Why can't I claim the cashback?

My wife and I bought a Toshiba laptop from Dabs at the end of September last year. It came with a £75 cashback offer, which helped persuade us to buy the computer.

When we tried to claim the cashback, Dabs told us to wait a few weeks before applying. We did but because I could not find the original e-invoice, our claim was rejected. Dabs said it could not provide us with the original and now we are outside the claim time limit.
Gordon Lodge

We are not fans of cashback schemes because they cause people so many problems when they try to claim their money. We contacted Dabs to find out why the Lodges had been having so much trouble and why he was told to wait before claiming.

The retailer agreed Mr Lodge was entitled to claim this money but only if he met the terms and conditions set out in the claim. Dabs told us he could only make the claim 30 days after the order had been placed but the Lodges had to claim the cashback within 60 days of the order.

A cheque would have then been sent by Toshiba. Each time the Lodges claimed they were within this time limit but the reason they couldn’t proceed was this lack of the original e-invoice.

We believed that once Mr Lodge had informed Dabs that he had either deleted the e-invoice or lost the hard copy that came through the post, the retailer should have been able to email him a copy of the original e-invoice.

While we agree with Dabs that a copy doesn’t strictly conform to the terms and conditions, it was still proof that he had bought the PC and it came with this cashback.

This mix-up has left Mr and Mrs Lodge unable to claim their cashback. We don’t know if we can help because we don’t think the couple has a legal claim. But since the cashback comes from Toshiba and not Dabs, we have contacted the company about this issue.