Is Shopback A Scam?

 

SHOPBACK is it really a smarter way to shop? 

I started using Shopback last October 2020, I was invited by a friend of mine who were using it; as he is a shopaholic and a traveller. I downloaded the app and register. I even verify my mobile including my bank account. (Which by the way, I'm worried since Shopback has access to it now) 

At first I was excited because I saw booking.com, agoda.com, expedia.com and hotels.com even RedDoorz and Oyo Rooms as my company spends Millions every year for Travel Reservations due to the nature of our work that we need to be Out-Of-Town or Out-of-The Country time by time including some field officers we have which evidently i generally booked all of their reservations for me to be able to save some penny for their accommodations and flights.

 I did try to make a reservation from booking.com. I clicked an icon of the Booking.com at Shopback then you will be redirected to its app or website. And i saw 12% cash back notice. I was like, WHAT????? Huge!!! but sometimes it is only 6% or 9% which is not bad at all. 

For a hotel owner myself, i know that we are paying Booking.com 15% of its commission; that means Shopback is getting 12% since sometimes they're only offering 6%. Not bad for marketing strategy of Booking.com. That will still generate revenue for Booking.com as more traffic coming from rewards app like Shopback.com or CashRewards.com. 

Anyway, I successfully booked a hotel from St. Gregory Hotel Dupont Circle Washington DC United States for $2,780.40 so the cash back is like $333.65 or in Philippine Peso its P16,350. Huge Savings Right? 

In the app, it says, AVAILABLE ON May 1st.  It's like 75 days after my stay. Which is not bad. Most Affiliate offered the same anyway as they await for the platform to invoice the property and deposit their commission. Which in fact Booking.com Affiliate deposits commission of affiliate every 30 days once they invoiced the property or hotel. 

Well, The truth is, I tried to sign-up to Booking.com Affiliate after Shopback failed to pay me after 75 days. And it was discussed by Victoria from Booking.com Affiliate. 

While waiting for my travel back to the US. I used shopback.com for my Lazada, Shopee, Foodpanda, Zalora and even answered surveys in exchange for a credit of P0.50 or P14.00. 

So since my Hong Kong office informed me that I need to fly to California after DC, i booked again another accommodation in California with Hilton Hotels and even in Arizona with Motel-6 , Vegas and Colorado also with Motel-6, as part of my travel. I even booked accommodation again for Hong Kong for my staff that needed an accommodation for their quarantine. And yes, including Philippines for our returning OFW's from our recruitment agency,

In just 2 months, i made almost Php195,000 cash back from Shopback. HUGE RIGHT?

I contacted Shopback.com after they failed to make the May 1st cash-back available on the app but seriously it seems that they only have one customer service representative named "Luna" with no last name of course. And she said, and i quote " IF WE DON'T GET PAID, YOU DON'T GET PAID TOO". 

Now the question is..... HOW WOULD WE KNOW IF THEY ALREADY GOT THE PAYMENT FROM THEIR AFFILIATE? 

The Answer is: We can't right?

The answer we got is not acceptable because as far as we know, Platforms like Booking.com, Agoda.com, Hotels.com, Expedia.com etc pay their affiliate in a monthly basis after a confirmed stay. 

Confirmed stay are those reservations being invoiced to the property partner of those platform. Which is being billed every 3rd or 6th of the Month and Due on the 16th of the Month. 

If we rely on trust, Shopback can just say " WE DID NOT GET PAID" even if they were paid right? 

For my own review, it seems that Shopback only credit users account with small amounts and they will just keep the bigger amounts for themselves. 

I contacted Shopback Customer Service with regards to this issue and who to talk to so they can justify their actions but to no avail as of writing.

I am very much open for Shopback to Contact me personally at bbsnewscenter@gmail.com 

This is my own Experience with Shopback. The Views and Opinions stated is my responsibility alone.  

By: STC