Do you use TopCashback or Quidco? Help our investigation.

bristolleedsfan · 9 November 2018 at 11:26PM

They used to hate each other, now the chiefs at the top of both companies are proposing a luvin. :eek:

Already several key merchants particularly finance will only work/be promoted on these two cashback sites, thus other cashback sites cant get/promote key merchants e.g credit card cashback opening incentives.

At least currently their is competition on cashback rates (how much of each sites profits get offered back to the membership to encourage individual users to use either Quidco or TCB ) between two sites for all merchant/company cashback offers including many merchant cashback offers e.g credit card cashback opening incentives that other cashback sites aren't able to promote if the merger goes ahead then ..............................

star2000 · 10 November 2018 at 11:24AM

I would be very concerned with a merger. The only incentive for either of these companies to improve is the competition with each other - most of the other cashback sites are too small to offer any real competition. With a merger cashback deals will become worse and customer service which is already appalling will be dire. The only way I ahve managed to get my cashback owed on several occasions is to complain straight to the retailer, sometimes following up a complaint direct with them over several weeks when either Topcashback or Quidco have said there is nothing more they can do and told me not to contact the merchant direct.I have got a result every time. There needs to be more incentive for the sites to improve and an investigation into their false advertising (promising cashback with little mention of the fact it might not track or be guaranteed) rather than a merger.

newpuppy · 12 November 2018 at 8:37PM

I use both, no preference and no good/bad experiences either way. It's free money, so why not? If I'm going to buy from a merchant anyway, I may as well get some cash back.

HOWEVER, if there's a big cashback at stake (eg on insurances) then I no longer risk using cashback sites, for fear of not getting the payout. I use comparison sites instead and just go for the cheapest insurance on offer.

I wouldn't bother using an alternative cashback site unless MSE recommended it.

I'm not sure whether a merger would be good or bad for users. I hadn't noticed them competing for custom before now, so they probably wouldn't change much in future (unless the business got more cut-throat and the customer and merchants got worse deals).

ANDYPANDY · 12 November 2018 at 9:06PM

I only use Topcashback. I usually shop on line and then check with Topcashback before I purchase to see if I can get money back on my purchase. It doesn't always track so I don't rely on the discount and it doesn't influence how I spend. I have received a lot of money over the years though.

muhandis · 12 November 2018 at 9:10PM

1. I moved to TCB when Quidco started charging a monthly/annual fee a few years ago. Only use TCB now as they and Quidco are the only two biggies I know of.

2. If they merged, I guess I’d end up using whatever they ended up as. Don’t know of any viable alternative.

3. Firmly against the proposed merger simply because it removes the only real competition that I know of in the online cashback arena. The things I see happening are -
- charging a mandatory periodic fee
- a degraded customer service as customers can’t really take their money elsewhere
- lower cashback rates as TCBQuidco will be the only game in town
- using the newly acquired quasi-monopoly to demanding exclusivity from retailers to avoid other competition entering the market.

Overall, it will inevitably lead to a poorer outcome for the customers who use TCB and/or Quidco at present.

Tigsteroonie · 12 November 2018 at 9:15PM

1. Only ever use TCB as I resent having to pay to join Quidco. I try to remember to go through the site but get annoyed that I have to 'window shop' in incognito mode so that TCB then tracks the purchase correctly.

2. If TCB were not available, I wouldn't use an alternate (I'm not aware of a free alternate).

3. I don't really have any views on the merge. If the resultant company didn't charge a membership fee and still gave around the same amount of cashback, I'd probably use it.

elsien · 12 November 2018 at 9:20PM

I use them both, depending on which is offering the best rate at the time.
I wasn't aware they were proposing to merge but it will certainly reduce competition and lead to lower rates if they do. At the moment each of them has exclusive higher rates at times which would no longer happened if they merge.
I also occasionally use the comparison sites such as compare the market fir cashback for utilities swaps if they offer better cashback at the time, but that's probably only once a year or so.

pmduk · 12 November 2018 at 9:43PM

Voyager2002 wrote: »

I have used both of them, but have only used TopCashBack over the last few years.

I don't think I would have used any other cashback sites had these two not been available: I was aware of others (and even registered for them) but it was common knowledge that claims were rarely honoured on these other sites, and so they failed long ago.

I am concerned about the merger because there will then be no kind of competitive pressure to maintain standards. I was very happy with TopCashBack until about a year ago, but since then have found that promised cash-back fails to appear. The lack of effective competition means that they simply say "tough luck" when this happens. So market forces are not working at present, and the merger will make things even worse.

I think that the merger should only be permitted if the new cash-back site is made legally liable to pay promised benefits so long as the consumer can demonstrate that s/he made the purchase in question and satisfied any conditions -- none of this "sorry, it simply didn't track and we don't know why" nonsense.

I fully concur with the above. Additionally, retailers should be held accountable for their affiliate agencies who make the deals that the retailers then renege upon.

Puncharama · 12 November 2018 at 11:26PM

I don't support a merger, it will reduce competition.

With 2 sites they sometime have different rates and unique deals... a single site will be a monopoly and that is rarely any good for the consumer.

CMA_Communications · 13 November 2018 at 6:39PM

Thanks very much for all of your comments - they're really useful for our investigation.

We'd love to hear as many views on the merger of TopCashback and Quidco as possible, so please keep commenting your thoughts on this thread. We look forward to reading them!

Do you use TopCashback or Quidco? Help our investigation.

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