It’s late, so I’m going to keep this very short: Doctor of Credit posted a nice deal on Samsung Galaxy buds. They are available at many stores for $99.99 right now, but I think you can stack it for a terrific deal by doing the following:
- Sync the Microsoft Store offer on your Chase business card (targeted, but pretty widely available on Chase business cards; good for 25% back)
- Start at TopCashBack. If you’re new to TopCashBack, that’s where it gets really good. New TopCashBack members who sign up through our link found in this post can earn a bonus $35 back once they’ve earned $10 in cash back, but you have to sign up by today (12/1/19) at 23:59 PST. See our post for more.
- TopCashBack is currently (at the time of writing) offering $20 cash back for order online, pick up in-store purchases.
Update: As noted below, this has not tracked properly for those who purchased the deal. We’re waiting on an update from TopCashBack. - Click through TopCashBack, go to the Microsoft Store site, find the Galaxy Buds, add to cart.
- In your shopping cart, check the box to pick up in-store and then select a Microsoft Store near you.
- Check out using a card sycned with the Chase Offer
In the end, this what the math looks like:
$99.99 (current price of the Samsung Galaxy Buds)
– 25.00 (cash back from Chase Offer)
$74.99
– 20.00 (TopCashBack cash from in-store pick up)
$54.99
– 35.00 (if you’re a new TopCashBack member)
$19.99 net cost (plus sales tax on the full $99.99 price, which will vary) + 500 Ultimate Rewards points if using Ink Cash / Ink Plus (according to the DoC Payments Workshop)
This seems like an awesome stack.
Here are the things I don’t know:
- Will this trigger the $20 in-store pick up cash back? It seems generous, but I can’t see why not. I suspect it will. I placed an order to find out.
Update: This purchase is tracking at $1 back even for those who have already picked the item up. Several readers have submitted support tickets to Top Cash Back. At this point, it is unresolved. There were no exclusions listed, so I’ll be disappointed if this doesn’t pay out — at the very least, it’s frustrating that it didn’t track properly. - Will that $20 earned trigger the TopCashBack new member bonus? Again, I assume it would since the requirement is to earn $10 in cash back. Unfortunately, most of my family has joined, so I won’t be testing this part.
I assume this is going to work just as I laid it out, which might make this one of the hottest deals of Black Friday / Cyber Monday weekend if you can take advantage. Even if you’re not a new member, $55 for the buds is an excellent deal. I definitely didn’t plan to buy these and totally just did.
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Just got my missing $19!
Dave. Thanks for you update!! I haven’t gotten the missing $19 yet hopefully soon.
Try messaging them in the missing cash back claim that you have open.
Hi Dave and everyone, I got my missing $19!!! Thank you Dave for the tip, I messaged TCB and it worked!!
yw happy to hear
I ended up nudging them a few weeks back. Should I also send them a message? Thank you both for keeping hope alive!
Hi Paul, definitely message TCB. I followed what Dave suggeted and got the money back. I’ve found nudging doesn’t do much as I nudged 2x a month since the end of December.
Thanks Sandy! Going to message them and hopefully have the same outcome!
Finally got my $20! Only 9 months later, but I’ll take it. Thanks everyone!
So today I checked Topcashback and what do you know Microsoft paid $1!!! After months of waiting, what can I do at this point?
actually false alarm, it’s still ‘waiting for retailer’. It’s just that I can cash out the $1 now.
So still haven’t heard anything back from TCB. On TCB, there is an option to “nudge” TCB so they “know where to focus their efforts.” Recommend everyone who is still waiting to do the same.
Perhaps Nick should do a follow up post reminding people of the risk that often these things don’t work out? There are a number of new negative experiences with TCB posted on Doctor of Credit, although in this circumstance, it appears to be a delay on Microsoft’s part.
Been over a month and heard nothing from TCB. Are they trustworthy enough to where I should just open the box? As have to decide before Jan 31 return window passes by
Anyone else notice that they got the 5x bonus for using an ink card? Microsoft classified as internet,cable phone, office supply.
5X posted!
Just the latest update to my TCB claim:
Dec 17 2019
Hi there,
Your Missing CashBack claim has now been submitted to Microsoft Store (via their affiliate network or representative management agency who run their online programme for them).
Please understand that this process is likely to take from four weeks to several months (often longer with contract/policy based transactions) to complete, and we may not be in a position to update you until the final decision has been made.
We ask members to remain patient during this time, if we do receive an update or we require your intervention we will get in contact with you via this system.
Kind Regards
The Missing CashBack Claims Team
I got the same yesterday. I think this is actually good news — they originally said they couldn’t submit it for 30 days. The fact that they were able to submit it to the affiliate network sooner is at least an encouraging sign to me.
Completely agree!
“Hi there,
Thanks for providing your order number. Your claim is currently at the ‘Ready to Submit’ Status, please be aware that we submit claims in batches every few weeks to the merchant network that we work via and you will receive a message informing you when yours has been sent. We then have to wait for a response from the merchant network, this may take 2 – 3 months, but we will write to you on this claims thread when we have any updates.
If you have any questions please do contact us via this claims thread and we will be more than happy to help.
Thank you, have a great day and I do hope that this goes on to be a successful claim for you.
Best wishes
TopCashback Support.”
What the heck? 2-3 months? I believe the microsoft store return window is 30 days, so I will have to decide if this is worth the gamble or not
Holiday return is available until Jan 31. I got the same response from them. If I don’t see anything by the end of Jan I will return mine.
Can I return if I’ve already used the earbuds?
Generally speaking the shopping portal doesn’t have much sway here. The retailers have their rules as to how long before a claim can be filed. I just finally submitted a claim on this myself and it said during the process that the Microsoft Store doesn’t accept claims until 30 days have passed since your order, so TCB would take my info and save it to automatically be submitted after 30 days have passed. Once 30 days have passed and the claim gets submitted to Microsoft, I’m sure that Microsoft won’t have paying out on the claim as a top priority, so TCB has to build in time for Microsoft to inevitably drag its feet. I’m hopeful that it won’t take 2-3 months, but I would suspect that it’ll take at least a couple of weeks beyond the initial 30-day window.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not thrilled that this didn’t automagically track like most stuff does and it’s definitely a gamble at this point. But I also understand that the shopping portal can’t do much to force Microsoft’s hand, either…so I think waiting and seeing is all we can do.
I picked up my item on December 3, 2019 and it still tracked at only $1 cash back as of yesterday (Dec 8, 2019). So I filed a claim yesterday and here’s the note TCB posted in my claim:
“The following cashback insertion has been allocated to your TopCashback account, with respect to this Missing CashBack Claim. Please allow this to progress to ‘Payable’, and when happy to do so, please close this claim.
Event Date Cashback Amount Purchase Amount
01 Dec 2019 $1.00 $99.99
If the cashback amount is incorrect, please reply by posting us a message and we will look into this for you.”
When I filed the claim, I selected the buy online pickup in store option in the drop down menu, it even showed the expect amount of $19 because $1 is already tracking. Its frustrating to receive this incorrect offer response from them. I have responded to their note as instructed. An other confusion on this claim is it shows claim status as “Ready to submit”. I thought I already submitted, but at the same time, there’s no submission option anywhere. Maybe I need to be on an computer (reading this on my mobile) I’ll update when I hear back from them.
My most recent update:
“Hi there,
We will use this claim to query the difference in cashback that you have been expecting. Your claim will be submitted as part of a batch, you should receive a notification e-mail to let you know when this has been sent.
Thank you and have a nice day!”
I’m not sure if I understand what this means, do I get the difference of $19 or do I not? I don’t have a good feeling of this deal.
I have to say I’m a bit annoyed with TCB, not only the purchase not tracking correctly but I’ve gotten multiple spam emails from them every day since I joined. I unsubscribed a few days back and I get that it can take a while to remove my name so I’ll have to wait and see if I really stop getting spam.
In for one on 2 Dec. The link for the $35 back for new users still worked. Should it have already expired?.
The terms stated that you had to sign up by 11:59 on 12/1, so I don’t expect you’d still get the new account bonus after that.
Doesn’t seem to work. Tracks at 1% CB instead of $20.
Have you picked up yet? I see it tracking the same way. I’m wondering if that will change after pick up (like a hotel that sometimes tracks at $0 initially and then tracks at the full amount after the stay). I’m definitely not sure at this point – hence why I’m curious if you’ve picked up?
I already picked up and only see $1 pending.
Like many of the other commenters, I submitted a ticket and will update when I get a response.
I am also seeing $1 cashback pending, I just picked up 2 hours ago but it may take some time to update…
Still $1 this morning
Please keep us updated, debating whether worth driving decently far to pick them up
Will try. Submitted a ticket with TCB this morning. I probably should have waited to open the box, oh well.
Please update the response from TCB if you get one. If the $20 cb does not track, then ideally the $35 welcome bonus won’t either. Hence, making it $20+$55 = $75+tax, which is not that enticing. I would prefer to cancel my order and not pick it up if thats the case.
This is what I heard back
As this is a instore pick up, once you have picked your item up the amount should uplift to the $20 that you have opted in for.
If you have already collected your item, you will need to use the link below to lodge a missing cashback claim.
http://www.topcashback.com/account/enquiries/missingcashbackclaims/submit
Just to follow-up, the above was me posting from my phone, I did submit a missing cashback claim and will report with any updates.
Did they provide any resolution on your ticket ?
Still waiting
Still waiting. It may take a few weeks I feel like. Somewhat humurously, I got notice I earned 99 Microsoft points (probably worth about 2 cents total) har har har
just 1 $ . Already picked up. Raised a ticket with TCB …lets see…but disappointed with the sound quality.
Let us know if you get any response from TCB. Thanks !
Thanks for all of the updates. Mine still shows $1 also, though I won’t be able to pick up for a couple more days. I look forward to hearing you those of you who submitted tickets to find out what happens. Updating the post to point to this issue now.
I just submitted a ticket, and it was clearly a known issue for TopCashBack. They had little notes during the claims process saying it was, noting that $20 was expected, and they adjusted the amount to $19 since $1 was already showing. But no immediate fix offered. Their note says “Once your claim has been submitted to the merchant’s network, it might take a few months before we have any news, but please be assured that we will be in touch as soon as we can.”
If you have the $10 gift card from microsoft, you can stack it further.
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/ymmv-microsoft-store-10-free-giftcard/
I really don’t like that you’re using the sign-up bonus as part of the stack. That’s Krazy Coupon Lady-level clickbait. Every week, she has a few posts touting free items or moneymakers – but only when counting the referral bonus for this or that portal. And that site, just as FM, is heavy on the free or deeply discounted stuff (though it’s usually toothpaste, not flights/hotels/gear)… so it’s dishonest to present it as another free/deeply discounted item.
If the idea is to unlock the $35 CB quickly, just make a post outlining the best ways to do so, with offers that meet the following requirements:
– TCB beats the rest without counting the SUB;
– the item earns at least $10 on TCB;
– potential “filters”: the deal stacks with card-linked offers and/or deeply discounted GC(s) and/or big discounts (e.g. Black Friday, Cyber Monday) and/or store credit and/or rebates.
Make it clear from the start what the deal is (a one-time SUB for new members), and even so, keep the calculation with the SUB as secondary.
This blog is heavy on math and logic. Please keep it that way.
Dishonest? Come on. This is a great deal whether or not you’re a new customer to TopCashBack, and most of us probably have a few friends or family who don’t yet have TCB. The math is all laid out pretty quickly here — couldn’t have taken more than 35 seconds to read far enough to know how it works and decide whether or not it applies to you / is interesting without the new member bonus (it sure was for me). Not everything fits in the headline 100% of the time, but I don’t feel like there was much of a time investment in reading this one and it’s an awesome deal either way.
I mean, for that matter, not everyone has a Chase business card, not everyone who does has the offer, not everyone who has the offer hasn’t used it, etc. The headline could say that they’re on sale for $99.99 — but then 99% of the people would miss that they can get the absolute best deal on on an item that is hugely popular this year, whether or not you’re new to TCB.
To be clear, we don’t get anything out of people signing up for TCB — highlighting how to stack it here is just so readers can stack a great deal, which is really easy to do on this.
I’ll add that in my opinion, a post like this is useful in highlighting how to stack opportunities. Sometimes, we all miss details that can make for a great deal. The $20 cash back for store pickup here is a great example — quite a few folks between above and via FB / etc have asked where I was seeing the $20 back. That’s right on the TCB page and quite a few folks have missed it even when they were looking for it — highlighting how easy it is to miss a great deal like this and why a post like this can be useful for folks who are interested in stacking a great deal. As noted in week in review around the web, I’ve gotten a few family members set up with TCB this week. My wife hadn’t previously had an account, nor had my in-laws, etc. This post once again highlights how useful it is to play this game in multi-player mode, something most of us could maximize a bit better.
All that said, I’ll note an update: It looks like I only have $1 in cash back pending for this order. I hope to see that change when I pick up in store — I guess we’ll see….
I got the same thing, yet to trigger the$20 in store but I opened a ticket just in case. Everything appears to have triggered
Okay, so you’re saying it’s not clickbait and not dishonest. It’s… unintentionally misleading, then. Unintentionally bait-and-switchy? I don’t know, I prefer a more accurate (even if less concise) headline. “Galaxy Buds for $100, $80, $75, $55, or $20 (YMMV)” isn’t clean, but it’s accurate and will probably get the same number of clicks. “Huge stacking opportunity on Galaxy Buds (as little as $20 w/TCB signup)” is also accurate, though maybe less clicks. “Galaxy Buds as low as $55 with stack, $20 w/TCB signup” may be better. I’m sure a better writer than me can come up with something better than any of those, that also doesn’t imply “these are $20 for everyone/most people.” There’s also no talk of opportunity cost, which kind of irks me (buying these is not a “required activity”), especially with a one-time-only deal.
I don’t mind the business cards or YMMV card-linked offers at all. Many people have the former, and I know that any stack will be subject to the availability and prior use of the latter. But those offers come and go, the SUB is one-time-only.
I also don’t mind the time spent reading it twice, or writing and rewriting my original comment, or writing this one. It’s not the time investment, it’s the similarity to that blog that’s gone downhill, or that other one, or that other one… I’m willing to put in the time to provide feedback. What else is there to do on a cold and icy November day?
Well, thanks for your feedback. Though I obviously disagreed with your sentiment, I do appreciate you taking the time to share it.
One thing I take issue with is the perspective that this or anything you find on this site was written for “clicks”. I guess on the one hand, of course I want people to read what I write; why else would I have been awake at 2am writing this post? Of course I wanted people to read it *so they could take advantage of a great deal*. To be completely honest with you, the term “clickbait” has always seemed ridiculous to me. Of course a writer’s job is to write a headline that makes you want to find out more. If it didn’t, it wouldn’t be a very good headline and the writer will have wasted their time putting in the effort to write the piece in the first place. I know I’m in the minority in my ambivalence toward what others with label as “clickbait” — I really couldn’t care two iotas if I click a link that ends up not being about what I expected as I can click the back button a few seconds later and move on. Again, I know my perspective appears to be in the minority on that, but I have much less animosity over it than most.
On the other hand, whether a post gets ten clicks or ten thousand clicks doesn’t materially change my life — the reason we do what we do is to add value. I think you’ll find that our posts do add value. I think what bothers people most about what they label as “clickbait” is when the article offers them no value. I think you’ll rarely find that here — and indeed in this case, whether you’re new to TCB or not, you’re not going to find these for less than you can via this deal (assuming that in-store pick up does trigger the $20 back, which I note that I’m not sure about since I haven’t done it but I expect it to work. I ordered for pick up but won’t be able to do so until late this week), so my perspective is that this is still a great deal (and I think that most people could in fact find an opportunity within their family to take advantage of the deal as written). Our focus here is on earning miles without flying and leveraging credit card rewards and benefits for great value — which is exactly what this post is about.
For the record, my opinion on this is just my opinion. Greg and/or Stephen certainly may agree with you and have rather written the headline differently. Hopefully more of our headlines, and more importantly the content you find in our posts, are useful to you than not.
I wouldn’t take the term “clickbait” in my original post too literally. As I said in my second comment, I’m not sure what the proper term is.
I think that if you wouldn’t have bought them for $55, it’s irrational to allow the $35 SUB to affect your decision*. A mention – in large, green, bold font – of the $35 SUB within a “$55” article is IMO enough for the few that can take advantage of both offers, and doesn’t lead readers to a decision they may not have made if they considered all their options.
*unless you’re signing up someone who will never use TCB, I guess (in which case, you may still be “taking” $35 from them)
There’s another blog, started by a guy named Brian, that loves to couple rare or one-time-only bonuses with great/good/just-OK redemptions, erroneously calling something that many wouldn’t buy “free,” or placing an erroneously low price on the same – by counting the otherwise liquid bonus. This blog is at the opposite end of the spectrum when it comes to value and rationality, so the headline was a bit unexpected. In the end, this is a good post to forward to friends and family, and beginners of all sorts, as it’s a good example of how far we can stretch our dollar when we take advantage of multiple tools in our toolbox. It just doesn’t reflect my way of thinking, and the logic could, in the long run, lead to overestimating value or underestimating (opportunity) cost.
I do find FM extremely valuable and am immensely thankful for all you, Greg, and Stephen do – both in highlighting sources of real value and in keeping us rational. And you’re my favorite writer, among all in the miles/points world.
Thanks for taking the time to respond, and know that your eagerness to engage with readers counts a lot more toward keeping you at the top; than an article that doesn’t jive with me could count against it.
I’m trying to find anywhere that the offers say specifically Samsung. Am I missing it or would the same deal work for the $100 Bose Soundsports?
Absolutely should. Anything that’s around $100 would come down to a pretty awesome deal with this stack.
Is the Purchase on line, store pick up offer still on? Is yes, does anyone know how to find this offer on the Top Cash Back website? Thanks in advance!
Never mind, I just found it 🙂 In case anyone else is looking, the offer is under a list of Microsoft offers.