Deals, offers and discount sites have mushroomed in the recession. Tina Leonard checks out the best of Irish sites offering everything from discounts at A-wear to hotel, plumbing and golf offers
Probably the most active are the deals of the day sites. All you do is sign up for a daily email and they will alert you to the deals which you can ignore or avail of.
There are dozens in Ireland alone - see list of 30 sites here and they are becoming extremely popular. One recent offer for a massage for €25 in Dublin on livingsocial.com had almost 1,000 people take it up.
It’s no surprise given that of the 30,000 savvy members of cash-back site fatcheese.ie, 72% said they use deal of the day sites in a recent survey and 55% said they were buying more because of them.
And there isn't a catch - the owners are banking on a percentage of people who take up the offer becoming regular full-price customers. So they see it as a marketing tool.
The sites and what you can get
Groupon.ie (Citydeal) – part of Groupon UK this is the biggie; a worldwide phenomenon founded by Groupon in Chicago in 2008 and reportedly valued at many billions of US$;
Livingsocial.com – another big one and also US founded. Irish owned / founded sites include:
Pigsback.com - the oldest Irish offers site
Grabone.ie - owned by the Independent
This is by no means an exhaustive list and if you find or know of any more, add them in the comment tab at the top of the article and we'll update the list.
What you get
A lot of accommodation offers such as:€99 instead of €225 for b&b for two and champagne afternoon tea in a boutique hotel in Limerick (Pigsback); €99 for two for b&b in Druids Glen Resort (Dealrush); €99 instead of €249 for b&b for two in Sheraton Athlone, including cocktails and river cruise passes (Livingscoial).
Beauty offers such as:
€79 for six laser hair removal sessions instead of €880 (Livingsocial); €19 instead of €50 for anti-ageing Dermalift facial in Cork (Grabone); €89 instead of €255 for wash, cut, colour, blow-dry and file and polish (Dealsireland); €16 instead of €40 for a bikini wax (Groupon); €23 instead of €60 for one hour Thai massage (Dealrush).
A lot of meal offers such as:
€6 instead of €14.50 for burger, fries and soda at Eddie Rockets in Cork (Grabone); €2 instead of €7 for scone, strawberries and cream at Pacinos in Dublin (Geodeals / instant location based deals).
A lot of lifestyle offers:
€20 instead of €60 for golf for two at Bellewstown (Grabone); €19 instead of €150 for ten gym day passes (Livingsocial); €19 instead of €40 for two tickets to the Irish Championship Stakes raceday at Leopardstown (Pigsback); €70 instead of €140 for eight weeks of Bootcamp (Boardsireland).
Some practical offers:
€37 instead of €75 for a full gas boiler service (Grabone / Dealrush); €25 instead of €75 for three energy saving lightbulbs (Groupon); €39 instead of €240 for a chiropractic examination and three treatment sessions (Groupon).
*If you want to check the daily deals from the leading sites all in one place go to www.d3als.ie.
Testimonies
Camille Rocca bought pilates classes near where she works and having used them, joined the following term at full price. This repeat business is what the companies selling their goods and services dream of.
Cathy bought three spray tans for €20 and says she “couldn’t believe how cheap it was considering it's €35 for one normally”. She booked well in advance to get the appointments she wanted. However, she heard from others who had left it too close to the expiry date to get bookings, but in the end the deal’s end date was extended.
This tip is echoed by Damo who thinks the deals are “fantastic value for money, but you have to keep your eye on expiry dates. Some of them are quite good if it’s gone past, others not so much.”
He has purchased overnight stays, falconry adventures, a kite surfing lesson, a hair cut and colour for his better half, canvas prints of photos, go-karting lessons and the more.
Sue McDonnell has also been busy having bought hair vouchers, house cleaning, beauty packages, restaurant deals and a hamper. She says “I love these sites and use them a lot.”
“But customer service has been the one variable in this”, continues Sue, “ranging from excellent to very hard to book in and when you arrive feeling like you're treated a little 'less than'.” Sue’s policy is to give feedback and she hasn’t gone back to some places but has chosen to give repeat custom to others as a result of good experiences.
David on the other hand, bought a deal for greyhound racing and found the procedure “too cumbersome for a small purchase like this” and so probably won’t bother again.
If you are buying a deal remember that i isn’t good value if you don’t use it, so heed seasoned deal-user Damo’s advice, “don't buy it on the spur of the moment. Buy it because you want or need it and use it straight away.”
Tips
With average discounts of 60pc (and often more), the word ‘thrill’ when presented with these deals, is not to be taken lightly. The psychological response to seeing the words ‘discount’, 60% off, and the time limits imposed (one day only to buy), can make these purchases seem very attractive. Remember these sites are not providing a social service, this is a marketplace and as with any marketplace you should always try and think before you buy.
So you have to be a bit savvy to really get the best from these sites.
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Try not to buy just because it is discounted. Buy it because you want or need it, or it’s something you were planning on buying / doing anyway.
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Book and use the voucher as soon as possible. This is because with heavily booked deals the day or time you want may not be available as businesses try and spread the custom. I.e. only a certain number of ‘deal customers’ for a certain night in a hotel.
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A discounted deal is not good value if you don’t use it. In addition, in general how the system works is that your money is passed on to the business when you redeem the voucher, so if you don’t use it the business loses out.
- Check the terms and conditions of the websites to see within how many days you can pull out and get a refund if you decide you shouldn’t have bought something.
Legal rights to withdraw from offer
In relation to your legal right to withdraw (the seven-day ‘cooling-off’ period you have for changing your mind re online purchases), the issue is a little opaque.
This is because contracts for leisure services (accommodation, concert tickets etc.), which are to be performed on a certain date or within a specific time period, are excluded from the cooling off provisions of the Distance Selling Directive.
However these websites are not selling such contracts.
Rather they sell vouchers that can be redeemed for goods and services from third party suppliers. There is no reason why the seven-day ‘cooling-off’ period should not apply once, of course, the voucher has not already been redeemed. However, should a voucher only be redeemable on a particular specified date it may be difficult to assert a right to cancel. (This is the legal opinion of the European Consumer Centre).
