livingsocial - $24 for $50 contribution to 529 plan of your choice

[lilhilly]

http://www.livingsocial.com/cities/1905-union-essex-counties/deals/491862-50-toward-a-gradsave-college-savings-plan

I was able to buy one for myself that I applied to DS's 529 account and one as a "gift" that I had e-mailed to myself and then applied to DD's 529 account. I haven't seen the $50 hit the 529 accounts yet but I only redeemed today. Ends today.

[sntm]

Thanks!

[wellyes]

Did anyone read the slickdeals thread on that? I saw it yesterday, and the whole first two pages were "I don't have any kids, how can I get this free money transferred to my bank account". That site is :6:

[katydid1971]

Does anyone know if you buy more than one (gifts) can you still apply them to the same account?

[Momit]

Does anyone know if you buy more than one (gifts) can you still apply them to the same account?

It says you can get 5 for gifts, but the fine print says 1 per 529 account. Bummer, becuase I figured DH and I could each get one, then the g'parents could and then one would be free.

ETA Of course, I had a terrible experience with Living Social and swore I would never buy from them again...

[sntm]

Can you have more than one 529 per kid? We bought 4. We have 2 kids. If not, the nieces will get gifted.

[lilhilly]

Can you have more than one 529 per kid? We bought 4. We have 2 kids. If not, the nieces will get gifted.

I think one per account per kid is what the terms say but it can't hurt to try, you can always get a refund.

[wellyes]

You can always get a refund with living social? I had NO IDEA! I am so happy. I've bought 2-3 timed things that I didn't use and expired. Like, $20 for $80 of Target photos. I thought I was stuck with a $20 Target credit. Awesome if I can return it!

[Momit]

You can always get a refund with living social? I had NO IDEA! I am so happy. I've bought 2-3 timed things that I didn't use and expired. Like, $20 for $80 of Target photos. I thought I was stuck with a $20 Target credit. Awesome if I can return it!

Good luck with that! I had an awful experience with their CS, so different from Groupon which is very good IME.

I bought a Living Social voucher for a boat rental and paid a premium to be able to use it Friday-Sunday. The company was slammed and had no openings for weekends so I booked a weekday. Living Social refused to refund me the difference. I was so mad at them, I unsubscribed from their emails (which they're still spamming me with BTW) and I swore I would never buy from them again. Not to be a Debbie Downer on this deal, I'm sure it will be fine for everyone, but I was not happy with them at all.

[lilhilly]

Refunds are supposed to be given within 7 days of purchase according to their policy. Obviously that doesn't help if it takes them more time than that to "disallow" your voucher at Gradsave. So if you buy multiple vouchers, you're taking some risk unless like PP you have other accounts to contribute to (as opposed to multiple kids on the same account).

[sntm]

It let me contribute all 4 to 2 kids under 1 email

[erikawolf2004]

This is awesome! Thank you so much for sharing this!!!! I saw it on my livingsocial feed fubt didn't read what it said, so glad I read this post!!!

[nabigus]

My silly question for the day: it says I "redeemed" the gift card, but the activity isn't showing up in the 529. The FAQ mentions something about transferring funds to the 529. Is there an additional step to transfer besides linking the 529 account?

thanks!

[lilhilly]

They posted on FW (in the finance forum) that it takes up to 2 weeks for the transfer to the 529 to be completed. Seems like an insane amount of time.

[pjsmom30]

It let me contribute all 4 to 2 kids under 1 email

Do you mean that you were able to apply more than one to the same 529 account?

[Babymakes3]

I have a Florida Prepaid Account for my son, I wonder how I figure out if this will work with it...

[sntm]

I haven't linked the 529s yet but in grad save it shows $100 for each kid (4 total LSs)

[LMPC]

BTW, it says 9 days remaining if anyone missed this one.

[lilhilly]

I haven't linked the 529s yet but in grad save it shows $100 for each kid (4 total LSs)

Just be careful, because their post on FW suggests the system may permit multiple contributions that they will subsequently "disallow."

[erikawolf2004]

Has anyone had the money post to their 529?

[mnosky1]

Did you notice there is a deposit fee of I think 3.99 per $50 or 6% for amounts over $50? The concept is kind of nice for things like births, first communion, etc but not at those fees. Just give us a check and we'll deposit it penalty free, thanks! Plus, I'd never say, hey, here's this account to give my kids money- even to family members.

[lilhilly]

Has anyone had the money post to their 529?

There's a long thread in the FW "Finance" forum about this deal in which Gradsave has started posting in response to a lot of complaints. (Sorry, guys, for posting the deal here!) The bottom line is that they are saying that transfers to 529 plans are made twice a month, although they won't say on which date the next one is supposed to occur. In some places in the thread people say they were told one would take place today; elsewhere, the Gradsave people say the 1st and the 15th, which would make the next one February 1, I suppose.

They also said they would be reversing any contributions that exceed one per child. They will "re-activate" the excess vouchers so you can gift them to someone else or you can get a refund from Living Social, but remember you only have 7 days to do that, so act now if that's the way you want to go. Someone on FW had the good idea of exchanging contributions (i.e., I gift my excess contribution to your kid and vice versa); maybe folks here could work that out?

I'm still hoping to get my $50 per child, but I'm not interested in using their site again after that. It appears hastily thrown together and poorly thought out, and why anyone would pay a hefty service fee to make a donation they could make directly, I don't know.

[babyonway]

I can't figure out how to even add my DDs 529. It is not state sponsored it is thru USAA. Can anyone figure that out?
I emailed gradsave (they don't post a fon number) and haven't heard back.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk.

[erikawolf2004]

FYI I had ordered 4 of these total, 2 for each daughter. I got an email today that they would only honor one deposit per child, so I got a refund for the extra two that I had purchased.

[lilhilly]

Slightly OT (and I am still waiting for Gradsave to transfer the $ to my kids' 529 accounts, grr), but in response to the PP who asked about getting refunds for expired Livingsocial vouchers, apparently Livingsocial is in the process of settling a class action lawsuit alleging that their vouchers have unreasonably short expiration dates. According to this summary, the settlement, which should be approved in March, will allow you to get a refund!

http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2013/01/lawyers-in-livingsocial-class-action-seek-3m-in-fees.html

[wellyes]

Slightly OT (and I am still waiting for Gradsave to transfer the $ to my kids' 529 accounts, grr), but in response to the PP who asked about getting refunds for expired Livingsocial vouchers, apparently Livingsocial is in the process of settling a class action lawsuit alleging that their vouchers have unreasonably short expiration dates. According to this summary, the settlement, which should be approved in March, will allow you to get a refund!

http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2013/01/lawyers-in-livingsocial-class-action-seek-3m-in-fees.html
AWESOME, thank you!