“Click here to get your refund!” All SNCF Connect users or almost all have already seen this message displayed on their screen after purchasing train tickets. Friday October 13, 2023, BFMTV revealed that the railway company had taken the decision to stop this cashback offer “in the coming months”. According to the channel managed by Marc-Olivier Fogiel, this offer would no longer be “aligned with the demands of its customers”. As a reminder, the contract signed with WebLoyalty proposed an offer to SNCF Connect customers: to have part of their order reimbursed by subscribing to the platform… for the sum of 18 euros per month. Users who are not observant or not very adept at the Internet may not notice at first glance that this offer of partial reimbursement of a train ticket required a monthly subscription of almost 20 euros, which could mislead them. “Webloyalty takes note of the SNCF’s decision to end the partnership relationship that binds us”, the company said in a press release.. And to add: “We remain very satisfied with all the work accomplished alongside SNCF since January 2019, the essence of which has always been in favor of the purchasing power of the French.”
A feature with questionable commercial practices?
Although using cashback is perfectly legal, this practice is widely criticized by consumer associations. After validating this practice, the Ministry of Transport declared in a press release that cashback was an increasingly used mode of consumption in France, “that more than 6 in 10 French people said they knew in 2019”. “It is therefore an additional service for customers who wish it. As part of the freedom of commercial management available to SNCF, Oui SNCF has joined forces, since January 2019, with the cashback company Webloyalty to offer explicitly to its customers certain paid programs (monthly subscription) offering reductions to their members on partner sites”, he added. In 2019, the Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) addressed this practice “from the angle of deceptive commercial practices” during a workshop.