Group discount buying is still bedding down and it seems the main players are consumer-focused and quick to make amends when their suppliers don’t deliver as they should.
Also referred to as “collective bargaining” or “social buying”, the companies operating these schemes online offer services and products at discounted “deal of the day” prices, on condition that a minimum number of people want the same deal – a restaurant meal, a massage, a quad bike ride or a holiday.
All the vouchers issued carry an expiry date, which on the face of it contravenes the Consumer Protection Act’s stipulation that pre-paid vouchers must be redeemable for at least three years.
But these vouchers are slightly out of the ordinary in that they are for “promotional” goods and services, and the act has no such stipulation on promotional vouchers.
The big players have tweaked their terms and conditions to come up with a compromise solution to this all-important validity issue. And that is that the value of the vouchers is valid for three years.
In other words, if you don’t use your voucher within the three months, or whatever, you can ask to be credited with the value of that voucher, which you can then use on any other offering within three years of your initial purchase.
But don’t assume that all group buying schemes have this policy – read all the small-print terms and conditions carefully before opting in.
There are about 30 companies hosting these bargain voucher deals, but few producing at least a deal a day in each city, among them Groupon, Wicount and YouDeal.
Naturally there are problems – restaurants or beauty salons which can’t cope with the demand, or limit the number of “voucher bookings”, meaning you can’t redeem it within a reasonable time; or which deliver shoddy service or close before the voucher can be redeemed.
Angela Vermaak wrote to Consumer Watch recently about her “appalling experience” at a Parkmore hair salon she visited with a R499 Dealify voucher for highlights, a cut, treatment and blow dry.
Her complaints included the stylist using “old, wet, dirty, used foil” for her highlights, an assistant professing not to know how to wash hair, and her hair being overbleached and excessively blow-dried.
Vermaak said when she asked that no product containing alcohol be put on her by-then dry hair, the owner said: “This bottle (of product) costs more than you have paid for your hairdo today.”
“I will now have to visit my regular hair stylist to fix up their mess,” said Vermaak.
Alana Burgess, who handles Dealify’s “client service” queries, said the salon owner had agreed with some of Vermaak’s criticisms and disputed others. But in any event Dealify would refund her, and was investigating whether a decision to cancel all coupons sold for that salon, and refund all affected clients, was warranted.
Good call.
In Cape Town, a Mrs Furlong didn’t get to redeem the R110 YouDeal voucher she’d bought for a meal at a Milnerton fish restaurant because it suddenly closed.
When she asked for a refund, she was told to contact the restaurant owner.
“I was told in an e-mail: ‘We have paid him in full and it is his responsibility to refund you.’”
She duly received an e-mail from the restaurant owner asking for her bank details, but no refund has arrived.
“I think it is very important to warn consumers about the dangers of these promotions,” Furlong said.
YouDeal’s David Whitehead said the company had issued credit notes to all those who had bought vouchers for the restaurant and been unable to redeem them – R4 370 in total – even though the company had paid the restaurant in full.
“A credit note was offered to Mrs Furlong. However, she demanded a refund, so we suggested she contact the restaurant owner directly, as we were only in a position to provide a credit to her account,” he said.
He has since credited her account with R110 anyway.
YouDeal has since changed the way it does business – like most of its competitors, it now pays vendors only when customers redeem their vouchers.
YouDeal is pursuing legal action against the restaurant owner as he is still operating in Pretoria “and has ignored our requests for a refund or even an apology”. - Pretoria News