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has anyone used Wowcher or Groupon?
I've signed up to Wowcher and Groupon, and before I start taking advantage of the massive savings I'm just wondering if they are as good as they look?
I know on Watchdog last year they did a feature about a lady who owned a bakery and had lots of people coming in for free cakes offered by Wowcher and she had no idea that this was supposed to happen, she claimed they never asked permission and she lost a lot of money.
Ive been looking on there for holidays, and there's a computer tablet for £60 that's supposed to be £200, my dads birthday is coming up and I know how much he wants a tablet, but it just seems too good to be true.
Has anyone used these websites for more expensive things and did you get the goods you'd paid for? It seems great for mini breaks in the UK and abroad but I'd worry about parting with money only to turn up at a destination and be told its not legit.
I know on Watchdog last year they did a feature about a lady who owned a bakery and had lots of people coming in for free cakes offered by Wowcher and she had no idea that this was supposed to happen, she claimed they never asked permission and she lost a lot of money.
Ive been looking on there for holidays, and there's a computer tablet for £60 that's supposed to be £200, my dads birthday is coming up and I know how much he wants a tablet, but it just seems too good to be true.
Has anyone used these websites for more expensive things and did you get the goods you'd paid for? It seems great for mini breaks in the UK and abroad but I'd worry about parting with money only to turn up at a destination and be told its not legit.
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They end up in some unglamourous locations and often with family rooms - not exactly a romantic interlude with your adolescent lad sharing - but for a good family few days out exploring random bits of Britain they get an excellent deal on accommodation.
I have friends who had problems with the experience deals - one bought a hairdressing deal but was not able to get an appointment! Another bought ice skating vouchers but then found they could only be used on a Wednesday evening. I guess like everything else as long as you read the small print you'll be fine.
Check out the price of the tablet on other sites and if £60 is a good price then I'd say go for it.
It does seem that they don't treat their suppliers very well.
Don't be fooled by the huge discounts, a lot of the time they are only 5% or 10% cheaper then you can get elsewhere and sometimes even more expense.
However you do find the odd genuine company and the occasional bargain, but 9/10 its not worth it.
Having done a bit of research that tablet is from a website called Chimp Electronics (never heard of them!) And seems to be exclusive to then, it does say its £209 on their website.
On the other hand, I got a good deal on music downloads through Groupon. However I was then bombarded with emails for offers I had no interest in so I unsubscribed.
Well sort of the point of it is you wait until you see something you want.
I've used Groupon and Livingsocial for about 10 different restaurant visits and never felt I was treated any differently. Best one was to a local restaurant which I go to a lot anyway, it's normally £20 for 3 courses but the Groupon was £20 for 3 courses and a drink for 2 people, same menu as everyone else got.
I had a couple of vouchers that had past its expiry date by one day, so I rang the restaurants to ask if they would still honour my voucher as it had already been paid for, they said yes but just needed Wowcher to re-issue the voucher again, however Wowcher wouldn't re-issue the voucher unless I paid for it again!!!
I then went into the restaurant anyway and explained and they still gave me the deal as they were lovely, but I won't use wowcher again.
I wouldn't have minded if the restaurant themselves said no, as it was my fault I was late in booking, but it was wowcher who were being dicks.
Used it 2-3 times in restaurants. In one we were treated like lepers!
Having said that, i have only had one restauarant out of about 20, offer a similar deal for a return visit.
I think quite a few places resort to groupon for custom when they are already in difficulties, which probably wont help too much.
On a similar thing, last year i went to ibiza with my son on an all inclusive holiday, booked at short notice. Similar thing, and we had a terrific week. I am pretty sure we werent treated any differently.