Zoupon Merchant - Kedai Satay, 186 King St, Melbourne

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zoupon.com.au

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  mick123 on 07/01/2011 - 12:03

  +3

  yea this is the problem with these restaurant ones, which is why i stopped buying them. the website (zoupon, ouffer, scoopn etc) do not do enough to enforce the rules and really, the restaurant should not be asking if you have a voucher.
  Myer or Coles do not ask you before if you have a gift card.
  I say make the booking and don't tell them you have the voucher.
  Give the voucher once seated at the table. If they say you didnt mention it at time of booking, say you were not asked. the person seating you is unlikely to be the one that took the booking (if it is a fairly busy restaurant).

  I know this is not the best way to do it, but if they want to play that game, we have to as well.

• 

  h4lcyon on 07/01/2011 - 12:43

  Why should it matter, really they should honour the coupon / voucher and hope that you come back.

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  llama on 07/01/2011 - 13:03

  +5

  Why do these restaurants promote themselves using the likes of Zoupon, and then create a poor experience for the people they are paying to promote to?

  They deserve to fail, they are as dumb as dogsh.. :-D

  • 

    allthedeals.com.au on 12/01/2011 - 22:09

    It's crazy isn't it?

    There is no point business offering a deal if they are going to do a half-ar*ed job of it .. they (usually) lose money on the deal and there is no chance the customer will be coming back.

    Worse still, they'll post what a bad experience they had on OzBargain!

    The whole point is that they provide such an amazing meal and service that you become a repeat customer.

• 

  iNeedMoreMoney on 07/01/2011 - 13:52

  there's always a couple of bad ones out there, but I'm sure there are good ones also…

  i agree, the bad ones will fail.

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  samfisher5986 on 07/01/2011 - 16:34

  as mentioned above, make a regular booking, then when its time to pay, give them the voucher?

  There is nothing they can do about it.

  • 

    moooooooo on 08/01/2011 - 12:00

    +2

    Don't some vouchers require you to (1) make a booking and (2) mention the voucher at the time of booking? If you don't tell them at the time of booking, it could be seen as a breach of the T&C's so they could potentially make you pay full price?

    Of course, you would argue that yes, you did mention it. Absolutely. And if they didn't write it down, that's their problem. It depends on how much of a stink you're prepared to make, I guess.

    • 

      pauly on 08/01/2011 - 16:37

      Don’t some vouchers require you to (1) make a booking and (2) mention the voucher at the time of booking?

      +1. I've seen many deals with this clause. I tend to avoid them.

      IMHO, there should be no reason a business needs to know that you're using a voucher at time of booking, unless they need to specifically prepare the package (specialized food?) prior. Customers using vouchers are still paying customers. If businesses intend to treat voucher customers differently, they shouldn't be on group buy sites to start with.

      This is one of the reasons why I like the concept of entertainment book and I still purchase them yearly.

    • 

      samfisher5986 on 08/01/2011 - 16:51

      There is no way for them to make you pay full price.

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  iNeedMoreMoney on 07/01/2011 - 16:37

  if it doesn't work, get ACA or Today Tonight on the case lol

• 

  ForeverInBlueJeans on 07/01/2011 - 17:01

  +2

  I recently booked a Sydney place (1 chef hatted Omerta) through spreets, asked could I book for a friday with a spreets voucher the reply was "Absolutely sir" was a very friendly staff member, so I guess it's down to the restaurant, as someone pointed out if they treat someone well they'll get return business, bad and well you can just look up on the internet and see the shocking treatment!

• 

  mick123 on 08/01/2011 - 10:51

  +4

  i'd also like to write the below story in case a merchant or potential merchant reads this and wonders if these deals will be good for your business. Its all about the service.

  My mum bought a massage via spreets at Serenity Massage in Miranda Sydney. Normal rate was $49 for 1 hour (which is quite competitive anyway) but the deal was $29(?) for 1 hr 15 min.
  Apparently about 300-400 sold that day for that place, so they did quite well.
  My mum enjoyed it so much and said the product (massage) and the service (from taking the booking, no problems with using a voucher, not giving a lesser service because it was a coupon etc) was great.

  Since then, and this is no exaggeration, 9 family members have gone to that place since in the last 3 weeks (including my mum again) all at full price charge ($49) and some going for the 2 hour ($89).

  Serenity has gone about this the right way, and they have benefitted.

  I am sure other people will tell the same story.

  The one I have a problem with at the moment is Churras in Darlinghurst, bought from ouffer.

  I have tried making bookings but they limit the amount of "voucher" diners on Fri and Sat nights.
  I will use my coupons but will never go back there again even if the food and service is extraordinary (I have heard the service is crap for voucher diners though).

• 

  [Deactivated] on 09/01/2011 - 03:04

  Actually limited access coupons are fine with me. IF I am told before I buy, so I make the decision based on the price vs the convenience.

  This allows a business to give you a discount in exchange for the "conditions".

  When these deals are promoted without conditions and then they are applied afterwards this reflects badly as others have pointed out. BUT as these coupon sites make money out of the promotion THEY are liable for the failed promotion, so should refund the money then recoup that from their "partner", it not up to you to do this and a $5 Goodwill offer sucks unless you paid less than that. As it appears in this and other cases they just take the money and provide nothing.

  This whole buy a coupon business is just open to being abused. While I indicate I would accept conditions properly applied, at the moment I wouldn't touch one with barge pole.

  Frankly ASIC or Consumer affairs needs to set down rules on how they operate, its just cowboys playing with your money and I predict we'll see some scams pop up, just like we are getting with ebay deals now.

  • 

    llama on 09/01/2011 - 14:15

    If the restaurants are concerned about "peak time" traffic, why don't they make the coupon only valid on certain (slow) days like a Tuesday/Wednesday night?

    That way, instead of an empty restaurant, they have a full one on a dead night. A lot of what makes restaurants appear to be "good" to onlookers is how full they are. One that is chocka block full on a weeknight has just GOTTA be a good place to try, eh?

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  jv on 12/01/2011 - 12:33

  If it wasn't stated on the conditions and Zoupon didn't provide me with a refund, I'd just contact my credit card company and they will reverse the transaction no problems !!!

• 

  Craze on 12/01/2011 - 20:00

  Yet another bad marketing strategy by a restaurant- I was tempted to purchase this deal but I'm glad I didn't.

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  undercut on 13/01/2011 - 11:02

  Went there a few weeks ago. Food was nice. We couldn't eat it all, and had almost 2 large mains left over. We asked the staff if we could take the food home with us, but they flatly refused saying that we couldn't take the leftovers home because we were paying with a Zoupon. We offered to pay for the takeaway containers, but they still refused. How ridiculous, and what a waste of food. They would have just thrown it out anyway. Very poor attitude.

  • 

    llama on 13/01/2011 - 11:34

    +3

    You think they would have thrown it away, or more likely saved it to reheat for the next coupon-user?

    • 

      gstfree on 13/01/2011 - 21:41

      Highly possible for such merchant that refused coupon for no reason.

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  gstfree on 13/01/2011 - 21:41

  I'm more affirmative not to involve in "group buy"
  I've been using Entertainment Book for 5 years, never have any drama.

• 

  Liz1 on 09/03/2011 - 07:37

  Here's my first experience using a coupon (and posting).
  Tried to make booking in early Feb for a weekday night and was told I needed to book 2 weeks in advance??
  Anyway went there this week after reading all your informative posts, so I came prepared.

  Basically was told no takeaway allowed as using voucher, as the manager told all the staff.
  I said it was not on the printed terms and conditions and that it was illegal to impose conditions after payment. Made staff ring the manager who said it was stated on the website (no takeaway).

  Pretty sure it wasn't because all the terms and conditions was printed on the voucher however, didn't bother arguing.
  We (only 2 dining) ordered, ate and leftover food I "took away". The staff don't really care and what are they going to do, for food you've paid for?

  After this experience I'm definitely not going back there (food was so-so: grilled ribs good; lamb satay tasted off) and won't be group buying anymore. I don't think it's worth the trouble.

  I agree with JV about getting a credit card refund, that's the only way merchants are going to learn.

• 

  finance on 09/03/2011 - 14:48

  +1

  i've got one of these. after comments here i'll take either more of my friends or bring my own container for take away! At least the food sound to be ok.

  sorry to hear you got this one Liz.
  But i think it really depends on the businesses.
  bought heaps for the place in clifton hill "misskito"
  their have really big food portions and have great service.

  also bought a coupon for a pizza place in cbd which had "new yorker" sized pizza 18".
  thought it was really great and tasted better then most other place i've tried
  the 2nd day. will probably buy it without the voucher.

  I think if the business offer good food and service they would get new customers.
  but if you are a stinger business which offer no service. The coupon thing really doesn't work!
  they are throwing money away along with any reputation they have.