LivingSocial is not the company it once was, merchants are on to them and the so called deals have gone downhill pretty rapidly. I think if you're a savvy online shopper or brick and mortar consumer, you can get most of the deals they offer and on your own terms.

OP, can't you go to your credit card company and dispute it, saying that Living Social won't handle your complaint? They then have to get in contact with LS themselves, which I am sure credit card companies have done in the past.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:huh? i thought with groupon you could always get face value of item purchased if you don't use it. no?

True for Groupon. Not true for LivingSocial. LivingSocial seems to be very tight fisted when it comes to holding onto customers' money.

I have an expired Living Social deal in front of me. It says that the promotional value expired 7/29/12 but the paid value (what I paid for the deal) expired 4/10/2017 so it depends. There was actually a class action against one company, can't remember which, related to people not being able to use the voucher for at least the value they paid.

I think that this is a law now, about vouchers and gift cards, that the paid value cannot expire or must last a certain amount of time- depending on the circumstances.

15:33 PP here. Yup, there is a current class action suit against LS:

http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/print-edition/2012/07/06/livingsocial-coupon-suit-gains-steam.html?page=all

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:huh? i thought with groupon you could always get face value of item purchased if you don't use it. no?

True for Groupon. Not true for LivingSocial. LivingSocial seems to be very tight fisted when it comes to holding onto customers' money.

I have an expired Living Social deal in front of me. It says that the promotional value expired 7/29/12 but the paid value (what I paid for the deal) expired 4/10/2017 so it depends. There was actually a class action against one company, can't remember which, related to people not being able to use the voucher for at least the value they paid.

Have they changed their policy? I bought a living social deal for a spa, and got a refund because I called three times for an appointment and was told each time that the scheduler wasn't in, or they didn't have any openings the week I wanted. I figured three calls is my limit-- my time is worth something, and they were making it difficult. I told LS exactly that, and they refunded my money immediately. Probably a month after I bought the deal.

a rulcoupon things, only buy them for businesses that you are familiar with and have a good reputation.

I had a groupon to Pretty Nails and Spa in Bethesda, and it was awful. The salon was unsanitary and dirty and there were pill bottles and dust all over. I contacted groupon and only got $10 in Groupon Bucks, having spent $25 on the deal.

I've gotten refunds from both Groupon & Amazon Local, no problem. With Amazon Local it was for duct cleaning. The company was Envirocair and they completely suck and are scamsters.

I have received a refund from LS when a candy store went out of business, granted it was only $10 but still..I asked for it and got it within a couple of days.

And yeah I have also found out some deals aren't really deals. Almost spent $300+ for a couple nights at a hotel we liked in a resort area which would have been a steal. But researched it first and found it was bought out recently and there were a lot of complaints about dirty rooms, bad service etc. The new price was about the same as offered on the 'deal' site. Glad I didn't waste my $

Anonymous wrote:huh? i thought with groupon you could always get face value of item purchased if you don't use it. no?

True for Groupon. Not true for LivingSocial. LivingSocial seems to be very tight fisted when it comes to holding onto customers' money.

I hope I don't jinx it, but I've had responsive customer service from both Groupon and Living Social. I've gotten refunds for housecleaners that went out of business, housecleaners that didn't respond to repeated phone calls/emails (and finally learned not to do housecleaning deals), a retailer that closed a location and is now only located in some distant off Maryland city and, just a couple months ago from Living Social, a salon deal. For the last one I got the refund in Living Social deal bucks since it had been a while since purchase, but that was fine by me. I do agree with the PPs that some "deals" aren't really deals and am now much more selective with my purchases.

PP here. My negative experience was that the merchant imposed a condition on redeeming the voucher that was nowhere stated, which made it impossible to redeem by the expiration date. It was ridiculous. By the way, the merchant ended up closing that location