Travelcare, the “independent” travel agent owned by the Co-operative has launched with a great fanfare on buy.at today. Well, actually it’s a re-launch, but no-one seems to be mentioning the previous problems with the programs (appalling conversion rates on buy.at, no online booking with affilinet) – but apart from the fact this merchant’s programs have historically been a stinker, that’s not the reason I refuse to work with them.

The reason is that they are one of a very select bunch of merchants who I refuse to deal with in any capacity whatsoever due to having been royally screwed over by them in the past (The others on the list for those interested are Blackstar/Sendit, Connells, Natwest, and William Hill – Not all have affiliate programs I know, but they might one day!)

Travelcare have been on the Lammo Blacklist for five years now. It dates back to 2002 (yup, that’s five years!), when they promoted a competition on their site to win a Villa holiday for four people. All you had to do was get other people to enter the competition using a unique tracking link (sound familiar?), and the five people who referred the most entries would win a week in a Spanish Villa, plus flights for four people.

Well, as the owner of a Freebies and Competitions site, this was a great incentive: OK, I knew we weren’t going to get paid a CPA for building up their mailing list, but we did stand a good chance of winning a decent prize. Worth a punt.

Well, punt we did. And we won too! Second place, having persuaded over a thousand people to sign up. Brilliant – A week in the sun here we come. But no! Two days after the closing date, I got an email from Travelcare, informing me I had been disqualified. No reason given whatsoever. Thanks for the free mailing list, now bugger off.

When I questioned why I had been disqualified, I couldn’t believe their response. Travelcare admitted that I had done no wrong, and hadn’t broken any of their competition rules. But they did have a clause in their rules that meant they could disqualify entrants “for any reason” – and they were utilising that clause! Furthermore, they were keen to point out, their decision is final. Now shut up your complaining, ‘cos we’re the big company, and you’re the nobody whose mailing list we’ve just nicked.

Needless to say, I was gobsmacked. I even consulted a solicitor, as there was no doubt in my mind. I had won their competition fair and square, and they were denying me my prize for no good reason. However, they had it all sewn up nicely in the rules that meant they could do exactly what they want.

Until that episode, I had always thought that the Co-operative Group were run on an ethical basis. I know better now, and that is why I will never trust them to track my sales, not deny valid sales, and generally run an affiliate program in a professional and ethical way.

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