Complete Savings review: everything you need to know - Be Clever With Your Cash (2024)

Will you earn enough cashback to cover the monthly fee?

Complete Savings is a paid for cashback site but claims to give you a minimum of 10% cashback on your online shopping and big discounts on giftcards.

So how does it compare to the free cashback sites like Quidco and TopCashback, and does a paid membership actually give you value for money?

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What is Complete Savings?

Complete Savings is a cashback site with a difference. You actually pay to be a member, unlike Quidco and TopCashback which have free and paid memberships.

You may not recognise the name, but you’ve certainly come across their welcome offer pop-ups if you shop online. It usually appears after you’ve completed the transaction and are then offered the chance to earn back a portion of what you’ve just spent.

Complete Savings pay a minimum of 10% cashback, far higher than their competitors and they also sell gift cards with up to 20% off. They are partnered with over 1,350 online retailers, so there are plenty of shops to earn your cashback from.

Is Complete Savings a scam?

Sounds good right? Well, they’ve had some bad press over the years, and deservedly so.

People have signed up without realising it’s initially just a free trial (it’s not hugely clear), and once the first month is over a hefty charge kicks in every month. Though it can be possible to earn this back each month, many have ended up losing money. Hence a reputation as a bit dodgy.

This fee is something you absolutely need to be wary of, but as we explain more, using the site frequently could be worth a look, and with some effort you might be able to wipe out the fee completely.

How do I join Complete Savings?

You can only join Complete Savings by clicking on a link that comes after a purchase at a particular retailer.Sites where you’ll see the pop-up often include eBay, Trainline, Iceland, Dominoes and Argos, just to name a few. There does not appear to be a way to join up, other than clicking through the link.

How much does Complete Savings cost?

Complete Savings is free for the first 30 days and £18 per month thereafter (or £15 for some). It’ll show on your card statement as wly*completesave.co.uk.

Complete Savings Welcome bonus

If you sign up to the free trial after completing an online purchase, there is usually an offer of cashback (at the time of writing, £20.87 seems to be the offer on the table!)

If your membership pack states you can claim your welcome bonus on the purchase you made prior to joining the Complete Savings, you can claim by going to your earnings page and following the instructions you must claim within 90 days of joining.

But if your membership pack says you have to make a second purchase to get your cashback, you will need to make another qualifying purchase. You need to do this within 90 days of joining, and then claim the welcome bonus by submitting your receipt.

We’re not sure why there are different membership rules but it’s an easy one to miss, so check your membership details so you don’t lose the welcome bonus.

What is the monthly bonus?

The monthly bonus will usually cover your membership fee. To get it however, you need to remember to submit your receipt each month.

It seems there are again, two types of membership rules for this bonus. You will need to check your individual membership pack to see which camp you come under.

Some members just have to make a purchase at any partner retailer at least once a month and submit that receipt to receive the bonus.But for others, the purchase has to be made from the retailer they initially signed up through.

If you can claim your monthly bonus when you shop at any of their partners, then it’s a great way to have the monthly fees paid, but you must remember to submit a receipt each month.

If you are limited to a certain retailer, then it could be much more difficult to claim your monthly bonus unless it’s a regular retailer you visit and purchase from.

Unfortunately, the Complete Savings website is very vague and does not explain who gets what offer, so check your terms and conditions to see what yours says.

And although we can’t verify that this works, there are rumours out there of hacks to get your monthly bonus, such as if Trainline is the site you initially signed up to Complete Savings with, you could purchase a cheap child ticket for less than £1 and use that receipt to claim your monthly bonus as there is no minimum spend specified.

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Complete Savings vs Quidco and TopCashback

Complete Savings appears to pay higher cashback rates at most retailers than Quidco and TopCashback. It pays 10% cashback as a minimum and also allows you to buy gift cards with up to 20% off (this is an immediate saving, not a cashback offer).

Most of the cashback rates it offers are valid for all customers, unlike Quidco and TopCashback, where the higher rates are often only paid to new customers. There are some new customer only cashback rates on Complete Savings too such as supermarkets so always read the Ts&Cs.

Cashback at Complete Savings is paid on the value spent minus taxes and any other fees such as delivery.

Let’s take Argos, for example. If you made a purchase of a sofa for £250, here’s the cashback you would get.

So with a large purchase like this, even if you subtracted the monthly fee, you’d be much better off using Complete Savings for cashback. But in theory, you’re not going to make big purchases like that every month that would cover the membership fee, although small purchases do add up.

If you discounted the monthly bonus, and just looked at what you would have to spend to cover the membership fee, this would equate to around £185 a month based on a 10% cashback rate (there are higher ones).

Now if this is doable for you, the Complete Savings may be the cashback site for you. If on the other hand, you don’t spend that kind of money online on a monthly basis, then you may be better off with Quidco, TopCashback or Airtime Rewards.

Just to note, there is a maximum limit of £250 cashback that you can earn each month, but since you would have to spend £2,500 excluding tax to get to this, it’s probably not a monthly worry for most individuals!

Which retailers are on Complete Savings?

There are over 1,350 retailers, including big brands like Marks and Spencer, H&M, holiday sites like On The Beach and Thomas Cook and supermarkets including Tesco and Morrisons.

I’ve just joined up and can see some really good offers such as 11% cashback when you book a holiday through Tui and there’s even offers to save extra money on cruises. Then there’s 11% cashback on all purchases at eBay, 10% back on all Deliveroo orders, 12% from Tu clothing and the list goes on.

Purchasing discounted gift cards

Complete Savings offers discounted gift cards and you can buy up to £100 of gift cards each month.

Many are offered with a 20% discount, including Argos and One4All, although the discount offered and the retailers is subject to change. Discounts vary from 3% for gift cards from stores such as B&Q and Screwfix, 6-10% for many restaurant and coffee shop gift cards, including Pizza Hut, Prezzo, Toby Carvery and Costa, 3% for Morrisons, 4% for Sainsbury’s and Tesco plus so many more to choose from.

This means that at the time of writing, you could buy a £100 Argos gift card for £80, so it’s worth doing if you want to make a big purchase as the 20% discount on gift cards, actually beats the 10% cashback. Just to note, most retailers on Complete Savings, stipulate that they do not pay cashback when gift cards are used as payment, although not all state this in their terms and conditions.

The expiration of the gift cards vary but most seem to be valid for between 1 and 5 years, but you will need to check individual Gift Cards before you purchase. Here’s more on how to make sure you don’t get caught out using gift cards for your everyday shopping.

How do I receive my cashback?

Any cashback earned on Complete Savings is paid into your bank account when you have more than £5 in cashback funds and you request a transfer.

You must have an active account to receive your cashback, and some cashback can take up to 90 days to track. That means if you cancel before it’s been paid you will miss out.

How to cancel Complete Savings

Frustratingly, cancelling isn’t as simple as clicking a button. If you do wish to leave after the free period or later, then you can cancel your membership by:

• Email – [emailprotected]
• Phone – 0800 389 6960 (Monday to Friday 8:00am – 8:00pm and Saturday 9:00am – 4:00pm). Free from UK landlines and mobiles.
• Chatbot – on website
• Post – Fill in a cancellation form which you can download, then send to Complete Savings, Sentinel House, Airspeed Road, Portsmouth, PO3 5RF

If the cashback owed is a large amount and greater than a month or two’s membership fee, it may be worth sticking around to claim the cashback and cancelling once you have received your cash.

Is Complete Savings worth it?

Given the bad press it has received, you’d think we’d be warning you away from Complete Savings. Well, that is the case if you’re a casual online shopper and are likely to forget to take full advantage.

But if you can cover the monthly fee, either through cashback from online shopping, buying discounted gift cards, or claiming the monthly bonus, then Complete Savings may be the cashback site for you.

It is one you’ll have to stay on top of and remember to use it and to claim your bonuses or you’ll end up paying the monthly fee with nothing to show for it. But for 10% cashback on many of your online purchases, this makes it worth exploring.

Nicky’s experience

Now since none of the team were members of Complete Savings, we couldn’t speak from experience per se, so I thought I’d give it a whirl.

I received an offer of £20.87 cashback from Complete Savings with a £9.85 purchase from eBay. That’s a great amount and a free month’s trial too.

Well, just two weeks in and I moved house, so inevitably there were some big purchases to be made. And since it was also a bank holiday weekend, with lots of discounts on the usual furniture websites, I made my first purchase of a bed from Simba having clicked through Complete Savings.

And voila! Just 8 days later, I was awarded 10% cashback on the full amount (so not even excluding the tax paid). A whopping £109.35 cashback is heading to my bank account (it can take up to 30 days to appear).

So onto the Welcome Bonus, which for me, was payable with a purchase from any of the merchants on Complete Savings. I had to send a copy of my email confirmation or receipt for a purchase via a form on their website, so I did so for the purchase from Simba – this was easier to do on my PC as I couldn’t quite get the copying and saving the email done on my phone! But just one day later, it is confirmed, so £20.87 is also heading my way.

Next to claim is the Monthly Bonus, which for me must be a purchase from eBay. I chose eBay as my initial sign-up merchant since it’s a site I frequent regularly and there are plenty of small value items to purchase on there, should I want to make a random cheap purchase just to get the monthly £18 bonus. I’ll update here when I’ve made a few monthly bonus submissions, to let you know how easy, or hard it really is.

I must admit, I was sceptical of Complete Savings – the bad press, the fact you could only join through a pop-up advert, the varying rules for different customers. It all put me off and didn’t fill me with confidence.

But I eat my hat! I am a convert. The Complete Savings website is impressive and shows you exactly what bonuses are available to you and how long you have to claim them.

Should the monthly bonus claims be as simple as everything I’ve done so far, I can see Complete Savings being my cashback site of choice and that is quite something coming from a die-hard Quidco fan like myself. Now whether I’ll always remember to claim my monthly bonus, or complete my purchase through Complete Savings is the question, but I guess I’ll see and touch back in with an update in a few months.

Complete Savings pros and cons

Pros

• High paying cashback rates
• It’s possible to avoid the monthly fee

Cons

• High monthly fee
• Annoying to cancel
• You need to regularly use it to make a profit
• Hard to see much information unless you’re a member
• Inconsistent new member and monthly bonus rules
• It’s easy to sign up without realising there’s an ongoing cost