Deals from Citydeal, pigsback, Groupon etc. You can still buy expired deals

Ive seen a few of these and used to buy them and thought they were great value.
Some that I wanted, I missed because of the time limit or just didnt make my mind up for a few days and then they were expired.
So I started phoning the businesses the deals were for and basically said I was interested and I would pay the same amount as they had advertised in the deal.
Most of the time they accepted on the spot. Sometimes you would have to ask to speak to a decision maker and then they would accept. It is very rare for it not to work.

So now I just look at the deals that get emailed to me and I dont even book through the web. I call direct and book. Im getting good at it as Im not sometimes getting another fiver or so off too.
You can also change the conditions too. Say they advertised a deal that had €59 for a hotel room plus dinner and breakfast for 2, but it was mid week only. You can tell them you want the deal but want to be able to use it at weekends or you are not interested. If they refuse the weekend then ask for another fiver or tenner off. You can also say you only want it if you can have a certain date. That way you dont end up buying a deal and then having to wait for the confirmation and then find the nights you wanted are gone. It works beautifully.

Now the reason this works is that the deals companies take the money for providing customers. They get a percentage of the purchase price of the deal. If you dont use the coupon you bought the deals company keep the money and the business never sees a penny of it.
So these businesses are interested in dealing direct for a few reasons. They will not have to pay a % off the top. They were selling the deal for that price anyway (actually less as the commission is taken off.). They are quite happy to deal direct with the customer and sell their own product to them, because they are also selling them via the deals company anyway.

Just to let people know you can do this.