Groupon tricks, over and over

gregdedman

Hi everyone,

I felt compelled to write about Groupon, the company who crop up on MSE from time to time often sometimes with good deals, often with big problems.
I got stung, along with others with a Photobox offer, where you purchase a deal code, then they send it to you and from there you order from photobox.

First off, their T+Cs stated that once you purchase the deal, and enough people do the same, then the deal ends and you are sent the discount code the next day.
Well, heres where the first problem arose.
As soon as I purchased the code, I was told that I wouldnt get it via email as stated, but vaguely 'by other means'.
Then they changed their Terms and conditions to cover themselves after people started to complain.
They actually spoke to MSE to reassure customers, but still no codes for some yet money was already disappearing from accounts.

Time went by, more changes in their terms and conditions to suit their needs, and still no codes.
Enough was enough and I applied for a refund. Annoying customer service, no explanation whatsoever and a 5 working day refund turnaround.

There are still people out ther who have no code...this deal finished over 2 weeks ago and customers money was taken immediately.

To finish off, once you sign up to a deal, they start sending you deal after deal after deal via email. Im counting the amount of times Ive had to unsubscribe from their junk, today again, more offers from areas of the country ive not signed up to.

If you are ever tempted by Groupon (their deals are very attractive) then be aware that its a gamble if you actually get what you pay for, if there is a mistake then its an absolute nitemare to sort out, they have a habit of changing the goalposts to suit themselves and will keep sending you junk mail over and over again.

Search these forums for 'Groupon' and see more than just this problem.

No doubt there will be people who have had no problem with Groupon replying to this post, but in this day and age, 100% of paying customers should get what they paid for, its not a lot to ask and this is why Ive brought this to everyones attention.

For me, Groupon cannot be trusted in future.

chika

I've heard enough horror stories about this company never to go near them. Thanks for the heads up and I hope everyone else gets sorted soon.

MothballsWallet

If they are as bad as this, then I hope someone at MSE Towers will take some action to stop them appearing on the site in future. It can't be that hard to track down where offers are coming from.

BaldacchinoR

We tried to use a Groupon/MyCityDeal restaurant voucher which stated it opened at 6pm. But when we arrived at that time, the disreputable looking guy behind the bar said the chef had only just arrived so no food till 7.30pm. Did we want to order drinks in the meantime? No, we did not want to get stoned in the meantime, as I was driving. Told Groupon but they decide we were lying and the disreputable guy was not - he told them food was available from 6pm that day. Groupon did not explain how they arrived at their conclusion. It cost us GBP12 for nothing. No more Groupon deals ever again.

ADDITION - I informed Groupon of my above entry and received a reply. They now admit the restaurant was not ready to serve food at 6pm having previously said they were!! They tried to fob me off saying this was the restaurant's responsibility but I had to point out my contract was with Groupon/MyCityDeal so it was Groupon's responsibility; I had no contract with the restaurant. I suggested he (Kraig) consult his legal advisor as he appeared to not understand the legal position. Asked for the refund again.

2ND ADDITION - Groupon's reply is still no refund! Kraig does not intend to consult a legal advisor it seems.

System

I've used them a few times and have had no trouble with them at all. I suspect that it depends on where you redeem the voucher. Some companies may deliberately be difficult and not let you use them on purpose as the deal you get saves you alot of money.

A.Jones

BaldacchinoR wrote: »

We tried to use a Groupon/MyCityDeal restaurant voucher which stated it opened at 6pm. But when we arrived at that time, the disreputable looking guy behind the bar said the chef had only just arrived so no food till 7.30pm. Did we want to order drinks in the meantime? No, we did not want to get stoned in the meantime, as I was driving. Told Groupon but they decide we were lying and the disreputable guy was not - he told them food was available from 6pm that day. Groupon did not explain how they arrived at their conclusion. It cost us GBP12 for nothing. No more Groupon deals ever again.

ADDITION - I informed Groupon of my above entry and received a reply. They now admit the restaurant was not ready to serve food at 6pm having previously said they were!! They tried to fob me off saying this was the restaurant's responsibility but I had to point out my contract was with Groupon/MyCityDeal so it was Groupon's responsibility; I had no contract with the restaurant. I suggested he (Kraig) consult his legal advisor as he appeared to not understand the legal position. Asked for the refund again.

2ND ADDITION - Groupon's reply is still no refund! Kraig does not intend to consult a legal advisor it seems.

Did the restaurant open at 6.00pm? That is what you say the voucher stated and to me it seems that is what you got. Did the voucher say opens at or food was available from 6.00pm?

Is disreputable a legal term? You use it twice, and seem to imply groupon should take your side as the other person is, in your view, "disreputable".

trumpton

I am completely put off Groupon and My City deals by the catalogue of complaints about them on MSE and Hot Deals. From what I have read, I don't think the OP's experience is that unusual. Add to this the price rises which often seem to occur between buying your voucher and being able to spend it and, to me, it makes some of their dealings very dodgy looking. I am also fed up of the relentless promotion of these deals. People can just go to their sites and look what the deals are.

A.Jones

trumpton wrote: »

I am completely put off Groupon and My City deals by the catalogue of complaints about them on MSE and Hot Deals. From what I have read, I don't think the OP's experience is that unusual. Add to this the price rises which often seem to occur between buying your voucher and being able to spend it and, to me, it makes some of their dealings very dodgy looking.

This is why Martin Lewis / MSE check to ensure prices will not rise after the deal ends and before the voucher is issued. There is usually a note in the email / online when they have checked this.

trumpton wrote: »

I am also fed up of the relentless promotion of these deals. People can just go to their sites and look what the deals are.

You could say the same about anything posted in the grabbit type boards. People could go and look for themselves to find deals on amazon, argos, tescos, etc. If you don't like them, don't look in threads with groupon in the title. It's that simple.

fiendishly

I'm going for a meal tonight using my first Groupon voucher. I will post how it goes

cherryblossoms

I've had 2 seperate meal vouchers, 1 haircut and 1 facial through seperate offers with Groupon and had no problems at all and so far have saved over the amount groupon predict in the advert, I've just signed up today for another haircut. I only purchase the offers with companies I have either used in the past or ones that are well known to me. I do know of friends who have purchased bad offers via groupon the main one being the photobox offer.

KRIM58

Having escaped (almost unscathed) from the Premium White scam I ordered the Whitening Experts Tooth Whitening Kit for £20 instead of £99 through Groupon on 8th August. The confirmation of my purchase was received from Groupon saying....

"[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Completion of transaction and your right to cancel The contract to buy is complete by us sending you this email. The Voucher will be sent to you in a second email shortly after. You may cancel the transaction by writing to us within 7 working days of Voucher receipt (prior to any redemption of the Voucher being made)."

No email was received but after emailing them on the 11th August and getting no reply I spoke to customer services who advised me to log into their site and get my voucher code - by their tone I think I was supposed to know this. I did eventually get an email advising me of this on 16th August.

I retrieved my code and ordered my kit from Whitening Exports and waited....

Yesterday I received an email from Whitening Experts saying (Selective paragraphs as email very long)

"It has come to our attention that a large batch of teeth whitening kits dispatched last week have gone astray."
and
"Naturally, we are hoping your original order has been delayed and will arrive before Wednesday. If your order has not arrived by this time, please reply to this email and we will replace your order."
and
"Emails sent before 5pm on Wednesday 8th September cannot be accepted. You must email us by 5pm on Friday 10th September 2010 to inform us of a missing order. Any emails received after this time will not be accepted, and we will mark your original order as received."
And the icing on the cake
Customers who have bought our product using a redemption system (ie Groupon) are unable to request refunds and will be required to have a replacement.

I will send my email before Friday & see what materialises. I have also forwarded the Email from Whitening Experts to Groupon to see what they have to say.

Finally I enclose the below paragraph as it shows the care and attention that Whitening Experts put into their client communications (their spelling mistakes not mine!)

All items are encripted and Royal Mail will be able to see the items that have been successfully delivered. Royal Mail will write to customers to confirm that items have not been delivered and will make indiviudal investagations to ensure fraudulent claims are not made..





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