Payback’s bonus point system is a complete scam. The whole process lacks transparency.
On many of their’Partner Sites’ there is no provision to enter the Payback No. while making a purchase. You have to go to Payback’s website and click "SHOP NOW" to activate a bonus coupon. A cookie is then installed in your system and you have to go to the Partner’s website and make your purchase. So, if tomorrow, you don’t get the points they can always say " The Partner didn’t inform us", "the cookie wasn’t installed properly" and a whole list of other excuses. They could make the process a whole lot simpler if they really wanted to.
I have activated their bonus coupons several times and followed the procedure exactly as mentioned by them and still have never received these points. Indeed, even the regular points are very often not credited unless you specifically follow up with them.
The website says that the bonus points will be credited in 60 days from offer end date. When you contact customer care after 60 days, they tell you that the complaint for non-credit has to be registered within 60 days of offer end date!
To give you an example of how their customer care functions:
I had registered a complaint with them for non-credit of points( regular+ 400 bonus) for an air ticket I had booked through MakeMyTrip.
First Reply Dear Sir, PAYBACK points for transactions done at Make My Trip depends upon the base fair of a ticket you buy. Since the base fair of the tickets purchased were zero, no points were credited for the transactions made.
When I asked them about bonus points -
Second Reply - Our records indicate that you have earned 0 points for the transactions made on Make My Trip, because your base fare for the ticket purchased was 0.Since there was no points earned for the transaction, it was equivalent to no points earned from the transaction. Therefore, we regret to state that you were not eligible for bonus points too.
So, I sent them an image file of the ticket where the base fare was clearly shown to be Rs.1318.
I would have sent this in the first mail, but I thought they would have the details with them.
Third Reply We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused.We have processed your request for non-credit of points. This request has been forwarded to our concerned team.Our team will follow up on your request and provide an update in a maximum of 15 working days.
After 1 month, when there was still no reply, I sent them another e-mail. After that, the regular points were credited, ( and I got another standard reply from them) but the bonus points were still not. So, I decided to send them one final e-mail asking for the bonus points.
And I got this absolute gem of a reply
We would like to inform you that complaints relating to your earning of bonus points can be registered within 60 days from the offer end date. As we see that this limit has already expired we will not be able to register a compliant for the same.
I’m pretty sure a lot of people would identify with what I’ve shared above. Hope it helps others make an informed decision about Payback.