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I ordered stuff from M&S through the Avios link just before 11am yesterday and had an email at few minutes past midnight confirming ‘x Avios are on the way’.
Never seen this type of email confirmation before. Avios show as pending in the app.
Nearly every transaction I put through thr eStore I recieve that email, usually early the following morning.
Purchased something on Monday, email confirmation on the Tuesday morning, delivered yesterday & points posted this morning.
Thats the way they dodge the accusations. Send an email crediting avios right after a transaction so that the gullible think its all done and celebrate.
Later when they dont notice, the avios are reversed, sometimes even after a year.How many actually review their account periodically? Most just look at the balance to check if they have enough for the next flights.
I once contacted a retailer about avios being clawed back and they said they had no idea that BA was doing this and managed to get them reinstated. It’s too time-consuming to do this every time, but for a large number it might be worth it.
Thats what they are counting on. How many would chase the merchant after a year? 99% wont.
I keep track of mine and so far not had unexplained deductions, and I go through phases of using it and ignoring it. It’s an irritating process.
I’m not sure that giving them my data is worth the avios of the somewhat grubby feeling it leaves me with.
Or not of..
@BBbetter I’ve not had any issues with the eStore, nor am I gullible.
You’ve clearly been bitten and have a negative view point of the store, but not everyone has had negative experiences, and many in this thread have recieved Avios without issue.
Looks like hilton is no longer on ba shopping?
Looks like hilton is no longer on ba shopping?
I’ve noticed that also, gone from TCB too.
I see the term “scam” used too liberally these days. The BA eStore is not going out of it’s way to defraud you of your money.
I went through a phase of many transactions not working. I then worked out what I was doing wrong and how to mitigate it in future.
Halfords used to be a problem, because they would “upsell” in store, which then led to the original transaction being voided and a new invoice generated. However, this I’m sure is shop staff being incentivised to upsell, rather than Halfords trying to “scam” people of points.
Halfords are no longer on the store.
Personally, the eStore bags me a very large haul of Avios annually booking all of our business accommodation through the hotel sites, IHG, Marriott, Hilton, and until the change to OneKey, Hotels.com. I do use it for other bits like Deliveroo and some shopping sites and have no issues. I have had the odd claw back after lengthy time periods but following the claim process has them re-awarded 90% of the time.
The only issues I have had this year have been Hilton although I did manage to get 6 months worth of un-awarded transaction awarded manually by the eStore team to the tune of 15k Avios a few months back. For the last year, all of my Hilton transactions have been awarded fine but then remain pending past the 120 days and now many are being incorrectly cancelled so I have initiated another mass claim of 44 transactions which have been acknowledged and are ‘being investigated’. Hopefully I will get the same result.
Often the reason given is ‘eStore was not the last click through’ insinuating I have gone via another affiliate which I know is not the case. On the many times I’ve asked for details of the final click, the response is an apology and the Avios awarded so there is a certain element of them just chancing their arm. Whether this is the eStore or the affiliate I don’t know.
Use a separate browser for all eStore transactions that you use for nothing else is my advice, this solved most of my problems with tracking and successful awarding.
Only ever had one transaction which didn’t pay out and that was after the company I purchased from went into administration.
I always open a new guest window in chrome and sign in to the shopping portal. As long as you follow the terms it will track just as well as top cashback or quidco in my experience.
As long as you follow the terms it will track just as well as top cashback or quidco in my experience.
Right, and how does this help with the issue of Avios being clawed back months (or even more than a year) later?
As long as you follow the terms it will track just as well as top cashback or quidco in my experience.
Right, and how does this help with the issue of Avios being clawed back months (or even more than a year) later?
And how does it help when you’re declined because ther say you didn’t stay at the hotel despite submitting the folio and screenshot of the stay on hilton.com
I’m bored of all these comments saying we’re doing it wrong. I’ve been at this game since the month Quidco started and worked in IT for decades. I feel like punching anyone telling me how to do it when the affiliates are clearly at fault.
The claiming back issue is unique to estore as far as I’m aware. I’ve not seen any reports of this from the cashback sites or the other points earning sites.
Comments about Hilton being removed again from estore proves there is a serious issue, (and it was only back on TCB for a couple of months before it was removed again).
In fact this whole recent saga with mass Hilton cancellations has annoyed me so much I’ll be writing to the guy I named in my previous post as being in charge of ethics compliance and we’ll see where it gets me.
Hilton cashback is still available on the US topcashback site.
It used to say that diamonds would only get 1%, but its now showing as 4% for completed stays with no mention of diamonds getting less. That one has always been fairly reliable for me, I was using it for a couple of years before Hilton re-appeared on the BA portal (when it was only giving 1% for diamonds)
The thing with all cashback sites is never use your regular browser as the one youre booking with. Things like ublock, tampermonkey etc or even some privacy settings within the browser (possibly even old cookies) can all impact the tracking. I always use an incognito chrome that is then closed after booking and generally its fine, tho it obviously wont help if the merchant is just nope’ing all cashback transactions.
And if we’re throwing out referrals, here’s mine for the US site https://www.topcashback.com/ref/member22955818117 😀
I’m bored of all these comments saying we’re doing it wrong. I’ve been at this game since the month Quidco started and worked in IT for decades. I feel like punching anyone telling me how to do it when the affiliates are clearly at fault.
I think people aren’t reading the thread thoroughly, and because they’ve never had an issue with the one or two transactions they’ve ever made they are just assuming the rest of us are doing it wrong.
Annoying.For balance, let me say that on one notable occasion it took me about two years to get cashback from TCB.
Had to send them a letter before action and threaten with legal shenanigans.
I was due over £300 cashback for a £3k+ purchase that carried about 10% cashback.
After an initial decline, they paid me about £120 after the first appeal (with no explanation of how they came to that amount, or why they’d initially declined any payment) and then went silent for the following 18 months, ignoring all contact attempts.
They eventually paid the balance as a ‘goodwill gesture’ after the legal threats.Otherwise, on the whole TCB are fine though.
The thing with all cashback sites is never use your regular browser as the one youre booking with. Things like ublock, tampermonkey etc or even some privacy settings within the browser (possibly even old cookies) can all impact the tracking. I always use an incognito chrome that is then closed after booking and generally its fine, tho it obviously wont help if the merchant is just nope’ing all cashback transactions.
😀Yes we know and we do. I even go to the extent of manually deleting all cookes one by one on my copy of Chrome that I use for home network and cashback sites !only! so I don’t lose my personal cookies for internal devices.
That didn’t stop Marriot’s affiliate rejecting 3 perfectly valid transactions in May on TCB US. On appeal 2 were finally paid and the 3rd was rejected as they said that one wasn’t the last referral – was was clearly bullshit as they were booked on 3 succesive days all done in exactly the same way.
Any merchant/affiliate that gives the “it wasn’t the last click” excuse for one of my transactions is committing fraud or has broken systems leading to them comitting fraud. However unlike a certain person on here I really don’t have the heart to video myself performing the transaction 😉
For balance, let me say that on one notable occasion it took me about two years to get cashback from TCB.
Had to send them a letter before action and threaten with legal shenanigans.
I was due over £300 cashback for a £3k+ purchase that carried about 10% cashback.
After an initial decline, they paid me about £120 after the first appeal (with no explanation of how they came to that amount, or why they’d initially declined any payment) and then went silent for the following 18 months, ignoring all contact attempts.
They eventually paid the balance as a ‘goodwill gesture’ after the legal threats.Otherwise, on the whole TCB are fine though.
Out of interest, what was the basis of your proposed ‘Action’ / legal basis given that “for the avoidance of doubt and notwithstanding any other provision contained in their terms and conditions, you agreed and acknowledged that in all circumstances the payment of Cashback to you is at their discretion and they may refuse to pay Cashback to you for any reason” prior to using their service?
I send them LBA once and never had to do it again. I took the misrepresentation approach, but I also had a written proof that the provider paid them (booking.com) and they didn’t pass on. After back and forth they blamed IT issues their end.
They really don’t want to test those terms in court.
Looked this morning for on board delivery of Gin. All the popular ones, sold out. Amazing.
To update on eStore / Hilton which may be of use to @davefl. I’ve now had a completed stay awarded within 48 hours of putting in my claim to the eStore – I waited more than 120 days after the stay before making the claim.
Also, I reported earlier that I’d had 3 upcoming stay awards cancelled by the eStore whilst still pending, they claimed Hilton say my last click wasn’t from the eStore so I asked the eStore to ask Hilton to provide evidence of the site the last click was from and as if by magic within 24 hours all the Avios were awarded and this is before the stays have even been completed.
The Avios could, of course all be clawed back but I’m happy for now. Given that Hilton don’t seem to be on the eStore anymore it might be worth submitting any outstanding claims as they might just be keen to close any off.
To update on eStore / Hilton which may be of use to @davefl. I’ve now had a completed stay awarded within 48 hours of putting in my claim to the eStore – I waited more than 120 days after the stay before making the claim.
Thanks I’ll try but after being told previously I didnt stay at the property and providing irrefutable proof that I did, I don’t hold much hope.
@davefl if you have some kind of US address the Better Business Bureau in the relevant State could be worth approaching ref Hilton. On consumer disputes they were recommended to me as having teeth.
When I approached them on a consumer issue with a vendor in Michigan, even though it was pretty much a slam dunk the local BBB to the vendor declined to handle my claim saying I was not a US resident so they wouldn’t pick it up. So I suspect alongside your US address and ideally a US hotel folio as proof alongside Hilton’s fraudulent refusal (see if the cashback co can confirm it was Hilton’s refusal maybe on a live cgat you can screenshot a copy of to include), ideally you’d pick a claim you made via a US cashback / rebate site.
As the BBB seems to be organised on a local basis I’d first just submit 1 very good well evidenced claim standalone and get the result, before mentioning or following up with any further claims or comment about it being a class or policy or systematic practice issue with the vendor. BBB seems pretty independent in theory but I woukd never underestimate local influence of a big vendor or a prestigious company.
Thanks @Lady London but I don’t have a US address and the issue I’m whining about was some years ago. I’m convinced as I’ve said before that it’s nothing to do with Hilton, it’s the affiliate marketing companies that are at fault. Hilton would never have rejected a transaction as “didn’t stay at the property” when it clearly shows that I did in my Hilton account.
I do have one stay from this year that was cancelled by estore in the mass ejection that hit lots of people in August but it’s only a few hundred Avios, not several thousand like the one above. I’ll never use estore again after this and the multiple chargebacks that occurred a year or more after transactions.
Appreciate your comments on the BBB, it’s a route that many in the US take and they do seem to have teeth.
To stray away from the estore bashing, I’m seeing the usual “we couldn’t see the last click/referral” from TCB US. I had 2 Marriot rejections out of 4 transactions, the other 2 paid, 1 IHG track at zero and then rejected. All transactions were performed from my laptop in exactly the same way over a period of a few weeks, so this tracking is either flawed or fradulent as I’ve said before.
The fact that Hilton are no longer on estore (or any other sites) pretty much confirms my point about affiliates. Either Hilton pulled their contract, or estore have got sick of the claims and removed them from the platform. Neither company would admit which it was for commercial reasons obviously.
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