Customers, merchants frustrated over CityDeals.com shutdown: SALT LAKE CITY — Frustration continued to mount Friday over the recent shutdown of the coupon website CityDeals.com. Vendors were hearing it from customers, and the businesses said they’ve seen their own share of difficulties in the past months. Meanwhile, a competitor is trying to alleviate some of the pain felt by all.
KSL Deals said Friday it will give partial credit toward a KSL Deal in exchange for vouchers that have no longer been honored or are no longer valid. It also plans to offer arrangements with CityDeal vendors who have lost money and business during the ordeal. “A lot of these vendors have been hurt pretty badly when they don’t get paid and they really put themselves out to structure a deal, so we would like to be able to offer them some pretty aggressive terms if they want to do a deal with us,” said Mike Petroff, chief operating officer of Deseret Digital Media.
Sharper View Professional Window Cleaning Services owner Todd Elkins said he is out tens of thousands of dollars, after CityDeals.com stopped sending him checks in July. Elkins said this is normally the busiest time of year for him, but his business has been cut this year by about 80 percent due to the issues with the online coupon company. “We’re sad to see so many customers who have purchased certificates and we’re in a position of having to try to service those as best we can to get to their homes at a significant cost,” Elkins said. “We’ve lost a lot of customers because of it. We’ve lost credibility and it’s really hard.”
Healing Arts Massage owner Leta Saul has been more insulated because of her connection with Groupon, but said she is still down thousands of dollars from CityDeals.com troubles. “We’re struggling. We’re still fighting to keep people coming in, and doing the best we can,” Saul said. Saul said she still has not cut off the CityDeals.com customers, but they are worried about being able to get their money’s worth out of their certificates. “It’s been a constant headache,” Saul said.
It was unclear Friday whether CityDeals.com would open its doors and website again, though a statement from founder Jeff Stucki suggested it would at some point. “CityDeals is committed to rebuilding the website, repairing and repaying merchants, and gaining back the trust of our customers and employees,” Stucki said. “(We) are working harder than ever to make this happen!” Stucki in the statement said Deals That Matter had an agreement to acquire the site in place, but ultimately shuttered the operation earlier this week and fired the remaining CityDeals.com workers. “We have now terminated the agreement with Deals That Matter after suffering irreparable damage,” Stucki said. “They will be held responsible for their actions.”
KSL Deals said Friday it will give partial credit toward a KSL Deal in exchange for vouchers that have no longer been honored or are no longer valid. It also plans to offer arrangements with CityDeal vendors who have lost money and business during the ordeal. “A lot of these vendors have been hurt pretty badly when they don’t get paid and they really put themselves out to structure a deal, so we would like to be able to offer them some pretty aggressive terms if they want to do a deal with us,” said Mike Petroff, chief operating officer of Deseret Digital Media.
Sharper View Professional Window Cleaning Services owner Todd Elkins said he is out tens of thousands of dollars, after CityDeals.com stopped sending him checks in July. Elkins said this is normally the busiest time of year for him, but his business has been cut this year by about 80 percent due to the issues with the online coupon company. “We’re sad to see so many customers who have purchased certificates and we’re in a position of having to try to service those as best we can to get to their homes at a significant cost,” Elkins said. “We’ve lost a lot of customers because of it. We’ve lost credibility and it’s really hard.”
Healing Arts Massage owner Leta Saul has been more insulated because of her connection with Groupon, but said she is still down thousands of dollars from CityDeals.com troubles. “We’re struggling. We’re still fighting to keep people coming in, and doing the best we can,” Saul said. Saul said she still has not cut off the CityDeals.com customers, but they are worried about being able to get their money’s worth out of their certificates. “It’s been a constant headache,” Saul said.
It was unclear Friday whether CityDeals.com would open its doors and website again, though a statement from founder Jeff Stucki suggested it would at some point. “CityDeals is committed to rebuilding the website, repairing and repaying merchants, and gaining back the trust of our customers and employees,” Stucki said. “(We) are working harder than ever to make this happen!” Stucki in the statement said Deals That Matter had an agreement to acquire the site in place, but ultimately shuttered the operation earlier this week and fired the remaining CityDeals.com workers. “We have now terminated the agreement with Deals That Matter after suffering irreparable damage,” Stucki said. “They will be held responsible for their actions.”
James Saccomano, executive vice president of Deals That Matter, said he was surprised by the statement. He acknowledged there was an agreement, but said Deals That Matter rescinded it. He said discussions had resumed the past three days with Stucki and the CEO of CityDeals.com. Late Friday, however, he said the companies agreed to go their separate ways.
KSL Deals offered details on ksl.com’s “deals page” of a limited time offer to customers and merchants. For a limited time, KSL Deals will offer customers a 20 percent discount on top of the already discounted KSL Deals. Merchants, for a limited time, will be offered a preferred split of 80 percent revenue on a new deal run with KSL Deals. And the KSL site will pay merchants 80 percent in 10 days, 20 percent in 60 days for any charge-backs or refund requests.
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