Groupon....Great deals or scam?

Yumilisios

I've been signed up to the Groupon daily newsletter for ages now, all the deals I see on there look fantastic when you see the 'Groupon pirce' compared to the 'actual value' but you have to read the small print before you buy a voucher to see if you really will save.

I've only actually bought 2 vouchers from them....

The 1st was one of their national deals for opticalexpress.com the deal was "£19 for a £52.95 voucher redeemable against all items, can include Two Pairs of prescription glasses with Free Delivery from Glasses Direct, the UK's largest online optical retailer - Save 64%" :j only thing is, that price is for frames only, you still have to cover the cost for the lenses (the vital part!) optional tinting and any other fancy shmancy bits you may want like scratch resistant lenses (shouldn't that be standard by now!?). In my case I ended up paying £60 on top of the voucher as I need bi-focal lenses so would have been the same if not cheaper if I had gone to Specsavers like I usually do and I would have been able to try the damn things on too!

The 2nd was a "local" deal for Cardiff (actually a 2 hour drive for me but its the closest one to me and if I find a good enough deal I'll make a day of it) "Enjoy a Fun-Filled Family Day Out at a Playground Paradise with a Family Pass at Parc Play for £6 instead of £21.60" voucher for 2 adults + 2 children to go, I thought "fab, I'll take my little one and my friend's then only one adult to pay for and we can maybe do some shopping in Cardiff too" bought the voucher straight away then looked at the sight for opening times to make plans. On the front page of their site "Great news, adults are now free" so what exactly am I saving now!? I think I worked it out to be about £1.50 saving :mad: and its not even a huge adventure place fro families to do things together like the add suggests, its a kids indoor and outdoor play zone while adults sit and play on their laptop ignoring the kids...there are plenty of places like this in my ACTUAL local area thanks very much!

Jinx

I've done a few Groupon vouchers and found them really good.

Facial for my mum for 15 quid instead of 50.
MOT for 21 quid which I've used.
Vouchers for Gardening show for 12 quid for 2 peeps instead of 24 - used a fortnight ago.
Vouchers for Knockhill racing circuit - think it was 9 quid for 2 instead of 20, used a few weeks back.
Also gara gara fish pedicure for 18 quid for 2 in london instead of 30 quid, used last friday.

Slinky

We bought an Ultimate Wine Experience which was supposed to take place in February. 3 days before the event, and after we had bought non-redeemable train tickets to London, the event was cancelled due to the illness of the Sommelier, please contact us to rebook. Have tried rebooking without success, emails go unanswered and the phone isn't answered either. I think we've been had.

Won't be booking anything else with Groupon

Horasio

It is OK but do be aware of the restaurant ones saying value of - say £55, if you spend more than that amount, you will have to pay the difference. We were given a menu and thought you could have any three courses and we were covered. My OH checked before we ordered a pudding and were told we would have to pay the extra. We decided not to bother with the pudding. We also found the restaurant to be soulless and looking in need of a redecorate.

I found my pedicure and shellac polish was very basic, not a full soak and exfoliate. The shellac doesn't last much longer than normal nail varnish either. The person doing it is starting out and trying to get a customer base.

The hair one - there was a board outside saying the stylist was doing the same deal. The salon was OK but not the type I would go for.

I am sure they have a Groupon level and a normal level, so they don't make a loss.

You pretty much get what you pay for - much like most things in life.

amyb_2

CCStar wrote: »

I am sure they have a Groupon level and a normal level, so they don't make a loss.

You pretty much get what you pay for - much like most things in life.

See i don't agree with that;

All my beauty and hair treatments have been to the standard i would expect if i paid full price.

There is no point for a salon to perform a substandard treatment onn you - they make no profit from Groupon treatments so the whole point is trying to attract new customers. Substandard treatments will not make people want to return.....

classixuk

amyb wrote: »

See i don't agree with that;

All my beauty and hair treatments have been to the standard i would expect if i paid full price.

There is no point for a salon to perform a substandard treatment onn you - they make no profit from Groupon treatments so the whole point is trying to attract new customers. Substandard treatments will not make people want to return.....

That bit I bolded is why I think so many small businesses are doing the wrong thing when they do a groupon.

They're assuming that the reason they aren't busy is because nobody has heard of them.

If they asked their customers why they aren't very busy, they might get a different answer.

Some businesses need to sort themselves out and find out why existing customers don't return before trying to attract new ones (who won't return either).

I used Living Social recently to market a new service (rather than discount an already popular one) and it brought us 30 new clients (the service cost including discount was £100, so we were pleased with the results). Before the deal went live though, I trained all staff on how to treat the clients etc.

Just for the record...we didn't use cheaper products on them either.

nolan8213

amyb wrote: »

See i don't agree with that;

All my beauty and hair treatments have been to the standard i would expect if i paid full price.

There is no point for a salon to perform a substandard treatment onn you - they make no profit from Groupon treatments so the whole point is trying to attract new customers. Substandard treatments will not make people want to return.....

That is so true. As much as I have make some negative comments as a business owner Groupon is a way of for business to help build repeat business. I issued an offer and I have to say I would do it again. But there is no point in doing an offer unless you are offering them something that will make them want to come back. I have used some vouchers before and I have to admit many venues are just looking to make a quick buck, rather than look at potential returning customers.

vegasvisitor

Another issue with them getting repeat customers though, if you get a good deal on something and enjoy it, you probably want to get it for the same good price next time. Would have to be an extremely good experience to want to pay full price instead of looking for other similarly priced offers.

Groupon do seem to have repeated offers, so it does sound like the retailers are happy to run the offers again.

Mr_Friendly

classixuk wrote: »

I can echo the above, as a business owner myself, the only winner on a Groupon Deal is Groupon themselves.

But I think I've thought of a fabulous way you MSE'rs can save even more money than Groupon offers, and also help the business who is offering the Groupon too!...

Legend.
Yes as a business owner myself (in the beauty & aesthetics industry) who has used Groupon I would recommend this suggestion with open arms.

If they're willing to offer the deal then they're willing to accept you, the end user paying in cash rather than going through groupon who take a massive slice.

You might even get slightly better terms in that with Groupon vouchers the business owner will usually stipulate use within their quiet periods or that it has an expiry date. If you deal direct then you can usually bypass these clauses and get a much better deal with the full service treatment rather than a watered down version for the voucher.

Well said classixuk :T

competitionscafe

More deceptive/misleading advertising from Groupon (ad seen on Facebook):



(There are no free samples offered on Groupon)