michael c.

So I had previously filed a complaint with the Attorney General's Office of Indiana. I provided them with documentation proving that I had earned money with CouponCabin and that their customer service agent made clear that I did not violate their Terms and Conditions in the process. Further, my documentation showed that my account was terminated because I stated a legal concern regarding their lack of transparency.

This is CouponCabin's response to my complaint:

"... we have stated that [my] use of the site and our Cash Back program triggered a number of red flags as sharing characteristics with history user behavior that misused and exploited the program to gain cash back beyond the rules and normal functioning of the program. These security systems have been implemented to protect the Cash Back program from fraudsters and those seeking to game the program and manipulate its normal functioning to accrue undeserved cash back amounts.

In addition to the termination of [my] account due to his abusive and derogatory communications, the legitimacy of the pending cash back in his account was called into question by our security systems. CouponCabin has broad discretion to make
Determinations regarding misuse or exploitation of the Cash Back program... we have wide latitude to protect our business and our Cash Back program against potential misuse and fraudulent activity.

Because [my] account is now terminated as a result of his violations of our Terms and Conditions, and because the pending cash back in his account has been called into question, we are unable to issue... the payment he is demanding."

This statement is in direct contradiction to what CouponCabin's customer service agent said to me prior to, and after, my account was terminated.

First, in regards to my account termination, here is what the customer service agent, said:

"Given your desire to seek legal action, we feel that the best course is to close your account and issue a final payment for the cash back you have pending."

Second, in regards to their concerns about me committing fraud, this is what the CSR had to say when I first contacted customer service:

"Our security system has detected what it deems unnatural activity originating from your account and/or computer network and as a result, your account is eligible for check payments only... and that your account remains in good standing and is open for you to earn cash back as you normally would."

At no point would the CSR elaborate on what this "unnatural activity" was, nor has anyone else. In any case, they very clearly did not deem my account to have accrued money by committing fraud, otherwise they would have terminated my account because
Of that and stated that I would not receive my money because of these concerns. However, the CSR plainly stated that my account was in good standing, and that I would receive my money. Therefore, CouponCabin's lawyer very clearly lied to the Attorney General's Office in Indiana just to avoid paying a measly $76.86, which I lawfully earned.

Also, at no point had anyone from CouponCabin told me that they were concerned about fraud. I don't know how much clearer it can be that this company steals money from its members and has not qualms about lying to the authorities, even when there is
Evidence contradicting them.

If you have a legitimate complaint against this company, I urge you to file it, and include documentation, with the AG offices of Indiana and Illinois. I believe that the only way anyone is going to do anything about this company is if enough people file complaints.

Their Terms and Conditions make it basically impossible to sue them in Small Claims Court because the case has to be filed in Lake County, IN, which is an onerous burden. The same is true for arbitration. Unfortunately, our laws have not caught up to the internet age. If you have a problem with a local company, you can sue the local company in your local court. However, with these companies that operate online only, they can write their Terms so that you can only file in one location. Justice is simply impossible. How much money would a company like CouponCabin have to owe someone living in, say, California, to make it worthwhile for the person living in California to fly to Lake County, IN in order to appear in court? It's ridiculous. There is basically no oversight in regards to these companies. They can lie with impunity to government officials even when documentation is sitting right there that clearly contradicts their lies. Maybe there's some mechanism that obligates these companies to at least respond to the AG's office, but the office has no teeth, so all they can do is put the issue into a permanent file. Maybe if enough people file complaints they can do something.

Even if they can't though, filing the complaints is still worthwhile. Why? It forces the lawyer to have to respond to the claims. I suggest that if you do have a complaint, send the formal letter to the lawyer demanding your money, and also file complaints with the BBB and with the AG offices of Indiana and Illinois. You may not get your money back, but at least this company will be spending money paying their lawyer to lie.

CouponCabin terminated my account in Jan. 16th after I expressed a legal concern regarding their lack of transparency. I've been trying to collect the money I had earned that had not yet paid out ever since. If you've been following along with this saga, I had sent a formal demand letter to CouponCabin's legal department around the beginning of March, but after 30 days, I still had not heard back, which is when I posted my previous update. Two days later, however, CouponCabin's lawyer, *, overnighted me a response letter.

The response letter essentially stated that they would not communicate with me except through a lawyer and/or through the Small Claims Court and/or binding arbitration processes due to my repeated threats of legal action. Of course, this is a gross mischaracterization of statements made by me regarding legal action. There was, in fact, only a potential threat of legal action in the event that CouponCabin did not pay me the money owed. If they paid that money, I'd have no reason to seek legal action. This letter, and in particular one that * sent to the Illinois Attorney General's office in response to a complaint I made, contained what I will diplomatically refer to as factual errors. In neither case did * make any mention whatsoever of the money owed me or my attempts to collect and seemed to feign ignorance of my objective.

Regardless, I did attempt to reach out to * in order to settle the matter amicably outside of court. He provided an email address to which I could direct communication from my attorney (as though anyone is going to hire an attorney to collect $76.86). I made clear that what I wanted was the money owed to me, at which point I would let the matter rest.

I pointed out to him (again) that CouponCabin informed me on Jan. 15th that I was owed money, and their own customer service representative, *, also informed me that I was owed this money. Further, * also stated that my account was in good standing despite whatever security issue caused my account to no longer be able to be paid out via Paypal. This is particularly important when you examine their Terms and Conditions. Section 3 of the Terms and Conditions, specifically paragraph III, "Termination of Your Membership," states: "If your membership is terminated by CouponCabin, CouponCabin may refuse to pay some or all of the amounts credited to your account if such amounts appear or are suspected (as determined in the sole and exclusive discretion of CouponCabin) to have been earned in violation, or after violation, of these Terms or to have been otherwise unlawfully obtained." Based on *s statement, they did not believe that I had violated their T&C in earning this money. * even informed me that a check would be forthcoming. Therefore, CouponCabin is in violation of their own T&C.

CouponCabin seems to have no problem using their T&C as a weapon against consumers, but when it applies to them, they have little regard for it. It is my opinion that they are betting that most people will not put in the time and effort to go to court or arbitration in order to recoup small sums of money. I wonder how many accounts they've terminated without paying out what those account holders were owed. I would not be surprised to find this to be a significant source of income for them.

So, what options are available now? Clearly they have no interest in acting in good faith. They won't communicate with me, and they've avoided any mention of money as though they were allergic to it. There are two primary courses of action. First, I can sue in Small Claims Court. It would cost about $90 plus some additional expenses related to serving CouponCabin. However, if I were to win, I could recover these expenses from CouponCabin. Other people in my situation may not want to choose Small Claims Court, though, because of location. I think you'd have to either live in Illinois or Indiana or go to one of those states to file.

The other option is arbitration. CouponCabin's T&C make this option seem equally unappealing because they state that you'd have to do this in Lake County, IN. However, JAMS, the arbitration company, specifically states that the consumer must be allowed to take part in choosing the arbiter, and they must also be allowed to have the venue take place in their hometown. So, despite what CouponCabin's T&C state, if you want to file an arbitration claim, it should not matter where you live. The filing fee is $250, however if you win CouponCabin will have to pay it. Additionally, CouponCabin has to pay several thousand dollars in fees to the arbitration company to have JAMS process the claim and arbitrate it. I don't know CouponCabin's record when it comes to these sorts of cases, but it is entirely possible that if you were to file and arbitration claim, CouponCabin may opt to settle with you rather than pay all of these fees to JAMS. So, if you've got a good case, you may wish to go this route. Perhaps if enough people did, CouponCabin might choose to change their practices.

Additionally, I highly recommend you file a complaint with the Attorney General's Office in Illinois. They will probably tell you that they aren't going to do anything, but perhaps if enough people complain, they will have no choice but to take the issue seriously and investigate this company.

*Personal information redacted by admin

This is another update to my previous review. To quickly sum up, in January 2019, I was told that I could no longer receive payouts via Paypal. They wouldn't explain why. In the ensuing conversation, they opted to close my account. However, the customer service rep clearly stated that I was still owed money. As was explained, my account had been in good standing, and I earned money legitimately. I was told that it would take 10 or so days to send out my check. Upon further contact, I was told that I had to write and mail a letter to their legal department, and they would get back to me in writing within 30 days.

Well, at the end of February, I sent a letter to their legal department (mailed via certified mail and signed for in early March) detailing the situation. I provided proof that I was owed money and requested that they send me a check. I'm sure that it will surprise no one to learn that I have received no response at all. I contacted customer service again to explain that although I followed their instructions, I did not receive the promised reply. Again, I am sure that it will surprise no one to learn that I have received no reply to that message either.

Clearly, this company has made it their policy to close accounts for various reasons and not pay money that was properly earned. This would be like getting fired or laid off from a job, and your former employer refused to pay the money you earned from your last paycheck until your termination. I expect that they are banking on people giving up trying to collect and not bothering to sue them even if it's clear that they'd win. I expect the merchants CouponCabin refers members to would not be terribly pleased to be associated with this kind of behavior.

I was looking at their app in the Google Play store, and I noticed that a reviewer named Kyle relayed a very similar story to mine at around the same time as my initial experience. I would say that if you've had a similar experience with this company that you should go and write reviews for their apps as that will probably reach a lot more people than web reviews.

I'm writing an update to my original review.

On Jan. 15th, I received an email telling me that I could no longer receive money via Paypal transfer. They detected what they called "unnatural activity," but they could not explain what this was, nor did they determine that it was a violation of their Terms and Conditions. All they would say was that it happened and there was no way to resolve it. Detecting an issue is one thing but saying that it was impossible to ever resolve and therefore I would need to accept payment via paper check from henceforth is another, and it smelled fishy to me. They said their T&C covered this, but I could not locate such a passage, and they wouldn't point me to it or explain it. I accepted their resolution of paper checks, but I also said that this transparency issue concerned me and it may constitute a legal issue. They immediately closed my account. I received this message:

"Given your desire to seek legal action, we feel that the best course is to close your account and issue a final payment for the cash back you have pending. This is usually a ten-day process, but based on your note, I will escalate this to our Chief Financial Officer so we can get a final payment processed within the next 48 hours.

Sincerely,

Sydney K.
Customer Success Associate
CouponCabin team member since 2014"

Any further contact with CouponCabin has left me with this message:

"The Customer Success team is no longer able to provide assistance for this issue. For additional information regarding your account or CouponCabin's Terms and Conditions, please contact us in writing at the address below. Please include your return address and allow 30 days for our written response.

CouponCabin LLC
Attn: Legal Department
1319 119th St., 2nd Floor
Whiting, Indiana *******
You may review CouponCabin's Terms and Conditions by visiting the URL below:

https://www.couponcabin.com/terms/

Michaela S.
Vice President of Customer Satisfaction
CouponCabin Team Member since 2015
CouponCabin shareholder since 2016"

Based on my interactions with Sydney K., it is clear that they never viewed anything I did as a violation of their Terms and Conditions prior to mentioning the potential legal issue. It was the mention of a potential legal issue that got my account closed. Sydney K. Even said, after my account was closed, that I was still due the money that I earned while a member. And yet, here it is, Feb. 23rd, and I have yet to receive payment.

It's clear to me that they have decided to not process my payment, which is a violation of their own Terms and Conditions, and want to make it as difficult as possible for me to chase down my own money in the hopes that I won't bother, thus allowing them to keep the money owed to me. This is a devious business practice that, in my opinion, amounts to theft. CouponCabin does have an email address for their legal department (*******@couponcabin.com), and I have sent multiple requests to them for payment, but my requests have been ignored. Now I will have to spend more time and money sending them a letter via certified mail asking them for the check they should have already sent. And if they ignore that, I will have to wait a bit before filing a suit in Small Claims Court, which they will probably not even bother attending knowing that the judgement will go against them, so they might as well waste my time before sending me the check I'm owed. It seems to me that it is just a matter of time before this company's shady dealings catch up to them. I would not be surprised to read about them being hit with a class action lawsuit sometime in the future. Avoid this company at all costs. It's just not worth it.

If you have had a similar experience with CouponCabin, you might consider filing a consumer complaint. You can do so with the Illinois Attorney General's Office here:

http://www.illinoisattorneygeneral.gov/consumers/filecomplaint.html

The FTC here:

https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/#crnt&panel1-1

And the Better Business Bureau here:

https://www.bbb.org/consumer-complaints/file-a-complaint/get-started

I've already filed complaints at all three. If anyone can think of another place to file a complaint, let me know. Also, I'm considering writing letters to the companies that do business with CouponCabin. We click through CouponCabin in order to make a purchase at places such as Target and Walmart, and presumably these merchants provide CouponCabin with a referral payment based on the amount we purchase, a cut of which is supposed to be shared with the people making the purchase. However, if CouponCabin is screwing over the purchasers, the merchants may reconsider doing business with CouponCabin.

I'd steer clear of this company due to transparency issues. They flagged my account for what they deemed "unnatural activity," but they could not explain to me what this activity was or why their security flagged it. Additionally, due to this flagging, they would no longer allow me to receive my cashback electronically (through Paypal, for example) and would only send me paper checks. When I inquired about these problems, all they would tell me was that this problem happened and there was no way to ever resolve in. I had to either accept paper checks from henceforth or no longer be a member. They stated that their terms and conditions covered this, but when I asked where the relevant passage in the T&C was, they ignored me. I couldn't find it. I complained about their lack of transparency and stated that I might have to look into whether or not this was a legal issue, and they promptly closed my account and will not respond other than to tell me that I have to write a letter to their legal department, at which point they'd get back to me within 30 days. So, I am left not knowing what this unnatural activity was or whether or not it poses a threat to my system. This company just isn't worth the headaches, especially when there are other companies out there doing the same thing.