Hi all,

Wasn't sure where this should go, so thought I'd put it here. Mods, please move if in the wrong section.

This gets quite long, so I'll opt for the short version:

In March I joined Quidco. In the last week of March and the first week of April I took out car insurance, two cat insurances and a new moile contract through them. None of the above have yet paid out. The idea was that, with the cashback, I could afford these things (total cashback from all four = £205) but without, I couldn't.

Four months on the car insurance has yet to be validated (they reckon it'll be mid August), one cat insurance has been declined (despite paying the premium every month), the other cat insurance is still showing as tracked and the mobile phone contract didn't track at all until I opened a ticket, which I couldn't do until 90 days had passed. It's now validated but I'm told it'll be another 2 months before they either pay or decline it. That's five months! I've opened tickets for all of the above, but the responses are, as expected, generic at best.

I am, frankly, fuming. I can't afford all these things without the cashback. I'm trying to pay for them as, other than the mobile phone, they're all needed. I'm finding it very difficuly, however, to pay all these things (total per month = c. £65) out of my current £51 a week benefit, plus be able to pay for food, bills and the ongoing vet visitis (because the insurance only pays for treatment and not vet visits!) for one of my cats.

So, my question is, can I cancel these items on the grounds that the cashback was an incentive to purchase and, by not honouring the cashback they have failed to uphold their side of the contract?

I'm especially unhappy about the cat insurance that was declined; if they've done this now what's to stop them failing to pay in the event I need to claim from them if my cat gets injured?

I'm also unhappy about the mobile phone contract as it seems any text messages I send are taking upto 48 hours to reach the recipients! For just a smidge under £25 a month I'd expect it to be instant!

If I were in a better financial possition I wouldn't really be that bothered, but I'm just skimming the limit on my overdraft and fear yet more charges, simply because these merchants are draging their feet over paying out!

Any advice is gratefully received!

Fenris.

I'm afraid you won't be able to cancel any of these contracts on the basis that the cashback hasn't been paid.

Quidco isn't party to the contractual process, and the cashback is never guaranteed.

There are, however, a lot of people unhappy at Quidco's failure to pay out large amounts recently, and it's starting to surface on the net. Here, for example:

Quidco Follow up thread 14 - MoneySavingExpert.com Forums

I am a frequent user of Quidco and in the past year I have had nearly £600 back for items such as car insurance, mail order purchases etc.

Yes I admit on occasion I have had to wait a few months to get the cash but hey come on its money I wouldn't have otherwise have.

The way I see it is that Quidco are providing everyone with a service (and a good one at that). For example I legally have to be covered with car insurance and after getting a quote from my provider I went through Quidco and got £50 back - this is £50 I would not have had if I hadn't used Quidco.

So come on give them a break, if you can't afford something then the simple answer is don't buy it and definatly don't buy it in the assumption that you will get a few quid back for it.

I know this might sound harsh but I think they provide a good service and should not be held responsible for retailers etc declining transactions.

I'm not going to argue about this as there are a few threads on MSE where a LOT of people are failing to be paid their money.

And it's not a matter of "if you can't afford it don't buy it". Like you I HAVE to have car insurance, so I HAVE to buy it. And, due to one of my cats being run over last year and the vet bill comming to over £400, pet insurance really isn't something I can afford NOT to have.

Since subscribing to the above mentioned thread on MSE it has become apparent that Quidco not paying out money is a common problem. I, and others, have since moved to TopCashBack and since joining them I haven't had a single payment problem.

If Quidco are working for you then you're a lucky Quidco customer and should be thankful you're not being mucked about. I think you'd see things differently if you were one of the people being owed several hundred pounds, no?

Quidco seem to be getting a reputation for doing this. Here are my recent problems with them.

1: Aviva Car Insurance - Cashback £75 REFUSED

According to Quidco's rules, the claim cannot be tracked for 3 months.

When the 3 months are up, you try to track the claim and Quidco point out that the claim must be tracked within 45 days of purchase ? Quite how you are meant to track something within 45 days but not before 91 days is beyond me.

2: 3 Mobile Broadband - £100 cash back REFUSED

The rules state that you must get a 3 customer reference number, 8 digits in length, beginning with a '3'. According to 3 customer services, there is no such number. Quidco will not even contact 3 to track the claim without this number which doesn't exist. Anyone see the problem.

In fact 3 customer services were extremely interested to hear my problem, as they say they have no agreement with 3 and have passed the matter to their investigations department. A nice gentleman there has promised me to credit the cashback to my account in the event that quidco refude to honour the cashback offer they made without any endorsement from 3.

I googled quidco cashback problems and got 367,000 hits.

So be warned. Quidco don't seem to honour many payments these days and their own internal forum is full of complaints.

Topcashback seem to be the ones with the fewest complaint (substatially so)

Interesting to read (on here) that Quidco are still causing their customers problems. The forums relating to them on MSE were closed down due the amount of complaints being made in, apparently, the wrong section of the forum. There is, however, a Cash Back Good/Bad/Indifferent section where a good many people are still reporting poor customer service from Quidco and lack of explanations for Refused cash back amounts.

I finally got all the cashback I was owed, although it did take 11 months for them to pay me the Sainsbury's cash back I was owed. Needless to say I withdrew my membership that day!

TopCashBack is still my first stop and I've found that their customer service is excellent; no generic responses here!

It's insurance time again for me and I'll still go though TCB. At least they let you know in advance how long it's likely to be before you get the money advertised.

Good luck sorting out your problems bugeyed I hope you manage to get, at least, some of your money back.

Quidco only do this for large payouts

By paying smaller amounts they build up trust then......bam no payout on larger purchases

The bulk of earnings come from taking the cashback and not paying out.....allegedly!

I also have some serious unpaid cashbacks especially if they are over £10 or £20 and it is becoming apparent that they are pocketing the cashback which is deception as far as I am aware.

Also the system they have put in place so that you cannot query after a certain date nor that they display your full activity history is an obvious intent to obscure the whole [problem].

Has anyone taken these crooks to court so far as I am intending to claim back was is due to me.

And, the worse thing is that they do not have a phone support, instead you go through some sophisticated loop ticketing support which will guide back to the front door.

Anyway I have recorded their whole online operation in case they intend to destroy any evidence prior to meeting in court.

I also have some serious unpaid cashbacks especially if they are over £10 or £20 and it is becoming apparent that they are pocketing the cashback which is deception as far as I am aware.

Also the system they have put in place so that you cannot query after a certain date nor that they display your full activity history is an obvious intent to obscure the whole [problem].

Has anyone taken these crooks to court so far as I am intending to claim back was is due to me.

And, the worse thing is that they do not have a phone support, instead you go through some sophisticated loop ticketing support which will guide back to the front door.

Anyway I have recorded their whole online operation in case they intend to destroy any evidence prior to meeting in court.

Hi any luck of bringing these crooks to court? Any advice? Cheers

I too am having trouble with Quidco cashback. I cannot find a customer service number and they won't reply to my email form that I have filled out twice!

Quidco customer service contact number is 0207 033 1000.

Mr Andy Oldham Managing Director

Email [email protected]

Website http://www.quidco.com

Social Media T

Postal Address 76-80 Great Eastern Street, London, EC2A 3JLM

Company Number 05498276C

Company Status Active (Established 04/07/2005)

See also

Companies House data for UK companies from 05498270 to 05498279