Quidco - Nectar - Do I join?

[MrJim]

I'm with Quidco, & have benefited from about £180 cash-back so far. I seem to get quite a few purchases that aren't tracked though, & even 'faster paying' companies can take six months or more! (I'm looking at you, Dell!). But as a previous poster said, it's free money

[peterb]

There is no such thing as a free lunch! (or free money)

All these schemes are designed to build in 'loyalty' so you spend more with a particular retailer (or set of retailers) where you might be able to get the same thing for less elsewhere - so you need to be savvy!

Nectar - once you have signed up - they will travk your purchases - if you shop at Sainsbutys (the main retailer) you will get discount vouchers when you shop - useful if they are things you need/normally buy - but often for things you wouldn't normally purchase.

Quidco - again, some good deals - but for things like subscriptions, the discount is usually only on the first year, so don't forget to shop around again - many people don't, and that generous discount has to be made up somewhere.

So, yes, it is worth signing up (if you don't mind losing some privacy) and you are wary in how you use them. Tesco Clubcard seems very good, but only if you like shopping at Tesco!

[Saracen]

....

So, yes, it is worth signing up (if you don't mind losing some privacy) ....

And personally, I do mind, which is why I won't use them.

No doubt, you can get money back. And no doubt, it can sometimes be a pain in the butt if things don't go as planned.

And, no doubt, this is only one of many ways you can lose privacy, in a world increasingly marked by a lack of privacy. So it's very hard to avoid giving away privacy and probably impossible to avoid it altogether.

So, I just do everything I can to avoid making it easy for data vampires, and that includes foregoing "cashback", be it Quidco, or Tesco reward cards (or similar), or even using a credit/debit card at all, unless it suits ME to do so. Which it usually doesn't.

We all have a choice .... cash or "free" money. Except, of course, it isn't free. The cost is loss of privacy. And I value keeping as much of my data (like spending patterns) as possible out of the hands of corporate databases more than I value any cashback from Quidco, Tesco, etc.

And while I'm not alone in that, I bet I'm in a minority, and probably, a smallish one.

To the OP .... join? Well, you have, so I'm late to the party. But the answer, for my part, is that it depends how, and if, you value your privacy. I do value mine, so my answer is "no". YMMV.

[deejayburnout]

Nectar is quite good actually. Recently bought Battlefield 3 for my wife for £2.99 using nectar points. i manage to claim several thousand points per year from Confused.com on renewing my insurances.

I use top cash back and make quite a bit of cash.

if you need a referral, i can give you one

[MrJim]

And personally, I do mind, which is why I won't use them.

No doubt, you can get money back. And no doubt, it can sometimes be a pain in the butt if things don't go as planned.

And, no doubt, this is only one of many ways you can lose privacy, in a world increasingly marked by a lack of privacy. So it's very hard to avoid giving away privacy and probably impossible to avoid it altogether.

So, I just do everything I can to avoid making it easy for data vampires, and that includes foregoing "cashback", be it Quidco, or Tesco reward cards (or similar), or even using a credit/debit card at all, unless it suits ME to do so. Which it usually doesn't.

We all have a choice .... cash or "free" money. Except, of course, it isn't free. The cost is loss of privacy. And I value keeping as much of my data (like spending patterns) as possible out of the hands of corporate databases more than I value any cashback from Quidco, Tesco, etc.

And while I'm not alone in that, I bet I'm in a minority, and probably, a smallish one.

To the OP .... join? Well, you have, so I'm late to the party. But the answer, for my part, is that it depends how, and if, you value your privacy. I do value mine, so my answer is "no". YMMV.

Of course everyone places a different value on different things. I probably save myself about £400 a year through cash-back offers of one sort or another, and I'm careful about not just choosing offers because it has cashback available...making price comparisons these days is easy, after all. Personally, letting retailers & marketing organisations know how I'm spending my money is worth £400

[Saracen]

Of course everyone places a different value on different things. I probably save myself about £400 a year through cash-back offers of one sort or another, and I'm careful about not just choosing offers because it has cashback available...making price comparisons these days is easy, after all. Personally, letting retailers & marketing organisations know how I'm spending my money is worth £400

Indeed, it's personal. There's no right or wrong.

As long as people understand the deal with "free" money, then it's up to you and me to each decide. For me, it's not worth £400. It's not worth £4000, or £40,000 either. I simply want as much of my privacy kept private as I can, in this intrusive and nosy world, reasonably manage. Period.

I know I take that further than most people would. In part, it's because I want the corporate world to simply leave me the hell alone. I don't want adverts on my phone, for instance. Not from anyone, about anything, regardless of product, or offer. I don't want advertising junkmail, either through my door or in my email in-box, and again, no exceptions whatsoever.

If there's a product or company I'm interested in, I'll find them, and I do not, under any circumstances whatever, want them pestering me. I've just changed pizza company after about 20 years because they would not stop pestering me with text messages, despite being asked, then told, then told very firmly to STOP. So .... no more business from me. Ever. And a formal complaint to the Data Protection Commissioner.

That's the context of me not wanting to be pestered. So, to further that aim, I don't want ANY corporation having any information on me that I can avoid. And by the way, minimising my data profile in that way means, most emphatically, denying banks as much data as I can too. In fact, especially banks, as they are in a better position than just about anyone else to data profile, and data mine, than anybody .... and sell the results. And on that subject, persusal of Quidco's privacy policy is .... illuminating.

Of course, most people can't hide from banks, or credit agencies, because they need a "history". I don't. I don't want or need (or have) a mortgage, and I don't have or want a loan. I don't even want a mobile phone contract. I have credit cards I very rarely use, reserving them for things like hotel reservations and car hire, or the odd occasion where s.76 CCA protection is worthwhile. Otherwise, I pay from most things in cash. And I bought a standalone SatNav because I'm not prepared to have phone GPS data tracked, so it stays turned off.

My view is simple. Privacy is like virginity .... you can't unlose it. Once your privacy is gone, it's gone. I can't stop it, but I can slow it down a lot. And I'm certainly notselling it for a few hundred quid a year. But if you don't have a problem with that, then that's your choice.

My only point in this thread is that there are implications that aren't always immediately obvious to using 'reward' and cashback deals. If people don't care, that's up to them.

[deejayburnout]

Quite strong beliefs there and kudos to you for standing by them.

I do think that these loyalty schemes do generate 'trends' so that the companies can see what the public want and buy.

[wasabi]

Quite strong beliefs there and kudos to you for standing by them.

I do think that these loyalty schemes do generate 'trends' so that the companies can see what the public want and buy.

No doubt they generate trends. They are useful. But massive amounts of detail about individuals is even better in this day and age - there is enough computing power to abuse it. Consolidate your actual purchases (credit card / debit card etc) with data about your credit rating, what websites you visit tracked via cookies and cashback schemes, where you go tracked by GPS, CCTV, number plate info being sold to marketeers by the DVLA, social network privacy terms being a farce etc etc etc

I'm not as extreme as Saracen in privacy terms but see risks. I'm actually surprised the end of cash isn't being more widely discussed by the powers that be.

To me the problem with a lot of these things (HUKD, Groupon etc) is that people buy stuff they can't afford on credit, in the bizarre belief they're somehow better off - while actually not spending at all is better, especially if you've already got a maxxed out credit card.

[Saracen]

Quite strong beliefs there and kudos to you for standing by them.

I do think that these loyalty schemes do generate 'trends' so that the companies can see what the public want and buy.

As wasabi said, though, it-s more than trends. It's an increasingly detailed level of knowledge about YOU, as an individual. And that detailed level of knowledge about millions of individual "you's" is a marketeers or advertiser's Holy Grail, because they can decide exactly what their target demographic is .... and hit that target, and only that target.

So the advertiser might decide that they want to target males, aged 25-35, single, drive a car under 3 years old, have tried three hair styling products in the last 2 years, drink particular types of alcohol, have a dog and live with 10 miles of a specific place. And increasingly, they can do exactly that.

As far as I'm concerned, it's none of their damn business what I drive or hold old it is, or indeed if I drive, or whether I have a dog, where I live, what I do or don't drink, and so on. But, buy dog food in a suoermarket and you go down as a dog owner. Start buying nappies and the inference is .... new kid. If you shop at supermarkets, for instance, and gave a 'reward' card, the result is that the shop has an ever more detailed knowledge of your likes and dislikes, and your personal status. Buy books ir magazines? They know your taste, and perhaps hobbies. What food you buy tells them something about lifestyle .... fit and careful about diet or chocolate-eating couch potato. And that information, if acquired by an insurance company, could affect your premiums, or even your ability to get some types of insurance. And so on.

Of course, there's a risk with my strategy too. I said I deny everything I can to banks because I don't want credit. But if that changes (though, in my case, it won't) that lack of data history is likely to be a big negative to a credit rating agency. The same could apply to insurers in the future.

In any event, back to "should I join?"

It is, of course, entirely up to you. It'll no doubt save you some money, and perhaps, quite a bit. It will cost you some privacy, but not much more than buying by credit card or using a Tesco reward card. And, there are sometimes problems with getting the cashback credited, and it can be a pain. So, add it all up, balance it all off and the result tells you whether you should or not.