Quality less products in this site

Not coming back

Great experience

I registered/subscribed to BigDeal.com on Saturday, May 28th, 2011, and requested a refund and cancellation of my membership the same day, as soon as I realized that this was a major scam. They refused.
BigDeal.com advertises itself as an auction site, but it is unlike any auction you have ever seen. First you buy a pack of tokens ($22.50 for 30, $37.50 for 50, etc.). Then you bid on items with these tokens, each bid showing as if it equals one cent. If you bid 50 times, it looks like you bid 50 cents, but you really bid $37.50 (50 x. 75 = 37.70). If you run out of tokens, you have to purchase more if you want to keep bidding so you invest even more.
Here is the big rip off—once you bid, that money is forfeited even if you don't win the item. To not lose your money completely, you must buy the item at full retail price (also called "buy it now" price) plus shipping and taxes minus the money you bid. This entire process is a scam to make you pay full price for an item you might not be able to afford. If you wanted to pay full retail, you'd just go to the mall and save yourself shipping costs. You even lose this option if you don't act immediately.
There is a second layer of rip off that they call "loyalty rewards." Again you spend additional money to buy an item you don't really want so that you can use your token $$ to reduce the price slightly. For example, you can buy a $49.99 coffeemaker for $39.99, using tokens for the other $10.00. You have just spent 39.99 more (plus shipping and tax) and still have $27.50 in tokens to redeem. You could end up spending an additional $150 in order to redeem all of your tokens.
BigDeal.com isn't running an auction; it is a bait and switch scam, tricking you into buying and paying full price. If you realize you've been had and try to get a refund, they refuse because all of the regulations were written for you to read, and you should have known better. The confusing instructions consist of pages of "How It Works" and "FAQs" but most of the content is devoted to claiming how great a deal you'll be getting. The warnings are buried deep in the misleading propaganda about how everyone is a winner. Almost at the end, they caution that you might lose money, but lucky you—you'll get Loyalty Bucks so you really can't lose!
In addition, I received a notice from them that I had reached their monthly limit of bidding on ten auctions and had to wait for a month to bid again. When I pointed out that this "regulation" is nowhere mentioned on their website, they emailed that it was a mistake.
I want my $60 refunded (#*******), but I'm not holding my breath!

I signed up for BigDeals.com and I think that they should have named it BigScam.com.

After watching some bidding I realized it would take some patients to bid and win. I only bid on item I wanted. Researched what other auctions closed at and used a plan on bidding that worked twice for me on the two items I won (Kindle and IPod). Both items would have cost me $229 and $139. I guess if you figure how to bid and win a couple items they cancel you with no chance for review. See the e-mail I received below.

Oh yea, try and contact them, that is a joke. No customer service number to call and since my account was canceled I could not go to their website and submit a question. They do not want your questions or feedback, JUST SEND THEM YOUR MONEY.

Much to my surprise I received an e-mail (shown below) saying that my account had been canceled due to their terms of service agreement. What I did other than deploy what seemed to be a winning approach to bidding is beyond me. I take it that if you win a couple times you will be canceled. I have yet to hear back from them on what it was I did to cause them to cancel my account.

They did note that they would send a refund, will see how long that takes. I can bet it takes longer for me to get my money back (if I do) than it did them to get payed for me purchasing their tokens.

Hello,

Our goal at BigDeal.com is to add a bit of excitement to the shopping experience. While we want to provide access to great deals on popular products to all of our users, there are occasions when we are unable to extend a relationship as outlined in our Terms of Service.

After careful review, we have elected to permanently close your account.

We enforce our Terms of Service to level the playing field as much as possible and make the bidding process transparent and fair for all of our users.

All orders on this account have been cancelled and a refund in full for these orders and bids purchased, in the amount of $243.62 has been issued.

Feel free to contact us if you have any further questions, however our decision in this matter is not subject to further review.

Rachel

Account Verification Department

BigDeal.com

One last note, I do realize how they make their money and the ugly profits that they make on some of their products so I approached this with caution and a plan for bidding. Had they not canceled my account and I had received the merchandise my thoughts would have been different.

Another auction site scam, same as speedybuys.com

A scam!

A fraud!

Addictive! A big SCAM!

THIS SITE IS NOT FOR INEXPERIENCED "TRADERS/HAGGLERS/BARTERERS/BUYERS" now i WILL agree, this site is pretty much a legalized way of "cheating" the average person out of their money, but only because the site does not have some type of page that fully explains how the site works and breaks down how much you will actually be paying for items, HOWEVER, the site is somewhat legitimate, ive only been using for a few days, but i have already won 3 auctions, and saved literally hundreds... i won 200 bids, valued at $150, i spent a total of $50, i bid on it 40 times (75 cents per bid = $30) plus the $20 it actually cost, i got a Macbook for a total of $310, its valued at $900, i spent $225 on the 300 bids i used, and paid $82 for it out of pocket, the other item i won was 10 bids for about $1 total... the site is not FULLY a scam, or a fraud or whatever you want to call it, yes i do believe the site may have "bots" or its own employees "running" up the prices on some items, but if you arent prepared for this before you sign up, then youre an idiot for signing up in the first place and have no business being on this site, this site is about being smart and VERY patient, it took me over 8 hours to win the macbook, the key to winning items at this site for a "decent" price/discount is knowing WHEN to bid and paying attention to how many bids another user has already put into it, always keep in mind, A. Each time you bid on an item, youve already added 75 cents to the cost of that item for yourself, 25 bids and youre already at an extra $20 spent on top of what you have to pay if you win, and B. Always pay attention to how many bids someone else has placed, if you see someone has spent 300 bids ($225 JUST FOR THE BIDS) on an item, be prepared to battle it out with that person, like i said i agree the site more than likely does run up the price on some of the higher end items, but honestly i don't think a majority of people "KNOW HOW" to win items on this site AND save money at the same time, don't be mad at the site or its cretors/owners... be mad at yourself for not fully understand how the site works, and for not teaching yourself or learning how to use the site effectively

How to get your money back from bigdeal.com (maybe)

I have the tenacity of pit bull and I also work in the health care industry, so I'm constantly dealing with denials and bs.

I was refunded every dime I spent on bigdeal.com.

Here's how I did it:

I filed a complaint with the BBB (http://goldengate.bbb.org), the SF DA (*******@sfgov.org) and the California Attorney General (http://ag.ca.gov/consumers/general.php) as another person posted.

Then I submitted multiple tickets online at bigdeal.com. In fact, I think I had 6 different complaints open at one time. Each time I did not get the resolution I was seeking, I would copy that complaint into the response on each ticket and then emailed the following people on each and every rebuttal:

*******@bigdeal.com
*******@bigdeal.com
*******@bigdeal.com (this is George Leimer, Vice President of Operations and co-Founder BigDeal.com, Inc. His office phone is *******817 and his cell is XXXXXXXXX*)

You can also go to www.linkedin.com and send a message Nicolas Darveau-Garneau, Founder and CEO at BigDeal.com.

ALSO, bigdeal.com has added the names and photos to employees and board member on their site - write to as many people as possible - their email format is easy enough to figure out - it's the person's *******@bigdeal.com.

This took about 3 days before I think they got sick of me. Plus, I doubt they want any more negative press, since they seem to be backed by legit venture capitalists.

I would also recommend emailing all the local news stations and www.sfgate.com with your story and copy as many people from bigdeal.com on those emails.

Good luck!

*[Personal information removed by moderator 1/7/11]

How to get your money back