livingsocial.com

Surfacezebra · 21-09-2011 3:52pm #1

Was just wondering have many people used livingsocial.com and what their thoughts are.Also do people realise its based in the US.Had to contact them with a problem with a purchase and got no satifaction.Any thoughts,thanks

biko · 21-09-2011 4:10pm

Not a Galway issue. Not sure where fits so moved to BA.

Basq · 21-09-2011 4:11pm

And relayed it to Online Buying & Auctions.

donnacha · 21-09-2011 4:33pm

I've purchased 3 deals via livingsocial. Only issue I had was 1 deal got cancelled and I had to call to get my money back - however the call was relatively painless and the refund was fairly prompt. The also have a company registered on Barrow St, Dublin, Ireland (LivingSocial Europe Ltd). A quick google also indicates they continue to hire for reps to bring them the next deals.

Surfacezebra · 21-09-2011 6:22pm

Deal was for the galway oyster festival and they cancelled it a day after confirming it.We are now stuck with accommodation and travel costs and the event is sold out?Any advice

biko · 21-09-2011 7:05pm

I can't advice on how to sort that out but if you're coming over anyway check out www.thelatinquarter.ie

There's another thing running at the same time

Surfacezebra · 21-09-2011 8:31pm

Thanks but problem is there are 7 of us and they only cancelled 4 of the tickets.Now the event is sold out.I live in town but 4 are travelling from elseswhere.Latin quarter thing looks ok too although I usually end up in the Roisin anyway so I am biased

stantheman8 · 22-09-2011 5:17pm

I've made a few purchases from Living Social over the past couple of months.

However, I am only starting to use the vouchers now and have started to experience problems - I've contacted Living Social both via email and the help form on their site.

I've tried 3 times now (first of which was 10 days ago) but haven't heard anything back.

My experience has been that the quality of service has been "adapted" (read lowered) to align with the reduced price paid.

For example, I purchased a massage deal that was supposed to be an hour, but the massage itself only lasted for 25mins
...I was left lying on the table to "get comfortable / relax" for another 20mins! :mad:
I paid for a massage, not to lie on a table for 20mins - I don't need a Living Social voucher to do that at home.

Won't be buying any more "bargains" from Living Social.

Surfacezebra · 22-09-2011 9:12pm

stantheman8 wrote: »

I've made a few purchases from Living Social over the past couple of months.

However, I am only starting to use the vouchers now and have started to experience problems - I've contacted Living Social both via email and the help form on their site.

I've tried 3 times now (first of which was 10 days ago) but haven't heard anything back.

My experience has been that the quality of service has been "adapted" (read lowered) to align with the reduced price paid.

For example, I purchased a massage deal that was supposed to be an hour, but the massage itself only lasted for 25mins
...I was left lying on the table to "get comfortable / relax" for another 20mins! :mad:
I paid for a massage, not to lie on a table for 20mins - I don't need a Living Social voucher to do that at home.

Won't be buying any more "bargains" from Living Social.

Very same here no customer service,dublin no a scam,keeps replaying the same voice recording.People please beware of these SCAMS

stantheman8 · 29-09-2011 11:52am

Update on my previous post re Living Social issues:
I emailed them on the day of my poor experience with their deal.
Didn't hear anything back after a week so resent email.
Still nothing.
Copied email into help form on website.
2 days later I received a mail to say I would be refunded.
I received the refund earlier this week.

I think you just need to be very choosy in which deals you pick.

shahkanwal · 25-06-2012 8:51pm

oh belive me living social is a disgrace

email 5 times and rang 20 times no reply ever

shut down company like this

disgraceful thiefs

Jarren · 25-06-2012 9:47pm

Can you elaborate ?

Healeagh · 04-07-2012 12:23pm

Living social have taken no steps to see that their merchants get paid during the Ulster Bank system failure. They have the money that people have paid for their deals but the businesses that are partners in the deals have not received payment. Living Social are saying it has nothing to do with them. A company that takes this attitude is not to be trusted and i would suggest anyone considering purchasing a deal or offering a deal think twice. I would not recommend them. In fact I would not even consider them.

chopsey · 05-07-2012 3:20pm

stantheman8 wrote: »

Update on my previous post re Living Social issues:
I emailed them on the day of my poor experience with their deal.
Didn't hear anything back after a week so resent email.
Still nothing.
Copied email into help form on website.
2 days later I received a mail to say I would be refunded.
I received the refund earlier this week.

I think you just need to be very choosy in which deals you pick.

A massage with a happy ending? sounds like a good deal to me

EORGalway · 26-07-2012 1:27pm

Hi all
I've been trying to contact living social since the 2nd July via e-mail, calls and messages. No response yet. The voucher I purchased is not available in the manner advertised and I expect a refund.
I read some of the posts above and have had similar experiences, massages that should have been an hour lasted half the time and so on.
I won't be using Living Social again - but want my refund.
It's very frustrating when a company ignores the customer, that will be their downfall.
I plan to notify all my friends via e-mail and facebook about the lack of customer service and ask them to share the information with their friends. Hopefully this will make some folk think before using living social.
E

ian_m · 27-08-2012 5:30pm

Anybody else trying to get through to living social today? The office seems to be closed which is worrying. I have tried the UK and ROI numbers. The telephone message states please call between office hours, which I have been doing.

stantheman8 · 27-08-2012 6:00pm

ian_m wrote: »

Anybody else trying to get through to living social today? The office seems to be closed which is worrying. I have tried the UK and ROI numbers. The telephone message states please call between office hours, which I have been doing.

Public holiday in the UK today

ian_m · 28-08-2012 12:05pm

Got through to them today. My wife bought a voucher for me. In order to use the voucher I had to book an appointment with the third party. I called the third party numerous times but they failed to call me back.

I brought this matter to the attention of livingsocial three weeks ago and they said an investigation was already currently pending. The voucher has since expired and the third party still has not contacted me back.

I called livingsocial again and they said the matter was still with their investigation department. I highlighted the fact that the voucher has since expired and I asked them for a refund but they refused. They said they cannot issue a refund until the investigation is closed. I then asked how long the investigation would take and they said they also could not confirm that to me.

I cannot express how unhappy I am with them. We should be entitled to a complete refund and should not have to wait one day longer. The deal has not been honored and it has gone beyond the date where the deal was to be used. How unfair to ask a customer to keep waiting like that.

My wife an I are utterly dissapointed with the way they have dealt with the situation. We won't purchase anything from livingsocial again.

RacoonQueen · 28-08-2012 11:39pm

How long before the voucher was due to expire did you try to book an appointment?

ian_m · 29-08-2012 8:24am

RacoonQueen wrote: »

How long before the voucher was due to expire did you try to book an appointment?

5 or 6 weeks.

Melendez · 29-08-2012 8:53am

This post has been deleted.

RacoonQueen · 29-08-2012 9:10am

Melendez wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

No. The expiry date is the date the voucher expires. You should be giving the company reasonable notice if you want to book an appointment, leaving it to the last few days is not reasonable notice. You have the voucher, in most cases, for 6 months and living social send out a reminder email 4 or 5 weeks before the voucher expires so that people remember they have the thing.

These are still businesses they have other customers to accommodate as well, just because you have a pre-paid voucher which you have had more than enough time to use, leaving it until the last few days isn't really acceptable and if you're left without and appointment in that time, you've only yourself to blame really. Take into account how many of the other voucher holders will also leave it to the last minute, the merchant could be booked up with voucher holders in the last week. They are not obliged to take appointments that can not be fulfilled by the voucher expiry date. No reason whatsoever why they should be taking bookings on the exipry date. People know damn well that they have to use it before then.

Melendez · 29-08-2012 9:34am

This post has been deleted.

RacoonQueen · 29-08-2012 9:41am

Melendez wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

But if you leave it to 2 days before the expiry date to try and book an appoinment you have to expect that you may not be able to book an appointment before the expiry date is up. Most businesses will accommodate after the expiry date but they are not obliged to. You can't expect to be able to ring a company on the day the voucher expires and get an appointment. The vouchers specify that you must book in advance, I'd never ring somewhere expecting an appointment the following day.

Stringvest · 08-09-2012 10:41am

I have had and am still having a dreadful experience with Living Social. I purchased a voucher on 3rd August for window cleaning, made numerous attempts to cpntact the company, O'Reillys Cleaning Services, and every call went to answering machine, but no one called back. They are not available via website or in Golden Pages. Had to contact LS twice before getting a reply that OReillys had been contacted and err now 'waiting' to take my call. This was last Friday the 31st. Same answering machine same lack of call back. Contacted LS again, this time asking for a refund due to lack of provision of service paid for. They replied saying refunds were only given up to 7 days after voucher was purchased...then asked me to give the company more time??? So I contacted the National Consumer Agency and they advised me to write official complaint letters to both LS and OReillys citing breach of contact and asking for a refund. As theres no available address for OReillys, I have just contacted LS again (joe in consumer services).
I think they play a' fobbing you off 'game, hoping you'll get fed up and go away. They're happy to take your money straight away but if you have a complaint, they are not expedient in the least at dealing with you. When I consider the amount of time and money I've spent making calls/ leaving messages/ emailing since August, it's not worth it for the refund. Now it's on principle!

FY · 08-09-2012 9:43pm

Hi,

Did anyone purchase the Whetstone €50 Cut & Colour deal from todaysdeals.ie about 2-3 months ago? Would be interested to hear how you interpreted the offer. I thought it was very misleading as it was essentially offering €50 off the cost of a cut & colour service rather than a cut & colour worth €50. It did not state €50 'off' or 'towards' or 'to spend on' anywhere in the deal info, including the title & fine print. I had to pay an additional whopping €150 at the salon before leaving...needless to say I got quite a shock!

Would be interested to hear other ppl's feedback, especially from anyone else who purchased this deal.

FY.

sconhome · 28-09-2012 3:38pm

Interesting reading all the complaints about this company. I've seen this from both sides.

For the first time in my life I bought a discount voucher this year, having always believed if its too good to be true, it probably is. AND boy has that been proven right!

I bought a voucher from Living Social for SD cards from a company Gadgets and Products UK and ordered x2 while I was at it. Great deal 32G card for €17 or something like that (+PP from UK).

I left it for a couple of weeks, ordered the cards and gave another couple of weeks grace, I know a little about what its like with online purchases and stock in and out etc so didnt make a fuss.

About 3 weeks after my order with Gadgets and Products there sent me one of their own in house emails thanking me for recent purchase and heres more deals etc. I fired back and email saying thanks, no thanks and by the way where's my initial order?

Received an email apologising for the delay, the supplier sent the dispatch to the wrong address and working to rectify the issue, should be sorted next week.

Since then, no response from the UK company to email, the phone number is not valid and I've logged a complaint with Living Social about the performance of the company. Still waiting to hear back about it.

Now for the other side, I've had Living Social in here trying to sign me up to offer a deal. It took a while but drilling down the offer and reading through all the legal contract it was tricky to get the bottom line. Anyway saleman and company owner were in giving the whole pitch. And I can pretty much guarantee you are best of buddies, in it together, growing symbiotically right up until the point at which your money hits their bank account and then you and your customers can swing for it.

Avoid and unsubscribe from all such deals until you can resist temptation. if you want a deal from a business, just call in yourself and have a chat. We're human and want your business too.

Stringvest · 29-09-2012 12:55pm

amphkingwest wrote: »

Interesting reading all the complaints about this company. I've seen this from both sides.

For the first time in my life I bought a discount voucher this year, having always believed if its too good to be true, it probably is. AND boy has that been proven right!

I bought a voucher from Living Social for SD cards from a company Gadgets and Products UK and ordered x2 while I was at it. Great deal 32G card for €17 or something like that (+PP from UK).

I left it for a couple of weeks, ordered the cards and gave another couple of weeks grace, I know a little about what its like with online purchases and stock in and out etc so didnt make a fuss.

About 3 weeks after my order with Gadgets and Products there sent me one of their own in house emails thanking me for recent purchase and heres more deals etc. I fired back and email saying thanks, no thanks and by the way where's my initial order?

Received an email apologising for the delay, the supplier sent the dispatch to the wrong address and working to rectify the issue, should be sorted next week.

Since then, no response from the UK company to email, the phone number is not valid and I've logged a complaint with Living Social about the performance of the company. Still waiting to hear back about it.

Now for the other side, I've had Living Social in here trying to sign me up to offer a deal. It took a while but drilling down the offer and reading through all the legal contract it was tricky to get the bottom line. Anyway saleman and company owner were in giving the whole pitch. And I can pretty much guarantee you are best of buddies, in it together, growing symbiotically right up until the point at which your money hits their bank account and then you and your customers can swing for it.

Avoid and unsubscribe from all such deals until you can resist temptation. if you want a deal from a business, just call in yourself and have a chat. We're human and want your business too.

How refreshing to read your post, speaking from the other side of the experience. You know, I'd never think of ringing a business and asking for a deal directly, but it's nice to hear company owners are open to this, I would much prefer this option, cutting out these dodgy deal merchants altogether.

uck51js9zml2yt · 29-09-2012 8:42pm

On a positive note, I've bought deals from a number of different sites and never had an issue in getting the deal I paid for.

But I would second the other poster in saying give them a ring to get the same price. Its something I should do more than i do.
It just doesn't pay a company to do the deals.
I got my car valeted yesterday at my house for €45 when it normally costs €99.
They got 50% of the fee and it took 2 men 2 hours to do it. A total of 4 man hours plus fuel, insurance etc. He got 145 of these sold.
They did do a great job though:D

sconhome · 01-10-2012 10:12am

Kristian Greasy Memoir wrote: »

On a positive note, I've bought deals from a number of different sites and never had an issue in getting the deal I paid for.

But I would second the other poster in saying give them a ring to get the same price. Its something I should do more than i do.
It just doesn't pay a company to do the deals.
I got my car valeted yesterday at my house for €45 when it normally costs €99.
They got 50% of the fee and it took 2 men 2 hours to do it. A total of 4 man hours plus fuel, insurance etc. He got 145 of these sold.
They did do a great job though:D

Just to highlight this. As a business we were being encouraged to provide a €30 for €15 voucher, so consumer pays €15 and gets €30 voucher to use in store.

The actual cost to us as a business for you to redeem this would have been €22.50. The fees are 50% of the deal price!!

The guys doing the valetting were most definitely doing this deal at a loss regardless of how many were sold. I wonder how much return custom they will receive from this at their normal retail price? Will the extra 145 customers pay ful price next time or will the guys have to incentivise these customers to return again?

sconhome · 01-10-2012 10:22am

In fairness to Living Social. I flagged the issue I had with this merchant last week, I received a standard reply suggesting I contact the merchant to resolve the problem.

When I pointed out that Gadgets & Products Ltd were non contactable and that I felt Living Social were partly responsible by offering a conduit service to this merchant, they very quickly have offered to issue an order cancellation & provide a full refund.

No SD cards, but hopefully I get my money back.

uck51js9zml2yt · 01-10-2012 11:33am

amphkingwest wrote: »

Just to highlight this. As a business we were being encouraged to provide a €30 for €15 voucher, so consumer pays €15 and gets €30 voucher to use in store.

The actual cost to us as a business for you to redeem this would have been €22.50. The fees are 50% of the deal price!!

The guys doing the valetting were most definitely doing this deal at a loss regardless of how many were sold. I wonder how much return custom they will receive from this at their normal retail price? Will the extra 145 customers pay ful price next time or will the guys have to incentivise these customers to return again?

Therein lies the problem with these deals from a business perspective.
I've gotten deals in the past but never returned as a customer,so far at least.

Its great for the customer but I remember going to a tourism marketing conference in DCU last year where people asked should their businesses be doing these deals.

The resounding answer from the panel was NO.

If it is going to be done, it needs to be managed and limited to a maximum number of vouchers.
One food delivery company in Dublin sold over 2000 deals last summer, didn't get paid on time by the deal company, couldn't pay their suppliers and ended up with a lot of unhappy customers who didn't get their orders as a result.
The negative publicity destroyed what up to then was a good business.

RacoonQueen · 01-10-2012 12:13pm

Kristian Greasy Memoir wrote: »

Therein lies the problem with these deals from a business perspective.
I've gotten deals in the past but never returned as a customer,so far at least.

Its great for the customer but I remember going to a tourism marketing conference in DCU last year where people asked should their businesses be doing these deals.

The resounding answer from the panel was NO.

If it is going to be done, it needs to be managed and limited to a maximum number of vouchers.
One food delivery company in Dublin sold over 2000 deals last summer, didn't get paid on time by the deal company, couldn't pay their suppliers and ended up with a lot of unhappy customers who didn't get their orders as a result.
The negative publicity destroyed what up to then was a good business.

And for businesses in certain industries people will just buy up all the similar deals and never return to a particular business. Think beauty salons, car valeting etc they'll just buy the next valet service.

With the 'demise' of boards deals I can see other deal companies going the same way. They are a good idea, in theory but there ended up being way too many of them so there was no benefit to businesses when a competing business would be running a similar deal elsewhere the same day or the following week.

The amount of people who do not use their vouchers at all is staggering as well. The deal companies were making a fortune and some don't even pay companies until a voucher has actually been redeemed. :eek:

ian_m · 01-10-2012 12:35pm

RacoonQueen wrote: »

The amount of people who do not use their vouchers at all is staggering as well. The deal companies were making a fortune and some don't even pay companies until a voucher has actually been redeemed. :eek:

Some customers try to use their vouchers but their attempts are in vain. Bring this to the attention of livingsocial and they ignore the problem and never return your call. They are a disgrace.

zanqa · 10-10-2012 3:04pm

I have been with Living Social for 2yrs, which is probably only because I never had any issues with my deals... Until now- VIP valeting deal which I have been trying to schedule for a month now. The phone is either busy or off. I managed to get through twice and was promised a call back- which never happened. Annoyed with the treatment I asked LS for a refund but they refused (our terms and conditions madam, allow a refund within 7 days only, SIC!). They said that after that time the issue is entirely between myself and the merchant and they cannot help.
I asked them to immediately shut down my account and had to call them and held the rep on the phone while he was doing it (there was no option to do it online, even though that's where they were sending me).
There is no way I could continue my 'co-operation' with them for even a second longer. Very improfessional approach and total ignorance.
Anyway, now I am stuck with the useless voucher with VIP Valeting Stepaside and I think I will have to try to contact them telepathically, as both phone and email attempts failed miserably...

sconhome · 10-10-2012 3:24pm

zanqa wrote: »

I have been with Living Social for 2yrs, which is probably only because I never had any issues with my deals... Until now- VIP valeting deal which I have been trying to schedule for a month now. The phone is either busy or off. I managed to get through twice and was promised a call back- which never happened. Annoyed with the treatment I asked LS for a refund but they refused (our terms and conditions madam, allow a refund within 7 days only, SIC!). They said that after that time the issue is entirely between myself and the merchant and they cannot help.
I asked them to immediately shut down my account and had to call them and held the rep on the phone while he was doing it (there was no option to do it online, even though that's where they were sending me).
There is no way I could continue my 'co-operation' with them for even a second longer. Very improfessional approach and total ignorance.
Anyway, now I am stuck with the useless voucher with VIP Valeting Stepaside and I think I will have to try to contact them telepathically, as both phone and email attempts failed miserably...

You could write or call to their office during business hours.

Their Facebook page noted how many new customers they had received through the LS offering. If its a one or two man operation they are more than likely snowed under and, while it is no excuse, just cant manage their diary at the moment. But, they should just tell you that, rather than ignoring the contact.

amadangomor · 11-10-2012 1:12am

Didn't realise that there is a 24-48 hour delay to the deal.I bought tickets for my son and myself yesterday around 9pm for tomorrows Circus showing by Fossetts at 4:30.

So they sold me a voucher for tickets that I have no way of obtaining before the performance?I have told my son we are going so if I don't get the voucher I'm going to have to pay full whack for the tickets.Absolute joke!What is the logic behind the delay?I have used these deal company once before and all i had to do was print out the vouchers that arrived immediately.

sconhome · 11-10-2012 1:55pm

Cant answer your questions and not providing excuses for LS, but what about bringing a print out of the offer email and negotiating directly at the ticket office?

amadangomor · 11-10-2012 10:57pm

amphkingwest wrote: »

Cant answer your questions and not providing excuses for LS, but what about bringing a print out of the offer email and negotiating directly at the ticket office?

Thanks.A big panic for nothing,the vouchers were there this morning. I over reacted a bit but it did say after I bought the vouchers that they take 24-48 hours to arrive.

murphf · 11-03-2013 1:33pm

Can anybody please give me the phone number for living social! Can't get through on email

ian_m · 11-03-2013 7:31pm

01-6535675

Best of luck with that. I'd rather spend the day at the dentist.

craftylady72 · 19-03-2013 12:28pm

Hi, Im in the same boat re living social, I have a voucher for a spa that has gone out of business, according to their website livingsocial will refund any vouchers for places that have closed. Ive sent them the online query a few times and have just received the stock reply that someone will contact me & have been given a case number. However this was over 2 months ago now & Ive heard nothing. Ive mailed them a few times-nothing. Ive tried to ring them on the number on their website but just cant get through. Its 02 033560899, havent a clue where that number even is, does anyone have another contact number for them please??

livingsocial.com

Comments