Perth Group Buy - Hits and Misses

Read the Fine Print

2013-02-05T11:07:00.000+08:00

Here's a quick lesson about the importance of reading the fine print. Not everything that you see on Group buys are the same as the original product. MyDeal today had the Galaxy Nexus 7 selling at $199. The cheapest places to buy this was offering the same product for $249 according to StaticIce. So what was the catch? In the fine print, and only in the fine print, they said this:

Tablet is a professional Asus factory refurb (the maintenance/repair of this item has been professionally conducted by Asus Australia and includes a 1 year Asus Australia warranty)

I have no problem with the fact that they are selling a factory refurb and I think it is good that it comes with a one year warranty. However, what I am concerned about is that the images that were shown never alluded to the fact that it was a factory refurb. Just exercise due diligence when you are buying from a group buy website and, really, any other website as well.

Treat Group Buy Purchases Like Any Other

2013-02-04T15:57:00.000+08:00

As the popularity of group buy vouchers declines, I have noticed there have been more products on sale rather than restaurant vouchers and services. One tendency is to assume that these products are at very competitive prices because they are on a group buy website.

Here is an example that I just saw today. It is for a Solar LED Motion-Detecting Outdoor Light for $39.

The thing is, it looks very much like the one on DX.com called the Outdoor Solar Powered PIR Sensor 1W 100LM 6000K 16-LED Lamp - Silver + Black which is available for $US23.70 with free delivery to anywhere in the world.

So just remember that not everything on a group buy website is worth buying straight away just because there is a timer next to it counting down the seconds left for this once-in-a-lifetime purchase.

Goodlife Health Clubs from Scoopon

2013-01-25T10:39:00.000+08:00

In November, Goodlife was offering one month membership for only $19 through Scoopon so I decided to check it out. The limitation was that you could only access one health club and had to activate the voucher without three months.

The activation of membership was not too difficult. Of course, they tried to sign me up to a six month or 12 month membership straight away so I politely refused and told the lady that I would like to try the place out first. During the orientation session which lasted about 15 minutes, they showed me around the various parts of the gym and I realised why they were offering this membership - it's summer!

The Good
Good things about the gym was the availability of a pool which didn't seem to be overly utilised. I could access the classes which run every day, with limited classes during public holidays. The facilities were good but not as good as Anytime Fitness, which included Foxtel access for their cross trainers. I am sure Goodlife health clubs would vary by location.

The Bad
I found out later that they were also doing a promotion where members were able to sign up their friends for a month long trial for free, which made me realise that I paid for something that could have been free. I guess that cannot be helped.

The main thing when it comes to these group buy vouchers is whether or not you get what you pay for and for that, the Goodlife voucher turned out to be a worthwhile expenditure. No tricks were played by the retailer and the coupon was happily received and at the end of the day, that's all we are really asking for.

First time at Anytime Fitness Gym - Scoopon

2012-10-03T14:17:00.000+08:00

First of all, I should say that I have never joined a gym and when I saw the deal for Anytime Fitness on Scoopon for one month trial going at only $19 I decided this would be good enough to have a look. After all, casual rates at some gyms are around $8 so this was worth it for a month if I can go three times.

The sign up involved getting an appointment before the expiry date. They took $50 deposit for the key tag and showed me around the gym. With that key tag, I could go into that particular Anytime Fitness gym at any time 24 hours a day / 7 days a week.

Over the next month, I only managed to go in three times, doing about 45 minutes of cardio. The bathrooms were just like your spacious home bathroom allowing just one person in at a time. It was very clean because this particular gym was very new. I was very impressed with the gym, the mix of people that went and the equipment which included some connected to foxtel channels.

After the trial was over, they called me up to make an appointment to get my $50 back and return the key card. They told me the fees for joining up but did not insist on me signing up. Unlike Fitness First, there was no hard sell and before I knew it, I was out the door and on my way.

Tint-A-Car $250 for $15 from LivingSocial

2012-08-07T16:57:00.000+08:00

When we got a new car recently, we started to hear other people strongly recommending to tint the car, so when Tint-a-Car offered $250 off the price of their Formula 1 tint, I gave the Perth store a call to check how legit the deal was before buying the group buy from LivingSocial.com. Had a good chat with the guy and he understood my skepticism about the deal so I felt confident this would not be one of those dodgy deals. Also, another check is that they are a franchise so if there are any issues, we can always speak to the head office to complain.

Well the car hasn't gone in for the tint yet but I've since noticed similar deals being offered by another Tint-a-Car store but that was for only $150 off. Pays to know what's going on around you.

Update: We received the car yesterday and it was nicely tinted for $260 (including the $15 for the voucher) after the $250 discount. They allowed us to receive Frequent flyer points on the transaction and Tint a Car offers a lifetime guarantee on their workmanship. All up, money well spent and another successful Perth group buy.

EDIT: Just found out that Tint-a-Car is now offering 50% off the Formula 1 tint via the website hotdockets.com.au or on the back of your supermarket receipts. In that case, the offer was not as rare as I expected! It also comes with free car detail!

Sheriden's Burger Bar Cafe on Cudo

2012-06-25T14:14:00.000+08:00

I bought a Cudo for Sheriden's Burger Bar and Cafe which is located at the intersection of South Street and Roe Highway. It received pretty poor ratings on Urbanspoon but I decided to give it a go. After all, the deal was for two big breakfasts and two coffees or hot drinks for only $15. How could it go wrong? We went to Sheriden's exactly a week after the deal went live and it seemed like most of the customers there that day were holding on to a print out from Cudo. The small cafe was full of people and we had to wait about 10 minutes before a table was available for us. The owner seemed pretty chuffed at the number of people showing up, telling us (and other customers) that they sold about 500 of those vouchers. The price on the chalkboard was $10 for a big breakfast with a coffee so the voucher only really saved us $5 from the normal menu which is a good way of using Cudo. Customers that are happy wouldn't mind going back again for an extra $2.50 per person. The coffees and food came out after some unforeseen circumstances arose - one of the customers had stopped breathing and was turning blue so an ambulance was called and two customers helped with CPR. No, it didn't appear to be related to what she ordered. Anyway the food and coffees were quite reasonable. The bread was quite standard, nothing too special but it was good value. Here is a pic of the food.

Beginner's Guide to Group Buys

2012-06-07T10:16:00.000+08:00

Getting 70% off your meal, car service or gym membership is great but there are some typical mistakes that rookies make when they first start buying a scoopon, spreet, cudo, livingsocial, groupon or whatever deal. Here are some things to keep an eye out for when you are spotting your deal.

Take note of the LOCATION of the deal. For example, a deal on Groupon today was for Hippo Creek Hillary's and would not be redeemable from the closer, perhaps more well known, Subiaco Hippo Creek. Sometimes, the restaurant or business may even move without you knowing.
Take note of the DATES. Quite often you are not able to use the voucher until a few days after the deal has closed. Some people rush out with their coupon straight after buying it, only to find out that they were not allowed to redeem the deal. On the other hand, after a few days, some people forgot that they bought that voucher and may not remember until the deal is expired. And don't leave redeeming the voucher until the last few days before expiry.
Take note of the CONDITIONS. For example, the voucher may only limit you to part of the whole menu, the gift card may exclude some stores, or you may have been required to tell the restaurant that you have a voucher.

Have you muffed up on redeeming a deal by falling for a rookie error? Let us know in the comments.

What happened to Ecco Fremantle on Scoopon?

2012-04-02T14:47:00.001+08:00

I've been to Ecco Pizza quite a few times in Fremantle and really enjoyed the food. I think it was the clam pasta (or mussels) which was amazing when they first started out. When I saw that they were offering a scoopon for an Italian three course feast, I jumped at it and paid $39 on the 21st July 2011.

For many weeks, I tried the phone number listed on the voucher and kept getting no tone when I rang.
I searched for Ecco Fremantle and did not find a website for it. Only one for Ecco North Perth, with no reference to the Fremantle store. TrueLocal.com.au had an entry for Ecco Fremantle with the number that I dialed so I tried it again and it again did not go through.

I found on google a post by some angry customers on another website saying that the shop had moved to North Perth. No effort was made to let customers know about this on
1. Their new website
2. Truelocal.com.au
3. via Scoopon

I called up the North Perth store and was told that, even though I was told via the scoopon I needed to call to book, instead I needed to book via their admin over email and that they are getting hundreds of emails each day so they may not be able to finalize the booking before the expiry date. Even if I email today, I still am not guaranteed to be able to use the voucher unless I go in before 31st March 2012 during lunch to use the voucher. After talking to him, I realised he didn't even give me the email address I needed to book. This was enough evasion for me to decide to write to scoopon to get the voucher refunded.

Hi

After trying various means to book over the phone with Ecco Fremantle, I have only today discovered that the business has closed down in that location. Nothing on my scoopon voucher site says that they have relocated. I have called them on the new number and am concerned that they will not honour this voucher as they would not take a booking over the phone (which your scoopon says is the only way we can book) and they said that whilst they ahve extended the voucher to Dec 2012, we need to have the booking finalised by the 31st March over email. I am very concerned about this and deeply disappointed. Please refund my money and email me back that this has been done.

Even doing so, I think being burnt like this and even with a refund, considering the amount of time running around trying to get some value out of the $39 i have given, it will make me quite reluctant to buy a scoopon again.

I got a refund from them but they did not contact me back to let me know that it had been processed. Not cool Ecco, not cool! Scoopon should have shown on their website that the business had changed location and number. Even though I got a refund in the end, it was much ado about nothing.

Rifo's Cafe Vic Park in Scoopon

2011-12-02T16:34:00.001+08:00

We made a booking over the phone without any problems on Monday for last night and had no problems getting a table. We arrived at the cafe early and were shown to our seats. When the lady saw the scoopon on the table, she asked if we mentioned the scoopon when we called up. I said we didn't because I didn't know that we had to mention it. Anyway, she said she should be able to fit us in or something like that, not as rude as the Spaghi's incident but nevertheless, it wasn't a very friendly greeting to someone who had given her $49 without receiving anything (yet) in return.

The deal was definitely a winner. $49 for two entrees, two pizzas/pastas, bottle of wine (we opted for soft drinks), two gelatos and two coffees.

The entree bruschetta was quite large for two people - four pieces of garlic bread with fetta cheese and diced tomatoes. You could almost be full just on that entree! The pasta and pizza were great - too much for us. Ice cream was from Il Gelato and came in a little ice cream tub and the coffees were fantastic. The restaurant was full and I think Dennis Lillee was in the house that night as well. Tonight is your last night to redeem your Scoopon so you better run - if you can get a table!

Spaghi's Applecross on OurDeal

2011-11-30T11:19:00.001+08:00

Well yesterday was the last day for the Spaghi's group buy voucher from OurDeal which sold out at 2000 vouchers sold for $29 each - a total revenue of $58,000 in one day! The offer was 2 pizzas or pastas, 2 cans of soft drink and one serve of salad or entree bread worth supposedly $77.

So how did we go with redeeming the takeaway voucher? We called up 5 times at various times between 4pm and 5:35pm but no one picked up and so we decided to go down there personally to order the takeaway. My first surprise when we got there at 5:45pm was that the lady which had been getting less-than-rave reviews on Urbanspoon was quite nice to us when we told her we would like to order a takeaway.

HOWEVER, the bite came from the guy at the counter who berated us for ordering in person so we offered to leave and call in our order. He said he has 150 (really??) orders and he won't be able to get our order in till 8pm. I said that would be fine but later he said he should be able to get the order to us in half an hour.

In the end he relented and asked us what we would like to order. When I asked what we can choose from he started muttering about how people do not read instructions on the website. (I went back to check and nothing on OurDeal lists the menu items that we can choose from. The page he was referring to was no longer available online).

This is the sort of experience that you fear when using a group buy voucher. For a restaurant that happily took $58,000 without providing one dish to anyone, it is some wonder why they would want to throw goodwill to the wind in such a way. I felt humiliated and embarrassed but only by doing what I was entitled to do and that is get something for my $29!

Anyway, apart from the bitter taste left from this introduction, we ordered the Tortellini and a pizza with bacon in it which turned out to be very good. The entree bread is something like turkish bread and comes with a dipping sauce that tasted a little like the sauce used for chilli mussels. It was fantastic. The question is whether I would go back there again after the rude service.

Stockland Gift Voucher Conditions Worth Noting

2011-11-29T11:55:00.001+08:00

Stockland is going all out with offers from Our Deal, however there are some things that buyers should know. The terms and conditions for these vouchers are quite interesting, as listed below.

For example, there is only a select number of shops in each shopping centre which will accept the gift voucher. I am quite sure Woolworths, Target and other large stores will be excluded but you cannot find out from the website. You need to contact the Customer Care Centre or the Centre Management Office to find out. There is also a minimum spend of $20 for any transaction in which you use the gift voucher. Whilst these conditions may be reasonable, it is probably worth noting before we think of getting 50% off our groceries at a nearby Stockland shopping centre.

Stockland Gift Card Terms and Conditions
From http://www.stockland.com.au/shopping-centres/gift-cards_6437.htm

1. Defaced, mutilated, altered, lost or stolen cards will not be replaced, refunded or redeemed. Treat the Stockland Gift Card like cash.

2. Stockland Gift Cards can be credited with any amount between $10 and $500.

3. The Stockland Gift Card is redeemable for merchandise or services at participating stores in Stockland shopping centres (only). For a list of participating stores, please contact the Customer Care Centre or the Centre Management Office. The Stockland Gift Card is not redeemable for cash and cannot be used for the payment of credit or retailer accounts.

4. Individual retailers are not required to accept Gift Cards for transactions under $20.

5. The Stockland Gift Card must be redeemed before the expiry date shown on the card.

6. The Stockland Gift Card will not be redeemed after the expiry date and will be void.

7. The Stockland Gift Card cannot be reloaded. The Stockland Gift Card is partially redeemable. It is up to the customer to use the full value before the expiry date. Cash will not be given for any unused balance. Any unused balance on expiry of the Stockland Gift Card will not be refunded or credited. Where the cost of the purchase exceeds the available card balance, the customer will be required to make up the difference with another payment method.

8. The customer is liable for all transactions on the Stockland Gift Card except to the extent to which there has been fraud or negligence by Stockland or any of Stockland employees.

9. The customer can check the card balance at any time by calling
1300 55 33 80. Stockland reserves the right to change any of the terms contained in these Terms and Conditions of Use at any time. Changes to the Terms and Conditions of Use will be available here, or at Stockland Shopping centre's Customer Care Centre or Centre Management Office.

10. Visit the Stockland Shopping Centre's Customer Care Centre or Centre Management Office if you have any reason to believe that an error has occurred in relation to Stockland Gift Card.

Clancy's Fish Pub on Scoopon Round 2

2011-11-14T15:53:00.001+08:00

I think it was last Thursday we went to Clancy's Fish Pub in Applecross to use my second Scoopon and it was again another successful night. It really seemed like everyone was using Scoopons there because that day was the last day for the voucher. Apparently, they've had the majority of people redeem their scoopons but it looked like another 300 were still to be crossed off the list. We ordered the crab pasta, chilli mussels, fish and chips and the seafood paella. Everything was good and for the four of us, we were quite satisfied with the meal. We'll keep an eye out again for more one day deals coming from Clancy's.

Sweetlips Leederville from Jumponit

2011-10-13T11:43:00.001+08:00

With only one day left before the voucher would expire, we decided to trek over to Leederville to redeem this voucher. For only $19, we had more than we could finish between two of us. The only trick I noticed was that they inadvertently forgot to give us the greek salad but on mentioning this, they quickly grabbed one from the fridge.

The garlic bbq prawns (six of them) were delicious. The fish and chips were perfect. Mussels were fantastic. Battered fetta cheese, I passed. Greek salad was professionally packed like those Woolworths type salads. We had one fish and chips that we couldn't finish and were very happy with the service. Not bad for $19!!

EDIT 27/8/12 - Just a quick update. OurDeal is offering $18 for two seafood baskets for the next few days. We reckon it's pretty good value..

Deal Gone Bad - Refund demanded from LivingSocial

2011-10-06T11:31:00.000+08:00

After reading in the newspaper about the complaints received by LivingSocial.com following their Havianas deal which offered 2 pairs for $24, I decided that I too would ask for my money back and see what happens.

I emailled them the following letter:

I am quite frustrated with the delay for the Havianas which I purchased 2 months ago and heard nothing.

Could you please refund my money for voucher # _____

Please let me know when this is actioned.

Regards

I received no replies to this email. However a few days later I noticed that the $24 had been credited back to my credit card.

So that was my first requested refund for a deal gone bad. And it was successful.

Osaka Japanese from Stardeals

2011-09-19T10:12:00.000+08:00

Yesterday was the last day for redeeming the Osaka Japanese Restuarant voucher from Stardeals so we trotted over to Victoria Park, just east of Perth city to get some Japanese food. The voucher was for $40 worth of food at the cost of $20. We ordered the teriyaki beef bento box and salmon sashimi bento box as well as another teriyaki beef & beef curry to takeaway. All up it cost $1.60 after the voucher.

The food came quite quickly and while the sashimi was a little tasteless, the beef teriyaki tasted as good as it smelt. Bento boxes include a decent serve of salad, a large serve of the meat, rice and two pieces of sushi. We were very satisfied with the size and taste and the takeaway will be lunch for today. Another successful group buy in Perth.

My First Expired Group Buy - Icey Ice

2011-09-15T11:54:00.002+08:00

Well I spent a total of $1 on a voucher which would have gotten me a nice cold dessert from the Perth City store of Icey Ice but life got busy and the voucher expired. It's not so disappointing seeing as I only spent $1 but I can finally be part of the statistics, people who do NOT redeem their group buy voucher. It is people like me who make these websites like Groupon and Scoopon a viable business.

To avoid such a mistake with your vouchers, be sure to check out our tips in the earlier post.

How to Manage Your Group Buys

2011-08-23T12:07:00.001+08:00

Some of you would be like me, collecting many group buy deals. Whilst these deals are good, you have to make sure that you manage your deals well or you could be part of the statistic of people who buy deals and don't get to use them. It is a good idea to write down or for those technically advanced, type out the expiry dates and make sure you refer to this list occasionally to see which deals are coming up for expiry.

For example, here is a list of deals I'm waiting on, the date of their expiration and the website that I got them from. If you have redeemed any of these group buys, or if you have your own list of vouchers to redeem, please leave a comment. It would be interesting to see everyone's collection of Perth "group buys"

05/09/2011 Icey Ice CBD voucher Ouffer
18/09/2011 Osaka Japanese Stardeals
14/10/2011 Sweetlips Leederville Jumponit
11/11/2011 Clancy's fish pub Scoopon
02/12/2011 Rifo's Scoopon
21/09/2011 Redroom DVD Ouffer
10/11/2011 Gloria Jeans Garden City Ouffer
15/12/2011 Stones Pizza Cudo
31/03/2012 Ecco Pizza Freo Scoopon
16/05/2012 Cafe Bella Vista Scoopon

Hopefully you will hear about my experience with these vouchers soon. It's also interesting to see what websites feature the most in my list and the list of others.

Riley's offers another group buy

2011-07-04T12:34:00.002+08:00

For those that are interested, Riley's is offering another group buy voucher here which will get you two pizzas OR two pastas, a garlic bread and a dessert pizza for only $25. As you know from our previous post, we had a very good experience at Riley's and expect those redeeming this latest deal will also feel the same. Riley's is very much a local cafe and as a result, their attention to customer service is much better.

I've noticed restaurants in typical tourist areas tend to get away with bad service and in some cases, ripping customers off. Its simply because of what you learnt in economics, Game Theory. When you have a one shot game, people have an incentive to cheat, unlike in an unlimited shot game, if you cheat you can be punished in the next round. In the same way, local cafes and restaurants cannot afford to get a bad reputation. If their immediate local neighbourhood does not support them, that's the end of them. However, if you rip a tourist off that is only in Perth for a day, their threat to never eat there again won't bother the restaurant much, right? There's something to think about local restaurants and cafes.

Java Juice from Ouffer

2011-07-01T12:24:00.000+08:00

Last Saturday, I was in the city for some errands when I decided I would redeem the Ouffer from Java Juice. Ouffer seems to be the only group buy dealer that has been offering FREE vouchers. Just recently there was an offer for 2 free DVD rentals from RedRoom DVD. Anyway.. back to Java Juice. I ordered a Mango Mania which is normally worth $5.90. The voucher was checked that it was not already redeemed and they happily went about providing the "fruit frenzy" I ordered. Apparently, the discount was down to $2 in their system and the head office or something pays the outlet back the $2 for providing the drink, so they are pretty happy with making a sale anyway. The Mango Mania was fantastic but I do wonder whether it was worth $5.90 in the first place.

Full Service & Lights from Cottesloe Bikes Cudo Deal

2011-06-14T23:24:00.000+08:00

This was a deal that I myself did not redeem but someone else I know did. The deal from Cudo was for $42:

It’s a full bike service and light set from Carine Cycles or Cottesloe Cycles!
Your service includes a thorough strip down, and both front and rear wheel bearings as well as crank bearings will be cleaned and re-greased
Plus the bike will be cleaned, oiled and polished!
You’ll also get a brand new front and rear light set from Torch
Choose from two locations – Duncraig or Cottesloe!
Trust your bike to the experts with a cumulative 62 years in the bicycle service industry!
Six months to redeem the voucher

There were no issues redeeming the full bike service from Cottesloe Bikes. They answered the phone to take the booking and the bike was serviced in good time. The bike light was forgotten about but after being prompted, they took an extra 15 minutes to install the bike lights. From a layman's point of view, it seems like the bike was serviced properly as there were some wheel initially. I think we can put this down to another successful group buy redemption.

Cudo Promises Satisfaction or Money Back

2011-06-10T10:33:00.000+08:00

Spreets and Cudo have been talking recently of establishing a code of conduct across the group buying industry. Cudo currently has a money back guarantee on their website that says the following:

When you purchase any offer with us, if you're not 100% satisfied that either a) the offer you received was the same as we described it to you; or b) your expectations are not met when you redeem the offer, we’ll leave no stone unturned until we get things perfect! Just like we said we would!

And if we don't make you happy, then we'll refund your money, in full, no questions asked! (Well, maybe one or two questions, but you know what we mean!) Because when you're happy, we're happy! And if you’re not, then rest assured we'll do everything possible to remedy it straight away!

That's our promise to all our customers! That's the Cudo Promise! And that means shopping with Cudo just got a whole lot happier!

Have you had any experiences with Cudo where you had to test out their moneyback guarantee?

Warnings for Buying Second Hand Group Buy Vouchers

2011-06-08T11:19:00.001+08:00

Every day, thousands more vouchers are being bought from the big group buy vendors such as Scoopon and Spreets. As a result, a second hand market for vouchers has started to appear on websites such as Gumtree and Ebay. I feel that this warrants a timely warning regarding buying vouchers second hand.

Group buy vouchers could be sold to multiple buyers. Whilst a seller may hand over a physical copy of the voucher, there is no guarantee that the same email print out has also been sold to other buyers. For example, a lady meeting you at the train station to sell you a tyrepower voucher could also print the same voucher and sell it to four other people who responds to her Gumtree ad. Once someone else redeems that voucher, yours is useless. Also, there is no guarantee that the group buy voucher may have been used by the seller!

How to protect yourself

One way to protect yourself with this is to check with the vendor to see if the voucher has been redeemed and then once you buy it, use the voucher ASAP.
Arrange for the person selling the coupon to you to meet at the shop where the voucher can be redeemed so that once it is possible to redeem, you can hand over your money for the voucher.
Never buy vouchers where the seller has carelessly shown the world the scoopon number (see this example)
Don't buy second hand group buy vouchers

Have you got any tips to share?

The View Restaurant in Fremantle from Scoopon

2011-06-02T15:15:00.002+08:00

The View has been one of the restaurants I have always wanted to check out so the time came when Scoopon was offering a $140 voucher for only $49. After having some initial problems getting through, I managed to secure a Wednesday night booking without any resistance. Well that was one hurdle cleared.

We arrived at 6pm and managed to get an excellent table for two by the window overlooking the Indian Ocean. The View sits on what used to be a childhood favourite McDonalds Fremantle which has finally succumbed to poor sales coupled by Fremantle's ridiculous pay-parking regime and packed up. They had no problem with the Scoopon voucher and were happy to replace the $30 wine with two non-alcoholic drinks.

We ordered the oyster entree which was fantastic, very fresh probably from across the road, Kailis. We ordered the King Prawn and Crab tagliatelle which tasted pretty good but as with many dishes with crab, the flavour gets a little lost. The other mains we had was the Sirloin and Garlic Prawns which was pretty satisfactory. That was normally $45 so I was pretty happy that I had the Scoopon with me :) The ambience of the restaurant was very pleasant, with Buble kickin tunes in the background and a seeming disregard to the quietness downstairs where Dome as well as Wagamama have also packed up.

Dessert was a delicious chocolate fudge brownie with butterscotch sauce and vanilla ice-cream. When I went to pay, the final price was completely covered by the Scoopon voucher, fully optimised with only $1 to spare. The great attitude of the staff and attentiveness to our needs certainly made it a very memorable night out. Pictures coming soon.

Have you had a good deal?

2011-05-23T00:33:00.000+08:00

I am sure many of you have made it here via Google or a friend that cares. I have to say first up that I am not a group buy hater. I watch them every day like you do so I'm also looking out for good deals too. So if you know of any restaurants, car mechanics, beauty therapists that have gone beyond the call of duty when responding to a group buy voucher (that, lets face it, they set up), then please leave a comment below. We'll try go for honesty and if you see a suggestion that seems to be contrary to your experience, feel free to butt in, even if its anonymously!

Frisk Espresso from Spreets

2011-05-23T00:22:00.000+08:00

Who loves coffee? Who's been wondering why Northbridge doesn't have any decent coffee? I have been doing that so it was quite a stroke of luck that I found out Frisk Espresso on Francis Street was serving up Five Senses Coffee with Bannister Downs milk at the same time seeing it appear on Spreets. From that, I had a feeling our brothers in Frisk aren't beginners in the latte art culture.

So anyway, we're here to review their group buy etiquette, not just the coffee which was excellent by the way. The deal - 20 coffees to be redeemed within 3 months from the date of activation (you turning up and saying, where's my coffee?) for $20. Sounds good? Great if you live in Northbridge. Something to chew on if you don't go down there much.

I did some thinking throughout the day, watching how people responded to the deal. It wasn't a massive response like, say, The View Restaurant in Fremantle but it was climbing up. What if I miss out? I took the plunge and forked out my credit card to have $20 plucked out of its credit limit.

When I went to "activate", there were no dramas and I was curious how they would record the 20 cups. Well they just gave you a loyalty card with a flimsy Spreets piece of paper with your name sticky taped to it. Wow, don't lose that piece of paper! The cafe is pretty funky with street art on the side, water drums doubling up as lampshades inside and cable wheels used as tables outside. Couches were mixed in with primary school desks in a dimly lit shop playing artsy music. Nice place to use free wifi in Perth.

Rules to the game: If you want to get a large coffee, its going to cost you two stamps. You can only use your card once a day. You got three months to do it in. Go!