Ok, I take about anything good I EVER said about Social Couponing!
You know what I'm talking about, right?
Those companies that offer "Deals" on goods and services(and even trips now).
Like reduced price gift cards to stores, or reduced price stays in B&Bs or spa/salon treatments or admissions to gardens or museums.
They count on the lower price point to be made up for by selling HUGE quantities of the deals.
The customer gets a deal, the, target business gets massive sales and the company arranging the deal gets a commission or percentage on each deal sold.
That's a well and good, except when the company and/or businesses involved take the customers money and then don't provide the deal and/or change the deal after it's paid for.
I've got 2 situations now with 2 diffrerent social couponing companies and/or their clients and I am Peter Finch style "Mad as Hell"....
You know what I'm talking about, right?
Those companies that offer "Deals" on goods and services(and even trips now).
Like reduced price gift cards to stores, or reduced price stays in B&Bs or spa/salon treatments or admissions to gardens or museums.
They count on the lower price point to be made up for by selling HUGE quantities of the deals.
The customer gets a deal, the, target business gets massive sales and the company arranging the deal gets a commission or percentage on each deal sold.
That's a well and good, except when the company and/or businesses involved take the customers money and then don't provide the deal and/or change the deal after it's paid for.
I've got 2 situations now with 2 diffrerent social couponing companies and/or their clients and I am Peter Finch style "Mad as Hell"....
Anybody ever heard of SAVE MORE?
They are based out of Dallas.
They were hot and heavy around Christmastime offering nice Social Coupons.
The one I bought was a $25 Barnes&Noble gift card for $15.
Hubs is a bibliophile and I love saving money when he spends on books, so you know I had to grab this one, right? 8-)
I "bought" the deal on Dec. 2nd. Plenty of time to get if before Christmas if they sent the voucher in the next day or two(which most companies like this do)and then a week for the mailing it to me part.
And even if they didn't ship right away I could give it to him just after Christmas.
So I bought the deal on the 2nd.
And they sent me the "voucher"(the code to buy the card)....December 14th! 12 days to email me the stupid code. Grrrr
I went ahead and redeemed the Voucher/code on December 14th, the day it was received by me.
And then I started waiting.....and checking my Save More account on their website.....every few days.....and grew angrier with each passing day as my account status didn't change.
So on January 12th-a full MONTH after purchasing this deal-I called their Customer Service. When I finally got through to a live human, I was told that this particular deal had been back ordered. She went on to let me know that it would be shipping next week.
Today is February 8th.
Can you guess what still has NOT arrived in my mailbox?
So I called one last time to Customer Service.
And now I get a recorded message.
I just got off of live chat with my credit card company. They opened a dispute with SaveMore and are issuing me a permanent credit on this so I don't have to worry if SaveMore pushes back on this that I won't get my $ back.
SAVE MORE....unethical Hacks!
And on to my other "mad as hell" item du jour.
I bought a LIVING SOCIAL deal back in Nov.(might have been Dec.?)and gave it to #2 son for Christmas.
It was a set of McDonald's Coupons.....5 for FREE Big Macs and 5 for FREE Large Fries.
#2 son has band practice 2-3 times a week and there is a McDonald's almost next door to the high school, so he and his buds often walk over there between the end of school and the start of band practice for a mid afternoon snack.
My "beef"(groan) here started being with this particular McDonald's, not with Living Social.
Here's the Deal I bought....
#2 comes home after practice last night and tells me that when he went over to McDonald's after school that day and tried to use the last set of his FREE ITEM coupons, the cashier and manager told him the coupons(which are clearly marked you get the item for FREE!)are NOT for getting food for free.
Huh?
Yes, they charged him $1.50 CASH for his 2 items that he had FREE ITEM Coupons for!!!
And he paid it!
That was me swallowing my tongue......
Let me say that, over the course of the last 6 weeks since Christmas, he has used the other 8 FREE ITEM coupons at this same McDonald's.
So it's not like they didn't 'accept' these coupons at this particular Mickey D's.....which I was told were valid at ANY McDonald's when I purchased them over at LIVING SOCIAL.
I know for a fact that the registers at this McDonald's have a dedicated KEY on them for these Living Social coupons. I had a conversation with the drive-up window gal a few weeks back and she told me this.
Here is what I thought.....
The owner/manager of this Mickey D's has gotten A LOT of these Free Item Coupons redeemed in their location.
And they don't like the idea of giving stuff away for FREE.....of course, I PAID for these Coupons so they are NOT giving it away for FREE now, are they?
AND they pulled this scam "You owe us $1.50 for your FREE items" on a teenage boy.....who was there with OUT a GROWNUP/PARENT.
Teenage boy less likely to stand up for himself in the face of a store manager/authority figure so this McDonald's are more likely to GET AWAY with UNSCRUPULOUS UNETHICAL BEHAVIOR when they pull it on kids!
So I start rooting around online for information.
Seems #2 son was lucky as he redeemed 8 of his before this happened. I see now that other McDonald's started charging to use the FREE ITEM coupons they bought back in Dec.
Go read this HERE.
People bought these coupons and saved about half on the future purchase of 10 Mickey D's items. So Mickey D's decides to charge $1.50 for the Big Macs and $1.00 for the Fries at point of sale.....so now anyone uses these FREE ITEM Coupons is paying AT LEAST REGULAR RETAIL!
What a ripoff!
So am I angry?
Yep....you betcha!
Am I on the warpath with McDonald's?
You KNOW IT!!!
Will I also let LIVING SOCIAL know they suck?
Well...Duh?!? lol
SHAME ON YOU McDONALD'S!
SHAME ON YOU LIVING SOCIAL!
Please don't buy ANYTHING from Save More and don't buy ANY McDONALD's Deals on Living Social.
Sluggy
