You wouldn't think Manila, of all places, would indulge in online deals! This is the land of those who love to haggle for a lower price after touching the item and fitting it first. You wouldn't think we are very trusting enough to deposit the payment first before getting the vouchers. And who knew that those lamps are just PhP300.00? I better get one! As if I never had a lamp before!
These online deals became my morning indulgence. I come in really early in the morning and they are right in my inbox waiting to be viewed. It is like the Japan Home stores where you find things you never really need but you just wanna buy cause it's on a good discount.
Well, that indulgence ended too: After I bought service vouchers and never had the best of appointments. You see, if you are purchasing items, go ahead. If it arrives broken at your doorstep, you can choose not to receive it at all. But for a service, you can't do that. You pay for the voucher and seek an appointment. Only to find out that the appointment will happen after 2 months.
Guys, seriously, I tried being keen the next time. There was this really really cheap service treatment I had been waiting for. Before I bought it, I made sure if the appointments are open. The branch said yes madam, our calendars are not full, so just go ahead and buy the voucher(s) first because we will need that (seemed like a wonderful assurance). My mistake. Just another hard battle for your time.
The next time those online deals enter your email as worse as spam does, make sure you stay away from the services - meaning treatments like massage, haircuts, facials, laser, dental, etc. These things are very subjective and it is always your word against theirs, unlike a bad product which you can return to sender if it dissatisfies you. What's worse is they do not keep an inventory of "treatments", only schedule them, so time is vital, and once you buy the vouchers, you are at the whim of their availability to render their services on you.
I even heard from a clinic that the sales managers of online vouchers do not match the capacity of their clinic to render the service. What is important is for the online company to sell as much vouchers as they can and then it is the clients who suffer. I tried many times to return my unused vouchers, even contacted the online company (Ensogo) to please pay attention to my delayed service and just return my money. But their phone lines are too busy, nobody picks up after the voice prompt, even if you try over and over, and the emails just don't get a response. I did get a nice response from Cash Cash Pinoy when I raised a concern about the delayed delivery of the LED Christmas lights I bought last year. They apologized profusely by email after I told them it is almost Christmas and I haven't put up any lights yet. But hey, again, those are products, not services.
Just my experience.
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