[National] Deal Sites to Use/Avoid

[justinn]

Avoid
Webpiggy - Butchers in GTA
Buytopia - Butchers in GTA
Dealticker - Gladius International, Hamilton Area
justthebestdeals.com - Voucher was not valid


Use
Groupon
Teambuy
Wagjag
LivingSocial
dealicious
Kijiji Deal of Day
SwarmJam
Fabfind
RFD Deal of Day


Thought this would be helpful to some before making purchases. Feel free to expand the list, this is just my observations.

[zoro69]

Add buytopia to avoid, same deal with butchers. People can't even get a response or them to pickup the phone let alone refunds

Dealfind should be alright, refunding butchers and well funded

[spensar]

Add Kijiji to the Use list. Fulfilled deals fine through them. An issue with one overwhelmed company that was struggling to fulfill and they gave a no BS refund quickly.

[dealerschmealer]

Been ripped off by dealfind vendors twice.

dealfind did refund the money though

[Daf]

I thought dealfind stand behinds thier stuff?? am i mistaken?

[dealerschmealer]

I thought dealfind stand behinds thier stuff?? am i mistaken?

Who knows ... all i know is that they got conned by some car detailing places who closed down without honouring the coupon and then opened up shop again on the same street with the same advertising ... different name ... same deal ... recycle and repeat

[BananaHunter]

I used Web Piggy once and DealTicker several times. No problems. I don't think it's fair to label one company as avoid with just one unusual event. The Butchers was an exceptional case. Usually it stems of the vendor being lame and not honoring the deal, rather than the fault of the deal site.

Sites I seem to have extra confidence in solely due to # of times I've used them
Dealicious
Fabfind
Dealfind
Teambuy
And of course, RFD.

The rest are on a "I'll try it once and see" basis.

[habsfan321]

SwarmJam is reputable, they're owned by the PostMedia Network (the parent company of National Post, Montreal Gazette, Ottawa Citizen, ...).

Another good deal site I've dealt with is Tuango... It's mostly for Quebec (although they have deals for Ottawa).

[SkiLLz]

Who knows ... all i know is that they got conned by some car detailing places who closed down without honouring the coupon and then opened up shop again on the same street with the same advertising ... different name ... same deal ... recycle and repeat

Which detailing places? I have a detailing voucher from them that I still haven't used yet... hopefully that's not one of the ones that shut down. The one I have is for "Perma Shield" in Mississauga.


On topic, I've purchased from most of the voucher sites and have been lucky so far. Groupon and WagJag offered very quick refunds when requested (Groupon was for a photographer giving me the runaround, WagJag was for the crappy Phatboy fireworks deal). DealTicker's Gladius deal was a bit of a scare, but they smartened up and refunded peoples' money as well. I only recently bought a voucher from Web Piggy (for Astoria - couldn't resist) so we'll see how that goes. I've purchased from TeamBuy, Dealfind, SwarmJam, and KijijiDeals without any issues. I purchased the Wendy's deal from PennyPincherz and it went okay, but they seem VERY small time/unprofessional. I think it's a one or two man operation so I would hesitate in purchasing from them again.

[catwalk]

I've had issues with all of them but Webpiggy, buytopia, dealticker been the worst so far. Livingsocial gave me some problems too, oh & Dealfind. Don't know if there's any site that you can say USE THEM without any hesitation. Groupon & Wagjag have been the best so far, plus Dealsnoop (as a smaller but good one).

[wszeto28]

Sites that I've had no problem with so far were:
Groupon
RFD - Deal of the Day
WagJag
Fabfind

[pipolchap]

Anybody have issues with "Travelzoo Local Deals"?

[zoro69]

Someone has reported dealfind a couple of times to the ASC and they've been found in violation of the bait & switch clause of the Can advertising code.

http://www.adstandards.com/en/standa...rtscurrent.asp

A lot of the sites have done the same thing, run banners promoting some sort of huge discount while inserting your city, but there is no deal, only a promotion that deals are coming or an ad wanting sales reps. Living social has done it a lot here even though they've never had a local deal.

So if you see one you are mad at doing that, report them to the ASC. If they keep getting complaints that are found in violation of the code then supposedly the media members will eventually refuse to run their ads

[catwalk]

Someone has reported dealfind a couple of times to the ASC and they've been found in violation of the bait & switch clause of the Can advertising code.

http://www.adstandards.com/en/standa...rtscurrent.asp

A lot of the sites have done the same thing, run banners promoting some sort of huge discount while inserting your city, but there is no deal, only a promotion that deals are coming or an ad wanting sales reps. Living social has done it a lot here even though they've never had a local deal.

So if you see one you are mad at doing that, report them to the ASC. If they keep getting complaints that are found in violation of the code then supposedly the media members will eventually refuse to run their ads

Thanks Zoro! Maybe they can flog Dealfind for their other shady practices too.... like their 'foot in the door' & 'oops we didn't mean that, terms have changed after you bought' BS. The scammy companies that Groupon rejects know they can get their crap deals put on Dealfind with the actual fees omitted.

I guess the ASC doesn't cover when a deal site advertises but then the deal is for a totally different city (sometimes really far away)? Or is it only for when there's no deal at all?

[juice01]

pipolchap,

I've used a couple of Travelzoo restaurant coupons down in California (bought them here to use while on vacation down there). Didn't have an issue with either one. Waiters were aware of the promo and accepted them without question.