Why we started looking

Most coverage of this category is operator marketing with the pronouns changed and a referral link attached. The figures came from the brand, the payout claim came from a help page, and nobody involved has ever filed a redemption. That was irritating enough to go and check for ourselves.

What the work involves

Register, buy in with our own money, run the promotional balance down, file a redemption, start a clock. Three times per brand, spread over three weeks. Then write down what actually happened, including the parts that make an operator look poor, and order the list by outcomes rather than by the size of the welcome offer.

Who pays for it

Readers who register through a commercial link generate a commission, disclosed on every page carrying one. The rate is settled before we start looking and locked afterwards. Several brands on this list pay nothing at all and hold the positions their cashiers earned. An arrangement that required a position to move would be an arrangement we ended.

The limits of this desk

We are not an operator. No stake, no balance and no redemption passes through this site, and we have no standing to intervene between you and a brand. We are not lawyers either, so treat nothing here as legal advice about your own state.

Tell us when something slips

A figure that has drifted or a claim that no longer holds is worth an email. It gets checked, corrected in place, and annotated with what changed. Being corrected beats being quoted inaccurately.