The Haggler: A Voucher Deal That Wasn’t So Sweet

The Haggler: A Voucher Deal That Wasn’t So Sweet

LET’S start with a final Whirlpool update. Last we heard from Shira London â€" the woman who was told by a third-party warranty company that her refrigerator had a “pre-existing condition” and therefore was not covered for repairs â€" she’d been sent a new fridge. Unfortunately, it was damaged, so her husband declined delivery.

Two weeks ago, she wrote this: “I wanted to let you know that the new refrigerator was delivered on Tuesday. And it sounds like a normal fridge! Also, I put a bag of lettuce toward the back of the fridge and it didn’t freeze.”

Progress, indeed. She thanked the Haggler. The Haggler thanks Whirlpool. And we’re off on a new adventure.

Q. In October 2011, I purchased a voucher through DailyCandy â€" an e-mail service for discount deals â€" for a pair of custom-made jeans that cost $ 85. The voucher was good until October of the following year.

In the spring of 2012, I tried to trade the voucher for the jeans and learned that the supplier, a company called Indi, had gone out of business. I contacted DailyCandy and was told to expect a refund in six to eight weeks.

In July, I called again, and was told there was a backlog. They apologized, and said a check would be sent in six to eight weeks.

In September, I was told a check would be sent in seven to 10 days.

In December, a woman named Deandra transferred me to a manager named Brian, who told me that the process for a refund had to go through an internal ticket system and be approved by the accounting department.

In January, I was informed that my account showed that a refund had been processed. Wrong. A woman said to call in two to six weeks if I hadn’t received a check.

There were three more calls in March, and several promises to “escalate” the matter. And another apology.

I am losing hope that I will ever see my money. Maybe you can help.

BARBARA HARRINGTON

Hightstown, N.J.

A. The DailyCandy Web site posts no news media contact number or e-mail address. So the Haggler opened a Twitter account and posted a cry for help. “Hey DailyCandy: trying to reach you about an unhappy customer. Would you be kind enough to get in touch with me? Pretty please?”

The Haggler’s first and so far only tweet. And a total flop. Many companies scan the Twittersphere for mentions, both positive and negative, but DailyCandy is apparently not one of them.

As it happens, though, the company is based here in New York City, in SoHo. So a few weeks ago, the Haggler just dropped by. It’s a chic little operation, or looked so from the reception area, where the Haggler waited until a guy who had clearly stepped off the set of “Gossip Girl” came by and said a public relations rep was on her way. That was Kimberly Soward, who said a vice president for communications would be in touch. The Haggler gave her his number and headed for the elevator.

Soon the Haggler was on the phone with Lenore Moritz.

“Ultimately, this customer fell through the cracks,” she said.

But where exactly were the cracks she had fallen through? Ms. Moritz said that DailyCandy, which is part of NBCUniversal, uses a third party to execute orders, a company called Group Commerce. It turns out that Group Commerce is based about two blocks from DailyCandy. An e-mail sent there eventually led to a phone call with the company’s C.E.O., Jonty Kelt.

“We handle e-commerce for a lot of brands,” said Mr. Kelt, who is a native of New Zealand and has that country’s disarming accent. Everyone from New Zealand sounds hearty and pleasant, for some reason.

While Group Commerce handles millions of dollars’ worth of orders, Mr. Kelt went on, it actually hires a third party to process refunds. That’s right. DailyCandy outsources its orders to Group Commerce and Group Commerce outsources refunds to 24-7 Intouch, a company based in Winnipeg, Canada.

It’s getting easier to see how someone could fall through the cracks, isn’t it?

The Haggler was going to call 24-7 Intouch, but Mr. Kelt said that the error was in his shop.

“Our finance department, when they cut a check, they have to mark a refund as processed,” he said. “It appears that in this case it was marked as processed, and upon further investigation it was discovered that the check was never created or banked.”

HOW did that happen? How did Ms. Harrington’s check appear to have been sent when it wasn’t?

Mr. Kelt said he had looked into the matter, and he couldn’t be definitive about what exactly had led to this error. He added that Ms. Harrington’s experience was “an outlier” and that Group Commerce and 24-7 Intouch handled thousands of refunds every year without any hitches.

Well, that’s nice. And, of course, any system can break down now and then. What’s troubling here is that Group Commerce couldn’t rectify a mistake after more than a full year of inquiries by a customer. People kept politely taking her calls and whatever error was made in her case could not be undone.

The Haggler sees this over and over: Customer service that can’t handle exceptions, even exceptions that are the result of internal boo-boos. Mr. Kelt called this set of events “regrettable.” If the Haggler were in his shoes, he would have gone a little further and contacted Ms. Harrington to apologize.

Mr. Kelt didn’t. But Group Commerce did send a refund.

“Pull out the noisemakers and let’s party!” Ms. Harrington wrote two weeks ago, about a year and a half after her refund campaign began. “A check was in my mailbox tonight.”

E-mail: haggler@nytimes.com. Keep it brief and family-friendly, include your hometown and go easy on the caps-lock key. Letters may be edited for clarity and length.