Twisted & cunning business model - poor customer pays !!

Activity Superstore
★☆☆☆☆
1.5
13.0% of users recommend this
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hpuse's review of Activity Superstore

“Twisted & cunning business model - poor customer pays !!”

★☆☆☆☆

written by hpuse on 19/12/2015

If you want to write a case study of how twisted business models are designed- here is it - Activity Superstore Ltd(ASL).
Firstly, what is it? It is just like a gift card in a nicely packaged magnetic box with 'instrutions' that sells through point of sales (mostly Debenhams).
That is where the problem starts. Unlike a 'normal' gift card, this one cannot be taken straight to a service provider. You have to 'register' (via online or phone) and the receive the 'credit' from ASL to your account to book the activity or stay. This will be based on the 'special fares' that ASL have negotiated with the service providers, which means you will not be always able to go on a date of your choice. Complicated enough?. Not finished yet, the booking credit will after registering and you have to pay £20 to extend and sometimes the same attraction can be bought online for less than £15!.
The customer service is non-existant and response to emails was almost nil. I took the product back to Debenhams, and they will not simply honour the sale. This type of companies must be reported to watchdogs like trading standards and should not be allowed to continue in my opinion.

  • Facilities

  • Value For Money

Activitysuperstore's Response to hpuse's Review

Written on: 22/12/2015

Dear Reviewer,

Thank you for taking the time to leave your feedback. I am sorry that you are unhappy with the process in place. We have tried to make this as easy as possible. We ask that customers register to confirm their choice of activity and it also allows them to receive the most up to date information. In regards to our administration charges, if you are unable to use the voucher within the validity period we would advise that you can extend the voucher at a fee as we mention in our terms and conditions.

We do take all customers feedback on board and I would like to thank you again for taking the time to leave your comments.

Kind regards

Charlotte Howland
Activity Superstore Ltd

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Hpuse's reply to Activitysuperstore's Comment

Written on: 05/01/2016

If you want to make the 'process' as 'easy' then please, simply provide a unique link (or URL) in the instruction box to make and manage the booking. Is that simple enough to 'design' ??

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