Topcashback, Unheard of by my Greenhouse Supplier, so who are the grey men behind the deal?

Standtrue

The purchase of a Greenhouse is a fairly large purchase, on two counts!
I shopped around and my sister explained to me if I purchased my choice by Forest Garden Ltd via Topcashback I would make a 7% approx saving.
The Company advertised on their site was TwoWests & Elliott. I telephoned TwoWests before my purchase asking questions, then went ahead and ordered through Topcashback at the end of last year.
Over six month's later and all I hear is it's down to the retailer's affiliate network to decide whether I receive any money from Topcashback.
The Retailer is saying they never agreed to any link to Topcashback, they had not heard of them. TOPCASHBACK AGREE.
I thought I had an agreement with Topcashback, and through them the retailer.
This seems a very shady practice. 
If they are being disingenuous with the customer how can a little "don't expect the money" get them off the hook. After all who would use them if not for the saving incentive? 

twopenny

There are no terms and conditions on the Forest Garden website.

Top Cashback I seem to have to join. Did you click through from their site?

"How does cashback work?

When you make a purchase from a retailer featured on TopCashback after clicking through from our site, the retailer will give us a commission for sending you to their website. We share this commission with you when you earn money, which we call 'cashback' and is actually paid by the retailer. Then, we'll make your cashback 'payable' for you to withdraw and spend."

Can you go back the the TCB site on your history where you can pick up the offer?

Forest Garden sell through masses of retailers. Could it have been one of these retailers that were offering the cash back?

mjm3346

Two Wests and Elliott currently offer 5.1% cash back via TCB - if you had been browsing the TW and E site direct before actually clicking through from TCB you would be unlikely to get cashback and purchase must also be completed immediately and fully online.

Daisymaisy

Sorry to hear you've had a bad experience and with such an expensive item.    My experience of TCB has been very good but there are a few things to take into account:
1. Never count on the cash back, always purchase based on the best deal you can find and if the cash back also comes through it's a welcome bonus discount. 
2. Always make the purchase on the retailer web page that the TCB link opens for you, this is the way they track your visit to TCB and on to the retailer.  Close any search tabs related to your purchase and remove any items from your basket before logging in to TCB and clicking the retailers link to ensure your purchase with the retailer is via the TCB linked page.
3. Read all the T&C's for each retailer you purchase from before clicking through so you are aware of anything that might invalidate or affect your cash back request e.g. using a non TCB voucher code as well as trying to claim cash back, not being a new customer, some companies only pay cash back on the ex VAT amount and the list of exemptions goes on and varies with each retailer.
4. Check how long it should take for the request to track before you click through ( see 'tracking stats' / more info), make a calendar note and query it if it doesn't track within the suggested time.  For TWE average tracking speed is one hour, payment speed around 23 weeks, auto tracking reliability is 86% so there is room for error in processing the cash back.  68% of the remaining 14% of manual claims have been honoured.

Don't give up on TCB yet, try some smaller purchases where the cash back is insignificant in order to get the hang of how it works.  I admit to holding my breath for my £70 cash back from Aviva for car insurance being paid and doing a happy dance when it was 💃.

Standtrue

Thank you for your responses,
I went on Topcashback just before Christmas purchased some goods on Amazon, Lisa Angel and TwoWests & Elliott.
Amazon and Lisa Angel cashback came through very quickly. All these months later no money from TwoWests. Topcashback say because it is not them offering the cashback but their marketing affiliates????
Apparently they are still making their minds up. This is why I don't like the idea of thinking I was dealing with a retailer through Topcashback, when actually there are other parties involved. 

Daisymaisy

Very frustrating, I agree.  It would be good if they could indicate which retailers they deal with direct and which are through affiliate networks. By my calculation you are just over the average payment time of 23 weeks 4 days so🤞they sort it out for you and you get your cash back.  Hopefully you paid the best price you could find for the greenhouse anyway and didn't factor the cash back into your decision to purchase from TWE's.

I found this in TCB's FAQ's which, bearing in mind they don't make it clear when you click through to a retailer, is very reprimanding:
"A merchant has told me that they don't have a relationship with TopCashback
This is actually quite a common enquiry.  Firstly, please can we respectfully point out that we would rather you didn't hassle the merchants about your cashback. This will only annoy them and may lead them to dropping their cashback program altogether.

Also, as you may have just found, many members of staff with any particular merchant may not be aware of all of the marketing techniques employed by their company.
TopCashback works with the main UK affiliate networks and we list the merchants who have agreed to offer an affiliate commission via these agencies. We therefore don't work directly with most merchants, but via an affiliate network.
We can assure you however, if a merchant is listed, then they are running a cashback scheme."

Standtrue

Thank you DaisyMaisy, you have it in a nut shell.
I would not have purchased if through an affiliate network.
The decision should surely have been mine to make, once it had been made clear there is a difference. 

mjm3346

Standtrue said:

Thank you DaisyMaisy, you have it in a nut shell.
I would not have purchased if through an affiliate network.
The decision should surely have been mine to make, once it had been made clear there is a difference. 

That would be most of them then - I assume the same applies to Quidco etc.
"We therefore don't work directly with most merchants, but via an affiliate network.