Complaint Review: Cuponismo

I bought a voucher through google offers for a cuponismo.com vacation to in Punta Cana. The offer was 3-nights at an all-inclusive resort (I know sounds too good to be true). The purchaser could buy two vouchers through the offer and so I figured I'd buy two and "piggyback" them for a 6-night vacation.

About a three days after purchasing I contacted cuponismo to discuss my options and ask about a government & hotel tax that had been mentioned in the fine print of the googleoffers.com page.

First of all it took me three days to reach someone 8/1, 8/2, 8/6 (the first several days the phone said the number was out of order). I also sent an email through the webpage requesting information, which was never responded to. 

8/7/2012 ... When I finally spoke to someone the lady casually took my phone number and gave me an email address and told me to send my questions to her. She said a manager would contact me later that day. It never happened.

She responded by email about 12 hours later sending me a link to a page on their site with the offer.  It spelled out the amount of taxes but did not answer any of my other questions (in regards to the deadline for travel and piggybacking the offers). The link she sent mentioned no piggybacking but the googleoffers page where I bought the voucher did not mention this in any of the fine print I again needed answers. Who wants to travel 8-hours (16 roundtrip) for 3-nights?

8/8...I tried calling repeatedly throughout the day getting again the operator prompt that the number was out of service. I simply wanted to know about my other two questions. Finally in the afternoon I reached the same lady (Shelby). We talked briefly about my issue (piggybacking) and she said, "send the link of the google offer and my manager will contact you".  Again Nothing.

8/9... I waited the entire day to hear from the office.  Again nothing

8/10... I called and was surprised that someone picked up immediately. It was Shelby. I spoke with her briefly mentioning my issues.  She didn't seem to have any answers so I asked for a manager. Much to my surprise (and later my agony) a manager hopped on the line. 

I told this manager that I'd be trying for a week to get answers regarding three questions and only one had been answered. The manager said I was lying and that Shelby had answered every email (Lie).  I pulled up my emails and began to go through all the correspondents, but the manager simply interrupted me and went on a long spiel about how I needed to book the trip now and he'd be glad to do so.

I told him about the lack of regulation on the site where I purchased to voucher regarding piggybacking.  He told me that Shelby had answered that question (she hadn't).  He said that they could not reach me because I'd never given them a phone number (lie, besides they had my email and never responded or answered my questions). 

The manager then went on to call me a snob who was trying to take advantage of his company, he constantly interrupted me as I tried to tell him about my dissatisfaction. Towards the end the conversation I told him that I simply wanted a refund, at which point he again tried to push me to book a trip.


Conclusion:
I am not irrational or an opportunist. I have bought probably in the realm of $2000 worth of travel deals through various sites (including googleoffers) without problem.  This company (cuponsimo.com) are simply predators. They offer vague vacations and then try to back out of them or coerce customers into simply booking the terrible offer.  I did not want a problem I simply wanted a vacation but after four days of terrible customer service and no progress in getting answers regarding the disjointment of their fine print on google and on the cuponsimo site I was ready to get my money back and make it known to people that they SHOULD NOT deal with this company.

I have spoken with googleoffers and other coupon sites (groupon, livingsocial) to notify them that Cuponismo is not a reputable company worth doing business with.  I advise all customers to steer clear of this internet chop shop.  Rely on cheapcaribbean.com, traveladvisor, travelzoo, sniqueaway.com and other reputable companies.

Note: Here is the link for the googleoffer (https://www.google.com/offers/home?utm_source=ppo&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailyppo&utm_content=secondary5&ss=0#!details/f5456c9de1ea327e/ICNDZ5BGY378V0Q3)  Please note the lack of language regarding piggybacking, and the vague info regarding "hotel & government tax".

Also if you copy and paste the Cuponism.com link there is no mention of this punta cana vacation.

Please do not fall victim or suffer the irritation and anguish I did in booking with this company. There are plenty of legitimate travel sites that I have traveled with and never had any issues.