LivingSocial review: thank you for your awful service 135

Living Social advertised that if you buy their deal and then invite three friends who buy the deal, then you get it for free. Living Social deliberately programmed their email so it would not send all three in time. There was no way for all 3 to get the deal. Living Social still got the email addresses. I tested it twice with the same result. False advertising by Living Social. They take advantage of loose FTC oversight on the internet. Don't fall for their scam.

Recently purchased a deal for a 2 room carpet cleaning through LivingSocial.com. The deail was $65. When the technician came out he told me that the $65 is very basic formula and won't get the carpet clean. I ended up paying $150 for a different formula to be used. I actually snuck a peak to see his other invoices done earlier in the day and looks like they all got charged $150 more, too. So what I intially throught would cost me $65 came out to be $215. Deceiving.

I bought an online "deal" for a full car service through LivingSocial.com.

The small print neglected to advise that I would be required to spend a further $200 on top of the $99 I'd already spent in order to receive my car service.

I raised a complaint with the LivingSocial website immediately and have had no response, depsite following up with them.

Based on my experience, I would not use LivingSocial.com again. Customer service is poor and the site uses bait and switch tactics to draw in cusotmers.

Bought a coupon w/ Living Social for a carpet cleaning service. Wasn't able to reach the business vial email or phone...called Living Social to ask for a refund and tell them that it may not be a legit business they're selling vouchers for. In turn, they told me to keep calling and there's nothing they can do about my money except to give me Living bucks that I could use towards the next 'fake' voucher purchase. No thanks. Very irresponsible customer relations & the companies they deal with.

I recently purchased the Living Social deal for All Fun and Games in Apex, NC. When I went to the store I found that their prices were much higher prices for the same items at extremely similar stores nearby. In addition to the strangely high prices there were signs up throughout the store saying that the products were permanently discounted for various percentages, however these permanent discounts did not apply if you had a living social voucher. I understand that living social deals cannot be combined with other discounts, however the situation in this store made it absolutely obvious me that they increased their usual prices specifically so that the people who purchased the living social deal would not actually save money -- they put up the permanent discount signs so that people without the living social deal wouldn't have to pay the jacked up prices. I will never be purchasing from living social or All Fun and Games again.

The deal they advertised was misleading, showing a product in the image considerably larger than it actually was. When I called customer service, they guy was clearly well-versed in what to say: obviously quite a few had complained about the same thing. I was told too bad...
The company who the deal was from, was also trading under a different name, to hide from the consumer the actual business, a dodgy tele-sales company that received really bad press in the 90s.

I bought a voucher which was a nitemare for a day course of hair and make up the company said the course would be in one location and that they would provide equipment/goody bags includin mac make up and the company said they would email to confirm everything at least a week before I heard nothing until 3 days before and the told me a different location and that I needed to take my own equipment I emailed the company to complain and heard nothing back so contacted livingsocial direct they said they would give me a £5 voucher for there site! So I lost alot of money! I will never use them again as the obviously don't vet there merchants very well and the customer care and after care is terrible! Groupon did the same deal and my friend had the same issues as me and groupon were fab about it and gave them a full refund! I will NEVER use living social again!

Purchased an expensive voucher for a cosmetic procedure and when i went to the Dr to use it she TALKED me OUT of getting it done. So i lose the money and no procedure and the Dr got my money without having to do anywork. I am sure if i was about to pay full price she would have been talking me into it. I am sure this happens often when dealing with any medical typed procedure. If a deal seems to good to be true...it probably IS. NO more coupons for me.

NEVER ORDER DELIVERY FROM LIVINGSOCIAL INSTANT! I tried to order food tonight and it never came. Two hours later, I called to check on it and the restaurant told me that they did not deliver to my address! Hmm, that sounds like something Livingsocial should know! The restaurant said they called livingsocial and canceled the order, but livingsocial never called me to let me know or send me a cancellation email! I waited two hours for food that wasn't coming, and that they knew wasn't coming! Finally, when I called the number to complain, I got a message saying the office was closed for the holidays. Thanksgiving was two weeks ago! DO NOT ORDER ANYTHING FROM LIVINGSOCIAL!

I purchased vouchers several times and received the service with one exception where voucher expired. I purchased vouchers from Advanced International Cleaning prior to Thanksgiving. They did not have equipment to clean our tile, ruined it. Double charged. THERE IS NO RECOURSE VIA LIVING SOCIAL. THEY HAVE NO SKIN IN THEIR SALES. I called number on invoice and the company has NO IDEA who came to our house, different phone number and obviously stolen order sheets. Now to the BBB. BUYER BEWARE.

Purchased a $99.00 Two-hour Holiday light tour limo ride. Was unable to reach PREMIER ENTERTAINMENT (Limo Company) for over 5 weeks to even attempt to schedule the event! Their voice mail remained FULL and no one would respond to my e-mails! Eventually, after many, many attempts, I reached Dave Rivaudo, owner of limo co. After numerous dates hped for, we fianlly were able to schedule a 5:30 pm Thurs. evening light tour. Family all came together, son came back from out of town work early, the limo co. called less than 2 hrs. before scheduled pick-up time, saying limo was in shop, we must reschedule. Dave recommended the following Saturday evening (5:30pm), we agreed, family gathered awaiting the arrival of car, anticipating quality experience..NO SHOW! After a few failed attempts to reach Dave Rivaudo, owner of limo co., finally was able, said he had us down for a DIFFERENT day! He asked if we could, once again, reschedule! Well, the definition of insanity, is doing the same thing, expecting different results! I was NOT going to get the hopes up of all involved again, build another evening around a "shady" limo company. Dave assured me that even tho I must go through LivingSocial for refund there would be no problems! GUESS AGAIN! Spoke with a very rude customer "service" rep, Sarah W. at LS, who told me she would be unable to refund since it was more than five days after voucher purchase! HELLO! Part of the problem from "get~go" was that it took more than 5 WEEKS for me to reach limo co to schedule the above mentioned event! Sarah showed ZERO empathy or validation of my frustration. I had to "fight" for a refund, threatening to contact our local consumer advocacy person with local news station. Sarah finally relented and agreed to refund! By this time, I was not only frustrated, disappointed, now exhausted and have lost all faith in LS and do not plan on purchasing through them again! Buyer beware!

A while back I bought a voucher for teeth whitening from LIvingSocial.com for $160 dollars. The website claimed it was worth $400 dollars. So I went to HIghbridge Family Dental to have the treatment done. After two treatments my teeth were no white than they were before and my lips and teeth were veyr sore. I was then told that this treatment wouldn’t work for me.

I was extremely dissatisfied and told both LivingSocial.com and Highbridge Family Dental this, but they said there was nothing they could do about it and that I could not get a refund. I couldn’t believe the terrible customer service I received from both companies! Apparently one customer isn’t important to them, because I certainly won’t be buying anything from either of them again.

Not only did the product not work as promised, but I was injured in the process (sore lips and teeth)! Do not buy anything from LivingSocial.com, especially nor if you expect great customer service! You won’t get it. Aren’t there any honest businesses out there anymore? Doesn’t anyone actually care about satisfying their customer and ensuring quality products and services? A little customer service can go a long way, people.

I got 3 people to buy this deal and they promised my credit for my deal would be automatic. It was not. I have emailed them twice - no response. I have called them 8 times during normal business hours to get a recording to call back during normal business hours and then get disconnected. I would have to say they are going belly up and ripping off the customers. The other reason might be some knucklehead is trying to run this thing out of his closet. Either way - DON'T DO BUSINESS WITH LIVINGSOCIAL.COM because you cannot reach them via email or telephone. RIP OFF!

Thought I ordered dance classes for my granddaughter; however, something went very wrong and they never got the order. Now, on 12/19/11, I have to find another gift. I have dealt with Groupon many times and never had any problem. My other order from Living Social for MadDonald's burgers was also very late coming.

The Customer Service for Living Social is terrible. Took me 3 days to get a real person. The phone system is terrible and rude. They actually hang up on you if their representatives are too busy - and their representatives are VERY busy handling their problems. Do not deal with them unless you want to be disappointed.

I purchased a nest of tables via Living Social. I allowed the 21 days for delivery as per the description. After 22 days when the tables hadn't arrived, I contacted Living Social who told me I needed to contact the supplier. They had no name for the supplier just a mobile number. The 'Gentleman' who answered the phone was very rude, told me that 30 sets of tables including mine had been destroyed in a crash and that I had to contact Living Social for a refund. I contacted Living Social who told me they had to wait for Merchant Services to authorise a refund. 48 hours later I called again to be told they were waiting to inspect the tables with a view to redelivering them. By this point I was not interested in receiving the tables and I just wanted a refund but no one will tell me when I can expect this. They have had my money for over a month, the customer service people just spout the same old patronizing rubbish without actually helping. As the customer I am out of pocket with no information. If it goes wrong, it is really bad!

Have been trying to contact Livingsocial but no one ever replies or gets back to you. Bought a voucher online and was trying to gift it but then there's an error and it won't let you gift after that. We had purchased it to give as a bday gift this week but guess that won't happen. How can you not reply to any request for information. Why should we keep buying stuff from your sites when there are so many other sites selling same deals out there. Just so frustrating!

Using the link to your website I see no "my Vouchers" tab. Once I "unsubscribed" I saw right away but what's the point if I get get into the website. The reset password option is not replying. I have to cancel my arrangement for tonight as I have no voucher = I am very VERY frustrated at this.
When I purchased the voucher early in the year I knew I would be using it this weekend. But no voucher means no deal and expires in a couple of days.

Incredibly disappointing and a waste of $70.00! Poor links, poor service, and a company that clearly does not care. Stay away.Very dissatisfied!

This was the first time I've used an online coupon site and the last. Four friends and I bought tickets to attend a sushi-making course in Seattle at $55 each. However, three of us fell sick, - that not even being able to roll out of bed kind of sick - and as such couldn't make it. Even though the course was being run for the following three weekends and was only half-full we figured we'd be able to postpone it. Instead we were told that was it. No postponement. No credit. No partial refund. Nothing.

They kept our $220, provided nothing, and that was that. This is the first company I've ever dealt with that made zero attempt at customer service. Hands down the worst experience I've ever had as a consumer.

Avoid this company like the plague.

Unfortunately this website went from bad to a NIGHTMARE! If you have a problem with a deal well good luck getting your money back cause they never answer the phone calls, emails are usually rude people who basically tell u that they don’t care and u gonna waist your money. Their customer service it’s terrible, and sometimes their vendors don’t honor the voucher.

I had an account and I end up closing it due to the lack of customer service and now I have vouchers that are useless.

Terrible customer service! I purchased a gym deal which was supposed to expire after three months. Two months later I redeemed the deal but was issued an expired voucher which the merchant wouldn't accept and LivingSocial wouldn't refund it as their T&Cs say that the merchant is responsible for all claims.

So in short LivingSocial is blaming the merchant and the merchant is blaming LivingSocial for misselling their deal!

this site does not stand behind their vendors, and their vendors seem to be fly by night! Unlike Groupon, whch will always let a customer trade their coupon in for "groupon" dollars (one for one), LS does not provide any refund/credit if a vendor does not honor their coupon. LS also does not send reminders about expiration dates as does Groupon. I am not a shill for Groupon, but I do know that LS has ZERO customer service or support. I am currently dealing with a LS vendor who is failing to provide an apptmt within the voucher time, because she says "I sold 500 and we cant accomodate everyone." Give me a break! And LS fails to deal with complaints about this situation! Go elsewhere, for your own peace of mind!

Their "Buy 3 get 1 Free" offer may be bogus. On two separate occasions I have done this deal, but at the last minute Living Social canceled one of the purchases and thus did not honor the FREE part of the offer. The first time they blamed it on a technical glitch with the website. The second time their customer service department was so slow to respond that the deal expired before the issue could be resolved. I gave them the benefit of the doubt after the first screw-up, but now that it has happened twice, I think the promotion is a false offer. Additionally, their customer service department was extremely inept in both cases!

Living Social is a nightmare to deal with. I bought a spa package at the Hilton Hotel in Mayfair London in September 2011. I bought it for my parent's Christmas present. I tried to book for specific dates and they were always booked up. In December they said they were completely booked up and couldn't see their diary for May 2012 onwards until 1st of February when again I had to spend hours on the phone. I did call the Hilton Hotel the morning of the 1st of February and no one answered the phone. I called Living Social to complain (again) and they said it was my fault for booking the deal through a third party (themselves) and they would not be able to give me a refund. I have wasted hours and hours trying to book the treatment I have paid for without any result and would not recommend this to ANYONE.

I too wish I had visited a site like this before I signed up for a Living Social event. My husband and I signed up for the Mustard Adventure in the Napa Valley on February 4th. We were very disappointed in the entire 2.5 hours. The winery and staff and the Living Social staff were not professional. The “gourmet” lunch consisted of a turkey or vegetarian French roll sandwich, a tablespoon of fruit and biscotti. The tour (wait, I think they forgot the tour), and the mustard making were a huge disappointment. It was obvious they overbooked both the AM and the PM times. We attended the PM "adventure" and had to wait while the early group finished making the mustard because "they way overbooked the early session and there were more people than they expected." When it finally was time to sign in the list didn’t contain most names and we had to wait for them to find an updated sign in sheet. When it came down to time with the 2010 Chef of the Year, we all crowded around some small tables while the Chef of the Year spoke for a few short moments and then people received 4 recipe cards (not a recipe book) and made their way to one of the 5 tables where 5 people dressed as chefs watched as we measured and mixed a few tablespoons of ingredients and put into jars. The "adventure" lasted maybe 7 minutes. During the short time we spent in the wine shop we kept hearing “oh, we’re out of this or that wine.” Our efforts to get someone’s attention to answer a few questions were not successful so we walked out without purchasing any wine. We have unsubscribed from Living Social and will find it very hard to recommend this site to anyone in the future, especially after reading many previous reviews.

I have been a merchant for Livingsocial. which means i put a deal out on their website. this has got to be the biggest mistake of my life. My business has nearly gone bust thanks to them. I get fake phone calls from their customer service team (the ring my phone and hang up for no reason at all) my offer was valid for 6 month and the expiry date has been and gone i am still redeeming clients for another 4 month after expiry date apparently this is not acceptable to them and i need to refund everyone! total joke they are. i would stay well clear from them. Plus the money i walked away with gave me an average wage of £3.00 per hour! so far it has took up 200 hours of my time and they expect me to repay that! i hate them with a very big passion they have made my life a misery.

Lack of customer service and clever misrepresentation results in being stuck with a certificate that you'll have a hard time using or being very disappointed in. Daily deals are great and I've found Groupon is a far superior company and Livingsocial is a rip-off wanna be. Buyer beware.

Ex: By hiding the "fine print" in tabs, the buyer is not easily aware of the many limitations of using the deal until you actually print it out and THEN it's very apparent. Take a look at their websites. Groupon is honest and clearly represents all and any limitations/restrictions. Livingsocial uses multiple tabs to hide these.

Ex: Many of the hotel deals are dumps, but Livingsocial always uses beautiful photo of the general location, of which the hotel does not have this view, much less being located any where near this gorgeous mountain vista or azure blue lake. They will have tempting titles like "Yosemite" in the headline, but if you go to Google maps, you'll find that the hotel is an HOUR away from Yosemite off of a highway surrounded by concrete, not trees.

Ex: Livingsocial does NOT invite prospective buyers to ask questions before buying. Groupon readily has an "Ask a Question" option as well as a clearly presented link to the vendor's website. Livingsocial does not provide a link to the vendor's website so that you can thoroughly investigate just what you will be getting. They want to fool and trap you into buying...too much information will obviously turn you off to the dogs they are trying to sell you.

Ex: when you contact Livingsocial, you will only get an form response that basically says the only time they provide refunds is if the business goes out of business. I buy several Groupons a month and once in while find that I can't use one for whatever reason. Groupon happily and quickly refunds my money. THAT'S customer service and THAT'S why I continue to use Groupon and not these lesser companies like Livingsocial.

It's April 2012. Paid for a class in November 2011. Three locations listed. One very near me. One 43 miles away. One 51 miles away. Have been unable to register for the class near me and the merchant is no help and kind of rude. Two emails to LivingSocial and two terse "form" emails back. Decided to just drive to one of the further locations but can't even schedule that. Almost no classes available and literally none have been scheduled at the location near me for months. Will never use Living Social again. My money is just gone.

I bought a voucher from " The Barefoot Bodhi" in San Antonio, Tx at Living Social eight (8) months ago and so far I couldn't use it. Tell me: How a business that have little availability to redeem vouchers can announce a deal? This kind of thing is not right-- to say the least! I had to call Living Social 3 times until getting a credit to use it an another deal since I could not be refunded. On one of these calls, a L.S. representative hung up on my face. I do not recommend neither "The Barefoot Bodhi" in San Antonio, Tx nor Living Social to anybody. This was my first time buying a deal from Living Social and I had an awful experience. For while, I'll stick with Groupon that never gave me any problems so far -- and I have bought a lot from it.

I purchased a Living Social voucher for a two night stay at an inn in MN for 50% off. A month before the voucher was to expire, I called to make reservations. The inn had no weekends available for the entire month. It would not apply the voucher to a room of equal value (not specifically included in the voucher) or extend the voucher into May. So I called Living Social and asked for a credit for the amt of my voucher to be applied to my account. The rep simply repeated the fine print on the voucher that refunds can only be made within 30 days. He said I should have called immediately to book a room because I should have known that they would go fast. there was nothing on the voucher about limited availability, etc. Yet LIving Social is currently selling the same voucher from the same Inn even though the Inn cannot accommodate its current voucher holders. When I suggested Living Social allow me to apply the value of my voucher to the voucher currently being pedaled by Living Social, the rep repeated the fine print and said no. I then got a follow up email from Living Social triggered by my call saying "We are happy to help."

I bought a voucher for Actors Seminar Series from LivingSocial on March 14, 2012. The seminar was dated for April 4th from 1pm-5pm. They only do the seminars on Wednesdays and I usually have another on-going class that I take on Wednesdays, but picked this date because we are on a break so this was the only date I could attend. I showed up to the correct address at the correct time and no one was at the theatre. I found one guy in an office upstairs and he said they had no events scheduled on their calendar for that day. I called LS and after doing research, the guy told me that they had a similar complaint in the month of March for one of their seminars as well. They reached out to the vendor with no response. I looked online and the vendor only has a tiny website with a facebook link and a phone number and the facebook page is rarely used. I called the number and left messages but have not received a call back. There is no other mention of this vendor at all online. I was told it by LS it would take 3 days to research and try to make contact with the vendor, but that I probably would not get my money back and would have to take a credit for the amount to buy another voucher later. I told them I didn't want it and was told by another woman that if the vendor is able to reschedule the date and I cannot attend that I would only be eligible for the credit because they did reschedule. I picked a day specifically that I would be able to go and the vendor did not deliver on the class. So even if they reschedule, why should I be expected to go to the rescheduled date or lose my money? Especially since you said that this vendor has already had a the exact same complaint just last month. Why would I want to reschedule if they already have a habit of not showing up and conducting the seminars? The vendor did not deliver on it's promise so I should get my money back. I'm still waiting to hear back, but if in the end, I do not get a refund of my money I will report this to the BBB. After this, I just want my money back and I don't want to deal with the vendor ever again.

I'm reviewing Living Social's Escapes, their version of vacation packages, because after months of monitoring Living Social escapes and groupon vacations I can safely say you'll NEVER get a deal with either site when it comes to vacations.

Simple homework will show you that any hotel or resort you plug into Orbitz or any big travel site will return better rates than these "deal" sites offer, sometimes $100-$200 more.

Do your homework people, these deal sites are scamming you when it comes to vacations, usually it's by the fine print where it shows additional "taxes"(that orbitz and other sites take into account).

I have yet to see a "deal" that's cheaper than any other competitor's price or even cheaper than booking directly through the site.

Living Social really needs to step up their fact checking department to make sure that their user base is really getting the best deal.

I am in tears and will never purchase from LS again. I've been a long time customer, but never again. I purchased a coupon for a photobooth to use at my wedding. When I called to book my reservation, the merchant said she was completely booked and to call LS to ask for a refund. When I called and emailed, LS said they could do nothing because it had been past their 5 day time limit for refunds. They wouldn't even try to resolve the issue or even offer a partial refund or deal bucks. I'm out of $425 and no photobooth for my wedding. Worst customer service ever! Unbelievable! How will I recover from such a large purchase?

Bought 3 vouchers for Hamerton Zoo but when we turned up the zoo would not honor the vouchers as they said Living Social had not paid them! So paid full amount but no response to email... they deny having received it, and they are also saying I haven't got a voucher in my name even though I have a hard copy here! Every sentence by the parrot at the end of the phone started with unfortunately and I got absolutely nowhere. GIVE THEM A WIDE BERTH. Groupon are much better.

Lodged multiple email complaints requesting help on this matter to both the Diamond Forever customer service email and the Living Social customer service email. Received one generic 'Hi There, Bear with me while I look into that for you' from the Diamond Forever Site but not even that brush-off response from Living Social.

Called living social and after eventually getting through to a call advisor, he said 'bear with me while i look into that for you' then PUT ME ON HOLD AND AFTER A FEW MINUTES OF THAT THE LINE WENT SILENT.

Customer care? Non-existent. Their "refund policy" says that they won't refund unless the company you purchase from goes bust - so i f the company you purchase from never delivers on your item neither side has to cough up. THE SYSTEM ALLOWS SUCH SCAM LOOP-HOLES.

Livingsocial totally scams people out of their money. I have bought several "deals" from them before I realized that much of their offerings aren't valid. I bought a car detailing voucher for a place that doesn't exist. But because I didn't figure that out within 30 days of purchase, they refused to return MY MONEY to me. Then again, I tried to use a weekend get-away voucher, way before the expiration date, and the place of business was completely booked for the following 4 months. Livingsocial refused to refund my $160, even when I was within the 30 day return window.

It's unethical. It's unkind. Avoid Livingsocial.

Spent over one month trying to get a refund on a deal where the company NEVER responded to appointment requests (we called 8 times over 3 weeks). Living Social tried to deny us a refund---but THE DEAL WASN'T REDEEMABLE! Going back and forth with them I finally had to get our local Living Social merchant rep involved (He was awesome and knows a thing or two about customer service---which living social should take note of!). Anyway, because I got the local rep involved, they issued a "refund" of living social credits I can use on other deals but now I'm so sick of this stupid company I can't imagine using them so I may as well have not received a refund in the first place.

I should probably mention that I bought this deal as a GIFT to my husband for his birthday. How embarrassing that it turned out so badly.

A total scam site. Have lost over 500 dollars so far on but that I cannot redeem since I cannot get reservations. And when I contact living social and the merchant I get the same old run around that read the rules and regulations. They sell way to many coupons that the merchant can handle so there is no way to redeem and the customer service is not available to handle your issue. Someone should prosecute these guys since they are ripping us off. They say they will get back to you in 24 or 48 hours when you buy things and never do. Hard earned money down the drain. They should be ashamed of themselves.

I have been using Groupon and Living Social for a few years, not until this year, when I could not finalize a "deal" with Living Social did I find out their "fine print" details. Purchased a getaway to Monterey area - paid $99 for it on Living Social, then tried calling the phone number on the voucher - never an answer! I contacted the Customer Service department and they said "read the rules" no refunds will be made. I stated this purchase had no value as I could not obtain services from their merchant. They said Too Bad. Will never buy another thing from LivingSocial and would caution others to be wary, as they have very poorany customer service!

LivingSocial is the WORST among the lot of group consumer coupon companies. DO NOT buy from them. They incite consumers to buy from them for deals that are unredeemable, then they will steal your money and refuse to refund it even if their Terms of Service and your state laws require them to issue a refund. What's worse is their customer service. They will ignore your emails and simply not answer the phone when you call or place you on hold for extended amounts of time.

If there's something you really want to buy, just call the business directly and ask them to match the offer for you. If they refuse to do it, then that tells you what kind of businesses LivingSocial works with, so why give them your hard-earned money anyway?

Completely agree with the negative comments about this company - completely wiped their hands of a deal offered by an associate partner in Ireland. Very rude when contacted for assistance. If in Ireland, DO NOT USE LIVING SOCIAL - use Group on or Pigsback, who are much more reputable.