We’ve seen the explosion of a lot of group buying sites and daily
deal sites since 2011 and it has been estimated that total revenues are
in excess of Php100 Million a year (and it is still growing). As such,
it’s not a surprise that problems and issues tend to crop up more than
their usual fair share.
Perhaps, these issues have risen because
of the volume of transactions, the impulsive buying habits of consumers
towards these deals (higher likelihood of buyer’s remorse?) and the
clever wording of the so-called “fine print”.
I noticed though that a lot (or the biggest) of these headaches that group buying sites are experiencing come from travel deals.
Last year, we heard of the story with MetroDeal and their travel
package that got screwed up leaving a lot of customers not being able to
avail of the vacation package or get a refund for it. This got the
attention of DTI and I also heard that a competitor reported them to
Facebook which eventually led to the closure of their FB Fan Page and
losing more than 500k fans (MetroDeal has since then created a new Fan
Page).
Last month another deal site, CleverBuy got into some problems with
their travel/vacation package. I am not familiar with the deal or how it
went but this email newsletter from the company’s CEO might shed light:
Oftentimes, the issue mostly stems from over-booking, fluctuating
prizes of plane fares that are package along with the deal, and the fine
print that usually requires customers to buy vouchers in pairs, upsells
them, or include additional hidden charges.
These travel deals and the travel agencies that offer them could be
the next target by the DTI. And, it might soon blow over that customer
confidence towards online shopping will degrade instead of improve.
I haven’t really tried getting a vacation package from any of the
deal sites before so I don’t have any first-hand experience. If you have
any experience before, feel free to chime in at the comments.
