Groupon....Great deals or scam?

pnopine

I actually emailed Groupon last week, as the discounts they were offering were actually not realistic. I could have bought the same deal online, through Amazon, direct from the trader for £10 more, not the % saving they were claiming to offer. In one case, it was actually cheaper to go direct to the trader's amazon page, and buy there. As expected I received a standard reply from Groupon, which I've followed back up

Here's a transcript of my email conversation, I'll post the reply when I receive it, no doubt it will be some standard spiel..

Ian
Feb 27 08:48 (GMT)

I am emailing you to express my concerns about an Groupon offer which claimed to offer a massive 'Up to 73% Off', when in fact the same item could have been bought DIRECT from the same company for only £10 more through a highly reputable online market place.

The claim that the item was £569.99, and reduced to £239.95 for Groupon users was very misleading and I noticed that many people had in fact taken the offer up, more than likely believing that they had saved over £500!

I am now questioning how many other offers are, or have been misleading?

I have purchased many offers through Groupon, I now wonder if I've actually made any savings, is Groupon actually worth purchasing through when I can make the same 'savings' elsewhere.

Do Groupon actually research the offers they are promoting, or is it all about the commission?

http://www.groupon.co.uk/deals/national-deal/Beds-and-Mattress-World/17880757

http://www.amazon.co.uk/pocket-sprung-memory-mattress-double/dp/B00AY007HW

I've included the URLS to both the deals, and look forward to your response.

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Submitted from: https://grouponuk.zendesk.com/entries/

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On Saturday, 2 March 2013, Groupon Customer Service UK wrote:
Groupon Customer Service is available 8am - 8pm Mon to Fri
Tel: 020 3510 0444 Email: support@groupon.co.uk
Check out our FAQs!
(Groupon Customer Service UK)
Mar 02 10:27 (GMT)

Hi Ian,

Thanks for getting in touch, and sorry for any inconvenience experienced.

In order to make sure our discounts are as fair, transparent and accurate as possible, each deal we feature undergoes a price verification process. This is essentially a series of checks to ensure that what the merchant says is the original price of a product or service is indeed the original price that a non-Groupon customer would have to pay. We then confirm the date that the original price was verified in the fine print section on the deal page.

Further information on how we value our deals can be found in the FAQ section of our website http://www.groupon.co.uk/faq. For your information, our Compliance Team monitor all complaints about pricing and if they think your issue requires some further investigation we will be back in touch.

If there is anything else I can do to help please let me know.

Kind regards,

Jxxx xx
support@groupon.co.uk

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From: Ian
Date: 3 March 2013 08:22
Subject: Re: Very Misleading offers (ticket #xxxxxx)
To: Groupon Customer Service UK <support@groupon.co.uk>

Hi,

This is a very disappointing 'standard template' reply, and you have skipped around the points i have made.

These checks are not enough as I have been able to buy almost all of your deals this week outside of Groupon without being a Groupon member for the same or even a lower price for EXACTLY the same product. The consumer is actually no better off buying through Groupon and isn't actually getting any 'Deal' at all' - 'Todays Deal' isn't a deal, and I feel it's time to raise awareness via your Facebook page and the consumer forums on the Internet. Consumers need to be made aware that they should always check the T & C's on every single deal to validate the % saving Groupon is claiming to offer, whilst at the same time using Google, Amazon or the trader's website/offline store to see if these savings actually exist.

Yours faithfully,

Ian

Pinkypants

All groupon do is make use of our human behaviour that thinks we are getting a bargain.

Why do so many shops that sell the bigger ticket items have sales? It's so you can justify the spending to yourself. How many times do we hear, I got it in the sale it's worth £999 but I only paid £499.

Nope it's worth £499 as that's the price that was paid.

Groupon are no different, they just buy products from suppliers or do a deal with them and then sell the "product" at a so called discount price.

It's marketing.

pnopine

So, to update, firstly Groupon came back to me and said that the links I'd provided were invalid - I promptly corrected them on this and then I received this response below....

This is one in a number of deals which I have found advertised on Amazon for the same, if not cheaper price from the same supplier...

poor show Groupon

(Groupon Customer Service UK)
Mar 04 17:49 (GMT)

Hi Ian,

Thanks for getting in touch.

Please allow me to express my gratitude for flagging this issue to us. We were unaware that this particular product was being advertised on Amazon.co.uk for the price you quoted to us. We have looked into this issue and it seems that this was a mistake by Beds and Mattress World and they shouldn't have been advertising the mattress at that price.

I apologise if this has led you with the impression that something untoward was occurring, but I can assure you that this is not the case and that deal has been taken off the Amazon.co.uk website. Getting the best deals for our customers is always our highest priority and we will always take the steps needed to ensure a good experience and value for all our customers.

Once more, please accept my apologies on behalf of Groupon and Beds and Mattress World for this error. Thanks to your feedback, we will be able to ensure that it doesn't happen again.

Please let me know if you require further assistance on this or any other matter.

Kind regards,

thedvdmonster

hmm would advise anyone about getting the car service deal from chapmans garage.

£44 FOR A SERVICE,OIL AND FILTER CHANGE,MOT AND VALET don't even need the mot so saving them a job straight away.

called the number on the voucher and was immediately told they couldn't speak to me as they were busy.
googled them and they have a different number...hmmm very suspicious.

waited a wee while then called that number, was asked when i wanted to book in and what service i required, as soon as i mentioned groupon it changed to "sorry we can't fit you in for a month" and then quoted £25 to put in 3 litres of oil-trying it on or what.
If you can't honour the offer then don't offer it!
booked in my wife's old banger instead so couldn't haggle about what oil was suitable, have to wait until april the 18th but as he asked for my phone number i expect a call to say it can't be done for one reason or another.

chatterup

Groupon is a big and recognized company. A lot of people have used them and does not have any problem. They are always talking about them on the financial news, so I really don't think you should have any problems.

Toothsmith

And there is also a lot of talk on the financial news programs about people who have had trouble with them, and businesses who have got into a lot of trouble through offering the discounts.

There are certainly 'no problems'!

mick_vandick

I've had 0 problems with them and some great deals, mostly meals out but various days out and experiences also.
Mrs VD had a lovely spa day last month which was an absolute steal.

boletes

I bought a Memory card from Jessops via Groupon just before Jessops went bust.
Groupon contacted me to say that they had obtained the memory cards & would send it directly to me within 10 days. I did not receive it so I phoned them. They said that there were not enough to supply everyone, so they asked "Would I like my money back". I would receive it within 10 working days.
I did not so contacted them again. Eventually, after a month I did get my refund, but would I have obtained it if I had not e-mailed them 6 times & phoned 3 times?
I asked them 3 questions
1 How many memory cards were bought?
2 How many people received them?
3 How many people were refunded?
They refused to answer.

Mike320

[FONT=&quot]I purchased a discount voucher for a pub meal for two which was due to expire on the last day in March this year. We turned up at the pub to use it on the final day but were told that there was a function on that day, (bank holiday), and they were not doing food. The establishment had a band and barbeque on instead but told me my voucher could not be redeemed. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]There was no point in arguing so we went elsewhere and the coupon went back into my wallet pending an email to Groupon. It was a few days later when I did email them with pretty much the same as written above and asked them, given the circumstances, to issue a refund.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Their reply was that they "understood my disappointment" but that under their terms and conditions, (fine print # 5.3), I had not contacted them before the voucher had expired and was therefore no longer entitled to a refund. However, had I contacted them on the day, (a bank holiday), "I would have been entitled to a refund".[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I told them I did not believe their "fine print" absolved them of their obligations under my statutory rights and I appealed to them to at least credit my account which they refused, even as a gesture of goodwill. [/FONT]

On another instance 2 months earlier I'd bought some kitchen knives via Groupon which turned out to be cheap tack so I returned them to the company concerned at a cost of £10 as they insisted on registered post. I got a return confirmation email to send to Groupon which I did and I'm still waiting for the refund.

[FONT=&quot]Because they know you're not going to issue proceedings over 30 quid, they're not interested and simply fob you off with "we can be of no further help." Their "customer service" is merely an information service to let you know - you've been screwed. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Hence, I will NEVER use Groupon again.[/FONT]

Dorset82

I completely forgot Groupon existed... it used to be all the rage but you hardly here of it now. Too many false deals that werent as good as they seemed for my liking.