Topcashback Questions & Answers

Boohoo · 1 February 2016 at 3:38PM

TopCashBack rep:

@Boohoo - Can you kindly expand on your query please? Do you wish to change your broadband to Virgin or stay with Sky?

No nothing to do with Virgin.
I have Sky broadband(6mb) and want to move to TalkTalk fibre broadband with phone line and anytime calls. I am not sure what cashback option to click through.

Yorkshire_Pud · 1 February 2016 at 5:07PM

Yorkshire_Pud wrote: »

I was advised not to contact Nationwide about my missing CB on this thread 20/01/16.

Result. Nothing.

So I phoned Nationwide who inform me that they have no affiliation with TCB, don't payout to cashback sites and any CB due is from an offer made up by TCB as are all the T&C. This was after a senior manager was consulted! So TCB are giving out cash, sometimes, and the merchants don't give the money to TCB. You couldn't make it up.

So matt did you know Nationwide are not affiliated to you, nor are they a partner in the current account offers you make for Nationwide accounts?

Where is my cashback confirmed for the last 6 months, normally payable after 12 weeks? Do the affiliates in between Nationwide and TCB themselves stall and hold on to the cash. Nationwide use Havas Media as their affiliate.

Should TCB be offering Nationwide products as they don't seem to pay out?

Does TCB have any clout to liaise in a meaningful way with Nationwide?

Will I ever get my cashback?

Quoting my own post to update.
I sent another support ticket and mentioned your name Matt. I received another polite reply assuring me that things are being done behind the scenes and to please be patient.

I have no choice but overall I find it lamentably lame that after eight weeks of 'chasing' Havas Media up, as Nationwides affiliate, there is still no payout. After all it is now 15 weeks since it was due to be paid out:mad:

Surely a phone call is all it would take to the right person? Or by chasing it up does it literally mean someone from TCB goes to the office of Havas Media and chases them round the office all day but they still won't pay!:D

If this was publicised on Watchdog it would be cleared up and paid within hours.

B_M · 1 February 2016 at 6:16PM

@robmar0se, I understand a lot of your post and those that were active on the old TCB forum know the reasons for the removal.
I have it in my mindset now that if I want something resolved, I have to do it myself!
TCB won't ever upset the apple cart with their affiliate networks or merchants, it could prove to be very costly. Remember too, TCB attend award events etc with their partners, so another reason not to upset anyone.

@Matt (TCB) - re stats. What is the lowest satisfaction rating of any merchant promoted on TCB?

@Yorkshire Pud, start a complaint process as you still have to wait up to eight weeks for a resolution. Nationwide then have to decide if they want to involve the FOS and potentially pay a referral fee.
http://www.nationwide.co.uk/support/contact-us/make-a-complaint
It must be a complaint.

Qwerty789 · 2 February 2016 at 8:04AM

@Matt (TCB) (or others with useful advice?)

I’m hoping that you can assist with my ongoing problem with a TCB claim as I appear to have run out of options elsewhere. I’ll try to keep it brief for the sake of this thread:

• I took out a mobile phone contract nearly 2 years ago via TCB and despite my best efforts at chasing have not received the £46 that I’m due. The phone is sat next to me and I complied with all the Ts and Cs.

• I lodged a missing cashback claim as per process. TCB “did their best” in pursuing the missing cashback with the merchant. However TCB have accepted radio silence from the merchant and have given up both attempts to get claim paid but also attempts to find out why it had been declined. The second point is particularly irritating as without anyone articulating the problem it’s impossible to try to fix it. None of your copy/paste list of “possible reasons” applies.

• Following TCB closing the missing cashback claim I opened a support ticket to take the matter forward. I also contacted the merchant – I appreciate you’ll need to provide your default copy/paste answer about not doing this but I stress the only reason I needed to is because TCB are either unwilling or unable to make contact themselves. The merchant’s Customer Relations team provided a point of contact for TCB to use to discuss the claim but this option has not been taken up.

Cutting to the chase, I’ve a valid claim which has been declined and TCB are refusing to do anything else to assist. As above, this includes even finding out why the claim has been declined – TCB are happy to give up without reason which for me simply isn’t good enough.

It’s only since reading this thread that I’ve become aware of your Fair Play Policy and I’m even more bemused to be in this position. I really don’t understand what’s gone wrong as I everything was done correctly; in spite of this the claim remains unpaid without reason so I find myself asking how this can be compliant with FPP? No cashback and no reason why? What does TCB suggest I do in this position - just give up? Stop paying my phone bill as maybe I didn't actually take out the contract in the first place?

I’ve spared a public airing of the couple of dozen messages we’ve exchanged over the subject but can provide more detail on request. Can you assist, or can anyone else offer any suggestions as to what to do next?

B_M · 2 February 2016 at 8:38AM

Qwerty789 wrote: »

Can you assist, or can anyone else offer any suggestions as to what to do next?

Just quoed a bit of your long post, but 'fair play policy'!
Old and broke, otherwise you should have benefited from this such policy.

Your post backs up my claims that you will have to do the work yourself if you want to get anywhere!
Because your issue is contract based, I'd go down the mis selling of a contract route. Issue a complaint to both the merchant and TCB and give them say 14 days to fully resolve your claim. After 14 days, if not fully resolved, then try the Ombudsman route.
Best wishes and hope someone sees sense, albeit very belated!
Fair play policy........:rotfl:

2010 · 2 February 2016 at 10:05AM

People seem to forget their rights in this country.
If you`ve been mis-sold a service or product and you`ve exhausted every avenue with the merchant or intermeditary providing that service, then use your legal rights.
Sometimes (mostly) it`s the only thing companies understand.
First a letter before action with a date clearly given when you will do it and if no satisfactory response

do it.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/going-to-court/going-to-court/taking-court-action/step-one-write-a-letter-before-action/

https://www.gov.uk/make-money-claim-online

Qwerty789 · 2 February 2016 at 10:38AM

Sorry it turned into a long post - ended up being the rant I was trying to avoid.

B_M wrote: »

Fair play policy........:rotfl:

Yes...my thoughts were the same when I typed it, but I'll extend my patience (nearly two years of!) one more time and assume good faith on their part. (Just did it again didn't I....)

2010 wrote: »

People seem to forget their rights in this country.

Whilst I'm not disagreeing, this is a generalisation. My last exchange with them was to confirm their correspondence address for serving such notices. However as above I'd really like to avoid needing to do so, public debate on the chances of success notwithstanding, and don't want to prejudice Matt's ability to resolve it beforehand.

2010 · 2 February 2016 at 1:44PM

When all is said and done and you`re another X amount of months down the line and still being fobbed off you`ll need this:

[Text removed by Forum Team]

TopCashBack_Company_Representative · 2 February 2016 at 3:01PM

Hey Everyone,
I hope you are all ok and enjoying the start of the week.

@ScotinLondon – Thank you for lodging a claim and I really do hope we can get you the cashback you were expecting. If you do have any further queries please do let me know.

@Boohoo – So sorry for any confusion. I believe you would be eligible for ‘Superfast, Totally Unlimited Fibre Broadband FREE for 12 months with totally unlimited downloads when you switch to TalkTalk. For new customers existing line installation Fibre Broadband purchases’. This is because you have a phone line.

@Yorkshire Pud – I am glad that you received a polite reply. I do wish it was as simple as ringing them up and getting something moving as it would lead to much happier members. Unfortunately this isn’t possible and for them to progress the cashback the merchant has to also play their part which is why the network need to investigate what exactly has happened and how to move forward.

@B_M – In regards to stats, these are done on an individual case and therefore without me ploughing through every merchant page and taking note of the stats and then comparing them this is not possible for me to do I am afraid.

@Qwerty789 - For your specific transaction that this posts relates to it is highly unlikely we will be able to get a resolution if we haven’t been able to already. We can’t force a resolution to be made and have no power to do this however such occurrences really are incredibly rare. If this went untracked it does mean that we for some reason haven’t been relayed back as the referrer of an eligible purchase. I am sure you are aware about cookies but what I would like to emphasise here is we want you to earn cashback, we will do whatever we can to get you the cashback you were expecting. There are cases where we will really push the merchant for an answer but what isn’t right is to keep you hanging on for years with no outcome. This wouldn’t be fair to you. I will happily take one last look over your claim to see if there is anything further I can do for you and therefore please email me at mse@topcashback.co.uk

@2010 – While people certainly do have their rights when it comes to miss selling, cashback isn’t seen as selling an incentive to purchase a product or service. Without TopCashback search engines and the likes would be earning money from you on a daily basis without you having any knowledge of this. What do we do? We open up that process so you can earn the cashback available. What we can’t do is guarantee the cashback. The rest of the team and I really can understand that when cashback isn’t successful it can be frustrating and annoying however this is why we clearly advertise cashback as a bonus and as something we will pay you as long as we are paid by the merchant and not as a definite amount of money you are entitled to. We wouldn’t be able to offer the 100% and higher rates if we guaranteed cashback as it wouldn’t be viable to cover the costs of transactions deemed as not eligible which are transactions we will never be paid for. What we think is fair is to offer these 100% and higher rates and to pass on the cashback for the transactions we are awarded commission for. The overall success rate for transactions is so high and I can only apologise that you and some of the other people on this forum have encountered issues affecting the minority of members.
I do hope this helps everyone.

Best wishes,
Matt

Yorkshire_Pud · 2 February 2016 at 11:29PM

Thanks for replying Matt.

I will give it another 14 days for TCB to complete their investigation.

At the end of this time I shall, if still no further forward with the cashback becoming Payable, contact Nationwide directly and make a formal complaint leading to investigation by the Ombudsman.

As it's taking months to investigate (WHY!!!:o) I think there is nothing else I can do in this disempowering situation.

Thankyou for your time:)

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