Vouchers not honoured – who is responsible?

RichardLP
RichardLP Forumite Posts: 14
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edited 18 August at 12:37PM in Consumer rights

I switched broadband suppliers through a cashback site which promised both cashback and a £130 voucher. The promise of a voucher has been outsourced to a different company who have, so far, not provided the voucher despite confirming I have met all of their conditions. I clearly don’t have a contract with the outsourced company, so if they do not provide the voucher is the cashback site liable?

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  • Bradden
    Bradden Forumite Posts: 974
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    It would dpeend on the T&C's - they probably cover themselves and do not "promise" anything if it's quidco or topcashback.
  • jlfrs01
    jlfrs01 Forumite Posts: 137
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    I don't believe so. I've experienced this on multiple occasions and all you can do is lodge a missing cashback claim and keep pressing them. If the company that administers the cashback in whatever form it's been earned decides not cough up there's nothing that can be done, though the cashback site will delist them if they receive enough complaints from other disgruntled members..
    It may be they are extremely slow - I received one cashback claim for a laptop purchase nearly 18 months after the transaction.
  • RichardLP
    RichardLP Forumite Posts: 14
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    jlfrs01 said:
    I don't believe so. I've experienced this on multiple occasions and all you can do is lodge a missing cashback claim and keep pressing them.
    They did honour the cashback, but it's the voucher that is the issue.
  • RichardLP
    RichardLP Forumite Posts: 14
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    Bradden said:
    It would dpeend on the T&C's - they probably cover themselves and do not "promise" anything if it's quidco or topcashback.
    If they state clearly on their comparison site you will receive a £130 voucher I think a consumer could reasonably believe this forms part of the contract.
  • Bradden
    Bradden Forumite Posts: 974
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    RichardLP said:
    Bradden said:
    It would dpeend on the T&C's - they probably cover themselves and do not "promise" anything if it's quidco or topcashback.
    If they state clearly on their comparison site you will receive a £130 voucher I think a consumer could reasonably believe this forms part of the contract.
    True.. but the devil is in the detail. Many offers are limited.. while stock lasts etc. Have you looked at the T&C's?
  • RefluentBeans
    RefluentBeans Forumite Posts: 463
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    Who promised you the voucher? Was it a sign on incentive from the broadband supplier? Or the cash back site?

    If the supplier - did the terms and conditions of the site say that referrals were included or did you have directly sign up? 

    The reason I ask this is it seems odd to a cash back site to offer both cash back and a voucher, and if the supplier promised it then the vouchers normally based on the commission they’d have given the referring agency (the cash back site in this case). 

    The outsourced company has no bearing on this other than they’re the ones that many actually logistically sort the gift voucher out for you. Like you said, you likely have no contract with them. 

    In any case you need to know who the voucher was from to escalate it further. If they’re not giving the voucher (and there’s no terms and conditions that prevent this) then your next steps are to escalate through their customer service team, before looking at small claims court (or getting them to cancel the contract for not fulfilling their end). This is obviously dependent on what the terms are and who should be issuing the voucher.
  • RichardLP
    RichardLP Forumite Posts: 14
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    edited 21 August at 9:46PM
    Who promised you the voucher? Was it a sign on incentive from the broadband supplier? Or the cash back site?

    If the supplier - did the terms and conditions of the site say that referrals were included or did you have directly sign up? 

    The reason I ask this is it seems odd to a cash back site to offer both cash back and a voucher, and if the supplier promised it then the vouchers normally based on the commission they’d have given the referring agency (the cash back site in this case). 

    The outsourced company has no bearing on this other than they’re the ones that many actually logistically sort the gift voucher out for you. Like you said, you likely have no contract with them. 

    In any case you need to know who the voucher was from to escalate it further. If they’re not giving the voucher (and there’s no terms and conditions that prevent this) then your next steps are to escalate through their customer service team, before looking at small claims court (or getting them to cancel the contract for not fulfilling their end). This is obviously dependent on what the terms are and who should be issuing the voucher.


    Thanks for your post. The offer came via the Quidco comparison site and on it you will see both cashback and vouchers being offered - see the link below. I agree this is a bit puzzling and I don't understand the business model here.

    I've been in touch with Quidco (the comparison site I used), Giftcould (third party voucher administrator company) and Vodafone (who I contracted with for BB) and it will not surprise you to learn that all three say the failure of the voucher to materialise is nothing to do with them.

    As the promise of both cashback (which Quidco have honoured) and the voucher were from the Quidco site I could argue that I have a contract with them, but I clearly also have a contract with Vodafone as I went with them for my broadband. Surely any cashback/voucher deal must be funded ultimately by the company that benefits financially - in this case Vodafone.

    Contractually the situation is pretty confused, but I thought I would post because if you look at Giftcloud’s Trustpilot entry I am clearly not alone and I wondered if anyone had successfully claimed from one of the parties involved.


     https://broadband.quidco.com/broadband/?ref3=12224221x488701543
  • RichardLP
    RichardLP Forumite Posts: 14
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    Bradden said:
    RichardLP said:
    Bradden said:
    It would dpeend on the T&C's - they probably cover themselves and do not "promise" anything if it's quidco or topcashback.
    If they state clearly on their comparison site you will receive a £130 voucher I think a consumer could reasonably believe this forms part of the contract.
    True.. but the devil is in the detail. Many offers are limited.. while stock lasts etc. Have you looked at the T&C's?
    The Voucher scheme is administered by Giftcloud and they have confirmed that I have met all their conditions. When I ask why I have not recieved the voucher they respond a follows:

    (Giftcloud) 
    27 Jul 2023, 03:57 BST 
    Hi,
     
    Thank you for your reply.
     
    This purchase has been validated by Vodafone.
     
    We have been looking into your query, however we now need to send this over to the Vodafone for further investigation. Please do bear with us while we look into your query.
     
    The update will be provided within 10 working days (Mon-Fri) from the escalation date.
     
    Thank you for your patience, and my apologies that we aren't able to solve this sooner.
     
    Kind regards,

    Then this follow up reply:

    (Giftcloud) 
    16 Aug 2023, 03:19 BST 
    Hello,
     
    Thank you for your email. Sorry for the inconvenience caused.
     
    I certainly understand your situation. Our management team is working hard to resolve this issue at the earliest. As soon as we have an update, we will update the Same to you. Kindly allow some time as mentioned earlier to resolve this issue.
     
    Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.
     
    Kind regards,

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