TopCashback ripped me off twice now on larger transactions

ZZ_von_Schnerk

Twice they have failed to pay around £30 on large insurance purchases despite me following their rules. The second one was pending for ages telling me I had to wait, and now I can't even raise a ticket  as it's over 100 days. There is now no way of complaining that I can find.  Strange how all my smaller non insurance purchases have been successful. This outfit is a con, do NOT base your purchasing decisions on large cashback. 

IvanOpinion

You should never base insurance decisions on any cashback.  They should be based on a product being fit for purpose and value for money.  If there is an associated cashback then that is a bit of icing on the cake.

dinglebert

ZZ_von_Schnerk said:

Twice they have failed to pay around £30 on large insurance purchases despite me following their rules. The second one was pending for ages telling me I had to wait, and now I can't even raise a ticket  as it's over 100 days. There is now no way of complaining that I can find.  Strange how all my smaller non insurance purchases have been successful. This outfit is a con, do NOT base your purchasing decisions on large cashback. 

They are not a con.  However there can be many reasons why you don't get the cashback all of which they cover in their FAQ's.  There are many things wrong with Topcashback and indeed Quidco the most important for me being the inflated insurance quotes you get in the first place which mean that sometimes even with the cashback you are better going a different route.  As has been said I would never base an insurance purchase on the cashback I might receive from Topcashback.

In total over the years I have had £1,670.81 back from them, so not a con.

I have had £3,687.13 from Quidco

However in both cases the majority of that money is from years ago and not currently.

ZZ_von_Schnerk

If they are not con artists how come there is no contact number or email publicized so they can at least give me a reason for not paying on the larger transactions? On the first one where I did raise a ticket in time they blamed Go Compare even when I could prove I bought the policy by going through their site.    

Anunnaki

ZZ_von_Schnerk said:

Twice they have failed to pay around £30 on large insurance purchases despite me following their rules. The second one was pending for ages telling me I had to wait, and now I can't even raise a ticket  as it's over 100 days. There is now no way of complaining that I can find.  Strange how all my smaller non insurance purchases have been successful. This outfit is a con, do NOT base your purchasing decisions on large cashback. 

I have had at least £5000 over the years from TCB and Quidco.

Yes sometimes the purchases do not track or fail to pay.

But it is a known fact to regulars that you never base any purchasing decisions on receiving cashback?

If I can get a product cheaper I go elsewhere.
If same price I go through the cashback sites, as if I get anything it will be the icing on the cake.

And as far as I am aware it is not a TCB decision to withhold or refuse. It is the independent middle men company who validate the claim for company's/suppliers,  "via their affiliate network or representative management agency who run their online programme for them" not TCB. Or the actual suppliers who actually decide.

You can easily complain and get a very quick reply through their customer service portal?

elsien

ZZ_von_Schnerk said:

If they are not con artists how come there is no contact number or email publicized so they can at least give me a reason for not paying on the larger transactions? On the first one where I did raise a ticket in time they blamed Go Compare even when I could prove I bought the policy by going through their site.    

They pay you if the retailer pays them.  If there is an issue with the cash back - hasn’t tracked properly, use of another code etc, then they won’t pay you because they’ve not had the money themselves. 

They can’t necessarily give a reason if the retailer has just come back to them with transaction declined. 

You seem to have a basic misunderstanding of the process by making it sound like they are conning you by keeping money that should be yours. It doesn’t work like that. 

I lost £300 cash back on another site once by not confirming a membership email before making a large purchase. Other times I’ve had several tabs open for the store and completed the purchase on a tab that didn’t open from the CB site. My mistakes, not theirs. 

Anunnaki

"You seem to have a basic misunderstanding of the process"

That sums it up very well.

dinglebert

ZZ_von_Schnerk said:

If they are not con artists how come there is no contact number or email publicized so they can at least give me a reason for not paying on the larger transactions? On the first one where I did raise a ticket in time they blamed Go Compare even when I could prove I bought the policy by going through their site.    

Yes but what you couldn't prove was that you hadn't been to Go Compare at other times where the cookies are registered to a visit which did not originate from topcashback.  I'm not surprised they don't have a telephone number.  I could imagine the conversations.

IvanOpinion

ZZ_von_Schnerk said:

If they are not con artists how come there is no contact number or email publicized so they can at least give me a reason for not paying on the larger transactions? On the first one where I did raise a ticket in time they blamed Go Compare even when I could prove I bought the policy by going through their site.    

1. They don't owe you an explanation, read their T&C.  All you would do is get on the phone and argue with them wasting the time of their staff
2. I doubt if you could prove anything.  I have heard some people talk about screen shots which prove nothing.  

There are many things that can mess up the tracing - multiple open windows, doing things in the wrong order, prefilling baskets, retrieving prior quotes, old cookies, attempting to use additional vouchers/discount codes etc. etc.  I have heard (anecdotally) that incognito mode or VPNs can also cause issues.  Just accept that some you win, some you lose.

mattyprice4004

ZZ_von_Schnerk said:

If they are not con artists how come there is no contact number or email publicized so they can at least give me a reason for not paying on the larger transactions? On the first one where I did raise a ticket in time they blamed Go Compare even when I could prove I bought the policy by going through their site.    

Because they only make a tiny amount on every transaction, and this doesn’t pay enough to have someone sat on the other end of the phone while you moan for an hour. 

It’s much more effective to have a ticketing system (like they do) to deal with things, after all you’re going to get the same answer but it takes them 30 seconds and not 60 minutes.  

neilmcl

ZZ_von_Schnerk said:

If they are not con artists how come there is no contact number or email publicized so they can at least give me a reason for not paying on the larger transactions? On the first one where I did raise a ticket in time they blamed Go Compare even when I could prove I bought the policy by going through their site.    

https://www.topcashback.co.uk/account/enquiries/

There's nothing stopping you from raising a ticket now.