touristtrap

I got paid for January 17th order 2 days ago.

Mancolt

My apologies then. I saw those 2 valentine's entries, granted for very small amounts ($0.50 and $0.25) but they said claimed.

NoonRadar

It's closed to free money, more so by comparison to GC (2% TCB vs 1.25 and no activation fees). Does it really matter that much if we sometimes get the TCB payment a week/month later, or whether or not the GCM envelopes are fully sealed as long as the cards have the money and we can drain them without issues?

I'm not saying you must not complain, but I don't really see the point about things that are trivial in context and don't affect your bottom line. Especially since we don't have any recourse to change them anyhow.

Mamibear

I don't see any incentive for GCM to fix customer complaints if their sales are up and their clients have no other choice but to buy from them, for whatever reasons. Maybe they'd shape up when they see their sales start to go down, but as it is, they'd probably do as they please. It's futile to complain about their bad business practices when customers continue to patronize them. Either you put up with them and suffer or bring your business somewhere else.

Zgirl

It matters to me. I can wait for the free money but I won't be ordering GCs through cash back sites anymore. It's much easier to just go to the Simon mall, Staples, Office Max/Depot instead of waiting for small (1500) orders to be delivered and then waiting for the payment and guessing what's going on if not paid on time. I've experienced a cash back sponsor that disappeared without a pay. I don't remember his name but he was a very active member on Fatwallet...about 4 years ago. He kept promising to pay us next week, next month...

MaxVO

It's certainly the case with the TCB Missing Claims process. I have 4 such claims open since Oct.'16, and not a thing is being done. The process is rather opaque too. I wouldn't even know if TCB collected on those claims, and just kept the money as "Tips for the staff".
Btw, their schtick about the tips is rather pathetic -- seems to imply they're doing customers a favor, rather than delivering on a contract.

Mancolt

I'm hoping someone else has encountered the issue I'm having with GCM, and found a solution. I had my account temporarily locked after trying (unsuccessfully) to place an order with the same card 3 times. I called GCM, got the account unlocked, and they informed me that 3 failed orders in a 24 hour period will lock your account.

I've ordered (via a different card, specifically my Ink Preferred) twice now in the last month, both times without issue. This time, I didn't want to cycle my Ink's credit limit, so I decided I'd do a little MS on my Chase Sapphire Reserve. I added my CSR to my account (it has the same billing address as the Ink Preferred). I know my GCM password, so that wasn't the issue. I know my billing address (and shipping address, they're the same, and I used the USPS validated one that GCM suggests after you type it in). I checked the Chase Sapphire Reserve number multiple times, and that's not the issue. I used the right CVV number and expiration date as well. I am 99.9% certain I'm not entering anything in incorrectly. And I've only spent $2.5k so far on GCM so I know that's not the issue.

I also tried using my middle initial on the card and on my billing & shipping addresses, and then tried removing my middle initial from the card, billing, & shipping. Still no luck. One of the cust svc agents from GCM told me that the middle initial not matching between card and billing can sometimes be the source.

I've called GCM 3 times now, the first time to see if they could tell me why my orders weren't going through. No help. The 2nd time I called to unlock my account. This woman seemed to be the most competent and helpful. She unlocked my account, and suggested that the middle initial should match on my card and billing address. That's when I tried two more attempts at an order, still with no success. I called back a 3rd time to see if they could tell me why it was giving me the same error message each time. This woman told me that she has no access to their verification process, as it's part of their security and they don't want anyone knowing how they detect fraud. So as a result, she can't give me any information about why my orders won't process.

Has anyone else ever had an issue like this? Find a solution? This is most definitely not because I'm at my monthly limit. I will re-attempt some spend with my Ink Preferred once my statement closes and I'm in a new billing cycle, to see if it's card specific. At this point, unless someone else has found a fix, the best I can hope for is that it just doesn't like my CSR.

TalkingPoint

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Mancolt

Thank you for the info. I'm surprised (and very disappointed) if that's the case. Wouldn't customer service know that I'm banned? Are there any options to create a new account, or do they go by name and billing address, so unless those have changed, I'm out of luck?

TalkingPoint

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MaxVO

If this theory is correct that being overly persistent & impatient can trigger a ban, shouldn't we try something completely different?
For example, let's not log in, submit orders, change names, or anything else for several weeks or a month. Then test if you're still banned with a single small order attempt. If unsuccessful, do not sign in for another month. If the ban is lifted, proceed cautiously at conservative intervals.

mactrader

Does anyone have a suggestion of the next best thing for cashback? Are there any alternatives to GCM that will cover the costs of the cards/MOs with the cashback? My early runs at numbers with GC.com show a slight loss on each transaction. Or if you get banned from GCM you are in the world of being net negative on MS?

Amex For Children Of Africa

Most people don't even use cash back portals when MSing, so a net negative isn't really an issue, since you should be making a profit with points/cashback.

mactrader

My goal is to be at best cost neutral for out of pocket costs. I understand that overall it's economic with the value of the points but that doesn't mean that I have plenty of budget cash flow to throw at points generation either.

That did get me thinking though, of bringing cash back cards as a portion of my mix in order to offset the out of pocket costs. I haven't run the numbers but surely doing 10-15K spend for mileage programs and 5K spend on a cash back should make it positive cash flow.

Thanks for planting the seed.

TalkingPoint

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