Has anyone had to get refunds from any group buying deal sites? I had 2 lately, both with Groupon. The first deal was delivery only and they changed their delivery area to only be downtown and then part of the deal that was included was a business that had since closed – very quick refund from Groupon on that one.
The other one was a deal we tried to cash in this weekend for a food place – worst service ever! Tried to cash in our Groupon, the person had about 10 pages of printouts and glanced at one page and said our deal# was not on her list. When we asked her to look through the rest of the pages she then told us the deal was not starting until dec. 10th – when it was actually starting october 12th….all this as she held two other groupon printouts she had accepted that day???? It was very bizarre and made me never want to go to that place ever again – too bad for them, it’s near our house and we would have been weekly customers for sure in the winter. I was very pleased with Groupon again, refunded it immediately, and also the one I’d bought as a gift. I haven’t had to do any returns on other sites yet, thankfully!
Has anyone had problems cashing in the group buying deals? We’ve had good luck with most, and have found some new favourite places in the city through it! For some reason we didn’t go to Dutch Meat Market too often, since buying the Teambuy this summer we’ve gone in so many times for meat, frozen stuff, cheese etc. What places did you guys discover with deals?
I have had Group buys refunded because I asked and sometimes refunded because the company did so on their own.
For TeamBuy I had bought a deal for WRAPS, but when I drove there they were closed. So TeamBuy refunded my money.
For the other deal it was LivingSocial. I bought a deal for a theatre in the US. The company refunded my money and me told that it was not valid in Canada. When I explained to them that I had a US mailing address, they placed the group buy back into my account.
I have used group buy tickets for some places that I would NEVER want to revist or recommend to others. Thankfully the food tasted good, but the atmosphere wasn’t the greatest ( like who allows dogs to run around their coffee shop and into the kitchen?! among other things).
Dogs in the kitchen? Ouch!! Now you made me curious! For sure there’s the good and the bad – at least we can find out at a discount. But dogs, really?
The place was in Minnesota, so don’t worry, you shouldn’t come across it 🙂
I love using group buy for when my husband & I go down to MN. Helps save money on eating out, and allows us to try new things 🙂
I’ve never had to get a refund from groupon but I had to get a refund from dealfind one time. it was by appointment only and could not get a call back from the company to make the appt. I spoke to dealfind, they attempted to get a hold of them for me, no luck so refunded my money nice and quickly. other then that, i havnt had any problems with any deal sites.
I discovered Common Sense Wholesome Food Market on Des Meurons with a voucher from TeamBuy. They have a great selection of bulk packaged foods, spices, teas, and really nice toiletries. I’ll go back for sure!
I had one from Team Buy that I bought for maid service. I called them but never got a response and they were about to expire. Contacted Team Buy and they refunded my money right away, he credited my account as I knew I would buy something again! I used that credit to buy the team buy for yard clean up and seeding. Called them, got a message saying only a few more appointments in October and then waiting list for November to see if it snows!! I mean really??? So I’m supposed to just leave the leaves and see if they get done!?!?! Really awful, I called back and left a message (never answer the phone) saying I wanted one of the October appointments, let me know and I will make sure I’m home. That was over a week ago, nothing. Not happy at all, who does something like that and doesn’t have the manpower to see it through?!?!? I am going to call again, then I will contact Team Buy again. I am happy with Team Buy though, they have really good customer service. I just think these companies don’t realize what they are getting into when they sign up.
Just called the lawn one, his message says now that they are all booked for the season. Basically a too bad so sad message. Going to contact Team Buy about it, not happy. Called the other one I bought for a hair cut, color and conditioning. Got a machine that didn’t even say the companies name! Left a message, I want an appointment on Friday as I am going out. We’ll see.
I once got a promo code for a discount from groupon, but when I went to use it, it didn’t work. The customer service rep I spoke to simply credited me the value of the discount to my account… with no expiry date! Very pleased! Now I just have to decide what to spend it on…
I was talking to a company that did a massage/pedi/mani combo and think it was dealfind and she told me I could have the last appt that was left before expire date and that there was a list of 800 on the cancellation list. Once expiry date arrives – they all can contact Dealfind for a refund. I asked why they didn’t sell a certain quantity and she said dealfind wouldn’t let them put a limit on number sold. She also mentioned that there has been compaies go out of business because of them. Not sure if this is true but I often wonder how some of these companies are making any money on services.
I was sort of wondering the same thing – the place we tried to cash in on the weekend was so adamant about not taking ours. Wondering if some companies try to back out after. Not too smart, it really doesn’t make me want to go back when we get treated like that. We’ve all been kind and not named names, but I have told my friends and family the name of the place – not great for business! I’m curious too if they just get tired of doing it, or maybe have a cap on how many they’ll accept in one day. I wonder which companies have done well, or not with deal sites.
Funny you should ask… I’m just in the process of getting a credit from Dealfind for a local company that was providing very poor customer service. I finally gave up trying to place my order so I’ve asked for a refund or credit. Looks like I’m getting a credit. I also had to ask Teambuy for a refund for a local cleaning service that never showed up for the scheduled time. (And they weren’t returning my calls). Teambuy was very apologetic and promptly refunded me. I haven’t really discovered anything new and exciting so far but I’m sure that I will 🙂
I purchased 2 hair packages, cut, highlights, style, the whole package. I attempted numerous times to get in touch, nothing. My husband and I finally Tracked the Business…..well lack thereof….the girl went out of Business. Deal find refunded no problem.
I had a few problems that have been solved to my satisfaction. There was a Groupon for a local farm/corn maze that clearly said in the Q &A that a pony ride could be substituted for the mini golf… My kids are 2 and 3 years old, and there is no way they can mini golf! We got all the way our there (And rides already promised to my kids) when the lady at the front informed me that Groupon had printed that without their permission and that they would not honor it!!! I pulled up the Q & A on my phone and the owner finally honored it but was not impressed… It wasn’t her fault… I wrote to Groupon about my experience and they gave me a full refund even thou I had used my purchase.
And just today, I tried calling for tee off times for two of my Team Buys at local golf courses who have nothing available. I send them an email and they are refunding my Team Buys… I would have prefered an extension to the golf package (it was an awesome deal!), but a refund is just as good… Next time I won’t wait so long to use them!
I recently phoned two different companies to try to get appointments for dealfind coupons (massages) I purchased a few months ago. They are both obviously single-person shops, and… disappointment on both. One hasn’t returned my call to schedule an appointment. The other was clearly not happy with her DealFind experience, and very bitter with the sales rep who “should have known” that she couldn’t handle this volume of calls. She admits that she did not specify a cap, but blames him for it. I have three vouchers with her. She ‘allowed’ me to book an appointment for APRIL 2012. I can’t book a second appointment with her until I see her in April. Might be five or six months down the road from then (“to be fair to all the others who purchased three vouchers”). If I don`t want to wait that long, she said I should call DealFind for a refund. I’m pretty sure she’s hoping I’ll go that route.
She spent at least 10 minutes complaining to me about the situation, and telling me how rude Winnipeggers have been to her, and how she didn’t need the extra business in the first place, so wasn’t sure why she participated.
Seriously? Do company owners not think these things through before participating? Are the DealFind salespeople that persuasive? It seems like common sense to me. You only provide a certain number at that price if you will endanger your business or overcommit yourself by providing more.
I’m not super impressed with my DealFind experiences so far. I’ve purchased these two massage packages, and two different mani-pedi-facial packages. One of those was a pretty good experience (except that she used an etching product on my toenails that completely killed the surface… for a regular polish), the other was disappointing. The person providing the service did the bare minimum, and was smirking half the time like she thought she was getting away with something.
While I love a good deal, I also expect a certain level of service. I’m not sure that these group buys are a good thing when it comes to services like these.
Teambuy customer service is joke! Restaurant will not honour my reservation and the only thing they can do is offer me a store credit instead of a full refund? I Will not use teambuy again and I advise against it!
I’ve used both Groupon and Dealfind and they have no problem with refunding the money.
Teambuy policy of a week refund is also ridiculous, it’s 30 days in eg dealfind!
Avoid them as a plague!
I’ve dealt with several. By far Groupon has been the best for all services. I’ve only had to ask for a refund twice but both times without any issues and I got a refund to my credit card NOT credit as all the other ones have done so far (namely Dealfind and TeamBuy). I also had to go through hoops to get even the credit for both Dealfind and TeamBuy. Once I have used up my credit on Teambuy and Dealfind I will not be buying from them again as these issues have happened more than once with both. Stay away from them. Buy from Groupon only!!!