ShopBack Not Honoring Cashback Blaming Merchant

LUser123321 on 12/04/2021 - 17:22
Last edited 13/04/2021 - 22:31

Hello,

Has anyone had issues with shopback i believe they are misleading consumers or even committing fraud either that or there merchant company is

I purchased PIA Vpn for $98.20 for 2 years 100% cashback i had adblock off i followed all there instructions and ensured the click was registered on there site i waited the 2-3 days for the cashback and it didn't get accepted they then told me to wait 14 days while they investigate.

They now emailed me saying Merchant said my transaction is invalid and won't pay and that they are now appealing it and i need to wait 45 days this seems ridiculous i have contacted shopback and PIA in regards to this matter they both just point fingers at each other

I have the receipt from PIA fully paid and i have the Shopback link registered on my account

When i turned off auto renewal on the PIA website it send me a cancelation email however i did not cancel anything i just turned the auto renewal payment off to ensure i don't get charged a 2nd time as i had already paid the $98.20

Any suggestions on what to do to have this dealt with quickly ? i have requested either PIA honor the cashback or provide a refund otherwise i plan to contact the bank and have them investigate and possibly do a chargeback

Any help would be greatly appreciated

## ** UPDATE ** ##

Ended up telling PIA i want a refund and they've said my accounts terminated and will appear in 5 - 10 days

The shopback guys rejected my claim with the following reasons before i requested a refund via PIA

Private Internet Access VPN (Missing Cashback, 29-03-2021, AUD98.20)
order number
$0.00
Rejected
Rejected: Unsuccessful Cashback/Bonus

Your cashback of $0.00 was rejected and removed from your pending earnings for one of these reasons: 1. Your order was cancelled, returned or exchanged, partially or fully 2. Your order was paid for with a gift voucher 3. Payment or stay was not completed. If this was not the case, email us at [email protected] and we will check in with our merchants. Note: The partner store holds sole discretion in determining the cashback validity.

This is complete fraudulent behaviour either on Shopbacks account or PIA's

1.I never cancelled my order i turned off the auto renewal feature to ensure i wasn't charged a second time after the first payment of $98.20 for 2 years and received a "cancellation email"

2.No order was paid with any gift voucher it was paid in the full amount of $98.20 as advertised with the registered click on shopback for the 100% cashback

3.Payment was completed i have the receipt for my order which was provided to them

I hope these guys get a really bad name for themselves or even worse than what they already have either shopback made a mistake of the 100% cashback offer and then refused to honor there mistake or PIA setup a fraudulent method of knowing people will pay the initial fee obviously turn off the auto renewal and then they would classify that as as a "Cancellation" thus rendering you inelligble for the cashback even though your initial full payment was taken

Absolute scammers

General Discussion

Related Stores

ShopBack AU
ShopBack AU
Third-Party

Comments

  • dust on 12/04/2021 - 17:27
    -2

    Is this Shopback support?

    • dmbminaret on 12/04/2021 - 17:42
      +7

      No it's a forum. What's the problem?

    • SF3 on 12/04/2021 - 22:55

      looks like it is the defacto support (from the quantity of posts here). It may appear by posting here, people responsive? Quality of reply YMMV…

  • Benoffie on 12/04/2021 - 17:30
    +5

    Why would you ask the bank to investigate a chargeback? You ordered and were supplied the product, being the VPN. You cant dispute a transaction because someone wont pay you a rebate.

      • Benoffie on 12/04/2021 - 17:41
        +2

        How do you know that Cashback didnt make a mistake and offer the wrong cashback amount? Hence PIA wont pay.

        Truth is you dont, your beef is with Shopback, not PIA. I don't think any bank will reverse the transaction where PIA didn't mislead you nor should they.

        • User123321 on 12/04/2021 - 17:43
          -1

          Assuming you're right which you could be what would be the best course of action then ? fair trading ombudsman ? i just figured chargeback to PIA would be the route to go to either make PIA pay / refund the cashback or i guess have them pressure shopback to honor it if they had made a mistake

          • Benoffie on 12/04/2021 - 17:47
            +1

            @User123321: A chargeback (if successful) would only give you back what you paid PIA. It wont make them pay anything to Cashback or honor any rebates.

            Might just have to cop it and keep arguing with Cashback.

  • No Username on 12/04/2021 - 17:33

    Was the transaction done in Incognito Mode?
    Are you using a VPN, Proxy or Custom DNS?
    Are you running Pi Hole?
    Is your Internet Security Software Interfering with Shopback's URL Tracking?
    Does you computer have any malware that could be interfering with the URL Tracking?

    • User123321 on 12/04/2021 - 17:38
      +2

      1.Normal browser with adblock off no incognito
      2.No VPN / Proxy or Custom DNS
      3.No don't know what that is
      4.Don't use internet security just the normal windows 10 stuff the cashback is registered / shown on the shopback website no issue there
      5.No the tracking of the clicks on link via shopback to PIA website worked and were registered they simply said merchant won't honor the cashback and they are appealing it

      This is why i said its either fraudulent or completely misleading i followed everything as per there site instructions i have the receipt of payment the ID of shopback click etc

    • Hellfire on 12/04/2021 - 17:55

      Don't forget..

      What browser are you running?
      What extensions do you have installed?

      • User123321 on 12/04/2021 - 18:07

        Google Chrome

        I use Adblock / Magicactions for youtube (Both were disabled checked twice and closed / re opened browser) i made sure i followed everything mentioned because there's no way im losing $100 cause of an extention lol

        This is a 100% a fault of either shopback or pia i ensured i did everything correctly

        • No Username on 12/04/2021 - 18:14

          Next time try it in Incognito mode. As cookies, cache and tokens could interfere with the last click. Shop Back will register that you clicked on the link but it's up to PIA to confirm whether Shop Back was the last tracking link. Having hidden viruses and adware could also ruin the tracking.

          Do a virus scan and remove any cracked or pirated content from your PC.

          • KSMLJ on 12/04/2021 - 18:18
            +2

            @No Username: Should not have to be so convoluted.

            I suspect they made it so difficult on purpose so any wrong step and they have an excuse to deny your cashback.

            Having said that, you can do everything perfectly and they can, and will still deny your cashback.

            • No Username on 12/04/2021 - 18:28
              +1

              @KSMLJ: I've only ever had one issue with Shopback which was successfully resolved. All the other times has resulted in a 100% success rate. Same with Cash Rewards.

          • spackbace on 12/04/2021 - 18:30

            @No Username: That's why I prefer to just use the apps

        • Hellfire on 12/04/2021 - 18:16
          +3

          Only 2 extensions? I have 20…

          Attribution is an unreliable technology and sometimes not the fault of anyone. I don't buy anything that relies on a cashback to be good value.

          • deme on 12/04/2021 - 19:01

            @Hellfire: Is a bloody cookie it's hardly unreliable.

            • Hellfire on 12/04/2021 - 19:08

              @deme: You can't rely on a cookie for anything

              • deme on 12/04/2021 - 19:14

                @Hellfire: When was the last time you logged into OzBargain a cookie is keeping you logged in

                • Hellfire on 12/04/2021 - 19:36

                  @deme: That sentence doesn't make sense but I get your gist.

                  My cookies regularly break but that is a side effect of working in digital marketing/development. It is also trivial to edit my ozbargain login cookie so it doesn't work.

                  Anyway, comparing a login cookie to attribution across multiple services is not apples.

                  • deme on 12/04/2021 - 20:05

                    @Hellfire: Yeah Google would never use cookies to track you for showing ads across websites.

                    • Hellfire on 12/04/2021 - 22:23

                      @deme: Is that why Google is killing cookies?

                      (sorry Spackbace)

                      • deme on 13/04/2021 - 09:59

                        @Hellfire: It's not at all, they are trying to spy on your browsing history using Chrome directly.

              • spackbace on 12/04/2021 - 20:21

                @Hellfire: Dammit now I just want cookies…

  • CyberMurning on 12/04/2021 - 17:35
    +8

    "ShopBack Not Honoring Cashback"
    not new,…
    end of story

    • User123321 on 12/04/2021 - 17:39
      +3

      Is this a common thing with shopback ?

      • veetor on 12/04/2021 - 18:11
        +5

        ShopBack and CashRewards. If the cashback is more than a couple of dollars I don't expect to ever see it.

        • mbck on 12/04/2021 - 19:26
          +2

          More so with shopback. Amazon having multiple categories and merchants putting items in incorrect categories have also caused issues

  • dmbminaret on 12/04/2021 - 17:41
    +5

    Yep. I'm not using them anymore. Cash rewards only now. 25% at first choice not registered.

  • JimmyF on 12/04/2021 - 18:21
    +3

    ShopBack Not Honoring Cashback Blaming Merchant

    Standard 101 reply for any cashback company. They all 'worm' out of paying these days. Cashrewards now it has 'shareholders' even more so!

  • Edeena on 12/04/2021 - 18:33
    +6

    For these VPN cashback, if it doesn't track after a few days (tracked with cashback amount shown and not just click recorded), I wouldn't risk it and will just ask for refund from the VPN as there's usually the 30 days money back guarantee.

  • deme on 12/04/2021 - 19:01
    -1

    i have requested either PIA honor the cashback or provide a refund otherwise i plan to contact the bank and have them investigate and possibly do a chargeback

    Do this OP, I want you to get the $35 fee for an invalid chargeback.

    Nice guy Fawkes mask avatar,

  • cloudy on 12/04/2021 - 19:43
    +2

    Never buy just because of cash back. Sometimes it just fails. My last two CR seems to have not tracked, and this is the first time I’ve ever not had one track from them.

    I’ll go thru the process and see how I go, it’ll be sad but it’ll only be a few dollars for me.

  • quirki on 12/04/2021 - 21:52
    +1

    I've had shopback not registering the transaction when I shopped from the browser within their app, and of course my investigation and appeal failed.

  • edisonAU on 13/04/2021 - 09:12

    Shopback is notorious of not honouring purchases. I have had quite a few claims denied even though I did all the right thing. IMO they should be banned here.

  • smashman42 on 13/04/2021 - 16:16

    I've had both problems and good service from both Shopback and Cashrewards

    The tracking they rely on is inherently dodgy cause that's just how the interwebs is, with shit tracking you left right and centre you can do everything right and still have it screw up, even with a totally secondary browser dedicated just to using them (as in, a browser each) it can and will still screw up sometimes.

    Like others have said, don't rely on it to make something a good deal, take them as gravy on top if they work.

    In the OPs case, if PIA have a 30 day money back guarantee use that rather than any chargeback thing.

    • KSMLJ on 13/04/2021 - 22:37

      Interesting how the low value cashbacks never ever have any issues.

      It's always the high value ones that have dodgy random reasons for not being approved.

      Even though people are doing the exact same thing for both.

      • smashman42 on 14/04/2021 - 14:54

        I don't think I've lost any over $20 cash backs at all on either platform.

        The most reliable failure for me was AliExpress, which was always a pittance anyway

        Maybe I'm just lucky?

  • User123321 on 13/04/2021 - 22:30
    +1

    Ended up telling PIA i want a refund and they've said my accounts terminated and will appear in 5 - 10 days

    The shopback guys rejected my claim with the following reasons before i requested a refund via PIA

    Private Internet Access VPN (Missing Cashback, 29-03-2021, AUD98.20)
    order number
    $0.00
    Rejected
    Rejected: Unsuccessful Cashback/Bonus

    Your cashback of $0.00 was rejected and removed from your pending earnings for one of these reasons: 1. Your order was cancelled, returned or exchanged, partially or fully 2. Your order was paid for with a gift voucher 3. Payment or stay was not completed. If this was not the case, email us at [email protected] and we will check in with our merchants. Note: The partner store holds sole discretion in determining the cashback validity.

    This is complete fraudulent behaviour either on Shopbacks account or PIA's

    1.I never cancelled my order i turned off the auto renewal feature to ensure i wasn't charged a second time after the first payment of $98.20 for 2 years and received a "cancellation email"

    2.No order was paid with any gift voucher it was paid in the full amount of $98.20 as advertised with the registered click on shopback for the 100% cashback

    3.Payment was completed i have the receipt for my order which was provided to them

    I hope these guys get a really bad name for themselves or even worse than what they already have either shopback made a mistake of the 100% cashback offer and then refused to honor there mistake or PIA setup a fraudulent method of knowing people will pay the initial fee obviously turn off the auto renewal and then they would classify that as as a "Cancellation" thus rendering you inelligble for the cashback even though your initial full payment was taken

    Absolute scammers

    • spackbace on 14/04/2021 - 15:58

      Ended up telling PIA i want a refund and they've said my accounts terminated

      Then proceeds to have another go at SB…

      PIA would've contacted SB and told them you were issued a refund, so would've stopped any payment of commission to SB.

      Don't you realise this? You can't ask for a refund of a product, then expect a cashback to go through…

      I never cancelled my order

      Ended up telling PIA i want a refund

      Umm…

      • User123321 on 14/04/2021 - 16:15
        +1

        Think you misunderstood me mate ill try to explain it step by step

        1.Paid for VPN via Shopback Link $98.20
        2.Logged into PIA turned off the Auto Renewal so i don't get charged a 2nd time if i forget it (got sent a cancellation email didn't cancel anything also payment above had gone through)
        3.Waited 2-3 days for it to show on shopback
        4.Get told its being investigated and to wait 14 days (wait the 14 days)
        5.Get told by Shopback Merchant won't pay the cashback but they will appeal for me and to wait 45 days
        6.Contact PIA ask why the cashback isn't paid get told it was paid and to open a ticket with them which i proceed to do never hear back from them
        7.Get told by shopback my appeal was rejected with the above linked reasons
        8.Contact PIA request refund unhappy with service

        Turning off Auto Renewal after you've paid $98.20 for a 2 year + subscription is a no brainer to ensure u don't forget it and get recharged down the track i never click anything along the lines of cancel my subscription was active afterwards and shows 2 years + time etc

        Like i said its either PIA or ShopBack doing dodgies i can't prove who is at fault but 1 of them are and its at no fault on my part due to any errors

  • 42 on 17/04/2021 - 17:25

    I got the cyberghost vpn 100% Cashback fresh from shopback. Was tracked and they paid to my surprise. After I bought it I kinda regretted thinking of all the hoops I had to jump if they didn't pay.

    • User123321 on 17/04/2021 - 18:04

      After i refunded PIA and the actual refund went into account 4-5 days later the same day i received the refund shopback emailed saying good news we've decided to honor your cashback and its now pending while we check with the merchant to ensure the purchase was maid / not canceled etc and that they will confirm by June 15th 2021

      lol….

      These people belong in a circus

      • KSMLJ on 24/04/2021 - 21:49

        Ref: Point 6 in your other comment.

        The conspiracy theorist in me suspects that the cashback was and has always been paid out by the merchant(s), most of the time.

        Their business model might be based on randomly (so there is no fixed pattern) 'rejecting' larger amounts (which they already received), while flopping you off with a generic 'This cashback was rejected by the merchant for these possible reasons, and we do not know why or how, kthxbye.'

        They are probably banking on lazy tax for most people, and the minority that do follow up or make noise, get it paid out after an 'investigation' and a suitable amount of time.

        They are not gonna bother with small amounts, just to keep you hooked on using them for cash backs.

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