WARNING: Groupon teeth whitening

Jeff_Bridges_hair

So where are Groupon now then? I hope come monday they will be able to refund you all

POISON__PIXIE

Hey guys,

I had the same issue yesterday and sent both Groupon and Pure Smiles several emails. Groupon have yet to reply, however, I did post and comment on several posts on their Facebook fan page.

They did reply to a post on there. Pure Smiles did reply with a standard auto reply, this was to my first email addressing my concerns and had included my name:

"Dear Customer,

Thank you for your email. Please be assured your whitening kit is
ready to be dispatched. We look forward to inviting you to our shop
imminently. Please check back soon.

Pure Smiles".

I replied again and received the same message. I replied again and was then emailed the poorly worded message they had displayed on their website:

"DUE TO THE OVERWHELMING RESPONSE TO OUR GROUPON DEAL AND THE
RESULTING VERY HIGH VOLUME OF PEOPLE ACCESSING OUR WEBSITE
SIMULTANEOUSLY TO REDEEM GROUPON VOUCHERS OUR WEBSITE HAS ENCOUTERED
TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES AND IS TEMPORARILY DOWN.

PLEASE REST ASSURED OUR TECHNICIANS ARE WORKING HARD TO RESTORE
SERVICE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, FOLLOWING WHICH YOU WILL BE ABLE TO
REDEEM YOUR VOUCHERS.

PLEASE BEAR WITH US AND ACCEPT OUR APOLOGIES FOR ANY INCONVENIENCE
THIS MAY CAUSE

PURE SMILES".

When I replied to that, I asked how we could access the site if it was 'down', and why they were sending out automated responses which were written so poorly and full of spelling mistakes. To which they replied:

"it's a landing page till the dedicated server is restored

where are the spelling mistakes?".

Again, written by a moron with a poor grasp of the English language. I then replied again stating that it was clearly a scam and I was reporting them. They then replied:

"its not a scam? DUE TO THE OVERWHELMING RESPONSE TO OUR GROUPON DEAL AND THE RESULTING VERY HIGH VOLUME OF PEOPLE ACCESSING OUR WEBSITE SIMULTANEUOSLY TO REDEEM GROUPON VOUCHERS OUR WEBSITE HAS ENCOUTERED TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES AND IS TEMPORARILY DOWN.

PLEASE REST ASSURED OUR TECHNICIANS ARE WORKING HARD TO RESTORE SERVICE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, FOLLOWING WHICH YOU WILL BE ABLE TO REDEEM YOUR VOUCHERS.

PLEASE BEAR WITH US AND ACCEPT OUR APOLOGIES FOR ANY INCONVENIENCE THIS MAY CAUSE

PURE SMILES".

Why would they reply to me with "its not a scam?".


I have just read this thread about others having this problem with a very similar previous deal. If you have a look at the Groupon Facebook page I linked above, you will see how many people are complaining about not receiving refunds for deals which have gone wrong. Groupons terms and conditions, section 5.4 outline your cancellation rights. I decided, given how difficult it is to obtain a refund from them, I would place the order on the Pure-Smiles site, I paid via PayPal, so I am protected if I don't receive the order. Luckily I paid for the deal with credit card and can claim on that if need be.

I did have a look at the Pure Smiles terms and conditions, after I placed the order. I am a law student, in my penultimate year and (without blowing my own trumpet) have won several awards for achieving the highest grades in my year, I have studied consumer and contract law, and can categorically state that, the vast majority of those "clauses" make absolutely no sense whatsoever.

If we don't receive our goods, Groupon are in breach of the Sale of Goods Act 1979 and we can claim the money back. I also work in a law clinic and will drafting a letter to send to Groupon on Monday.

To be honest, I am really angry with myself for getting into this position in the first place, I should have known better, however, many of my friends have used Groupon frequently and raved about how good it was.

Sausage_Roll

A friend has let me know that the Daily Mail are now casting their eyes over Groupon; without rapid action to protect their reputation-i.e thoroughly vetting their "business partners"- I rather suspect the expansion of Groupon into the UK will be very short lived.

pilot2

No response as yet to my email to Groupon last night.

The other areas of concern with the Pure-Smiles website are there is no business address listed, which, I thought was mandatory in the UK?. Nor is there a contact telephone number. Worryingly their new .com website is listing in UK pounds. Lending me to believe that any old rubbish is being thrown up.

With regard to our contract with Groupon, Pure Smiles, did not have their web-site up and running at the correct time as stated in the Groupon ad, therefore, already a breach of contract surely? Notwithstanding this its only a 21 day window, (already shortened due to the non operative website) leaving consumers with no idea as to when an item will be posted. Essentially you could be timed out for any refund - quite easily. Its all adding up to a nice con.

That aside, its making me increasingly very wary as to the contents of the package, should that ever materialise, which, I think is looking very unlikely..

I would have hoped that Groupon had vetted these teeth whitening companies, particularly, when they have been previously problematic in the US and as appears in earlier posts above.

Very Poor show from Groupon so far.

Aston100

Entered the codes into the pure smiles site now that it is working again.
Ignored all the additional extras and eventually got to the checkout stage to pay the £3.99 p&p.
Selected Paypal. Seemed to go through OK.
However, the confirmation from Paypal made me think about:
You sent a payment of 3.99 GBP to Pure-Smiles.co.uk ([EMAIL="info@quintessaltd.co.uk"]info@quintessaltd.co.uk[/EMAIL])

When you go to that website (as a new user I can't seem to post URL links on this forum, but just remove info@ and add www. instead) it's a property consultancy site...

pilot2

#Aston

Ive just checked my £3.99 payment to Pure Smiles through Paypal (deducted last night) and its showing as going to: [EMAIL="support@pure-smiles.co.uk"]support@pure-smiles.co.uk[/EMAIL]

Perhaps, you should inform Groupon too. Its not generating any confidence and Im afraid doesnt look good if the Paypal recipients addresses are changing so soon. !!

bex417

Hi, i have been reading all the posts about not recieving the whitening kit for £17 but i did recieve the kit but only in a ziplock bag in a padded envelope like one other that has posted but i am so skeptical to use it. Does anyone know, or have used it and it works or should i just bin it?

Thanks

B

Stephen_Fielding

Good morning, it has been bought to my attention that someone with the username srfielding has been posting on this site and may have given the impression that they are somehow related to my business FWS Media who designs and manages the technical aspects of the Hollywood White website - I would like to disassociate myself, Stephen Fielding, and my business FWS Media will all comments on this thread.
Kind regards
Stephen

competitionscafe

Stephen_Fielding wrote: »

Good morning, it has been bought to my attention that someone with the username srfielding has been posting on this site and may have given the impression that they are somehow related to my business FWS Media who designs and manages the technical aspects of the Hollywood White website - I would like to disassociate myself, Stephen Fielding, and my business FWS Media will all comments on this thread.
Kind regards
Stephen

Interesting.

This is a pm I got from srfielding:

--
Cease and Desist

I note from your recent post re Hollywood White that you have added my personal home address to your post. I am just the web developer for their site and as I am sure you are aware by posting my home address you are committing an offence.

Unless this post, and/or any reference to my home address is removed by 1730hrs today I shall have no option but to issue proceedings.

Stephen Fielding
FWS Media
--
Please explain?!

By the way no offence is committed by posting information in the public realm for example whois info from http://whois.domaintools.com/

st.ar

Funny that I should come across this thread when I searched "groupon" and "whitening"!

I'm not having any issues with the companies mentioned but "Whitening Experts".

I paid £39 for the voucher through Groupon in November and £4 for postage via Whitening Experts. I am still waiting for the dispatch and having contacted both companies, neither are interested. I am yet to even have a reply from Whitening Experts. Groupon just say that as the voucher has been used they can do nothing!!

I am very unhappy that they have endorsed this company and not actually followed up whether or not these companies are doing what they are selling! ...Nor do they actually care when a complaint is made!