# 'Livingsocial' online discount site: refund - what chance?



## suzywong (11 May 2012)

Hi, 
I bought a beauty voucher as a gift for someone from the 'Livingsocial' online discount site.  The gift recipient phoned up to book an appointment and were told that the salon was fully booked until June 6th (which is when the voucher expires).  I emailed livingsocialuk and asked for a refund, but have had no reply.  I presume that that is not the end of it, and that I have some claim on the 50 euro I originally paid? 

Anyone else experience this?  

Thanks for listening!


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## elcato (11 May 2012)

2 things I guess. Your friend should ask them to honour the voucher after 6th June or if the website does not return then cancel the CC transaction.


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## Eithneangela (11 May 2012)

I've had bad experience with Living Social (paid €59 for a winter car service and all I got was an assessment of what the car needed and no work carried out). Was back and forth to Living Social to no avail - they just totally walked away from any responsibility saying  my problem was with the garage! So, I wouldn't hold my breath trying to get a refund if I were you. On the other hand, you could give Joe Duffy a call - I'm sure the nation would love to be brought up to date on these voucher deals!


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## Boyd (11 May 2012)

I know its not the same company but its the same area.......I got a refund from Groupon before following a terrible meal out on one of their vouchers. I would pursue LivingSocial again if I were you.


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## elcato (11 May 2012)

Ask your friend to ring again and don't mention any voucher just to see if they are acting the maggot. They surely get cancellations.


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## Newbie! (11 May 2012)

Not the same thing exactly but I bought a voucher for Next on Living Social however the item that i bought using the voucher wasnt right and I returned it to the store. Next refunded the cash part of the gift but no mention of the rest. I emailed living social three times and they didnt respond. Eventually found a phone number for them on the web and called and they were very nice and apologetic and gave me €10 voucher credit as well as my refund as a goodwill gesture.


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## DrMoriarty (11 May 2012)

I'm not very impressed with Livingsocial's (lack of) email responses, either... 


> On 11 May 2012 10:01, <DrMoriarty> wrote:
> OK, another fortnight has passed and still no response, and no refund. I'm now contacting my credit card provider to report a fraudulent transaction and initiate a chargeback.
> Yours sincerely,
> DrMoriarty
> ...


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## suzywong (11 May 2012)

Thanks all,
Dr Moriarty - I may try your route - (i.e., cancel the cc transaction) thanks.

Newbie, I tried phoning but gave up after an eternity on hold.

Elcato, they said it had to be used before the 6th June, but that they had no appointments available before then.  

I am tempted to  phone the salon myself and see if I can make an appointment to see if they can fit in any appointment - I don't believe they can be completely full for the next _three weeks_. It's just a place that does nails, tanning, massages etc. Surely someone there has a free hour?  (Maybe only if you are a livingsocial voucher holder)


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## flattea2 (11 May 2012)

suzywong said:


> Thanks all,
> 
> I am tempted to phone the salon myself and see if I can make an appointment to see if they can fit in any appointment - I don't believe they can be completely full for the next _three weeks_. It's just a place that does nails, tanning, massages etc. Surely someone there has a free hour? (Maybe only if you are a livingsocial voucher holder)


 
Quite a lot of relatively free advertising (in terms of ad impressions etc).

I'm sure some places wish the vouchers werent purchased at all and just got the 'bounce' from increased name recognition through the advertising.

The business model for this will need to be changed if its to become a recurring thing as I hear a lot of people making a similar complaint to yours when they actually try to book on these vouchers.

Poor form though.


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## horusd (11 May 2012)

This voucher expiring business is a joke. The money used to purchase the voucher doesn't expire, so how the hell does the voucher?


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## gipimann (11 May 2012)

As far as I know, the companies don't get paid until the voucher is actually used, so they probably put a short validity date to get the funds quickly.


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## suzywong (18 May 2012)

Update! Just today I got an email from them (livingsocial) saying they were refunding the money. Will see if and when that happens! 

Thanks all.


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## suzywong (31 May 2012)

Further update.  Received refund.  Took ages so they must have a backlog. But at least they did refund the money, so fair play.


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## Troy McClure (31 May 2012)

username123 said:


> I know its not the same company but its the same area.......I got a refund from Groupon before following a terrible meal out on one of their vouchers. I would pursue LivingSocial again if I were you.


 
In our experience Groupon are alot more customer friendly than Livingsocial. We also had a poor experience with them. They fed us a load of bull but no refund. We, and those close to us, stopped using them. 
We have had only good expereince's with the other discount websites when we ran into a problem, even when they could have told us to shag off, they refunded us. Obviously they would rather keep establisted customers buying than annoy them, and lose them.


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