So I've been pleasantly happy with Cashbaq.com. Now I have an issue.
A few weeks ago, there was a Huggies/Pampers deal thingy going on. So I go to buy the stuff. I went to Cashbaq.com and clicked Drugstore.com. So I put the items in my cart. There was a coupon to be used but instead of navigating the site, I went to one of my bargain blogs and clicked on the Drugstore.com coupon link she posted in a normal blog post (not a sidebar ad). So I have two Drugstore.com windows open on my computer. I take the coupon link from the new window, copy and paste in my Cashbaq.com window and close the window I opened from the bargain site. So I check out and everything is fine.
So It was 3 weeks and I still didn't have a credit in my account. So I emailed Cashbaq.com. So here was my response:
Karen has responded to your Cashbaq ticket:
Hi Rebecca,
We heard back from Drugstore.com regarding your order. They said credit for your purchase was given to another publisher.
What this means is that at some point while making your purchase, you clicked a link to Drugstore.com that was on another website or in an email. In doing this, the credit for your purchase was awarded to that other website. I am really sorry I wasn\'t able to get you a credit for this order.
In the future, please be extra careful not to click anywhere else while shopping through us, as you risk invalidating your Cashbaq rebate.
Please reopen this ticket if you have further questions.
Karen
So then I got kind of snooty because I was mad and asked her why they have such a long grace period to credit our accounts? Isn't it so they can reverse stuff like this? I told her that she can see in my history log from Cashbaq.com that I did in fact click on drugstore.com to make a purchase. I also asked what site got my credit...But alas, no luck, here was her email:
Karen has responded to your Cashbaq ticket:
Hi Rebecca,
It was a website that lists baby deals. There are many sites that list coupon codes and deals. Most are in the same programs we are, except they don\'t share their commissions with the people placing the order. Check your browser history to see what sites you visited that day. Due to privacy issues, stores won\'t tell us which site specifically got credit.
Karen
So, even though I'm out like $3.50 (7% of $50.17), I'm pretty much over it - it was my own fault for clicking links during my purchase. What does make me mad is that there are people out there making money off my purchases just because I click a link!!!! I honestly didn't know that stuff happens. I mean, I understand blogs that put sidebar links, ads and whatnot like that on their blogs. I didn't know that "normal" posts with links also generate income for people. That's genius! I wish I was smart enough to figure that out! ha ha! That is what "Karen" at Cashbaq.com said - someone else got my credit! So if you're part of a rebate website - just be extra careful to not click any links from any other source until you check out (which I'm pretty darn sure they tell you anyways in the beginning!)!
5 comments:
This explains why I never got a credit for one of my last Banana Republic orders - grr! After I placed things in the cart, I remembered that I had forgotten to snag a coupon code from an email, opened the email link in another window, copied and pasted, etc. - just like you did. Hmph. I guess with "free" money like this, you take what you can get!
I had a similar experience with ebates, sometimes I don't visit a store through them because I save more money by clicking through a coupon link than I would get back in ebates cash.
Wow. Yeah, I think after reading this I would be extra cautious to look at the link I'm using to make sure its not someone else's "referral or affiliate" link. Try to type in the exact www.name.com and navigate from there for your coupon. Coupon codes can be found at www.RetailMeNot.com also.
Becky-
An informed shopper is an empowered shopper. I appreciate your posting your experience so others don't face the same situation.
I want to assure you that Karen really is a person named Karen. She views it as her mission not only to resolve issues quickly but to fight for Cashbaq members to get every penny they should. She takes it personally whenever she hears "No" from one of our 2,700 partner stores.
We wish that we could pay even on the errant click but, as you noted, we can't pay when the stores don't pay us and they don't pay us if you click on another site.
What's worse than when you go to a site and click, some sites have questionable ethics and will send you to the store without your clicking just to steal the sale.
Be safe and make sure that your last click before your order is from Cashbaq. We post whatever coupons the stores allow us to post.
Happy shopping!
-David
CEO & Founder, Cashbaq
P.S. Tracy, RMN links will stop you from getting Cashbaq credit.
David -
Thank you for your comment. As you might have noticed, I promote Cashbaq.com A LOT on my site. I think it's wonderful. I don't know exactly how the whole rebate site system works, but I have already had over $50 dumped into my Paypal account this year. I thank you for that.
Glad to hear Karen actually exists - you never know these days! God bless her - I'm sure she has to deal with crazies like me all the time! Give her my best!
This has been my only issue with your service. I took it more as a lesson learned (and I believe I did read somewhere when I first joined to not do what I did!) I just wanted to reiterate that my anger wasn't really against Cashbaq. It was against the person/company who made money off my purchase. Sure it wasn't a lot, but if you multiply by a bunch of buyers, it becomes a pretty penny.
Thank you again for your service. Best of luck to you and Karen in the future!
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