The model works okay with credit cards. Afterall, the reward is being paid by the credit card company who pay based on your spend. Pretty straight-forward. And you could see what is in it for them. They charge companies to use their services and of course they can charge interest to card holders too if they don't pay the full amount off monthly.
But the likes of Quidco, Top Cash Back, etc, well, they just come across as a bit shifty. I can't really see how they make their money, but obviously they do. So, they have a vested interest in roping people in to using their service. The more you use them the more they make. And, one suspects, even if your cashback claim is apparently unsuccessful, they still get paid.
I signed up for Quidco a few years ago. To be honest, I haven't used it much over the years, but have had a couple of not bad cashbacks here and there. However, customer service is pretty poor. Now, I don't know what it's like if you pay for Premium, but I don't think you should have to pay to get better service; They are already making money out of you using their website, so paying for them to any good at their job is a con.
Having tried to use the customer service at Quidco a few times I gave up trying. The responses were so vague and generic and it seems they don't really care about the customer. I bet they don't even attempt to contact the company that was supposed to pay cashback.
One of the biggest gripes I've have with Quidco is the inability to be able to rate the companies on their cashback fulfilment (or lack of) or to feedback directly to the company. Some are slow at paying, and some don't pay. And the declining email is so poorly worded it makes it out like it is all your fault.
I'm a pretty honest user of these services and quite a meticulous person too. So, whenever I remembered to use Quidco (and there have been many an occasion when I forget they exist) I use it in the belief that I should be paid cashback for my purchase.
For the first few years it had been okay, with only two companies (Dominoes Pizza and Interflora) refusing to pay the few pence cashback I was entitled to. Now, I know companies make mistakes and for a few pennies I'm not going to quibble. But over the past 12-18 months, the number of cashback declined has increased. And it seems to be the same companies over and over.
Argos, Travelodge, Pizza Hut (and Dominoes) are all repeat offenders. And the worst? Halfords. Halfords have a 100% rate of declining cashback for me (several purchases via Quidco, and I've bought at least 10 bikes in the past decade from them - not any more.) Every time I have met the conditions. Seems iffy to me and I don't know whether it's Halfords (substitute Argos and any of the other rogue companies here) or whether its Quidco, though I suspect its both. It would certainly be good to have the opportunity to feedback to the companies and to rate them so other users can be warned.
And the length of time for estimated payment has increased from a couple of months in most instances to nearly a year now for many companies. One could be suspicious and suggest Quidco are hoping that if they tell you it is declined after so long you won't have kept the receipts (and even then, on my experience, they've never overturned a claim anyway!)
Just Eat is a good example. At the start of the year they would pay in a week. Now it is over 6 months. That's poor. On the plus side, so far Just Eat has always paid.
But going forward Quidco is a no-go for me. I'm not sure I want to even bother with any of the other cashback companies as I suspect they'll be just as bad.
