Sale of online coupon business leaves restaurant and its customers out in the cold

Infusion Restaurant in Bridlewood

A number of customers and a local restaurant owner found themselves facing a frustrating ordeal after coupons purchased through an online service were not honoured.

Susan Pilley purchased an $80 voucher for the Infusion Restaurant through nCrowd, formerly TeamBuy, an online service offering discounts and deals. When Pilley attempted to use her coupon at the southwest restaurant, management refused to accept it as the owners had not received any proceeds from the online sales of the coupons for several months.

Pilley contacted nCrowd and attempted to have her money refunded.

“I emailed them and I got this form letter saying nCrowd doesn’t exist anymore,” said Pilley.

The email response was sent from a new internet coupon company called BoomStreet that had acquired nCrowd’s business but stated it had no responsibilities to honour BoomStreet’s sales.

“Things on the internet, they're not regulated, so who are you gonna complain to?,” asks Pilley. “They don't respond to your calls, they just send you these emails that mean nothing.”

The general manager of Infusion Restaurant says nCrowd took thousands of dollars from the business in meals they were never compensated for and unknown losses from their tarnished reputation amongst voucher holders.

“It's sad because it's out of our control,” said Max Bouphasiry, Infusion Restaurant G.M. “We control everything that goes on inside these doors but out there, in the internet online domain, it's something we can't fix.”

Bouphasiry says nCrowd did not inform the restaurant of the sale to BoomStreet.

CTV Calgary’s Consumer Watch reporter, Lea Williams-Doherty, asked the Better Business Bureau (BBB) if it is legal for a company to buy out another company while refusing to honour the commitments of its acquired asset.

“It is legal for a company to just purchase the name of another company and not the assets and liabilities and all the other legal components that come along with it,” explains Leah Brownridge of the BBB.

Williams-Doherty’s phone calls and emails to nCrowd were automatically forwarded to BoomStreet but no one responded to her inquiries regarding the acquisition and the obligations BoomStreet has to nCrowd clients.

With files from CTV's Lea Williams-Doherty