Sony Cashback Scam? - Where to complain?

[Nirurin]

I recently purchases a sony a6000 camera from John Lewis, under the terms of the current sony camera cashback offer. This states that I receive £50 cashback if I purchase a camera during this time frame, as long as I send them the invoice which shows the date, invoice number, product model, etc. 

I have now done this 6 times. 

Every single time I send it, they respond with a different 'reason' that my claim is invalid. Sometimes it is that the date is not shown. Sometimes that the model number is not shown. Sometimes its the invoice number that isn't shown. 

However... I always send the exact same invoice document. And the document clearly shows the invoice date, invoice number, model number, etc etc. The document is perfectly fine. 

At first I gave sony the benefit of the doubt, assuming that it was some kind of automated service. However I have now had slightly different responses, but all having some degree of a copy/pasted response. Clearly the response team have been given a list of 'excuses' to respond with, in the hopes that their customer will just give up. 

I have contacted the customer services team by email on two seperate occasions, but am yet to receive a response. 

At this point I need to find out what the next stage of escalation would be. I have fulfilled sony's own terms and conditions to the letter, so I know that legally I am prefectly within my rights to expect the money that they owe me. However I do not know the best way to proceed. 

I hope someone on here can direct me in the right direction. 

[Squire123]

 Hi Miccyluv,  I did write a reply to you but I didnt put your name on it, so you may not have seen my reply. As long as you have your receipt you can still claim. Go back to the shop you bought it from.  You bought it from them because they offered the cash back.  I did eventually get my cash back when I phoned Trading standards. They told me because I bought it from "John Lewis"  and they offered the cash back , they are the ones responsible for that cash back.  At first they tried to wriggle out of it saying it was "Sony" who offered the money not them. But Trading standards told me that is not right and I phoned again. The second time  after telling them I had spoken to trading standards, they said they would look into it.  After that they were very helpful and spoke to Sony on my behalf. 

If you scroll back here and find all my messages you will see all the teminoligy I got from trading standards. Good luck  

[no-click]

Definitely go back to your retailer, your purchase contract is with them and they must honour the promotion that they advertised.

After a repeated cold shoulder from Sony I went to my retailer and the cashback soon appeared.

good luck 👍

[TonyF12]

I just filed a Small Claims Procedure submission against Sony UK for the £150 cashback they declined on my purchase of an A7M3 camera.

I suggest you do the same if you get nowhere with Sony's Customer Service Department.

Such a shame.  I love Sony's camera and lenses and have several.

[colonelhall]

At last, a phone number! And it works. Thanks.

[gemmasuen]

I recently had problems getting the £200 cashback from Sony. They gave me the 'this is an order confirmation, not an invoice'.
Despite the order confirmation actually being the invoice, so I contacted the seller (Ron Harrison) and they very swiftly sent me an Invoice titled clearly. Sent it back to Sony, and that did it. It had all the invoice details, purchase date, VAT info, product, my name, address- the only thing that was different was that the title was named 'Sales Invoice'. And I had to only send them one file, not multiple. Hope this helps anyone with similar issues.

[hallmarkproductions]

I submitted a fully legitimate claim for a new camera, A7ii, purchased with Amazon (not a third party seller, but Amazon UK). I received this email from Sony, which is a disgrace:

In relation to the transactions that youhave recently made in our Summer 2019 Cashback, our investigation concluded thatyour claim is not valid. Due to this, we would like to inform you that you areofficially blacklisted for all current and future Sony campaigns applicableunder specific terms and conditions which exclude you from this service. 

These conditions include:

 -The necessity for registrations & claims to not be done in a fraudulentmanner, or with the intention to commit fraud. If we deem such instances tohave taken place, then we withhold the right to refuse payment of the cashback.

- If a cashback claim is made by the ownerof eligible products and the same products are subsequently sold, the new ownerwould be excluded from eligibility for a cashback claim. 

- A reseller (an entity that sells, orintends to sell, the product on to another owner) is not eligible for thecashback claim.

Just to reconfirm, the investigationconcluded that your personal details have been blocked from all future paymentsand no further action will be taken regarding your claim. 

Best Regards,

Sony Campaigns Team

[Squire123]

Hello, I think you should take this up with Amazon as they advertised your camera  with  cash back.  They might say its not there problem at first, but it is. (I contacted trading standards)  Because you bought the camera from them  after you saw the cash back deal.   If you scroll down on these incidents.  Find my original posts  how I had to deal with Sony and only when I went back to John Lewis (where I bought the camera) did I get anything done.   In the end I got all my money. 

 Hope this is helpful, keep going.

[hallmarkproductions]

Thank you for your reply. I have contacted Amazon, who are looking into this on my behalf.

However, am I alone in receiving such a scandalous email? It is very (falsely and without foundation) accusing, and note, says that I have been "blacklisted" and all claims will be ignored - with no opportunity offered or invited to respond.

I will be reporting it to Trading Standards, as it should not be acceptable for such threatening correspondence to be sent.

[Squire123]

 I haven't seen any other responses like yours. It looks like a new tactic to get out of paying the cashback.  Amazon will want to help you. As this is implying that amazon are unable to offer the cash back as they are not a legitimate retailer through whom the cash back can be offered. Which is rubbish.

  keep us informed,   all such information helps others who will no doubt have similar experiences in the future.

Good luck 

[Wafter1940]

Whilst the Sony ‘Cash Back’ scheme is a little clunky and the proof of purchase procedure could use some improvement, the Cash Back scheme is absolutely kosher.  It took approximately four weeks for the cash to be deposited in my account, but that is what it said in the small print.  From Sony’s point of view, they do need to check that you did in fact purchase the equipment and they need to ensure where and when the purchase was made and they need to confirm the date of purchase.  This process takes time, as I’m sure that Sony has more than one cash back item.

Regards