The Cashback Scam

How many people are opting for deals which offer cashback, or who just accept it from regular shops they regularly visit such as supermarkets; only to find that when they try to claim their cashback its nigh on impossible without more paperwork than a murder trial, and almost as much time and effort which probably amounts to the value of the cashback.

How does it work?

Go to a retailer, particularly in the consumer electronics market and you see an item with cashback and you view every other offer and decide the item with cashback is the lowest price for that particular item you're looking to buy, you accept the offer and pay the asking price and happily take away the item safe in the knowledge you've got the best deal, you set it up and check its working and after about a week you throw away the copious amounts of packaging as all is well.

You look at your paperwork and immediately see your first restriction, you cannot apply for your cashback for 30 days for example, after the 30 days you only have as little as 14 days to apply for your cashback, so straight away you have a small window to claim your cashback, and many people miss this narrow window and can't claim their cashback.

Youir next hurdle is you assume your receipt is sufficient proof of purchase as it has all the relevant details such as the retailers details, item, model, date of purchase, store location, the sellers name or company I.D. and of course the date and time of purchase. But often this is not enough, you're sent a form from the retailer and the manufacturer of the item and they ask for a considerable amount of information. They want the above information from the receipt, but this is not enough, they often want the serial number of the item and a host of information contained on the original box or packaging the item came in, but you've thrown this away so you cannot provide it. No cashback for you.
If a receipt is a legal document or contract as it is defined in law, then why isn't it acceptable by a retailer or manufacturer when it is accepted by a UK court?

Next they begin to blur the issue as you have filled in two claims forms which are extremely complex, you send one off to the retailer and the other to the manufacturer, often one will claim they haven't received it so you have possibly lost your original receipt as well, so have no lawful proof of Deed of Title, or in simple terms, legal ownership.

Next they claim they have to work together and on one of your complex forms you have made a mistake so your claim is null and void, and a host of other issues arise between the two organisations, so once again no cashback.

So why are retailers and manufacturers making it so difficult? a fair question but one which most people won't like the answer to. Basically they're using your money, but how? by paying the full price and claiming your cashback the retailer or manufacturer, or both are effectively lending your money interest free and they use this money to invest in their business and You're silly enough to let them do it. Imagine them going to a bank and asking for a loan, the bank would want surety, interest payable on the loan, and a number of other guarantees or indemnities, so they avoid this as well. Then they have the audacity to borrow your money and invest it in their business to make more profits to pay their shareholders, then make it as difficult as possible for you to claim it back; to the point where most people either try and give up due to the complexity of their systems, or are simply penalised by being outside the claim window or simply don't have the information because they have thrown away the packaging which contains that information.

What do I do, recently (about 4 months ago) I went to large electronics retailers for an item costing £500 for a present, one offered it at £500 with a £100 cashback, the second offered it at £450 outright, and the third offered it at £440 outright; I went into the store and said I'll buy that item at the cashback price of £400, they refused, I went into the next store as it had a price promise and told them the price the first retailer was offering with the cashback, they matched it at £400. I really tried it on and went to the third store and told then the first store had my item at £400 with cashback, the second store matched the price of £400, and they had a price promise to beat any price, they checked the item and model and beat the first two prices by offering me the item at £375; result.

It is a subtle scam, but nevertheless a scam, to borrow money from you to invest in their company, so don't fall for these scams.

A scam, surely not? You know what they say, "there's no such thing as a free lunch". Obviously ANY offers or promotions will always be weighed heavily in favour of the retailer, so consumer beware.

Supermarkets are a prime example. Yes the price of one particular item (or a dozen) may have been slashed, but look around and you'll soon see other items creeping up. At times the difference in cost is amazing.

A quick example - 'er indoors always buys our milk at Aldi along with a few other bits 'n' bobs, but yesterday it got forgotten. Back at the car she suddenly remembered so said she'd shoot back in. I said not to bother, we were about to go to Tescos so we'd get it there.

Aldi price for a 4pint (or litre equivilent) bottle? £1.00

Same size in Tesco? £1.29 - that's one third more! No wonder she buys it quite literally 'over the road' as both shops face each other.

It wasn't that long ago when Tesco would also charge £1.00, but of course that's their stealth policy of price increasing - you just don't notice!

Okay, you may say that 29p extra is not much in the great scheme of things, and it isn't every now and again, but take that over the course a year, it sure adds up. The difference for us would be £30.00 - an amount not to be sneezed at. How many other £30.00 differences are there to be gained or lost?

More to the point, whether it's cashback schemes or something as simple and straightforward as purchasining milk, like Assassin I hate being scammed/fleeced/taken for a ride/call it what you will.

Personally I don't fall for these cashback schemes and have never done, but good on yer for bringing them to our attention.

BTW, as a footnote to my 'milk saga' - as we didn't need milk immediately (it was only as reserve) I refused to buy any in Tesco when I saw the price ... cheeky buggers!!! Doh! We'll probably run out now, but it's the principle.

An interesting observation Tom, but with supermarkets its slightly different as they operate whats called "front loading" where they put the prices up on most items to cover the cost of cashback, if a supermarket abolished cashback they could cut prices instantly, then they remove a number of items from the cashback scheme, but leave the prices of removed items at the higher price.

Very interesting subject.

I however, have had some good deals. I travel the country with my work and have occasion to use a lot of Hotels. I book these through Top Cashback and get from 5% to 10% savings which goes into a Top Cashback account. This added up to over £500 last year so I used it to pusrchase the kids Christmas presents off Amazon (yes I swallowed my pride and used the tax dodger) By using Amazon to spend the Top Cashback money they give you a further 15% off all items so a win-win.

Totally agree with you on your experiences.

All this talk of saving got me thinking, so just for the hell of it I got out the calculator. As we also buy our bread in Aldi, it turns out the cost saving of just milk and bread between Aldi and Tesco covers all the calls that myself and SWMBO make on our Pay As You Go mobiles throughout the entire year.

Okay, can't compete with the £500 you gained twende (nice one), but nevertheless, definitely not to be sniffed at!

Tom why not make your own bread, and you will then have some saving's as well.

Dilys makes rolls for us, our son charlie is at home with us, and can not eat processed bread, she uses white bread mix and wholemeal bread mix 50/50 and no yeast, water some salt and sugar which she manages, so not too much.

Doh!!!!!!!

Making it costs more then it does to buy it, thats mass production for you.

[quote="Assassin"]Making it costs more then it does to buy it, that's mass production for you.[/quote

Sorry have to disagree, to buy processed bread cost us more, we have to buy a whole wholemeal loaf and we buy a white one not processed, and they go stale before we finish them, so waste money.

We do make bread crums for the birds. so they get fed as well.

We have a similar problem so she splits the loaf and freezes half of it so we don't waste it; she also makes bread when she has time and the inclination.

What happened there? it posted all by itself.

What I was going to say was that its a subjective or individual issue where people have individual requirements such as consumption levels or dietry needs to consider.

Assassin wrote:

What happened there? it posted all by itself.

What I was going to say was that its a subjective or individual issue where people have individual requirements such as consumption levels or dietry needs to consider.

I agree and concur.

The thread's been highjacked! Not surprising, mention bread and everyone has an opinion. Oh, I agree by the way, I too think you can't match the supermarkets for price - you can buy a wholemeal loaf (albeit mass-produced) in Aldi for only 47p, now that's cheap!

Best bread I ever tasted was 30+ years ago, a bloomer from local baker. It would still be warm and in those days we still bought REAL salty butter. We'd have to buy two bloomers, because after visiting Safeways, then the baker, myself and the other arf would get back to the Rangie and devour half the bloomer with lashings of butter melting all down yer chin. Mmmmmmmm ... luverley!!!!!!

Grandma had a range and made all her own bread and cakes in quantity, couldn't beat fresh bread straight out of the oven with home made butter melting into the piping hot bread.

What have we got now, experts (allegedly) telling us not to eat hot bread straight from the oven as its bad for us, not to eat butter with salt in it, and not to eat butter at all. Surprising so many of us are still here then, so f*ck the so called experts and give me a piece of my grandma's homemade bread and butter straight from the oven any day.