Firing range coupon deal backfired on buyers
Shannon Haskell bought three discount vouchers at DealTicker for $69 apiece, offering a session at a shooting range run by Gladius International Protection Services.
The company suspended operations before she could attend. Now she can't get a refund.
Group buying can offer great bargains. That's why it's growing quickly. But customers get burned when merchants renege on their commitments.
I've written about The Butchers, a Toronto store that sold a record number of vouchers and couldn't handle the traffic. It narrowed the redemption window to a three-hour slot, but that wasn't enough. Now it has stopped accepting coupons while renovating and adding new refrigerators.
"These online vouchers are a completely new form of marketing that we did not know how to use properly and it got us into a bit of uncharted territory," owner Marlon Pather admitted.
"We want everyone to know that we honestly made a mistake by not running these promotions properly, but we also want you to know that we are doing our absolute best to make up for this misjudgment."
Promising to honour vouchers again in the future, he told people to check back for updates on when the store opened again.
To me, that's outrageous. I bought a $100 voucher from The Butchers to test the concept. And while it's good for a year (until May 2012), I don't know when -- and if -- I'll be able to use it.
Back to Shannon Haskell, who booked a reservation at the shooting range for later this summer. Here's what she was told in an email:
"Gladius International regrets to inform all of you that we must suspend operations temporarily until our new range can be built.
"Gladius will honour its commitment to DealTicker and all of the persons who signed up. It will, however, take us several months to get the range operational and I apologize for the delay.
"Please understand, this kind of deal is new to Ontario and these events were unforeseen by us. We are doing our best to satisfy all the persons who signed up for this range day experience."
Sound familiar? Gladius, too, has taken in thousands of dollars through selling vouchers for services that can't be fulfilled. It wants people to be patient while it enjoys the use of their money.
Haskell's coupon was good for two years (until March 2013), so her complaints were brushed off.
"The deal did state NO REFUNDS," she said, sending me a copy of the voucher. "But I assumed that if the deal didn't actually exist and customers couldn't redeem their coupons, DealTicker would reconsider their terms. Apparently not."
The DealTicker disappointment is discussed here and The Butchers bombshell is bemoaned here. The savvy shoppers at RedFlagDeals are usually ahead of the curve on corporate mistakes.
I think you have to be ultra-cautious about putting down money with a company you don't know, since it can pull the same stunts you're seeing here.
As for the deal websites, find out their refund policy in advance. And don't assume, as Haskell did, that a no-refund rule will change if a coupon can't be redeemed right away.
The longer a voucher lasts, the longer you may sit and stew about giving your money to finance someone else's shaky business.
Originally Posted by WidowMaker
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