DealFun.com is a SCAM!!

How did I become acquainted with DealFun? I originally went to nomorerack.com while Christmas shopping online and was intrigued by their concept, plus, it was mentioned on The Martha Stewart Show, The View, People.com, USA Today, and others, so I figured it must be a legitimate site. Their concept is that they have daily deals on their website that you can purchase, but the one that you really want is their "Insanity Deal", a deal that is just TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, but you have to be one of the first to find it. Now I have to admit, that they have some really good deals on their website, and if you get an Insanity Deal, good for you. They sell iPhones, iPads, HDTVs, Laptops, GPS systems, Playstation 3s, at prices 80-95% off regular retail price. (I actually had an XBox in my cart but the website was taking so long that by the time I was trying to check out, there were no more in stock.) THAT'S INSANE!!! Exactly. But here's the kicker, if you miss one of their deals, you still have the chance!! After I had lost the opportunity to get the Insanity Deal they told me that I could still get it at a low price and I clicked on it and was automatically redirected to another site: dealfun.com. I didn't realize that I had left No More Rack though, but was excited to get an XBox at a low price! I tried to sign up, but was prompted to put in my credit card information to buy a "Bid Pack" because their site consists of auctions. I was hesitant about this because I didn't want to spend $36, $69, $99, or $149, but I watched a clip they had posted that was on a news station, so, again, I figured it must be a legitimate site. And the $99 and $149 options guarantee a win on "at least one of our many low-ticket items on your first day! If not, contact us and we'll not only give you tips on bid strategy, but we'll re-fill your account!" (emphasis added by me). Well that sounds TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, I know I should always trust my instincts, but that little greedy voice inside of me, along with my obnoxious ego, told me to do it. I purchased the $99 bid pack.

(I want to note that I went to nomorerack.com recently and clicked on a sold out Insanity Deal and it did not take me to dealfun.com this time. I don't know if they stopped their association.)

So they had my money, now it was time for me to win. I do have to acknowledge that they suggested to start off on one of their "beginner" auctions to develop a strategy. However, I found nothing indicating a beginner auction, so I didn't know what that meant and continued on to the main auctions. (Why didn't they just give me tips to begin with, rather than saying IF I don't win, then they will give me help.) I was going to be buying an iPhone 4S soon and saw it on the site for only $16 currently. PERFECT!! I wouldn't have to spend all that money and could get it for much cheaper. I must admit that I am ignorant when it comes to auctions, so the concept was past my knowledge. But it was easy to see what happened when I clicked "BID NOW", my name popped up and the price increased by a penny. And then I waited. There was quite a bit of time left so it was my fault to keep bidding and not wait for it to get closer to the end. After a new person bids when there are only a few seconds left, the auction adds more seconds to it, usually :15. Why would they do that? So more people keep bidding and waste their bids and have to buy new ones, giving them more money. And as the time would slowly decrease, more and more people were bidding. Okay, this makes sense. There are a lot of other people on this site wanting the iPhone as well. Now my strategy was to wait until it got until :01 left and bid on it, but so was everyone else's. It was invigorating feeling my adrenaline rise as the clock counted down and my name was still up under the auction. But here is where my temper raged:

The clock was at :01 and I still had it, then all of a sudden the site freezes and I refresh the page and it goes to a "scheduled maintenance" page. WHAT?!?!?! I'm reasonably perturbed at this point. I was sure that everybody else was seeing this same message and was annoyed as well, however, after several minutes and me hitting refresh probably about 300 times later it takes me back to the site. What do I see? The iPhone was gone! Another person had won the auction. Perturbed? Heeelllll no. I was FURIOUS. But I kept persisting, I was going to win something, I was guaranteed. Now, I didn't see this next thing coming...

During the time waiting for the iPhone to count down I had clicked on other auctions, one being a magnetic sculpture kit, and another an MP3 player. While my bids were rapidly disappearing in my frantic attempt to win an iPhone or Kindle, I had won these items but didn't realize. DealFun's guarantee held true, I had won at least one item, meaning I had no claim against demanding a refund. However, I had not forgotten that the website had frozen up on me over 10 times. I was livid.

I decided to contact Customer Service to alert them to the situation and let them know that there was an unhappy customer. What I really wanted was a full refund. But in reality, I didn't expect anything to happen in the form of penance, but wanted to speak up rather than just accept the result of a sickening experience with their site. The response I got was substandard: We are sorry for the inconvenience blah here are 20 more voucher bids blah blah thank you. WOW!! 20 whole voucher bids for me??? Although I was irate and dejected from the earlier experience, I still used my pardon bids. And won nothing. I swore I would never use that site again, but for some reason I kept coming back. My guess would be pride, I was determined to win something substantial. After you have an account they offer you the chance for a free spin daily, where you can win up to 9 free bids or a mystery prize, and extra bids to add to your bid pack. There is no way I will ever purchase another bid pack.

And somehow the story gets worse.

So I had purchased the MP3 player and magnetic sculpture kit (each around .50) and was pacified by the thought that a mini MP3 player would be useful, that it hadn't been a complete bust.

Weeks passed and I had yet to receive my items. Again, my temper started to rise. I went to their website and looked at the status of the delivery. I clicked on both tracking numbers and they said that the items had been received. At this point I'm on the verge of an apoplectic stroke. This company had already given me the most dissatisfying service and now it says I have received items that I haven't. So again, I decided to contact customer service.

DealFun states that their customer service is top-notch. This is a direct quote from their website:

We always go the extra mile for our customers - did you know our average ticket response time is less than 15 minutes!

I've included the email conversation between myself and their customer service. Note the original message (bottom) to customer service was dated Dec 11 and I had to resend it (the middle message) Dec 13, and finally, their response dates Dec 15. If I am doing the math correctly, four days does not fall within the 15 minute ticket response.

Rima, Dec-15 14:22 (EST):

Hello,

Thank you for writing back.

I sincerely apologize you did not receive your package. It seems it may have been lost in transit. I have gone ahead and re-shipped your item at our expense.

Please allow 21 days for delivery. I have also credited your account with 15 voucher bids for the inconvenience.

Please let us know if you have any other questions or concerns.

Regards,

Rima
Customer Relations
Deal Fun - Get Deals, Have Fun!

Dec-13 22:59 (EST):

> I have been waiting for certain items to ship, but it has been taking a
> long time. I checked on my account and looked at the tracking number and
> it says that I have received an order that I purchased several weeks ago.
> I have not received any of the items I bought, however, my credit card has
> still been charged. What is happening?
>
> [B Noelle]
>

Dec-11 23:19 (EST):

I have been waiting for certain items to ship, but it has been taking
a long time. I checked on my account and looked at the tracking
number and it says that I have received an order that I purchased
several weeks ago. I have not received any of the items I bought,
however, my credit card has still been charged. What is happening?

[B Noelle]

I'll even spot them those three minutes, making their response time 87 hours, or 5,220 minutes. That's 5,205 more minutes than their average response time.

Let's say their statistic is based on a scale of 100 tickets.

5,220 + x = 15

100

5,220 + x = 1,500

x = -3,720

DealFun Customer Service would need to answer 99 other tickets in -3,720 minutes to achieve their average and hold true to their statement that they do, indeed "always go the extra mile". Improbable? No. Impossible? Indubitably. That is unless they have a time machine--I wonder if I could borrow it and get my money back...

They did reship my order. I finally received my items, and when I opened them up, I was horror-stricken. The MP3 player's plastic case was nicer and presumably more expensive than the actual MP3 player. The magnetic sculpture kit's box was indicative of what was inside of it. The box was old and falling apart, and below is a picture of what the actual kit looked like. When I saw it, I was dumbfounded. How could this company continue to run successfully?? I was past rage, I was in utter disbelief.

I tossed the sculpture kit aside and grabbed the MP3 player, attached the USB to it, and plugged it into my computer. What happened next is so unfathomable, it seems as if it could only happen in the movies.

Nothing.

Nothing happened. A red light flashed on the MP3 but nothing popped up on my screen, no application was opened, no device was identified. For those of you who also own a mac, you know what happens when you plug in a new device, and yet there was no indication that anything had happened, other than the blinking light. I opened up my hard drive, maybe it was showing up there and I would have to click on it. Nope. I was incredulous. There was no possible way this was happening to me! After everything I had been through: the malfunctioning of the website during auctions, not receiving my items, the poor response time of customer service, and now my items were pre-used and defective.

At this point, I was drained. I took no action, I was incapable of comprehending this experience and tired of wasting my time and energy. DealFun, you had won. I surrendered. I was tired of complaining.

A couple weeks later I signed up with Hub Pages and realized that there still is something I can do. I wrote this hub to alert everyone not to use their site. I am convinced that they have employees bidding just to perpetuate the auction and make the customers buy more bids. I wondered how this company could continue with their malpractice and still be considered a reputable business. Well, I looked at their site and saw that they are based out of Canada, where they have their own BBB and may not have the same standards as we do here. Dealfun.com is a scam and a rip-off.

Save your money and your sanity, stay away from DealFun. I wish I had.