Livingsocial Deal not as advertised..legal entitlement to refund?

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Guest
My friend purchased this deal before Christmas for us to have a post Christmas girly day in in the city centre.

The deal clearly says that the location is the Radisson Hotel on Golden Lane and that the goody bag will contain a MAC product.

Our course was booked for next Sunday but she got the email yesterday to say that the venue had changed to http://www.roganstown.com/ which is in the middle of nowhere. They have also said that due to the amount of fake MAC products they will not be giving MAC products in the gift bags.

That set alarm bells ringing. Both of these are mentioned in the deal and to me it's a change in the contract. Some googling reveals

http://livingsocial-com-reviews.measuredup.com/Complaint-scam-44250
[broken link removed]
[broken link removed]

All of which confirmed my instinct that the deal was too good to be true. We've now contacted Livingsocial seeking a refund due to the venue change and the MAC product as those are the changes to the contract. Neither of us will be attending the workshop, the location being a massive factor.

Living social's terms say they will refund up to 5 days after purchase (provided voucher unused) and after that only if the company goes out of business. Surely we have some consumer rights due to the change in the deal after we had paid? Looks like 2,000 people bought that deal so this is gonna be big. Hoping living social sort it..but if they don't, what's out next step?


Edit...a little more info. The workshop is to be run by Blaze Management Agency and they advertise deals like this worldwide. Currently available in Edinburgh on gumtree deals

Interestingly the Edinburgh ad does not disclose hotel name and states that a bonus gift worth £10 will be provided on completion of the course.
 
If you paid by credit card then if necessary inform your card provider and maybe ask them to do a charge back on the basis that you were done (if that is the case).
 
OP

Well done. Good coverage by Aideen Sheehan in today's Indo

Anger as ugly truth of beauty class 'deal' revealed


AN online deals site has been forced to issue refunds on a beauty masterclass that turned out to be a cosmetic joke.


Customers of discount offers website [broken link removed].com said the "professional make-up and hair masterclass with a [broken link removed] goodie bag" worth €342 turned out to be a raw deal.


In total, around 2,000 of the discount deals, selling for €29, were snapped up by Irish customers, netting the sellers a hefty €58,000.
But now the expensive MAC make-up is no longer included, and the city centre venue for the masterclass has been switched to an out-of-town hotel.

The two women posted about their experience on consumer website askaboutmoney.com and discovered that Blaze had attracted a great deal of negative feedback internationally.