SNCF is putting an end to its “cashback” offer, a subscription discount offer, considered a scam by some users of the online sales site. Many customers of SNCF Connect, the SNCF online sales platform, had reported this system.
Concretely, users of the online store saw an advertisement appear just after purchasing a train ticket offering to get a refund of 16.87 euros. But the “pop-up” actually referred to a separate SNCF commercial site, which required a subscription of 18 euros per month to benefit from the offer. “ Although this service has been used by some of our customers for several years, we have decided to end our collaboration with Webloyalty,” said SNCF Connect. “Cashback is a legal practice regulated by law, very common for an e-retailer and well known by consumers,” explains the SNCF.
The railway group had always assumed this partnership, a source of income. But the Minister of Transport, Clément Beaune, was committed to ensuring that this offer would be stopped. Last July, Philippe Latombe, MP for Vendée (Renaissance), declared on Twitter that he had obtained a guarantee from the minister that he would make an official request to the SNCF to put an end to this system, which according to him ” could amount to phishing”. For its part, Webloyalty ensures that its subscribers save “up to 6,000 euros per year when they fully use the benefits of the program.” SNCF Connect users obviously did not all understand the benefit of a new subscription, when they simply wanted to pay less for their ticket.
