Should you be worried if a business closes down before you redeem your voucher?
In the US it is emerging that many businesses in trouble, try to get a deal on a deals site. Many use this as a last ditch attempt to save their businesses. Or even worse, to sell deals, get paid by the deals site, then shut down.
How can you protect yourself from this type of thing? We for the most part, in New Zealand you are protected under the Consumer Guarantees Act. The Deals site that sells you the voucher is deemed as the seller. So you can always take up any complaints with the site itself.
With some deals selling in the tens of thousands of dollars, this type of scam has happened many times in the US. Major deals sites are now counteracting this fraud by paying businesses the proceeds in instalments over 3 months. So, a deal sells on day one, then 30 days later the business gets 1/3, and so on for the next 3 months.
New Zealand is lucky that the economy here isn't as bad as it is currently in the US. Still it is entirely possible for a business to close down in the 2 - 3 months after the deal has sold. See what happened when Stiletto Shoes ran a deal, then close down shortly after.
Bigups to Groupy for sorting that one out. In summary, you don't really need to worry about losing out, if a business subsequently closes down. New Zealands consumer law is there to protect you in circumstances such as these. Unfortunately, its often the deals site that could lose out, especially if they have already paid a large portion of the deal proceeds.
