I’ll say it; I’m addicted to daily deals. Groupon, Living social, Teambuy and so on. If you have a daily deal company, I probably check out your site, have your app on my phone or get your emails. I love getting a deal, and I’ve gotten some good ones. I’ve gotten deals on glass fusion at my favourite pottery place, cosmetics, esthetics, watches and cupcakes to name a few. I tweet about the ones I really like, post them on my facebook wall, and I’ve even thought about affiliating my blog with a couple of companies. If you work for a daily deal company, I AM your target customer.

I think that’s why I’m so upset. Almost every dealing I’ve had so far with these companies has been stellar. I even had a coupon from a company that went under. The merchant was still thrilled to see me and accepted my coupon with welcome. Yes almost every transaction has been a pleasure. Almost.

Around the end of July I purchased a deal from Steal the Deal (StD), it was for a matching set of baby leggings and a convertible stainless steel bottle from a website called Agoo. The regular price was $29.99, the deal price was $13.99, and I thought it would make a great addition to the baby shower gift I was planning for a co-worker. I bought it and a week later attempted to redeem it for the first time. My email immediately bounced back. I tried again, and then from different email addresses, same result, dead email address. So I emailed StD. I told them how I had tried and could not contact the seller. They told me they had no problems and to let them know if I still couldn’t get through. I sent another attempt to the seller, copying StD and it still bounced back. At this point, it was late August and the shower was approaching.

Finally I’d had enough. I had noted that StD had run this exact same deal with Agoo at least 2 additional times since my initial purchase. I contacted Steal the Deal and asked for a refund. I got this for a reply:

“Thanks for your email. I am sorry to hear that you had problems placing an order with this merchant. I forwarded your inquiry to the merchant directly and asked him to contact you in regards to your order status. I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. Please let me know if the merchant contacts you to resolve this.”

 I received no other response from Agoo or StD. I emailed again. On September 9, I got this reply from StD:

“Thanks for your email. I am sorry to hear that you haven’t been able get in contact with the merchant. I have received and processed your refund request. You will receive a confirmation via email if your refund has been approved within the next seven to ten business days.”

I’m sorry, if my refund has been approved? I haven’t gotten what I paid for, what exactly needs to be approved? I waited, nothing happened, this is getting out of hand. I email again this past Monday, September 26, this is the response:

“Thanks for your email. I understand that you are still waiting for your refund. Due to a higher number of refund requests we are currently experiencing delays with our refund processing. Our accounting department is trying to resolve this as soon as possible. I apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your patience in this matter.”

I may have snapped a bit after this. Truthfully, the only thing that has kept me from going whole-hog overboard about the entire situation is the relatively small amount of money I spent. I’m glad if I’m going to be cheated it will be for less than $20. I’m also glad to have a voice to tell others so they can avoid being cheated by StD and Agoo. I want to let you know all of this now because they are running the SAME deal again today. I want to let people know what they are getting into. I checked out the Agoo site again today and I’ve noticed some changes over there. You used to be able to shop online there just a month ago, now everything directs you to look at PDF catalogues. They must be doing booming business to offer this deal 4 separate times and shut down thier online ordering. I would love to know if anyone else has had problems, or has actually gotten their merchandise from any of the 4 instances.

Me? I’m going to file a complaint with the BBB, then, I’m going to call my credit card company and see if I can get the transaction refunded. I haven’t heard anything from StD since Wednesday, when I last emailed them. Maybe I’ll hear from them now…

Originally posted September 30, 2001 at extrafancyone.com