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Groupon....Great deals or scam?
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I do hope that some of the people with 1 post who are saying groupon is fab are not from groupon/associated companies themselves.
maybe I am too cynical sometimes!
Never used groupon before but I will keep my eye out for a decent salon voucher as I'd like to get my hair done for Christmas at a good price.Proud meowmy of four fuzzy cats0 -
great idea from Groupon so I checked it out and all seems great.
Then on the day can't find the wine I wanted, it's all out out stock, but hey they have plenty of £40 -£250 bottles available. And if you want to switch to say beer the price is so expensive you might as well rip up the voucher and go to your local supermarket instead.0 -
Groupon ad on Facebook is very misleading - there are no free samples at Groupon (the ad says tippr.com [which is also misleading] as when you click on it it goes to Groupon.co.uk)"The happiest of people don't necessarily have the
best of everything; they just make the best
of everything that comes along their way."
-- Author Unknown --0 -
I got recently a voucher cost 1.50 (worth 5 pounds) for a deal of chicken curry, rice and drink at some Indian restaurant in the city (will not mention its name, because they don't deserve publicity). Went there today to have this lunch takeaway and was astonished that the portion of chicken was just 3 small cubes. This amount can barely be enough for babies. I spoke to the manager who was rude and didn't offer any replacement.0
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I've bought three things with groupon so far
-Jongleurs comedy vouchers which left us entry tickets with a shared table arrangement, reasonable burger and chips and a basic cocktail for £10.80- so worth it.
-Bought a hair cut, highlights (up to 3 colours) and treatment at a salon with good reviews for £36- easy to book and looking forward to it
- Bought my brother food and drinks vouchers for a chain he will like
Generally good but you have to read small print carefully and check out venues. Lovely for pressiesSaving for a deposit. £5440 of £11000 saved so far:j0 -
Sens Beauty Package Scam
Well, I have just received my Groupon vouchers for the "£39 instead of £160 Sens Beauty Package" at the Hilton Hotel and it is truly a miracle that they are performing up there before our eyes!!
For the five treatments (including a "pearl facial, foot massage, indian head massage and body exfoliation and hot stone massage"),that are described in this offer (which would take at least 4 hours minimum to complete properly) – they are carrying out in (what I have now found out since parting with my money) 1 hour and 15 mins - it is truly amazing or maybe just a rip-off! As £39 is all it WOULD be worth.
They have obviously over-advertised in the most audacious manner and are providing what can only be described as an extremely superficial and reduced service. I wonder if they sing "Head, shoulders, knees and toes" when you get in there, as that is all there would be time for! ;-)
UPDATE: To add insult to injury they have ignored all my emails to request a refund and don't ever answer their "helpline" :rotfl: number - for me to claim their seven day refund terms! Wll probably have to get refund through credit card - don't touch them with a barge pole!!!!:mad:Coupons Rock! :j0 -
Yet another misleading deal from Groupon (this one is for a local restaurant)
It says:
Highlights:
- No limitations, available at any time on any day
- Centrally located in Edinburgh's historic city centre
- No need to book, just turn up and dig in
But in the fine print it says:
Advance booking essential, please have vouchers and security codes ready
Totally contradicting themselves!"The happiest of people don't necessarily have the
best of everything; they just make the best
of everything that comes along their way."
-- Author Unknown --0 -
I have bought about a dozen things in the past ten or twelve months that I have used them and must say that I have only good reports to give about Groupon. Yes, I totally agree, that, like anything else, you need to read the small print and/or investigate into the deal thoroughly as once or twice in recent times, the wording of the deal can lead you to believe that more is being offered than there actually is. I live in Northern Ireland, and there have been two deals in the past month where the wording leads you to believe that you were getting a hotel stay as well as a meal and entertainment when you weren't ! There was also a holiday where it failed to mention anything about not including flights, so the more carefree amongst us might have been tempted to submit their order. I know that it almost led me to believe it was included.
Apart from that, though, I would thoroughly recommend it, and tbh, I find myself rather looking forward to what is being offered in my email from them the following day ! We have availed of many seriously good offers, and I particularly think that their food and hair deals are awesome !!0 -
competitionscafe wrote: »Yet another misleading deal from Groupon (this one is for a local restaurant)
It says:
Highlights:
- No limitations, available at any time on any day
- Centrally located in Edinburgh's historic city centre
- No need to book, just turn up and dig in
But in the fine print it says:
Advance booking essential, please have vouchers and security codes ready
Totally contradicting themselves!
I bought that one - turned up thinking I would get served, and they were full and told me I should have booked (only had 14 tables!)... :-(
My experience with groupon has been mixed. IMO you can get good deals, but would recommend checking first:- who is the provider, and can you find reviews of them online
- Is the price good, disregarding the "discount"? Is the reference price and "discount" genuine, or does it seem crazy for what is on offer? Check the provider's price list to see what they normally charge.
- Check the fine print to make sure you can use the voucher. For example, if it is for a beauty deal and the voucher expires within 2 months, and they have sold hundreds and hundreds, it may be hard to get a Saturday appointment, so it helps to be flexible regarding times.
- Book within a week so you can cancel the voucher if there are any difficulties.
Some good experiences:
I had a wonderful hair cut/colour at a top city centre salon which I would not normally afford, for the price of a normal cut elsewhere.
It is an opportunity to try new things for a reasonable price, the discount is an incentive to find out about new providers.
I went for a beauty treatment which was very nice, salon was very good for a small independent salon.
Some negative experiences:
I bought a beauty deal which looked like excellent value, which the provider refused to honor, they had sold too many vouchers. I got a refund but was charged to call the groupon phone line. The groupon adviser kindly also agreed to give me some free credit, but it never showed up in my account.
I bought a voucher for "up to two hours" of cleaning "by a crew of 2 cleaning professionals" which "normally cost 99 pounds" . I expected this to be 2 x hrs by 2 people but it turned out to be only 2 man hours of cleaning, which IMO would not realistically cost 99 pounds full price? :rotfl: . To add insult to injury, the provider handed out a price list on which 2 hrs cost a whole lot less than 99 pounds - so I am not sure the "normal cost" was genuine. I complained to Groupon but they have not answered my email (it was over 2 weeks ago, and I have sent 2 reminders.)
I nearly bought a couple of hotel/restaurant deals... until I found that the places had poor reviews on Tripadvisor. As always it may be worth checking reviews first to avoid surprises :-) :eek:0 -
I bought that one - turned up thinking I would get served, and they were full and told me I should have booked (only had 14 tables!)... :-(I bought a voucher for "up to two hours" of cleaning "by a crew of 2 cleaning professionals" which "normally cost 99 pounds" . I expected this to be 2 x hrs by 2 people but it turned out to be only 2 man hours of cleaning, which IMO would not realistically cost 99 pounds full price? :rotfl: . To add insult to injury, the provider handed out a price list on which 2 hrs cost a whole lot less than 99 pounds - so I am not sure the "normal cost" was genuine. I complained to Groupon but they have not answered my email (it was over 2 weeks ago, and I have sent 2 reminders.)
The Bonsai deal - I contacted Groupon and they said there was an error and there is no need to book in advance - but this seems to contradict your experience. I will book to be sure of a table but one of the reasons for buying it was that I didn't need to book so bit annoyed about that.
I nearly went for the cleaning one - glad I didn't after reading your experience, hope you get a response from Groupon. One of the most annoying things about them is that sometimes they reply to emails and sometimes they just ignore them! According to some posts on here they do not even reply to some of the emails sent to the mse@groupon address set up specifically for forum users which is not good."The happiest of people don't necessarily have the
best of everything; they just make the best
of everything that comes along their way."
-- Author Unknown --0
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