Topcashback Questions & Answers

B_M · 19 February 2016 at 6:28PM

I have multiple transactions with financial purchases coming, or should be coming to fruition soon via TCB. I will challenge each and every one slightly after the 'estimate payment date' passes. I believe these 'estimates' are there to mislead and the amount of delays back my beliefs up.
First will be British Gas, they have 3 weeks to pay.
Fully satisfied and paid out.
Aviva will be the first week in February, if not paid - these are usually good though.
Fully satisfied and paid out.
Direct Line will be the middle of February, these won't get a day after the 18 weeks, as 18 weeks is well long enough!
Fully satisfied and paid out.
British Gas again, but I will give them to early April.
(Still at pending, but early still). Moved to confirmed. Moved to payable and cashed out.
Nationwide, again April, probably mid April.
Fully satisfied and paid out.

British Gas has quickly moved to payable and cashed out. Once payment hits my bank, then all fully satisfied. Very much a rarity to be honest, but hassle free.
I've not cashed out the Hotelopia part payment yet, I'm awaiting full resolution.

@Yorkshire Pud, well done and also resolved at long last.
In theory, yes TCB should have done the work and chasing, but as witnessed on these forums, TCB aren't that good at customer care. TCB are the actual payers to you as a member, but in defense of TCB, they can't pay you until they have been paid. If Nationwide had paid their debts in a much reasonable time, then you wouldn't have suffered the hassle. Most of the blame must be placed at Nationwide, simply because they are the ones who use affiliate marketing to sell their products. TCB have nothing to sell, apart from TCB I assume.
That wasn't magic by the way. ;-)
Small Claims is a better route than Trading Standards in my humble opinion.
Enjoy the fruits of your labour.

gingerfox · 20 February 2016 at 7:35PM

It is now almost 14 months since I purchased an insurance policy from Swinton, which has now, of course, expired.

The transaction failed to pay and I lodged it early on. I've had numerous 'be patient' messages from TCB, and I have sent several nudges and a written request.

Just how long does it take and at what point can Swinton declare the claim out of time?

Should I call them direct, and whom do I ask for?

By the way, they are still on your site.

Thanks.

PazMan8472 · 21 February 2016 at 5:59PM

Hello, looking at getting BT Broadband (Can't get Virgin) on the Topcashback BT Page there are many different Cashbacks First Question to get cashback do I have to go thought the link for the stuff I'm going to get e.g. Broadband, Call, TV got though only that link or can I use any of them and the system works out which cashback amount I will get.

Also when I went though the Broadband Call TV, there was no infinity unlimited option with Starter TV is this correct.

Any Help Welcomed
Thank You

thor · 22 February 2016 at 2:19AM

I bought a fridge freezer from Argos via topcashback at around June last year. The cashback rate was 10%. The purchase tracked but was paid out at only 1.5%.
I put in a claim through customer care in August and have since sent posts and nudges to try get topcashback moving on this issue. As it stands they are waiting to hear from the network and merchant.
When it comes to customer care I rate topcashback far below quidco. I use quidco more and on the two occasions where cashbacks with them have failed they have paid out of their own pockets.
I wanted to dip my toes into topcashback's waters but unless they resolve this matter to my satisfaction, Quidco will continue getting all my business.

TopCashBack_Company_Representative · 22 February 2016 at 2:05PM

Hi everyone!

I hope you all had a lovely weekend

@Yorkshire Pud - I am really glad your cashback has now progressed

We have worked really hard to get our members the cashback and I am glad this has now reflected in your cashback.

@B_M - It is fantastic to hear that your British Gas cashback has also progressed

@gingerfox - I will certainly look at your claim for you. If you could drop me an email to mse@topcashback.co.uk I will be happy to help.

@PazMan8472 - We would advise members to use the correct link for the offer but it should track whichever link you use. I can confirm it looks like there is no unlimited infinity option with the starter tv package.

@thor - I really am sorry you feel like that. In order to be fair to all members we have think about whether we would be happy to treat other members in a similar way and sometimes it's not viable to do that so we are unable to offer goodwill. However, if you email mse@topcashback.co.uk I will be happy to look into your claim for you and see if there is anything further we can do.

Best wishes,
Matt

Qwerty789 · 23 February 2016 at 12:15AM

steve1500 wrote: »

I see TCB was mentioned on Radio 5 live yesterday in the Adrian Chiles section with Martin.

There was a caller who asked if they could take a company to MCOL if they did not pay up he was very definite that you couldn't.

The follow up question, what about taking TCB to the small claims, he thought the chances of victory would be very slim, but he would speak to TCB.

I "think" the caller has already raised their claim on this board?

Well spotted - this was a fortnight ago but was indeed my call that made it through. If you had the radio on today you may have heard the follow up - they invited me back to close it out.

B_M wrote: »

@steve1500 - I would love to hear Martins views on the financial issues via cashback sites.

Now's probably the best chance for that - I think both the show two weeks ago and the one today are on the iPlayer service. I think searching "Consumer Team" brings it up. To paraphrase, he's not that exercised by the issue as cash back sites are upfront about the amount of wiggle room they offer making it (at best) nice and transparent when things don't work out.

I normally agree with Martin but not on this issue - however it's covered by the small print it's still an inducement to use a service in exchange for something. I don't really care that TCB or others have their difficulties, to the average man/woman on the street they are saying "purchase via this link and you'll get something in exchange", and has been discussed before - fair's fair.

Anyway, long story short TCB covered the missing cashback as a goodwill gesture, but it really shouldn't have taken a national media platform to resolve it. The underlying reason for this was explained as:

"We have spoken with the agency and unfortunately, because more than six months has elapsed between us informing you the challenge had been rejected, the claim and your further response to this has been rejected, the agency aren’t able to access the file to confirm the reason."

No....I have no idea what that means either! Thanks to all those who commented a few pages back, nice to have it resolved but shame it took what it did.

B_M · 23 February 2016 at 9:10AM

Qwerty789 wrote: »

Anyway, long story short TCB covered the missing cashback as a goodwill gesture, but it really shouldn't have taken a national media platform to resolve it. The underlying reason for this was explained as:

No....I have no idea what that means either! Thanks to all those who commented a few pages back, nice to have it resolved but shame it took what it did.

Well done with your fight, but sadly that's the way now with TCB.
Customer service and care is totally abysmal and has dropped to shocking levels.
What's happened over the last 3+ years? That's when it all started to go wrong! Are they too big now and think they don't need to care about it's members?
5 or 6 years ago and longer, TCB were truly the best around. Will they ever get back to those levels?

Cashback can never be guaranteed, I agree.
It can't be guaranteed for returns, cancellations, the use of a discount code (not allowed) etc.
But for genuine purchases, it must be guaranteed. You may have to fight (like many do now) to guarantee it, you may have to involve a regulatory body or even take a legal route, but you can achieve it, no matter what TCB say.
At the moment though, complain, complain and complain.
Until TCB improve, see if there's a better option and most importantly, see if your cashback transaction can be covered by a guarantee. Many times it can, don't be a fool by taking a chance.

Qwerty789 :T

TopCashBack_Company_Representative · 23 February 2016 at 3:25PM

Hi everyone,

@Qwerty789, it is great to hear that you were able to discuss with Martin Lewis and I hope the call was of some help. I understand what you are saying here -

"purchase via this link and you'll get something in exchange"

However as I am sure has been mentioned previously, we do rely on any cashback amounts coming from the merchant via an affiliate network and until these are received, we simply cannot pass the cashback forward. This is the same for claims also and the resolution that we receive comes from the merchant themselves, I am happy though that we were able to provide you a goodwill gesture on this occasion.

@B_M, I am sorry to hear that is how you feel regarding the service that our Customer Care Team provide, I will be sure to pass this feedback on as we are always looking for ways to better ourselves, I can assure you though that we do truly care about our members and will always provide honest and helpful responses.

I am afraid that cashback can not be guaranteed in any circumstance as there can be many factors that could affect things such as tracking, or another referrer such as Google could be seen as the referrer to your transaction for example if cookies have not been cleared regularly, but this is why we have our claims system in place so that we can aim to get any expected cashback to our members. No this may not always be successful and I do understand that it can be frustrating for members when not, we want our members to receive the cashback which is why we are here and will always act behind the scenes to make sure this happens where we can.

Best wishes,
Samantha

Guyionic · 24 February 2016 at 2:44AM

Hello. I recently purchased a Vodafone sim only contract via Topcashback. I made sure it said the "your visit has been recorded" and I was expecting to see the retailer in my cashback merchants but it was not there... I have never had this problem before? Any reason why? I am panicking because it was £84 and I really want it! Thanks

TopCashBack_Company_Representative · 24 February 2016 at 1:21PM

Good morning @Guyionic,

Normally with larger contracts people tend to search around more and therefore the chance of a transaction being accredited elsewhere can be increased, as can the chance of the cashback system not being able to directly link us to a transaction. However, don't worry as if it hasn't tracked you can lodge a Missing Cashback Claim. You can locate this via 'Customer Care, and then 'Lodge a Missing Cashback Claim'. We will use the information you provide to query the transaction and try and get you the cashback, sometimes cashback doesn't track for a valid reason and sometimes claims are not successful for this reason but we will try our very best if you have to go down this route.

If you are not already doing this, clearing cookies and cache before you log in to click through to a merchant, as well as disabling ad blockers really can improve your tracking rate.

I do hope this helps.

Best wishes,
Matt

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