Sunglasses deal - what went wrong?

Former_MSE_Archna

21 May 2010

We've started this thread for discussion on the My City Deals/Sunglasses Shop offer that was in the weekly email this week and on the discount vouchers page.

There is a post by Martin here: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....php?t=2483031 which has full details of what to do and is for us to monitor whether issues are being resolved.

This thread is for any discussion on the behaviour of the companies and Martin will answer any questions here, not in the other thread.

Thanks

MSE Archna

1984ReturnsForReal_2

allan673 wrote: »

please keep this thread open, im interested to see when we get dispatch emails and delivery.

im sure everyone else is too who ordered from them.

I just want to know if Martin is going to give the money MSE made out of it to a good cause.

Its hardly right to keep it.

WestHamDaz

1984ReturnsForReal wrote: »

I just want to know if Martin is going to give the money MSE made out of it to a good cause.

Its hardly right to keep it.

Why should they?

If the companies involved refused to refund the differences/voucher prices then yes fair enough, but considering all involved have been seen to take action and sort the problem, with all who order end up paying what they initially expected then I fail to see why they should give away any revenue gained from advertising this link.

haynick

My City Deals - Grubby
Sunglasses-shop - Grubby
MSE - Grubby


A very grubby affair indeed.

Candystore

haynick wrote: »

My City Deals - Grubby
Sunglasses-shop - Grubby
MSE - Grubby


A very grubby affair indeed.

That's out of order. :mad:

If everyone who places an order receives it (at the original price) and those asking for a refund receive it, what's the problem?

I'm sure an money made by Martin & Co goes into running this site, the one that you've used for about 2 years now. IF you don't like it, go away.

I've used mycitydeal 3 times, no issues at all.

Martin has given the address of some at MSE to contact if you don't get what you expected, can't say fairer than that.

The only thing I agree with is that Sunglasses-Shop have been out of order, but at least they're trying to fix it

celticsprite

haynick wrote: »

My City Deals - Grubby
Sunglasses-shop - Grubby
MSE - Grubby


A very grubby affair indeed.

Hardly a reflection on MSE - they're at least being pro-active & trying to sort this issue out.

IMHO not too bad for a free service


cs x

eezray

I have never use MY CITY DEALS before.

it looks like doggy company anyway.

exel1966

MSE_Martin wrote: »

I wanted to write a quick note about the Designer Sunglasses deal that was in the weekly email this week and on the discount vouchers page.

It was a cracking deal

This was a cracking 'one-day' deal and rightly very popular, get a £50 voucher for £17.50. To get it you needed to go via My City Deals to buy the voucher which could be spent at sunglasses-shop.

Annoyingly though, sunglasses-shop put the prices up of Raybans and Oakleys on the day - not by much - but doing that goes completely against the point of these deals. Many of you were annoyed, and when we found out we were frustrated too.

Of course, as always, as soon as we realised this we got on the case both with MCD (who I have to say seem as frustrated as we are and really good about sorting this) and sunglasses-shop. So I wanted to lay out what happened and assure you

We've got a commitment from both that no one will pay a penny more than they should've done

And just to say we always thoroughly check the terms and conditions of all the deals we include in the weekly email. The MCD terms specifically state that shops can't raise their prices with one of their deals, we'd checked this and checked the prices assiduously.

Why did this happen?

My City Deals has a contractual agreement with Sunglasses Shop to supply the deal and as part of this, it (or any other retailer it deals with) is not allowed to unreasonably change prices.

Sunglasses Shop says it has an automatic price system in place, so if demand increases and suppliers increase prices, the website will automatically update.

Official statements from MCD & Sunglasses Shop

From My City Deals

"Apologies for the great deal of confusion around the Sunglasses Shop deal. We realise that many of you are concerned about changes in price since the deal was issued. These price increases have only affected certain Ray-Ban and Oakley models. No other brands have been affected. The Sunglasses Shop will honour the original prices automatically. This means that:

- If you have already placed your order and your sunglasses have changed in price, a refund of the difference in price will automatically be issued within 7 working days of your order being shipped.

- If you have not yet made a purchase we aim that the prices will be back to their level on the day of the promotion by 9:00am on Friday 21st May (ML NOTE - we've checked and some have changed back, not all yet, we're monitoring).

Please accept our apologies for any confusion caused."

Also if you'd simply prefer a refund on your voucher email support(at)mycitydeal.co.uk

Sunglasses Shop:

“Sunglasses Shop has now reverted its prices to what they were the day you purchased your voucher. Selected Oakley and Ray-Ban Sunglasses we affected only. If you have already redeemed your voucher, within 7 working days of receiving your sunglasses we aim to refund the difference.

In response to the delivery charge of £4. This was clearly stated on My City Deal, and was also reported on Money Saving Expert prior to any vouchers being sold. It is also in the confirmation email with your voucher. How the voucher was sold is not something Sunglasses Shop had control over. If you feel you were mislead please speak to My City Deal.

Regarding the longer delivery times, again this was stated prior to buying your voucher, so please try to understand the implications of dealing with so many orders.

Please note we can not reply to forum messages so if you wish to get in touch please email [EMAIL="support@sunglassesshop.com"]support@sunglassesshop.com[/EMAIL]”

We've found this as frustrating as you, My City Deals is a reputable company with weighty backing from multi-million dollar American site, Groupon, not some fly-by-night site.

Further problems?

If you have any further problems, either getting a refund in the price difference or a refund on the voucher if that's what you choose, please email deborah@moneysavingexpert dot com.

If this isn't sorted out properly within the next week for anyone - then we (MSE) will kick into action on your behalf.

Sorry this as happened, we do our best and check diligently, and frankly this is still a cracking deal even with the slightly sour taste in the mouth.

Martin

Martin,

Maybe you should be looking at this https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2473071
MyCityDeal as well, as exactly the same thing was done with price increases on the day of the deal !

sillywilly

MSE_Martin wrote: »

I wanted to write a quick note about the Designer Sunglasses deal that was in the weekly email this week and on the discount vouchers page.

It was a cracking deal

This was a cracking 'one-day' deal and rightly very popular, get a £50 voucher for £17.50. To get it you needed to go via My City Deals to buy the voucher which could be spent at sunglasses-shop.

Martin

It was never a "cracking deal" but it got you roughly 10% + off their prices. The deal, with postage, actually cost £21.50 to get £50 off their prices.

I can't believe that you are buying their lies about their price increase. Does it state anywhere on their website that if demand increases then the price will increase? Please show me where it clearly states that.

You also state that - "Of course, as always, as soon as we realised this we got on the case both with MCD (who I have to say seem as frustrated as we are and really good about sorting this) and sunglasses-shop."

You were so "on the case" that it took them 12 hours and 2800 orders to eventually change the prices back to what they originally were.

Is there any explanation as to why Timmy 2000 was pretending to be a customer of the sunglasses shop but then later came on to defend their price fixing as an employee of this company?

It is clear from forums on this site and others on the internet that MCD "deals" and retailers have a long history of bumping up prices and adding restrictive terms that are not at all transparent when people sign up to the offer.

I think moneysavingexpert.com is a brilliant site with masses of very useful information. This is the first time I have come across a heavily promoted "deal" that wasn't at all what it purported to be. You all seem to be defending each other which IMO hints at some commercial and far from independent financial arrangement.

I truly hope that MCD and the sunglasses shop reap the benefits of all the negative publicity and lose any goodwill that they may have had.

If the sunglasses shop were actually going to put the prices back to what they initially were why did it take them 12 hours? They could have closed the site "for maintenence due to high demand" and changed the prices back immediately.

They didn't do that and if there had not been the constant negativity on this site, they wouldn't have.

Very fishy.

rsykes2000

sillywilly wrote: »

It was never a "cracking deal" but it got you roughly 10% + off their prices. The deal, with postage, actually cost £21.50 to get £50 off their prices.

Sounds good to me. I didn't go for this as I have no need for sunglasses.

sillywilly wrote: »

You also state that - "Of course, as always, as soon as we realised this we got on the case both with MCD (who I have to say seem as frustrated as we are and really good about sorting this) and sunglasses-shop."

You were so "on the case" that it took them 12 hours and 2800 orders to eventually change the prices back to what they originally were.

So in your little world everything happens with no negotiation at the click of a single button ? You're party to every discussion that went on and how long it took ?
Thought not.

sillywilly wrote: »

I think moneysavingexpert.com is a brilliant site with masses of very useful information. This is the first time I have come across a heavily promoted "deal" that wasn't at all what it purported to be. You all seem to be defending each other which IMO hints at some commercial and far from independent financial arrangement.

Offensive and paranoid rubbish.

sillywilly

celticsprite wrote: »

Hardly a reflection on MSE - they're at least being pro-active & trying to sort this issue out.

IMHO not too bad for a free service


cs x

Well it is a reflection on MSE because it was them that put the "deal" in a bold headline on their weekly email that gets sent out to millions of people!!

If they had not promoted it so heavily then they wouldn't have had a tenth of the orders they actually got and maybe they wouldn't of found it necessary to hike prices.

Some people are so blinkered they can't see the cause of the issue yet unwaveringly defend something "cos they think they're right"! You aren't.