Sunglasses deal - what went wrong?

sillywilly

MSE_Martin wrote: »

For anyone who this has caused an issue to, sorry. This was an unmissable deal that we checked through in detail so we wanted to tell you about it. As sometimes happens the companies looked like it wouldnt live up to their promise, but the bigger picture is weve thought hard to ensure that happens

Before starting, let's remember this was a simple bargain of spend £17.50 and get a £50 voucher for an online designer sunglasses shop. It should’ve been simple – for most people it has been. The only actual problem here so far is for a few specs the shop pushed prices up – out of order of course – and we’ve made that point very strongly.

Yet some of comments have been way out of proportion on this. The new group buying sites are springing up everywhere, its going to become a big thing and its a learning curve for us with them - its new and each time we do it we'll learn more about the potential pitfalls.

Frankly while we warn companies about the scale of the MSE email, sometimes there are problems simply because they can’t cope with it

Thanks for the many supportive comments about this.

Of course some have been negative, so let's respond to them (done at speed so forgive anything that doesn’t quite make sense).


This has some very strange maths in it. This deal allowed you to get £50 of sunglasses from a shop for £21.50. That’s a lot better than 10% - it's well over 50%. Of course depending on what specs you got, the discount varies – and those specs may not be at the market's very lowest price, but the research we did shows they were genuinely competitive – so add in the discount and this was a cracker.

Now the fact the company in limited cases increased prices goes against all the information we feasbibly had and checked. The MCD terms do not allow this to happen and we checked the price of the specs before hand. This was not predictable, though I have now seen the links to a couple of other threads that this has happened once before with an MCD deal – and we’re now going to be much more focused on it (as are MCD from what it says).

For those thinking “it was in the forum why didn’t you know” remember there are 30 paperback books of info written here daily and 10,000s posts and 1,000s threads.




We reacted fast – things move quickly, the email only went out on Wed and we were on it in detail on Thursday. The first I heard of this was 7pm last night when the team emailed me – I’d been out on a huge shoot and was checking emails on my phone. I got back at 10 last night and found the team had been trying to piece together what was going on, sorting it out and posting there &then and have been trying to make sure it works for people since.

We were very firm with the companies in the background, yet if we start kicking off and calling people names on the forum we lose all our ability to try and push them to put things right – and that is my key concern. This deal has been a nightmare frankly - there’s been more going on than I can say at the moment (for fear of causing even more problems for those who want the deal – but I will write about it in future).

Most importantly though

A. Everyone whose specs (which is only two of the brands) rose in price will get a refund.
B. Everyone who wants, can get a refund from MCD.

If anything goes wrong, as I’ve said we’ll do all we can to push to make it work.

What’s deeply frustrating about some of these comments – is there should be no negative consequence of doing this – we’ve worked to ensure the result is EXACTLY as we stated and will continue to do so.
Please be patient (or if not get a refund) and as said, check the thead sunglasses deal if it goes wrong. But making predictions won't help.
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How dare you. To suggest we’re grubby is downright offensive, defamatory and completely out of order. Yes there’s been a problem, but it was neither of our causing, nor predictable, and we’ve done everything possible to put it right. Sometimes things don’t go 100% as you expected – but to cast aspersions in such a way is hugely unfair.

MSE's entire reputation is built on trust, it's something I strive for and is at the centre of my belief system and how I’ve constructed the site. To denigrade that work in this way due to this issue is bizarre. Even a cynic would realise that we mess with that at our peril – so not only is the comment offensive, but blinkered and unrealistic.



As for the question about giving money to charity, this totally FREE site funds 30 full time members of staff, has enormous costs, both legal, technical and others related to this forum as well as countless projects for charities. A good chunk of what comes in automatically goes to charity see http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/site/mse-charity-fund. We do that by ethically using affiliate links on deals we editorially rate as being good see http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/funding – this was certainly one of those.

I’ve had members of my team working hours and hours and me ensuring our users are fairly dealt with checking terms and conditions. If we’d made a mistake, acted unethically in any way, I could see your point (not that I’d want to do it as a precedent anyway – we separate our editorial and our affiliate links through a strict Chinese wall system and my team and I, barring two people, have nothing to do with it – it doesn’t effect the way we operate).

Yet we didn’t make a mistake – we haven’t acted unethically – a fourth party didn’t deliver exactly as expected – what we did is spend time, effort, and energy battling for our users to sort it out and make sure the deal lives up to its word and will continue to do so.

To those who’ve been supportive and understand the bigger MSE goal here of trying to bring good deals thank you. To those who think you’d get that duty of care from other sites or think we’ve deliberately done anything wrong or been negligent in any way – I’d strongly suggest you go elsewhere and don’t use this site again – as we can’t promise to do anything differently.

Martin

Martin, I actually wrote 10% +. Maybe I should have written 10% + PLUS just so people didn't get confused by the universal PLUS + sign!!

You have answered your own questions, What is the reason that as soon as the voucher kicked in the prices on my sunglasses shop rose?

Why did it take 8 or 9 hours + to amend the prices?

You run a great site with masses of very useful information and for that I am very grateful.

However I feel that this "offer" was very poorly and dishonestly executed. Whether it is Mycitydeal or the sunglasses shop s fault surely you have to accept some responsibility as it was through your promotion that bought it to the masses?

And, if what we have been told is true, then it is because the company under estimated the response that caused them to up their prices as soon as the voucher became valid?

oakhouse13

Is there a conflict between MyCityDeal which has a team of sales people all geographically located who visit local businesses in their area and signs them up to offer local daily deals to local customers, and MSE which takes these local deals and offers them to everyone? Admittedly national brands with outlets in many locations can sign up in multiple areas but this was never a national retailer.

The incentives that are being paid to affiliates to offer these deals are pretty intense. Affiliates are being paid for leads as well as sales. There are bonuses for hitting targets. You can read what affiliates are earning here (and sign up too if you have a website):

http://www.affiliatewindow.com/merchant_directory.php?action=showmerch&mid=2891

MSE makes much of the financial backing these group buying websites have but some of the hundreds of millions of pounds being poured in is coming from overseas, from companies with unusual investment structures and directors allegedly linked to crime.

http://gawker.com/5427959/alisher-usmanov-the-scary-russian-oligarch-seducing-silicon-valley

Have we been here before - corrupt Icelandic banks and the British high street but this time Russian oligarchs and virtual high streets? Nobody fully knows how companies like D.S.T. which backs MyCityDeal competitor Groupon generates cash or why it is putting cash into group buying businesses without the usual practice of taking a seat on the board. Nor is there any clear answer as to why the owners of what should be cash positive businesses are selling stakes in their businesses for huge cash payouts when they presumably don't need cash for operational investment. Is it because the model is unsustainable without overseas money which may in part be there to launder money from crime? Perhaps MyCityDeal could tell us?

Once a local business has run a few deals through a group buying business will it not have signed up new potential business locally? Why does it then need to go through a remote business like MyCityDeal? In fact going through a group buying website adds a layer of costs. Thinking about MyCityDeal for national deals, I don't see how the numbers that buy through MyCityDeal even on something available nationally come anywhere near the buying power of a retailer like WalMart.

I have to admit to concern about what is exactly going on with these deals which do seem to have a high chance of going wrong. MyCityDeal scam is the fifth most searched for term on Google for the company. If it is such a great business concept why is it going wrong?

However, while there is so much questionable money sloshing about for the middlemen promoting these deals, if you are going to take them up then I suppose it makes sense acting purely in your own interests and not worrying about the bigger picture to be in with a chance of pocketing that cash for yourself by going through a cashback website. Remember caveat emptor though, you have as much right to complain if it goes wrong as someone who buys designer gear in a street market at 50% off or on eBay. Going through Topcashback apparently there was the chance to win an iPad

http://www.topcashback.co.uk/blog.htm

'Today's Super Deal with MyCityDeal (ending midnight Wednesday 19th May) is: £17.50 for a £50 voucher to spend on designer sunglasses such as Bvlgari, Chanel, Dior, Emporio Armani, Gucci and many more at sunglasses-shop.co.uk....that's a saving of 65%. Wow! And, thanks to our friends at MyCityDeal, you can currently get up to 83% cashback on your order too! As if this wasn't enough, we're now also giving you the opportunity to win a shiny new iPad worth £429!'

MSE was early to get out of promoting Icesave and I would be surprised if it continued promoting MyCityDeals or other group buying websites until we really understand the financial incentives and whether transferring risk that used to be taken by big, strong, retail businesses to individual consumers, which is what this business model does, is overall in our interests.

Correction: Groupon is not a competitor as I thought, apparently it owns MyCityDeal

photome

I for one would have gone through Quidco had that option been mentioned.

OwtForNowt

I dont understand why people seem to think that they have been hard done by because they were not told about Quidco.

MSE gave you a way to save money, and the people who took up the deal did. Also for those who didn't have Quidco, the £5 yearly charge would swallow up the £5 they got from the deal so would not be any better off.

Also it isn't certain to track. Where as the £5 MSE get from the deal is certain to keep the website (that you are all using ) up and running.

rsykes2000

photome wrote: »

I for one would have gone through Quidco had that option been mentioned.

Did something happen to your PC or the quidco site that stopped you checking there ?

hurdy

Well I blame MSE for not telling me I had to have my computer switched on to get this deal. Five hours I was hammering away at a blank screen. Sheesh.

And then when I realised I had to switch the machine one, all the prices had gone up!!!! Now my 2% saving is reduced to 0.13245%! Thanks MSE, thanks for nothing. You've ruined my life - hope you're happy.

photome

rsykes2000 wrote: »

Did something happen to your PC or the quidco site that stopped you checking there ?

Why would I check ? i thought as it was posted in the weekly email that it was the best deal. I didnt see any mention of going through Quidco so assumed it wasnt available

Stupid I know:eek: as when I post deals I always mention to go through Quidco

photome

OwtForNowt wrote: »

I dont understand why people seem to think that they have been hard done by because they were not told about Quidco.

MSE gave you a way to save money, and the people who took up the deal did. Also for those who didn't have Quidco, the £5 yearly charge would swallow up the £5 they got from the deal so would not be any better off.

Also it isn't certain to track. Where as the £5 MSE get from the deal is certain to keep the website (that you are all using ) up and running.

As above I assumed that MSE was giving me the best way to save money, clearly not.

I dont feel hard done by though just stating that if the options had been posted that is what I would have done.

Of course this site need money to run but it also needs its many thousands of members

OwtForNowt

photome wrote: »

As above I assumed that MSE was giving me the best way to save money, clearly not.

I dont feel hard done by though just stating that if the options had been posted that is what I would have done.

Of course this site need money to run but it also needs its many thousands of members

So, your happy to pay Quidco £5 a year to use their website but not MSE?

I know that I have gained a lot more using MSE compared to what I have gained using Quidco.

If it wasn't for MSE would you have known about the deal?

photome

OwtForNowt wrote: »

So, your happy to pay Quidco £5 a year to use their website but not MSE?

I know that I have gained a lot more using MSE compared to what I have gained using Quidco.

If it wasn't for MSE would you have known about the deal?

Yes I am happy to pay quidco £5 a year just as i would happily pay MSE £5 a year but you are completely missing the point.

MSE is a site designed to save the consumer money. If the deal had said go via quidco I could have saved £5, simple really.


As I said I dont feel hard done by just pointing out a fact.


I dont know how much you contribute on here but thousands do including myself and I know that I have saved a lot of people a lot of cash in the 5+ years I have been using this site and I also know that this site has saved me loads over the years

Does all of that mean I have to agree with everything MSE does.

Ps

I have also posted a Welldone to MSE for sorting the mess out in a relatively short space of time