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EXCL: TimesDeal test password gets leaked; people avail deals for free
25 Sep 2012

Update: Times Internet CEO Satyan Gajwani has tweeted that the company will be honoring all deals with 1 lakh in 2 days, bought using the promo codes on TimesDeal.

If you are wondering, why your Facebook and Twitter timelines are full of people buying holiday deals in Thailand from TimesDeal.com, you need not worry more. TimesDeal’s test password has been leaked on the internet through various social mediums and people who are claiming to have bought the deals, are actually availing these for free.

Like any other daily deal website, TimesDeal.com, the daily deal website run by Times Internet issues a test password internally to its team through which the functionality of the deals get tested. That very password got leaked on the web and became viral as people started buying different deals and sharing about them on social media. What we hear, the estimated loss incurred by the company for this leak is around Rs 15 lakh to Rs 30 lakh.

Times Internet has however assured that the company will be honouring most of the deals as they have already been claimed. The company has already blocked some deals and is investigating the source of this breach. The company will be issuing an official release on this soon.

Times Internet had launched the daily deal website TimesDeal.com on April 29, 2011. The group already operates Active Deals, a mobile deals and discount service from Indiatimes 58888, the mobile arm of Times Internet and had recently introduced the service on WAP in 25 cities across India.

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errr.. and emmm
28 Sep 2012

Satyan should know that such cheap tricks might yield some short term results and will reflect bad on the organisation and his own integrity levels in the long run . I do not know of any company that pulled off a astroturfing stunt , successfully.
I am sorry Satyan , you kinda screwed up your integrity levels by playing along and tweeting about it . You could have kept silence , at least

srikanth
26 Sep 2012

This is all bullshit... marketing gimmick.... the first day when it is leaked all were able to purchase any number of quantity later it was working on only 1...this means that times deal was aware of the issue... it is just PUBLICITY stunt and sadly even the media is supporting it.. and timesdeal thinks we are C___

Anonymous
26 Sep 2012

All people who purchased from Timesdeal bought those deals only because they were getting them for free . Otherwise no one would have spent even a penny for timesdeal . We all know what timesdeal is worth … All the deals we purchased for free are only the commission of times deal . Then how did they went in losses. One thing they earned is the publicity for FREE . Good marketing tactic … keep it up !!!!!

Moreover times deal got the code leaked themselves . I have the proof . On day one when test123 code was leaked we could buy multiple quantities at the same time and get them free with the promocode . But today they changed this and updated to one quantity for one promo code . Intelligent people … heheh lol … And media calls it as a leak … hehehe … seems to be that media is too dumb OR have taken money from times deal for their publicity.

Priyan
26 Sep 2012

Even if its a holiday deal worth 15k , the coupon value is Rs.99 to buy the deal. Rest of the amount need to be paid to the tour operator. Ideally , the user saves Rs.99 on a deal worth 15k through this leaked coupon. What else is the proof to say that its a gimmick. They should have at least avoided the official statement to save a lie. Now it reflects bad and unethical

Ansh
26 Sep 2012

How come Times deal run the tests on password internally when they know it can be misused. Even company is claiming loss of 15-20 Lac, Times deal should have managed that if payment for those deals were not received. This seems to be purely a operational issue

Gunjan
26 Sep 2012

I think you guys have been taken for a ride. This seems like an elaborate publicity gimmick by Timesdeal.

Pavan
26 Sep 2012

Ha ha ha... Satrajit, if you got the tip off and you arent in Thailand today, that isnt very smart :)

Rahul
25 Sep 2012

I tried the code but it's not working anymore :(