I recently received a response to a missing cashback claim worth over $400. It was for a cruise I took, but the Cruise Line has gone quiet and isn’t responding to the cashback company’s emails. They suspect their contact might no longer be with the Cruise Line, but they’re not sure.
Now they’re asking me to escalate the issue with the Cruise Line directly, get answers, and report back with the contact details of whoever I speak to so they can follow up and hopefully get the payment approved. The Cruise Line's customer service had no idea how to respond to my inquiry and closed the ticket.
The cashback company also stated that they’re not in a position to pay me under their cashback guarantee unless the retailer approves it, claiming they have no visibility over whether I actually took the cruise, despite me providing the pre-cruise invoice and post-cruise invoice as requested.
This feels… off. Has anyone else ever been asked to chase down a third-party client on behalf of a cashback company just to get paid? Were you successful? Is this a common practice in affiliate or referral arrangements? I’m genuinely curious if this is standard or if I should be pushing back harder.
Please tell me that the company asking you is named after a really generic cashback company??