Take Quidco to small claims court and consumer rights

y3sitsm3

cashbackKiller said:

They probably won't.  However it's not about the actual cashback anymore. I'd rather pay the court costs and draw attention to these scammers so hopefully other people won't be conned into using them OR quidco might sort themselves out. Probably not the latter.

It won't draw any attention to anything though.  Nobody is going to report on the story, and most people couldn't care less anyway.

But there's really no evidence that Quidco are scamming anyone, and these sort of "cons" don't hold any water. It's bordering on conspiracy theory.  Just like the "PayPal are freezing accounts to invest the money" or "IKEA are debiting cards to invest the money in the overnight markets" threads we've had recently, this just doesn't make sense.  To fly below the radar with this, Quidco could barely do it to anyone, and thenit'd be pointless doing it.  If it was done on a large enough scale it'd be all over the media, they'd lose their reputation, most of their customers and end up going bust.

Sorry, it just doesn't make sense.

powerful_Rogue

Cashback isn't guaranteed. I've always had 100% from quicdo - £2184 over the years.

When you buy something, go through Quidco. If it pays out then it's a bonus. If they don't, then nothing lost.

Your court claim will lose. It's made perfectly clear that cashback isn't guaranteed, even Martin Lewis says this in his guide.

dreamypuma

I echo the previous post. I've just checked my account and since 2012, I've received just over £3k from Quidco alone and around £1k from Topcashback. 

In this time I've had no notable issues with payouts from either site. A few lodged claims and drawn out payments, but payments made all the same.

Good luck with any court claim.

mjm3346

Of mine 100% have tracked through TCB, Swagbucks, Give as you Live and all bar one via Quidco  (the retailer confirmed the purchase had not tracked so Quidco made no  money off it either).

mattyprice4004

gettingtheresometime said:

I gave up using these cash back sites a long time ago for this very reason 

Totally logical - get nothing instead of something…  

To the OP, have you ignored all the warnings that ‘cashback isn’t guaranteed etc’ I take it? 

I’ve had thousands paid out via Quidco and the odd thing doesn’t go through - that’s the nature of the beast. 

The warnings of this all over MSE etc make this pretty clear - all you’ll end up doing is costing yourself money and peeing a judge off. 

You also won’t set a precedent as 1) you won’t win and 2) precedents can’t be set via small claims - and if you take it out of the small claims track you will likely be hit for the other party’s costs when you lose. 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

To be fair any action that alters the economic activity of the average consumer is prohibited so a blanket term of not guaranteed may be unfair. 

If Quidco and the like were simply acting as a middleman in a affiliate scheme they may have a better footing but as they actively work with partners, by giving offers such as Quidco exclusives, there could be an argument that more could be done to ensure the payment is made, particularly for headline offers, or perhaps more noticeably that they should be removing partners that fail to make payment. 

FaceHead

I do agree that Quidco overly use the 'the retailer didn't pay us...we'll look into it' excuse, and then they just don't. It's probably not worth them employing the people to fight retailers who quibble over 10% of payments. Also sometimes, they do make a genuine mistake, but leap to the 'the retailer didn't pay us' excuse.

Whilst not 100%, I've found Quidco to be pretty good over the years and c£3k. When there was a mess up over a c.£400 cashback, the quidco rep on this forum got it straightened out. Occasionally a £10 cashback might get (in my view) wrongly declined and the claim not sort it, but in the grand scheme of things, I think missing out on £50 and getting the other £2950 is decent.  

You have to accept that getting the cashback or not is a coin toss, and not get cut up about it if it lands the wrong way for you. I think on the whole quidco is an honest company that sometimes makes mistakes, and sometimes won't see it as worthwhile to chase up a cashback with the retailer. Hardly a con, but they could do more to be more open about the chance of not getting a cashback.

gettingtheresometime

mattyprice4004 said:

gettingtheresometime said:

I gave up using these cash back sites a long time ago for this very reason 

Totally logical - get nothing instead of something…  

Sorry I should have expanded my answer and said my online purchases go through the avios portal - very often stores have promotions on the avios rates which helps when you want to use your companion voucher for 1st class flights

born_again

cashbackKiller said:

Take Quidco to small claims court and consumer rights

Firstly I'd also like to know what are our consumer rights when it comes to these cashback sites that so often don't pay out.

Secondly I wanted to ask if anyone has taken these scammers to the small claims court? I am seriously considering doing it to try and set a precedent (which I know probably won't succeeed). However it would make me feel better to at least try and hopefully encourage other people to do so. It isn't about the amount of money they owe me but more the principle.

There don't seem to be any recent posts on these issues. The last one was from 2009 on MSE and seems Quidco are still at it 12 years on!

I have read lots of bad reviews of Quidco not paying out large amounts and only paying small amounts which is exactly what has happened to me. They seem to operate with impunity and always blame the retailer for non payment or payment of the wrong amount. They never provide proof of this and we only have their word which frankly I don't believe. I am very sure they withhold cashback based on the numerous accounts i've read on Trustpilot and other consumer sites.

They cashback companies really need to be regulated as I can see people having the same issues with them now as over 12 years ago.

Surely anyone could start a cashback company and have in the t&c that cashback isn't guaranteed!

A brief history:
I bought a soundbar from Currys via Quidco last November 2020. Quidco had an offer of 20% cashback so I decided to make the purchase via Currys.

The transaction tracked at 1% initially instead of 20% but Quidco assured me it would be uplifted to the correct rate on payment received from the client. Of course this did not happen and they paid me the 1%. This happened in July 2021 so almost 9 months later.

I have tried to resolve this with Quidco until I'm blue in the face. All I get is the usual response of the retailer paid the cashback amount and they would follow it up with them. I raised the claim and absolutely nothing has happened to date. I have even contacted Currys to see how much cashback they actually paid Quidco. Unfortunately they have given me the run around as well and told me to contact Quidco.

Was it a click & collect?

Currys seem to often run these through as a new transaction at the shop when you pick it up. Thus you lose cashback as they decline it as there is no purchase due to them cancelling the linked purchase and running it through as a new one.

You also have to watch that the item you are buying is in the correct category to give you the right amount of cashback. Currently Up to 25% / £100 cashback lowest being 1% for other purchases.



Currently on £5K + cashback.