Susan Taylor isn't a fan of McDonald's food, but her teenage stepsons are.
So when she saw a deal for burgers on LivingSocial in December, she snapped it up.
For $13, the Norwood Park resident received vouchers for five Big Macs and five large french fries.
At first, the deal worked swimmingly.
Her stepsons rode their bikes to the McDonald's down the street from her house and each cashed in coupons for a Big Mac and fries.
But when they returned several weeks later to redeem a second round of vouchers, they were told the restaurant no longer accepted them.
Upset, Taylor tried to redeem them herself.
She, too, had no luck.
"I said, 'There's no expiration date,' and they said, 'Our franchise owner doesn't want to accept them anymore,'" Taylor said.
A few days later, she took the vouchers to a McDonald's in Bellwood. Employees there told her that restaurant would not accept the vouchers either.
Taylor left Big Mac-less, then called LivingSocial, which told her to call McDonald's.
When she called McDonald's, she was told a representative would contact the franchise owners' association and someone from the corporate office would call her back, she said.
No one called back, so Taylor called McDonald's customer service line again.
The representative told her to read the fine print on the vouchers.
"It says 'participating locations,'" Taylor said.
"I told her, 'I bought these so my stepsons could ride their bikes to McDonald's.' I said, 'Can you tell me where there are participating restaurants?' They said no, they don't keep that information," Taylor said.
After making no progress with McDonald's or LivingSocial, she emailed What's Your Problem?
"It's not the money," Taylor said. "LivingSocial should stand by it. If I can't use it, they should refund the money."
She said she'd like a list of restaurants where she could redeem the vouchers. Otherwise, she'd like a refund for the remaining six coupons, which are worth $7.80.
"It's the principle," Taylor said. "It's driving me crazy."
