TopCashBack and Three not paying cashback due

rafhelp

Topcashback site sent me an email telling me a £75 cashback offer on a Three home broadband was about to expire that midnight (which was a bit misleading as that same offer is still running and live after several months).  So then I rushed to buy the broadband.  So i clicked the claim cashback on TopCashBack site and then it took me to three website where I paid online and made the purchase.

Now the click through was tracked by TopCashBack and it shows it under "Retailers Visited" section with the date AND time.

But now topcahsback are saying they will not pay the cashback.  They are saying the purchase cant be traced.  They are blaming it on some network they use to track purchases.  From what I know purchases are tracked using cookies which were working fine for me.

We are also not able to use the tracking information for your claim as this relates to the delivery and not your order.

TopCashback advertise cashback on behalf of retailers such as Three Home Broadband, rather than issue it ourselves. Due to this, claims are reviewed by a third party known as a tracking agency who manage each retailer's cashback programme. We just submit your claim to the network once you lodge it, we do not have any influence over the investigation process or the decisions made.

In this case, the network has reported that based on the information provided to support this claim, the transaction 'cannot be traced'. There are usually one of two reasons for this - one of which being that your order reference number may not be correct and therefore we will only be able to dispute this further with the correct order reference and additional supporting reference numbers, or in other cases this may be where TopCashback has not been considered the correct channel to where your purchase was completed.

As cashback is essentially a commission that TopCashback receives for directing sales to a retailers’ site, if the retailer can't identify that the sale was completed because of our referral then we will not receive the commission to pass this on to yourself.

Should you have an alternate reference number, we can make every effort to try and resubmit this claim on your behalf, however unfortunately without any additional information we are unable to proceed with re-submitting your claim.

They keep asking me for a 12 digit reference number that starts with 3, saying without it they cant process the cashback.  I rang Three several times and they sent me a proof of purchase email as PDF, but cant find any such reference number starting with 3.  (Has anyone bought a Three product online and got such a 12 digit reference number starting with 3??)

So now i am not sure what to do.  Do i have any rights with this?

The cashback was the only reason I made the purchase (as without it there were better offers elsewhere)

Alderbank

rafhelp said:

Topcashback site sent me an email telling me a £75 cashback offer on a Three home broadband was about to expire that midnight (which was a bit misleading as that same offer is still running and live after several months).  So then I rushed to buy the broadband.  So i clicked the claim cashback on TopCashBack site and then it took me to three website where I paid online and made the purchase.

Now the click through was tracked by TopCashBack and it shows it under "Retailers Visited" section with the date AND time.

But now topcahsback are saying they will not pay the cashback.  They are saying the purchase cant be traced.  They are blaming it on some network they use to track purchases.  From what I know purchases are tracked using cookies which were working fine for me.

We are also not able to use the tracking information for your claim as this relates to the delivery and not your order.

TopCashback advertise cashback on behalf of retailers such as Three Home Broadband, rather than issue it ourselves. Due to this, claims are reviewed by a third party known as a tracking agency who manage each retailer's cashback programme. We just submit your claim to the network once you lodge it, we do not have any influence over the investigation process or the decisions made.

In this case, the network has reported that based on the information provided to support this claim, the transaction 'cannot be traced'. There are usually one of two reasons for this - one of which being that your order reference number may not be correct and therefore we will only be able to dispute this further with the correct order reference and additional supporting reference numbers, or in other cases this may be where TopCashback has not been considered the correct channel to where your purchase was completed.

As cashback is essentially a commission that TopCashback receives for directing sales to a retailers’ site, if the retailer can't identify that the sale was completed because of our referral then we will not receive the commission to pass this on to yourself.

Should you have an alternate reference number, we can make every effort to try and resubmit this claim on your behalf, however unfortunately without any additional information we are unable to proceed with re-submitting your claim.

They keep asking me for a 12 digit reference number that starts with 3, saying without it they cant process the cashback.  I rang Three several times and they sent me a proof of purchase email as PDF, but cant find any such reference number starting with 3.  (Has anyone bought a Three product online and got such a 12 digit reference number starting with 3??)

So now i am not sure what to do.  Do i have any rights with this?

The cashback was the only reason I made the purchase (as without it there were better offers elsewhere)

You ask if you have any rights with this.

TopCashBack's T&Cs begin by saying:

2. By using our Site you accept these terms
2.1 By using our Site, you confirm that you agree with and accept these terms of use. If you do not agree to these terms, you must not use our Site.

Their terms continue to say (in bold):

6.5a You acknowledge that the retailer or it’s tracking agency’s decision is final in relation to the payment of commission to us and in turn, our decision is final in relation to paying Cashback to you. We will make all reasonable endeavors to secure the payment of commission on a transaction but we do not and cannot make any guarantee in this regard. In the event we do not receive the expected commission for a transaction for whatever reason, we will not be liable to pay the relevant Cashback to you.

So what TopCashBack says goes, and they are saying you're getting nothing.

You don't actually pay anything to use TopCashBack and unfortunately, on this occasion at least, you only got what you paid for.

powerful_Rogue

No consumer rights. Cashback is not guaranteed, so it's a bonus if it pays out.

MattMattMattUK

This is why the MSE guides say base your decision on thr price paid, not the potential cashback. 99% of the time it is fine (having had over a thousand pounds from TopCashback myself) but there are times when it doesn't work (my most recent was £150 cashback on TalkTalk fibre). You win some, you lose some.

rafhelp

As long as they genuine and not getting paid by the company, then not paying us for whatever reason, they could make up