I thought i'd make an official thread for everyone to post their bad experiences with any vouchers that they purchase from any group buy site. I have seen many threads coming up and each time more threads are being linked to it. It will be easy for everyone to have just one thread. In future it will also be easy to have the whole thread as an evidence if required to lodge a formal complaint.
Please mention the group buy site, the voucher/deal and your experience. Great if you leave a date too.
Spreets - buyer beware.. After an initial 2 week fiasco in February this year regarding actually receiving the voucher we forked out $79 for, the birthday recipient is yet so receive a single piece of communication from back to basics beauty - despite emailing and calling repeatedly. 5 months is not an appropriate time to wait to make an appointment, voucher or no voucher. When I intervened I received a rude message form the company - but yet still no offer of an appointment time! Matter has been referred to consumer affairs VIC. Spreets was contacted directly and failed to respond.
Ourdeal.com - extremely unhelpful. BUYER BEWARE.. I bought a voucher for "Express Beauty Bar in Sydney. I have not been able to make an appointment for 4 weeks!! Express Beauty Bar are incompetent and GREEDY. They sold over 600 vouchers and are unable to fulfill their side of the bargain.
I wish I'd never laid eyes on oudeal.com and Express Beauty Bar. Wahhhhhhhhhh!!!
Actually I do have to agree, more and more of these voucher companies are starting to become really difficult to deal with. Due to lots of issues and customer backlash, they are trying to cut down on issuing refunds and / or fixing any issues with the companies that wont honour the vouchers. This would be considered illegal
Site: Scoopon
Business: Australis Retreat at Wisemans
Deal: Accommodation package
Complaint:
I called the above vendor this week to book the 2 night accommodation package that I purchased. With 5 months remaining on the deal, they told me there was not one weekend available!
In the terms and conditions, it states the blockout dates when vouchers are unable to be used (fair enough) and also that 'bookings are subject to availability'. No mention is made of limited or no weekend availability.
I can understand if you were trying to book a specific weekend, but being told that there are NO weekends available for the remaining 5 months of the voucher validity is a bit rich. The woman at the motel also told me that they had sold 1200 vouchers. If you can't service them, you shouldn't be taking peoples' money!!!
I contacted Scoopon to request a refund, considering this is totally unreasonable, but of course they weren't interested. I'm sure that the Department of Fair Trading will be interested in investigating such bogus deals.
Lodge a complaint with the Dept of Fair trading.
i brough two deals with scoopoon for tooth whitening at Prestige Smile in melbourne. the vouchers are vailad till 15th of auguest.
toay, i try to book in and was told all the weekend has been booked out till oct. and only days i can book is from 10th guguest,
which means i will only have three days of choice, 1oth 11th 12th. and they close at 5pm in weekdays.
also, i was told i should book early becasue i brought this deal in feb.
even a 2 weeks in advance is No. then menton in the discprtions, and i won;t buy them.
the scoopoon seems dont care,. they just sale and get the money.
if a business is oversaling, u guys should look into the issue, dont let the custumer do it.
wat a scame, its a 78 dollar deal for two vouchers. and iam for sure asking for a refund. and ever prestge smile let me use
despite the expiration. i will not go and will request for money back.
becaseu the lady who answer my phone stright said to me: oh, u brought this voucher in feb, u should book early.
how good the custume service is !!!!
For this particular type of thing (working in a business that has run several voucher promotions successfully) it's important to not that pretty much EVERYONE leaves it till the last two weeks of the voucher validity in order to book because they think "Oh hell, I need to go do that".
This results in the business being mostly quiet during the first five months of a deal with a few vouchers redeemed here and there and then crazy busy in the last month. Honestly, that portion of things is not their fault, they only have limited capacity to service people and if people have left it to the last moment then there isn't much they can do.
Hi to everyone who has contributed to this post.
Handle My Complaint is looking to help the group buying website industry improve itself to increase customer satisfaction.
We are currently seeking to speak with consumers and businesses that have had issues with any of the group buying sites.
Handle My Complaint is a company that charges a fee to resolve complaints for people. However, we are NOT looking to charge you any money for our service. We are looking to gather your feedback and comments about the good and bad of these sites.
If you would like to voice your opinion or to share your suggested changes, please email your details to [email protected] and we'll give you a call to discuss your opinions.
Thanks for reading,
Jo, Handle My Complaint www.handlemycomplaint.com.au
Sort of like a TIO for group buy companies? If consumers aren't charged the fee then who pays for it?
Hi Neil,
Thanks for asking. There is no cost to consumers, businesses or the group buying websites for this campaign. We are continually looking for ways to improve customer service within Australia and consumer knowledge - this is one opportunity. We have run previous campaigns to improve the customer experience with no cost.
I hope this clarifies,
Jo, Handle My Complaint
Please tell us about these campaigns you have previously run.
Hi voteoften,
Our campaigns are called "Complain for change". We have run previous campaigns on the following issues:
* The Woolworths' Group denying customers access to credit facilities.
* Tell the "Big 4" banks that you want fees and charges reduced on their products and services.
* Support for Brisbane flood victims that were having difficulty receiving insurance payouts by 2 of the insurers.
As the Group Buying Websites are relatively new, we're trying to understand what consumers want before we can run a similar campaign.
Jo, Handle My Complaint
I think if you have a good read of this forum, you will get a pretty good idea of what the buyers want. I don't think this thread is appropriate for this solicitation.
I should also mention, we are also looking for feedback from businesses that have used these sites to launch deals to understand and report back to the deal sites what potential difficulties they could be encountering.
Jo, Handle My Complaint
Hi there. I have had a bad experience with Spreets.com.au
I bought a Burgerman voucher in June 2011. I was unable to redeem the voucher because there is no one answering the phone. I made many many calls from Monday to Sunday. But no one answer. I emailed Spreets and asked for a refund. But what they do is just giving me Burgerman's telephone number which is the one that I called many many times and nobody answer!!! What can I do?
It is probably not too late to do a credit card reversal. Do it today/tomorrow.
Start a separate thread, naming spreets and Burgerman and Spreets might respond on this forum.
Did you try calling the number listed on Burgerman's website: http://www.burgerman.com.au/contact.html
It's different than the one listed on Spreets. Perhaps try that number.
I also got burgerman from spreets and can confirm the phone line is dead, also the store is closed and the property is up for lease. Anyone been sucessful contacting spreets for a refund?
Just an update, Spreets was contacted and a refund was given by Spreets a couple of days later, very happy with Spreets.
Yes. I did call the new number: 02 9360 8883. but nobody answer the phone.
Scoopon are quite deceptive - how's the last deal they are listing in Adelaide. Some fruit company that is non existent on Google and all the RRP are double of all the competitors. Therefore the discount pricing is actually normal price. Deceiving people into thinking they are getting a great deal when the value is actually half what is listed…check it out!
http://www.scoopon.com.au/adelaide
All the RRP are down the bottom of the listing…..
$16.95 / kg of bananas - actually $9.95
$6.99 / kg of navel oranges - actually $2.29
$8.00 / 500g of Pears - actually $2.98
2 x toffee apples = $12.99!?
Who would be $13.00 for two apples!?
I suppose the businesses are being forced to lie about the value of the deals considering that the commission is 40-50%. Surely there are others websites out there that can do it without being deceptive and be more beneficial to the business rather than drowning them in customers and forcing outrageous discounts.
Actually the more I use the voucher companies, the more i realise how dodgy they are becoming. Initially they were good value, but i think they either cant keep it up / cant get all great deals / discounts so then they just create false discounts and basically get the companies to just honour a standard priced deal rather than a discounted price.
I think its more the businesses that are forced to be misleading about pricing to feature as Scoopon and a few other of the big companies charge 35-50% commission.
I am a massage therapist and was looking into doing one of these about 18 months ago and at that time they only charged 15% or so which I thought was fair.
My other issue is that a lot of them started as "One great deal each day" so the businesses had to be competitive to actually get featured, it was a privilege. Now, you have massage, a canvas print, some fat loss thing and some hair removal EVERY DAY. Along with something that you may or may not have seen before.
Information overload is crap. It's just a shopping catalogue now.
Site: Spreets
Business: City Nails and Beauty (Brisbane)
Deal: Indulge in a Dermalogica Deep Cleanser Facial & Expert Brow Wax for Just $29. Worth $90!
Complaint: Business never answered their phone, and their message bank was always too full to leave details.
I contacted Spreets for a refund and they said sorry, the owners had personal issues, please keep trying (last week of a 6 month deal). I told them that was unacceptable and they agreed to a refund. Happy to post the incident discussion thread from Spreets. I have a way with words ;)
Kind of glad my wife didn't go to this one because feedback found elsewhere was all negative and the non-genuine (and expired)-Dermalogica products they were using may not have been safe for our unborn baby.
I've seen a few of the hotel deals and the only ones I would purchase are those that offer a full refund if your preferred dates are not available - usually you have a month or so to book.
I've generally had good experiences with the vouchers I've purchased. Being a shiftworker probably makes it easier for me since I can go mid week.
The few times I've had an issue I've been treated fairly well.
it does seem some restaurants are using these as last gasps to survive.
Possibly the department of fair trading in each state needs to come up with a code of conduct for this industry to ensure some form of qualit control.
I have noticed the expiry of some vouchers is now spanning out over 12 months, so that might be an indication of a company selling too many vouchers.
The voucher concept is great, but if the companies offering them don't make a good impression then they've wasted their money. I see the vouchers as another way to advertise, and lets say my experience at Mocean in Bondi beach was so positive myself and the friend I took still tell people about how good the food and service was, so their bang for buck on that voucher was probably quite high. After all, word of mouth advertising is what they should be after, as well as repeat business.
I just booked a cottage down south in Margaret River right after my daughters private school lets out, but before public school lets out, and I haven't even bought the vouchers yet. I have booked for 2 weeks and am really looking forward to it. Always, try to book before you buy.
Hi there,
I'm a journalist looking into the growing ranks of customers who've had a bad experience with group-buy deals. If you're interested in talking to me about your experience or complaints, shoot me an email at rebecca.trigger at wanews.com.au
Cheers,
Rebecca.
Prepare to get a lot of email. Rebecca and anyone else, it's best you start a new thread so your discussions aren't lost in the mix of this huge thread.
Site: Our Deal
Business: Boulangerie de France
Deal: $10 for $45 worth of food/drinks
Complaint: The food I bought was off (had a HORRID smell) and inedible. I had to throw it all away. What was left tasted like day old pastries. Still have a $10 voucher that I am too afraid to use.
Beware of the fishing charter deals. They are the biggest rip off, you don't catch any fish and the DELICIOUS LUNCH is 1 sausage on 1 piece of bread!!!! Feel sorry for the people that actually buy direct at $150, I would value it at $29 for the half day, not worth $69 at all!!
Have you also noticed that they value their deals a lot higher than what they sell direct?
Anyway these deal sites won't last!
Another happy Scoopon customer I take it?
If they are valuing it as higher than they sell it directly to you and can't justify the higher price (by saying that for instance the cruise costs $X, lunch costs $X and whatever else is included costs $X therefore the total is $X and we provide the discount off that) then this is blatant false advertising.
Whatever deal company you went through has a thing that they offer deals at 50% off. If they have not done so then that's fraud, deceptive advertising, whatever you want to call it.
Has anyone been able to redeem Weston Sparkles Cleaning (sydney based deal)? another potentially non redeemable deal provider of Scoopon. Merchant contact numbers disconnected…lodged a refund request with Scoopon cust serv (INA 52092) replies with a mobile number to contact with no success. Scoopon says will get deal provider to contact me. Given them 5 working days to get back. Will see if they do - smells like another dodgy deal? Anyone can share their experience with making contact for service?
You may be interested to know that Weston Sparkles has been liquidated on 7th Nov and their phone numbers and website have been taken down. You would need to contact Scoopon to request for a refund.
Jump On It vouchers: Has anyone else had problems accessing their vouchers on Jump On It website? I have been unable to access my vouchers since August. I was unable to use two of them before they expired and they won't give me a refund. It has been referred to their management twice (who always seem to be unavailable when I phone) and I am still waiting for someone to contact me. Not a happy camper.
They seem to be disolving the jump on it brand, living social has the same deals and i have used living social several times always with success.
I purchased the pack of aromatherapy oils & diffuser from Spreets in September through Jason Geraghty in Brisbane. It was supposed to be valued at $89.95 and I bought it for $39.00. After many attempts to contact Jason Geraghty (to which I didn't receive a reply) my order arrived last week. Instead of "essential oils" I got 2 fragrant oils valued at about $5.00 each and a cheap USB diffuser that sells for about $10 on E-Bay. Talk about ripped off! I have put a complaint into Spreets requesting a refund and and explanation. All up the package was worth $20.00. I want to take this further but not sure of the next step. Last time I will ever use Spreets.
I've had so many Spreets offers that I've been unable to redeem, it's just ridiculous.
Geewhizz - I hope you got refunds or atleast credits for them?
sproct16 - This happens a lot too, a lot of people are realising the voucher companies are free advertising for them and they also realise they can easily purchase in bulk cheap items over ebay or other avenues then resell them and just state the value is $…. and you really cant prove that they are selling them for 100% of the real value rather than 40% of their stated value.
I have even seen stores increase the price on their products for the life of the voucher then once the voucher is sold, they then reduce the price on their products back down to the actual value it is meant to be.
I still haven't received anything from him.
The problem with this is that value is subjective. You might be able to buy them elsewhere for a particular price but if he sells them in his shop (or wherever he normally sells them) at that price well then his discount is "legit".
Of course, if it's a deal he manufactured specifically so he could market it through Spreets and just put an arbitrary amount on it to make it sound good and doesn't sell it anywhere else? well, that's something else entirely.
Regardless of any of that, it sucks that he's such a douchebag as to do this to people.
http://www.scoopon.com.au/deals/3099/
anyone else having problems with this provider?
They never reply to emails, saying they have a "delay" due to issues with scoopon
Ordered back in July,
Still waiting..
very poor communication from the provider AND scoopon
@ Scoopon
Would your customer service care to reply to our emails ?
Ticket NDX-590566. You guys dont have a phone to call to, dont reply to our email, ozb seems to the only hope before calling consumer affairs and raising a fraud case with Bank
Qoop.com.au - Never received a shaver kit that i bought back in August. After several emails i never got a reply - called them and they took my details and never called me back i got sick of chasing the stupid company so i gave up.
I also purchased a voucher from Jason Geraghty and have been trying to get hold of him about my order. He keeps sending me the same message. I ordered in September and still haven't received anything.
I just got my order and I was sent two fragrant oils - not essential oils and a crappy usb humidifier… Not happy
Jigocity- Changing the T&Cs.
The T&Cs advised bookings had to be made before a specific date, and when I went to make a booking, was advised that they were booked out and that the voucher had to be done and dusted by that date. Never. EVER again.
If the booking needed to be made by a certain date, you called before that date and they were fully booked, you have to be entitled to a refund. Rather than going through the hassle of pursuing it with them, just initiate a chargeback with your bank. Sure, it can take a while but it's a lot less hassle. It puts the burden of proof on the supplier.
That is illegal, I know Spreets has this disclaimer on their website stating that within 1 month before expiry there are no guarantees and you can miss out on the deal. But I am sure that is illegal. If you changed your mind or you are only able to go one day per month, then maybe they have a case but otherwise its BS. And more importantly generally the business does have room to fit you in but they choose to only fit in a small no. of voucher users per week / day. Which in itself should not be alllowed as they really shouldnt sell the vouchers then. But also the reason why this problem arises is due to overselling vouchers that the business does not plan on redeeming half the time. Both the voucher companies and the business Know that NOT ALL people will end up using the voucher, some wont due to forgetting. Others will be too busy or run out of time or decide the time wasted is not worth it. Then others will try to make a bookign once or twice and find out they cant get the days they want and just think its their own problem and give up on hassling both the business and the voucher company, because they think they have no rights.
Truth be told, I have fought and fought and made sure i have never lost a voucher like this, but that doesnt mean i havent had many, many, MANY bad experiences. Nowadays i try to severly limit my voucher purchases, I mean i buy very little if at all. And when i do, i make sure it is a convenient and easy location for me to get to so i dont have to plan only for weekends. Plus I make sure it is not in a area where the turnover rate of customers will be very high, because if it is then generally the service you get and even the chances of booking dates you want reduce dramatically.
Frankly, these voucher companies should either go out of business or should be heavily regulated as at the moment they are pretty much con men. The reason why i am harsh is because they do anything and everything to get out of trying to help you redeem your vouchers or if you cant, to give you a refund. They also realise their main profit comes from when you (for all the reasons described above) dont get to use your voucher at all. Herein lies the biggest problem. That is their NO.1 and optimal way of making a profit. When you dont get to use your voucher at all, so of course they try to do everything to make sure they dont have to help you redeem or refund. They do realise though that technically they are entitled to by Fair Trading, so if you push them they generally do realise the consequences. But its such a fine line.
Like i said, i KNOW OF (from personal experience) that some business who use these voucher companies, have no intention of honouring the vouchers. I have seen it first hand.
Group buying has the low price but slow delivery speed.
I purchased a voucher from Jason Geraghty too and I never receive any order from them. Sent numerous emails but no reply at all. Tried to call and he say "DO NOT LEAVE ANY VOICE MESSAGE COZ I'M TOO BUSY". WTF!!
I also sent complaint emails to scoopon help centre but they never reply either. I demand a full refund!!! This is a total FRAUD! What a bad experience with scoopon, will never use it again and definitely warn everyone not to buy anything from scoopon.
I bought a coupon from Scoopon and when trying to make a booking with the supplier (and having called tens of times), I found from a friend that the business went bust and I then logged a request for a refund from Scoopon. I sent a couple of messages submitted from their 'contact us' web page (conveniently for them because I can't seem to find their email address and the message I sent from their web page didn't send me a copy to my email address!!!) so I waited and waited and waited with no response.
I am so disappointed and if this doesn't get resolved, I will never buy any coupon from them or recommend to anyone, surely I will give bad publicity. This is not good at all and I will be lodging a complaint to the consumer affairs this week. Scoopon - you cannot run a business like this! I demand a refund of the voucher I never got to use for none of my fault!
Scoopon is a part of the newly released code of conduct for group buy organisations http://www.adma.com.au/consumer-help/faq/group-buying your experience is not very good.
Thanks Crownanchor - I had a peek on the website and it looks very informative. I will spend a bit of time to read into it. Thanks again!
Has anyone else had trouble with SCOOPON facebook connect button working for the past few days.
I cannot log on using facebook connect button, it is unresponsive.
The only wasy to view my vouchers purchased when logged on via facebook connect is to log on this way again. Logging on the traditional way with username password, won't allow me to view my vouchers.
(I have tried support, ticket #WCN-731696 no reply yet)
I ordered two vouchers for a massage on the 11.12.2011 and they charged me for three. I only bought from Scoopon because I was recommended to do so by a friend. I was going to buy from Red Balloon… I really wish I had now!
I have been trying to get someone to respond to me for over a week now. I have sent approx. 10 emails all stating for them to contact me. I have already emailed their contact us email and in an attempt to have someone respond to me I have joined this forum!
The customer service is CRAP! They just ignore things they don't want to deal with.
I have several contacts at Chanel 7 and have sent 5 emails today to the contact us email address stating if I am not contacted in the next 24 hours I will bring the whole thing to the attention of the media and consumer affairs. I have never had to use this as a threat in my whole life! But seeing as it is Christmas and the news is slow at the moment a story like this will be very satisfying to today tonight!
I want my money back!
mecinta, It is my understanding that as soon as you email them, an automated support ticket is assigned and emailed back to you. Have you checked your SPAM folder to see if your messages have been put in there?
Purchased a voucher from Ouffer for Queen of Sassy in Melbourne. The voucher was for shellac nails. I planned to get them done on 26th Dec. Made the appointment months ago and received a call today to cancel the appointment because the salon will be closed. REALLY angry as I don't get why they couldn't have given me more notice. I'm going away the next day, too, so I can't even have an appointment on another day. Have requested a refund from Ouffer, but given its Christmas/Boxing Day long weekend I guess I'll have to wait (any I won't even know the progress of it as I'll be on holiday)!
I purchased a Sat Nav for $117 from OUR DEAL recently and they have charged my credit card twice for the same deal, although the second charge was for $118. My bank statement shows both charges are from OUR DEAL with same receipt numbers etc. I checked my account to see if I accidently purchased 2 sat navs but I haven't. NO contact number, so I sent a complaint/query email to which I got the standard response. Has anybody had this happen to them? It's worrying, as they now have my CC details and the fact that their billing system has not even picked up that they have charged me twice! I expected the error to be rectified automatically. Any suggestions???
Our Deal's contact number is (02) 8305 1800
Just a thought. A lot of folks seem to have issues with contacting the various companies. Maybe make a sticky thread with all the various contact details of the companies as they are found? Formatted as follows perhaps?
Company:
Contact Phone Number:
Contact Email:
Street Address:
Seems like it could be useful.
Vodafone via Goupon promo- screwy advertisement, uncoordinated customer service teams-a shambles, needless hassle. Responsibility not their responsibility, apparently; rate them less than zero.
I don't think this thread is really needed. Almost every thread under the Group Buy forums is a complaining thread. I'll unsticky this one & close the thread.
ScoopOn,
Thankyou to the online representative who has taken the time to understand what my concern was and recognise that as customers we do not expect to be treated like fools with this misleading behaviour coming from the deal provider.
I have now been contacted by Scoopon, and although it has taken some time, have a fair resolution to this complaint.
Whilst I will be very careful with any decisions made in purchasing particular deals in future I am confident that although not the most efficient, the ScoopOn complaint process can work.