Lloyds Halifax seem fine .

Danbrowne88

You will be right, I’m sure no one does care about it until it happens to them. And I’m sure the banks couldn’t care less. It’s still a flaw in the system that people should be aware of in my opinion though so was just putting it out there so people know they are entitled to the money still 

TOP_CAT

Yes your right ! 
If you ring up you can get your cashback added although it takes another month again if the actual spend  date was within the date period but im sure many forget or bother .

The fact different  businesses payment processing times take place such as 1-2-3-4 days etc shouldnt mean you miss out but it requires a phone call over a month later hence its open to forgetting about it .

I dont think that many people understand how to work the offers to ones advantage or can be bothered to put in the work so its not as popular as other banking £100 offers etc .

Lloyds and halifax both promote similar offers and are not the same as Santander I found they are better to deal with imo .
I am not in favour of santander as have had some bad experiences with real banking needs but others have profited from santanders past switch offers as the bank was so daft leaving a loophole open .

The way things are now with interest I make more from the cashback annually although this year is different because of covid .