[RESOLVED] My Metrodeal Experience: Double-Charged and Still Waiting for a Reply After Three Months

When in Manila, Christmas time means horrible traffic. And even if we say we’ll buy our Christmas gifts early in the year, most of us still cram. One workaround I’ve found is to simply shop online. You skip the long lines in malls, and you also shop from the comfort of your own home.

But shopping online has its own risks, something I learned the hard way.

Our house helper wanted to have her hair colored for the first time. She was very excited about it, and she told me about seeing a coupon from MetroDeal that was very sulit! We downloaded the MetroDeal app and purchased the deal together using my account.

We purchased one coupon for her, but when I got my credit card bill later on, I was charged twice.

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I didn’t want to blame MetroDeal immediately for this error. After all, maybe I accidentally clicked on the button twice. Just to be sure, I went to my MetroDeal profile to check how many coupons were credited to my account. Only one coupon was there.

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I messaged MetroDeal on Facebook. I sent them screenshots of my credit card bill and my MetroDeal account. Their Facebook page says they usually reply in a day, which is perfect for a website like theirs.

True enough, they replied within the day to acknowledge my message. They said I would get an email about it.

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After a few days, I still did not get any emails. Refunding a credit card payment probably takes time, but I was hoping for at least an email to enlighten me about what happened and what they intend to do. Or at the very least, that someone in the team was working on my concern.

After two weeks of waiting and following up, they told me to expect an email “within the day.”

Unfortunately, that day never came. (After that, they started seen-zoning me.)

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I know 499 pesos might not be a big deal for some people, but it is for me! (For the past months, I’ve been putting “follow up Metrodeal” in my weekly calendar.) Plus, the whole point of going on MetroDeal is to save money–not to lose 499 pesos.

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After months of waiting, I told myself to just “let it go” and give up.

I was just stressing myself out for the sake of 499 pesos, and I wasted enough time following up. I was (and still am) drowning in all my backlog for work and school–I didn’t want to write an entire article about this.

But when I browsed their website again, I noticed a deal that was worth 20,000 pesos. I imagined how I would feel if I purchased a deal that was 20,000 pesos, and was charged 40,000. How would I feel if I were trying to reach them for three months but kept getting brushed off?

Their Facebook page shows that they are usually quick to respond to Facebook messages, so I have a feeling that ignoring my messages is intentional. After all, they update their Facebook page regularly.

And perhaps just for a few days (or weeks), the person or team in charge of responding to messages gets busy.  But ignoring my messages completely for months is just unacceptable. And frankly, it’s insulting.

I told myself that I would just post a review in their Facebook page–just so customers would be aware. And then I realized that I couldn’t rate them or leave reviews about them.

That was why I decided to write this quick blog post (just before I get back to my preparing for my finals tomorrow morning!)

I’m not saying that MetroDeal is a scammer–they’re not. In fact, I’ve been one of their customers ever since I was in high school! (It was the only way I could afford to have my hair permed.)

Long story short, purchase at your own risk. I like online shopping because of its convenience (especially with Christmas traffic!). But with this MetroDeal experience, looks like I wasted more time and more money.

I’ll update this blog post if/when MetroDeal ever responds to me. Maybe they have an explanation or reason behind what happened.

I just hope this doesn’t happen again to any of their customers.

Edit: (December 2016)

After publishing a status update, a Facebook friend who works for MetroDeal connected me to a customer representative. We exchanged emails, and my 499 pesos was refunded within four days.

I noticed that some of our readers commenting here also have problems with MetroDeal. I asked the customer representative who they could talk to. She advised our readers to email support@metrodeal.com.