Comments
have you experienced hidden conditions on Grab One vouchers?
I am a HUGE fan of deal sites. This is how I manage to be out virtually every night and still pay off my mortgage… But the ‘hidden’ conditions really annoy me.
The other day, my sister and I bought vouchers for Tulsi, our favorite Friday lunch joint. The vouchers specified they weren’t to be used in conjunction with any other deal.
No worries.
Except, when we arrived, they said we couldn’t use the vouchers because their entire lunch menu was a ‘special’ (It’s the same every week). Fair enough(?). We asked to see their non-special lunch menu. They don’t have one.
So after giving up on that, we said ok, we’ll pay full price for the lunch and use the voucher for the absolutely-no-way-its-on-a-special wine. Which led to a frosty reception when paying, and not so much a fight, but we definitely had to convince them to let us use our voucher.
It appears, what they meant was the vouchers were for DINNER only. However, they failed to let us know that at any stage.
This left us feeling like the whole thing was a bit disappointing. It would have even been better if they were free voucher, but we paid for those puppies, and when you pay for something in good faith, it’s pretty bad to be made to fight to use it!
So, being good customers of Grab One, we both wrote to them about our experience (we didn’t know each other was writing). I heard back once, and then they went silent. Sarah was basically brushed off.
It really annoys me.
All I asked was that in future they make sure the specify the conditions on the vouchers, so everyone knows where they stand. It seemed reasonable to request that, especially because at the time we genuinely believed it was an oversight.
There response (or lack thereof) makes me wonder if sites like Grab One survive on the fact that a large portion of the vouchers they sell are never redeemed, and that the people who buy them are too embarrassed to fight to be able to use them in case they come across as ‘cheap’.
Not the best or most ethical business model, if you ask me.
Hello, my name is Natalie, I have a business called 
March 29th, 2011 at 10:03 am
It’s called misleading and deceptive conduct and it’s a clear breach of the fair trading act. GrabOne are simply working as agent so the liability would appear to rest firmly with the vendor
March 29th, 2011 at 10:32 am
It just sucks. The shortsightedness by these business owners who fail to realise the power of the internet and the reach of a small number of voices.
I had a similar experiance with Exodus. I did not realise that you had to go in by a certain date to validate the voucher, and having realised 3 days late that is what you had to do I rang them to see what could be done. Nothing was their answer. Good bye $20.
March 29th, 2011 at 10:58 am
Yeah maybe I should take it up with Tulsi as well (It seems petty but I get enraged with how we’re meant to part with small money over and over without complaint!)
The other side is that the deal sites are semi-responsible for ensuring the vendors honor their vouchers re: otherwise people will be less trusting of them.
March 29th, 2011 at 1:30 pm
I’m with Ben, but I guess GrabOne still has the responsibility here and should not fail to “educate” these vendors about their do’s and don’ts, and at least ‘they’ carefully review each and every deal vendors post to their website. Just my 2c.
March 29th, 2011 at 8:34 pm
Hi Nat,
Can you drop the GrabOne helpdesk a quick email? (helpdesk@grabone.co.nz)
We will gladly look at resolving the issue you’ve faced.
March 30th, 2011 at 9:36 am
Hi Richard,
I wrote this post after I had written to the helpdesk over a week ago. They wrote back once and then I had to prompt them again to see if there was any updates.
Your helpdesk isn’t in fact glad to help. Hense this post. What went from being a simple email about maybe ensuring your conditions were spelt out clearly resulted in me being told (after several unhelpful emails back and forward:
“From what I have been advised the vouchers can be used at lunch or dinner. For using it during lunch it can be used towards the regular Tulsi menu, but not the specials one. I presume they now do have one, because this is what we have heard direct from the business. It may pay, for piece of mind also, to give the business a call and check before going in to save any complication?”
Which, as Im sure you are aware, is the LAST thing I wanted to hear after:
1. We DID call (which I had already explained to your help desk)
2. They REFUSED to provide us a full priced lunch menu even though we asked at least twice (which I had ALSO told your help desk)
3. The fact that they now have one is of no benefit to me because I had already had my voucher refused and had to PAY for my lunch.
4. I doubt it’s EVER a good idea, when a customer is in this position, to advise them that maybe they could have done something different. I can get the exact reply to Sarah’s email too, but the general gist she gave me was equally dismissive and alluded to the fact it was all her fault.
I did get a call last night, where I was told the same thing. Even though I explained AGAIN all of the above, I was told that no I was wrong, Grab One had spoken to Tulsi and they do all that. GREAT support guys.
MIke Riversdale has some more feedback here: https://profiles.google.com/u/0/mike.riversdale/posts/NJPiS98TaAV