Southern cash back

[trevmonk]

I notice Southern's generous 6% cashback offer has disappeared from Quidco since yesterday. A pity. I used it most days for travel to work for more than a year. The other companies pay much less and often have a minimum fare.

 

[Be3G]

Bah, I only just registered with Southern's site a couple of days ago in order to take advantage of that.

Similarly, I remember a few years back when Virgin were offering a flat £5 cashback for online ticket purchases – unsurprisingly, that didn't last long.

 

[radamfi]

Looks like SWT now gives the highest cashback for most trips at 2.62%.

 

[Lrd]

TPE do 4.54% on Advance tickets and 1.01% for others.

http://www.topcashback.co.uk/first-transpennine-express/

 

[radamfi]

TPE do 4.54% on Advance tickets and 1.01% for others.

http://www.topcashback.co.uk/first-transpennine-express/

You only get 4.54% if the trip involves fTPE. Presumably that only applies if the fare is set by fTPE.

 

[tannedfrog]

Hopefully johnnycache will bring it back for us

 

[daniel78]

The Southern cashback has disappeared from Topcashback since yesterday too (I bought tickets at 2.30 yesterday afternoon and the cashback has already tracked).

On Topcashback, the SWT 2.62% is dependent on the journey beginning or ending within SWT's region, so beware that one. The best I can find that is available on any journey is Virgin's 2.02%

 

[Goatboy]

Last ticket I buy from Southern then - moving to Virgin Trains now.

 

[island]

I suppose it was hard to keep it up with the commission on online sales dropping to 5%.

 

[maniacmartin]

I suppose it was hard to keep it up with the commission on online sales dropping to 5%.

You mean dropping to be negative? The TSA was amended recently so that online sales get less commission than those done face to face.

 

[island]

My understanding is that the commission was formerly 9% throughout and is now 5% online. Not negative. Negative commission would mean the retailer pays more than the price of the ticket into ORCATS.

You might have been thinking of the claim that the commission no longer covers operating costs according to some online retailers, who may or may not charge booking fees.

 

[maniacmartin]

Ah, sorry. I misread your post. I thought you meant that after the 6% cashback, the commission was 5%.

 

[island]

I get you now.

 

[Goatboy]

I suppose it was hard to keep it up with the commission on online sales dropping to 5%.

Another stealth fare rise for those who had found a way to try and mitigate the increases then, effectively

 

[tannedfrog]

Johnnycache, how about 3.5%?!

 

[dvboy]

The highest on Quidco for all tickets is currently Virgin at 3%

 

[bb21]

Seriously am I the only one to have thought that this wouldn't last forever?

 

[All Line Rover]

Seriously am I the only one to have thought that this wouldn't last forever?

No, I agree with you. Cashback is an enticement, not an entitlement, and retailers will always withdraw cashback as soon as they feel able to, such as once they've made a certain amount of sales or added a certain amount of customers to their database. I never expected Southern's 6% rate to last long. In fact I'm surprised at how long is lasted!

 

[Starmill]

Seriously am I the only one to have thought that this wouldn't last forever?

It's merely the magnitude of the difference between this and the next-best offer... plus it was up for quite some time. I wanted it to last forever, but I'm not surprised it hasn't!

 

[Be3G]

Indeed, I don't think anyone expected it to last forever, but that doesn't mean its disappearance isn't notable.

 

[northwichcat]

No, I agree with you. Cashback is an enticement, not an entitlement, and retailers will always withdraw cashback as soon as they feel able to, such as once they've made a certain amount of sales or added a certain amount of customers to their database. I never expected Southern's 6% rate to last long. In fact I'm surprised at how long is lasted!

The 6% rate actually replaced a short term cashback rate of £2.52 per transaction. The £2.52 rate coincided with a Southern promotion for 50% off Advances and Off-Peak Returns which effectively meant you could do Brighton-London on an Advance single for free!

Expedia have been on cashback sites for donkeys, although the cashback rates have gone up and down numerous times plus you can get Nectar points on Expedia bookings on top of the cashback. Although, Expedia don't sell something that most people will buy on a regular basis.

I think stopping the cashback all together will mean the extra customers Southern acquired will all go somewhere else that offers a lower rate of cashback, so I think it is surprising it has disappeared opposed to dropping to similar levels to the TPE and EMT rates for cashback.

 

[Goatboy]

I think stopping the cashback all together will mean the extra customers Southern acquired will all go somewhere else that offers a lower rate of cashback, so I think it is surprising it has disappeared opposed to dropping to similar levels to the TPE and EMT rates for cashback.

Absolutely this - I bought all my tickets from Southern, now I will buy none of them from Southern as I've absolutely no reason to. Will just use VT now.

 

[maniacmartin]

Some customers might have stay though, if it was they have learnt of and like the WebTIS interface.

 

[Goatboy]

Some customers might have stay though, if it was they have learnt of and like the WebTIS interface.

There are other TOC's using the WebTIS interface. I doubt many, if any, of the cashback chasers will stay now the cashback is gone. They'll move onto the next cashback offering TOC because there are about 20 different places to buy the same tickets delivered in the same way (TVM) for the same price, so why not?

 

[MKD]

Long, long time user of Southern Railways for their £back, but also for their moneyback guarantee (was 'rainyday') which had needed to rely upon a few times and which continues...
http://www.southernrailway.com/offers/money-back-guarantee

Just gotta hope the withdrawal of (any) £back is a short-term response to their commission changes.

OOOPS: Just looked on Quidco and it's back as at 6:45pm Sat 19th:
"6% for Anytime, Off Peak and Advance ticket sales" with payment guaranteed by 30/5 today!
http://www.quidco.com/southern-railway/?ac

TopCashBack is back online now, but still showing zilch on Southern, so maybe in next few days...
http://www.topcashback.co.uk/southern-railway/

MKD

 

[bb21]

Southern have a unique edge in that they offer the Rainy Day Guarantee, which can be very handy.

 

[Goatboy]

Ah its back, jolly good show!

 

[northwichcat]

Southern have a unique edge in that they offer the Rainy Day Guarantee, which can be very handy.

It's now known as the Money Back Guarantee and Southern have made it clear now that there doesn't need to be any rain to apply.

It might be an advantage over other ticket sellers but for some transactions that advantage doesn't apply e.g. Sheffield to London Advance tickets.

 

[radamfi]

Why don't any other operators offer the Money Back Guarantee? Surely it doesn't cost Southern very much? It would be even better if they just automatically refunded your card and cancelled your ticket. Why do you have to go through such a bureaucratic procedure to get the refund?

 

[district]

Why do you have to go through such a bureaucratic procedure to get the refund?

Why is it bureaucratic?