LizzieAnn, good result for you, just a pity I could not bestow the same sort of accolades on them for their website and trying to get points.

I quite agree George, it is a bit of a hit and miss affair, I wish we could suss it out!

yeah... a bit weird but I cannot get any at the mo...

strange, isn't it?!

This once happened before (when no points were going on) - they had a fault with their website. They do correct it and keep a look in your email because last time it happened they gave you 300 points for free.

phew! Thanks for that, Ruth, will pop back in case they feel like being generous again!!

just did about three different games and got zilch! Also clicked on the icons still zilch! What is going on here?

not too sure - I'm having the same faults - I've not had anything for about a week. They will fix it, this has happened before.

will look forward to the fix, Ruth! Maybe we will get heaps of points in a rush!! In the meantime, do you think it is a good idea to visit more than once a week on the offchance?

I visit this site just about every day and try to beat my best scores on the conundrum and the slingshot, yet no extra points, yet it clearly states regular visits to gain points. I click on the envelopes to forward to friends and nothing happens in the way of points. I click I like it for facebook and nothing extra.
I emailed them yesterday so we will wait and see what happens. Once I hit 1000 points I can assure you I will cash out and never return.

It is not a daily update of points, but a weekly one, and so far this has happened for me. Have you uploaded a photo yet? I got 20 points for that, and downloading the recipes. Have a look at the t&c and it says weekly not daily, though, George. It is a bit hit and miss, though, I agree with you there.

Dont get George going on this site, he is convinced it is a cheap nasty way of getting free publicity and none of his many friends who have joined this site have had no success either

Free publicity is what websites are all about, Grandma, and this one is no different, it is just that there are some good ideas on it, and have you seen the recipes? Some of them are really good. But I will stop here, because I don't like to wind people up the way George often does!!

I really don't know what is going on at the moment with this - I've been a member for nearly 18months (although I'm new to the survey game) and have loads of vouchers. Its driving me mad, it's never, and I mean never been this bad..... email going to helen at customer service at Mccains.

I will be very interested to hear any replies you get from customer services. I have found them very helpful in the past.

I have also had problems with points not being added so i emailed them to tell them and this was the response i received.


Thank you for your email which I have passed on to our agency to look into – once they have responded I will email you back.

Kind regards

Jenny

Senior Customer Relations Advisor

Thanks for that Mitsy, hopefully they will give you some ad hoc points for the trouble you took to contact them!

misty40, that is exactly the same response I got from them and the wording is the same, it is a generic email for all questions asked, so we will wait with baited breath to see what answers we get.

getting the same email - argh!!

My sentiments too Ruth and I can tell you it has George going up the wall.

Well I received 3 emails from McCains to day and one wednesday. Yesterday was to say that they were looking into my complaint with their site team. To day here are the 3 sent to me.
1, Dear Mr Davidson
Our agency have said they have no records of your email address registered on their database – Please can I ask if you are registered in order to earn spud shillings to play.
Kind regards
Helen
Customer Relations Advisor
Of course I informed them I was.
2, Dear Mr Davidson
Thank you for your email. I am sorry you are not accumulating points correctly. I am going to ask our agency who looks after the website to look into this for you and I will let you know what they say shortly.
Kind regards
Helen
Customer Relations Advisor

3, Hi,
Just to let you know we’ve received your email and we’ll do our best to get back to you within the next 24 hours.
Alternatively, please feel free to call our careline 0800 146573 to speak to one of our customer advisors.
Kind regards,
McCain Customer Relations
"Our Goal is Service Excellence"

Lets hope the 4th email is more positive.

The following email has literally just come into my email inbox
"Dear Mr Davidson
I am sorry that you have been experiencing problems with our website – our agency is currently experiencing a few technical difficulties with our site but they are looking into it as a matter of priority. We will add an extra 100 spud shillings for the inconvenience you have had and will let you know when the problem has been sorted out.
Kind regards
Jenny
Senior Customer Relations Advisor

Come all of you with complaints, get complaining and get these extra points.

Wow, George, what a result....I am off to complain too! Let's hope the floodgates do not put them off....here's hoping for another result for me, too, and everyone else who has been disappointed. Does this mean you revise your view of the site, George? Or shouldn't I ask?

Its bad administration by those that look after the site, but, I think McCains should have had someone within, also monitoring the site so as to pick up on problems a lot quicker.
The question I would be asking is "How many people gave up on this site due to the problems". Mind you, if a few hundred or so give up, how much money have they saved.

don't be surprised if we all get an email soon, like I have said this happened once before. I ended up getting 300 points extra. We'll see.

I just emailed them today as I tried again and told them exactly how many points I thought I was missing, so I will be interested to see if they just say, hey-ho, have your missing points, or here is a bonus you poor thing!

I emailed them before my holidays and still nothing back from them. They dont seem to care.

Just received the following, which I am very happy with - it addresses all the issues in the past and gives me clear indications what will be done in the future....I hope they will follow through -

Dear Mrs Davidson

Thanks for your email. I’m sorry to hear you’re having problems with the spud shillings.



We’ll have to have a look at your account to understand where this is happening. As well as this, we’ll be making a note of your current balance and tracking it over the next few weeks to ensure you’re not missing out in the future.



We’ll make sure that any Spud Shillings that you’ve missed out on are added to your account in the next 7 days.



Best wishes,



Sonia Sheridan

Interim Customer Relations Manager

Just logged in to my McCain account. I have went from 980 points to 2,890 points, so I have requested £20 Amazon voucher. Now it could be a mistake on their behalf all these extra points, or it could be a bit compensation for all the trouble. Either way thats another £20 towards my holiday fund, (holidays only 7 weeks to go).

Thanks for the heads-up there, George, I just logged in and discovered I had 1820 points so nearly reached my goal of £20 Amazon too. Maybe they will monitor in future and we will find our points going on - have you tried any games or anything yet to see? I am off to try!

Just tried the games, etc., and received 110 points then 5 then 5 more for games, then zilch. Better than nothing, but still not fixed I would not say, but as I am now at 1945 points, I will be delighted simply to reach 2000 and get my Amazon like George did.

Just logged in after a week and discovered I have been awarded 1000 points for hassle!! However, please note, I have tried to redeem 2000 for my first Amazon voucher and been asked to validate my address and mobile number so they can send me a SMS validation code I have to enter in order to receive my reward BUT I HAVE NO MOBILE PHONE so I have had to write to their customer services AGAIN. I can't believe it!! By the way, George, how long did your Amazon voucher taken to arrive?

Still not received anything as yet. It seems that it takes up to 3 weeks for delivery.

I think it was Ruth who said her first Amazon voucher took only 3 days to arrive!! I hope you get yours soon....what about the mobile validation, George, did you have to do that?

I give up - I feel a shamed recommending Mccains now - they don't seem to be the same any more.... I didn't get my £20 M and S voucher last time (I waited 3 weeks then I complained and it came this morning) a further 2 weeks. The vouchers are coming from Ireland nowadays, this use to be Birmingham. Wonder if this has anything to do with what's going on?

I think perhaps it was a good site when it was small, before people had heard much about it, but as it has mushroomed out of all proportion they don't seem geared up to cope with all the traffic and hence the technical problems, would you say that might be a good assessment? I am very grateful, Ruth, that you recommended me to the site, as I enjoy it, and hopefully things will iron themselves out.

I think you summed it up well LizzieAnn.
I am also very grateful for Ruth bringing this site to our attention, as this morning I received my £20 amazon voucher and only waiting for my £10 HMV voucher now.
Many thanks Ruth.

Thanks George, great you got your voucher....I shall just have to wait for mine, after hopefully manual mobile validation.

I have achieved 2000 points with McCains. I tried to redeem them and was asked for my Mobile number which I entered but they then wanted the country code, so I gave them that. They were then supposed to send an access key to my phone but nothing happened. After some e-mail communication they told me to try again and this time leave the leading zero off my phone number. Hooray, it worked. Quite pleased now.
Baggy

That's great Baggy....we use international dialling codes at work and I always leave off the leading zero...don't ask me why, but that's the way it is.....I have not yet had a reply to solve my problem....perhaps I can borrow your mobile?!

You would be very welcome, after all the help and advice you have provided over the weeks. Would it work if you gave them my number and then I could send you the access code?? Probably not, but let me know if you want to try it. I had no idea about dropping the leading zero on International calls, how insular have I become, over the last few years??
Baggy

Thanks, Baggy, I will wait to hear from the original email to see what they say?

After my second attempt at an answer, I received this today -

Dear LizzieAnn
I have now heard from our agency and they have removed the 2000 spud shillings and ordered your voucher – if there’s anything else I can help you with please let me know

Kind regards



Jenny

Senior Customer Relations Advisor

I wonder how soon I will actually get the voucher?? But it is a result isn't it? She says when I next want to redeem, I can contact her again....listen up, anyone without a mobile phone!! You are not penalized because of this, which is good news and good for McCains!

The 2000 points have now been removed from my account as of today (11th September) and I wonder how long my voucher will take to arrive?! Looks like yours, George, took about 2 weeks to arrive by email, so hopefully mine will be the same!

The website is at it again....groan...Ruth, have you noticed anything this week?!

Sorry no nothing about this site.

I am not aware of this website. Would someone like to send me the address so that I can see what is has to offer. Thank you