I've been a long time supporter of deal sites such as Groupon, Mamapedia and others. I also found a site called Livingsocial.com, and thought it to be innovative and, so I thought, a good deal. They don't give the same type of referral credit the other sites do. Instead, you have to buy the product first and then share the specific link they email you with your friends. They are betting on you buying it with the hopes you'll get a free deal if 3 friends buy. After you buy, the link also shows up below your purchase with the option to share it out on your favorite social media sites, or email your friends directly-- sounds easy, or so I thought.
I tried it with the Cinebarre deal, sharing it over Facebook, Twitter and all of my preschool groups. Several Moms I know bought, but Livingsocial's only suggestion when contacted was to ask the Moms to cancel their orders and buy again from my link. Ummmm no, not going to do that. Moms are busy enough.
I've now been burned by them 3 times -- once for Cinebarre, once for the hugely popular Amazon.com deal, and now, for the Fandango deal. I share the deal with thousands via email, Facebook, and Twitter. Each time, I've personally known a few folks that bought, including those I've actually helped buy from my link on their laptops. Livingsocial customer service has refused to assist me, stating that I must have done something wrong!! In spite of the fact their Web site says "We're not satisfied unless you're jumping for joy. Call, email, tweet (or, hey, fax) us with any issue and we'll make it right.", and in spite of the fact that the purchase price here was under $10, they've ignored my emails, and most recently, asked that I call them because I must not be aware of how to correctly share the link!
As the founder and CEO of a local Seattle software startup, operating with affiliate links and every type of web code you can imagine, for over 10 years, I beg to differ! And, as a mom of 5 kids under 5 including 2 4month old babies, I'm hardly going to sit on the phone and verify that yes, I can share a link.
The only time I can get a reply from them is on Twitter, which I respect. However, trying to explain the problem in tweets is getting annoying!
Now, what is my goal here you might ask? Not to get a lousy 10 bucks back. No, in fact today I bought another deal from Livingsocial using a friend's link. We will see if she gets credit. Is it is cookie issue? A tracking issue unique to my account? Or a ploy hoping no one will really ever know if they actually got 3 friends to buy.
At any rate, Livingsocial.com is going to the bottom of my deal site favorites until this mess is cleared up.
