I’m with you now on this point - you are suggesting that the data is coming through fine but Algbra isn’t processing it right.
But I was thrown by this. Which I think what was also confusing @anon62610374.
So I think we’re all talking around the same point here, which is that somehow, occasionally, the transfer of full data from Mastercard to Algbra stops working meaning they can’t validate sufficiently to pay the cashback.
As to where that fault lies, Algbra seem to take the line that they’ve identified the issue and are working with their partners to resolve. Which to a non connected person sounds like what I wrote above.
Sidenote: I actually really like Algbra, I don’t current use it because e-money (I am old school here with risk around them) and I’d like them to grow a little in terms of operations first. But I can totally see them becoming my return to fintech.
That was a contribution back in Feb! I couldn’t figure out what might have caused it, and the MCC didn’t really make sense to me (hence the ?) as an explanation to how Mastercard might be somehow to blame for the reasons I suggested in my more recent post.
I partially feel the same, but I don’t like it when companies tell half-truths which imply blame on a third party where none should exist. It puts me off trusting them (I’m averse to leaving funds in emoney for the same reason as yourself).
It’s a bad look, IMHO. They’re a start up, and they could own their mistakes and bugs - it’s par for the course. That’d be the more “ethical” thing to do, too.
By all means revisit it. But repeating, almost verbatim, the exact same thing is circular and boring and doesn’t add anything to the discussion. It calls your motive into question and displays a pre-conceived bias. You don’t like Algbra and you don’t trust them. We get it, move on.
Algbra haven’t lied to you or told you any mis-truths or half-truths. You’re reading second-hand recountings and making a mountain out of a molehill.
Whatever you believe they’ve implied through their explanation is your inference, not theirs, and not ours.
So all we have here is you making baseless claims with no evidence. If Algbra are lying, prove it.
They’re being very transparent about this issue (and others), are actively communicating with all customers on the matter, and doing their best to remedy it (it’s still a beta product). If that’s not enough, I don’t think they’re ever going to please you, but it’s far more than you’ll get from most other banks.
a) not true
b) when did I state mistrust prior to my last contribution? (which you might not have even read in fairness, since I stated the opposite view to dislike).
Sidequestion - why are you taking criticism of a fintech so personally?
I’m putting forward the case for doubting them. Quite the difference.
Giving this a try as well and I hate to admit it but I don’t mind the app. Prefer it to Kroo for some reason. Starling maybe needs to do a refresh of the home screen to make it more useful.
I do really like that they don’t automatically send you a card and you have to request it. I never use my physical cards these days so that’s a nice touch. Like the analytics and average spend feature.
They’re a hypergrowth startup backed by investors with deep pockets. There’s a monthly cap (£10), so as appealing and generous as it looks, it’s actually a relatively cheap form of customer acquisition. And it’ll be set inline with their marketing and acquisition budget. Chase proved just how effective this approach can be. Unlike Chase though, I don’t see it being a long term prospect.
Less so in the case of Apple Pay cashback (£22.50), but then they’re (in theory) attracting customers who are happy to forego a physical card and training them to live without one, which would have longer term benefits and cost efficiencies.
It’s also a very good way to get your customers to freely test your product in the real world for you and more tolerant of things not working properly (they are still in beta AFAIK). Something that’s no doubt increasingly challenging in the very crowded market they’re late to join.
It highly incentivises that customers not only join, but also use them regularly and consistently, so they also get a lot out of this as well in the form of telemetry, which would otherwise be slow and costly.
Not everyone (probably most customers) will come near to hitting those caps every month either. And they also already have something to try to upsell to customers in order recoup some of that, with others planned on their roadmap.
For contrast and something to compare it to, Barclays’ average CPA used to be around £300. I’d suspect it’s higher now, and that’s without switching bribes.
The economics make a lot of sense of to me. Its cheap than it looks and they get a huge wealth of benefits out of it that easily outweigh the cost of offering it IMO.
The terms don’t reference any exclusions and I’ve heard nothing concrete either way. They do seem to rely on the merchant code like Chase do for paying it, which would suggest there are some, or they at least have the capacity to introduce them.
But AFAIK, if there are exclusions, no one on the forums I read have found them yet.
Algbra’s offer feels very tacked on though, like an after thought, which leaves it rather lacking in the UX department, particularly compared to Chase, and makes noticing and identifying potential excluded transactions (if there are any) difficult. Tracking is slow and there’s no obvious linking to the transaction(s) its associated with.
