Alpharooms cancel my Groupon voucher reservation

stoneman

Well from section 7 of the general T&C's
7. RULES ABOUT USE OF THE SERVICE AND THE WEBSITE
7.1 We will use reasonable endeavours to correct any errors or omissions as soon as practicable after being notified of them. However, we do not guarantee that the Service or the Website will be free of faults (or Vouchers will be free of error) and we do not accept liability for any errors or omissions. In the event of an error or fault, you should report it by email to: [EMAIL="support@groupon.co.uk"]support@groupon.co.uk[/EMAIL]."


Groupon could just point to this and say it was an error of wording on the site, and if no-one emailed them about the error it will not get rectified.
I received a Groupon to do with some laundry service, I only bought 1. A few days later I received an email from Groupon saying that an error on the amount of vouchers had been noticed and anyone that bought more than one would receive a refund.

lfc84

stoneman - groupon arent the ones revoking the promotion; so the term 7 that you quote is irrelevant

delgado_2

@stoneman,

I have attempted three times to copy/forward to Groupon my complaint email that was sent to Alpharooms about failure to honour the deal, and so that Groupon is aware of the situation and that there is a likelihood that they will need to refund me if Alpharooms do not honor the original confirmed bookings.

The email was sent to the [EMAIL="support@groupon.co.uk"]support@groupon.co.uk[/EMAIL] address referred to on their webpage.

All I get is rejections claiming that their spambot will not accept my email. What kind of customer service is this email address - is it purposely designed to reject customer complaints? It seems that Groupon have set up their spambot to reject any emails that contain the word "alpharooms" in the title. Amazingly this is the only time in almost twenty years that I have had any email rejected due to a recipient's spambot. Even more amazingly, the Groupon spambot is rejecting an email sent from an address that is registered within their system as belonging to a voucher buying customer. Something stinks!

I hope someone at Groupon is reading this and can provide an alternative email address. I am currently in Mexico and obviously I should not be expected to make expensive overseas phone calls in order to sort out this Alpharooms/Groupon scam. Instead, a complaint including copies of the spambot rejected emails will be filed with the Trading Standards Office - something that can be done online.

As for Alpharooms - didly squat response as of yet - guess they sent out their cancellation emails on Friday knowing full well that nobody would be in their office until Monday to deal with lots of customers telling them they have no valid basis to cancel.

As mentioned by someone earlier, why did Alpharooms unilaterally cancel the bookings. Surely good business practice would suggest that it would be better for them to gently raise the matter with the customer and give several options for the customer to consider rather than resorting to an abrupt cancellation.

One option of course could have been for them to offer to keep the original bookings without use of more than one coupon and to get Groupon to refund for the coupons that were no longer of any use to the customer, and on the basis that they understand that the customer would retain the right to file a complaint with the Trading Standards office.

Evidently, the people at Alpharooms are incapable of thinking proactively and are not interested in keeping customers happy, preferring instead to inconvenience them.

delgado_2

stoneman wrote: »

Look, you tried it on and got your fingers burnt.

Yes, Alpharooms tried it on and got their fingers burnt because they did not put clear and precise conditions in the voucher offer. Just because they got burnt is not a valid reason to renege on a deal and cancel bookings.

Maybe you do not have a Trading Standards office in Las Vegas - the one in blighty takes a very dim view of companies that create new terms and conditions after the deal has been executed and the confirmations and accommodation vouchers issued. Maybe you also do not have an Advertising Standards Authority in Vegas. We have one and they have admonished Groupon just a few months ago for three misleading adverts. As I am not allowed by moneysavingexpert to post links(!!!) the relevant info can be found by searching on Google for "ASA adjudications Groupon". Read in particular how the ASA took into consideration the terms and conditions between Groupon and its supplier client and also the final paragraph.

Now, if the reasons stated by Alpharooms for cancelling bookings are a precise restatement of the terms and conditions of their contract with Groupon, then why has Groupon not followed the instruction of the ASA and correctly restated those terms and conditions very clearly in its voucher advertisement. It will be interesting to see what outcome arises from an ASA complaint after ASA has obtained and read the terms and conditions of the contract between Alpharooms and Groupon, or perhaps Groupon and Alpharooms would prefer to honour the bookings with complaining customers to avoid further reprimands and sanctions? Seems to me that either Alpharooms or Groupon or both are guilty of misleading advertising.

lpoollad_69

£20 for a £50 voucher to spend at easyjet (groupon)

can i use this to book an easy jet flight or is it only for money off a hotel? thanks

apt

Neither. You must book a hotel and flight together.

lpoollad_69

apt wrote: »

Neither. You must book a hotel and flight together.

ok thanks for your help, wasnt sure as they didnt make it that clear on there site

ferf1223

lpoollad_69 wrote: »

ok thanks for your help, wasnt sure as they didnt make it that clear on there site

Redeemable against any holiday...

The voucher is for
easyJet Holidays


the website only sells holidays.

http://holidays.easyjet.com/

Lynsey

Thanks for this thread and more potential "stormy waters" ahead booking via Alpharooms.
I bought 2 vouchers but haven't yet redeemed any due to the "unfair" charge Alpharooms were trying to charge and in fact has charged others for bookings with a value of UNDER £50 (ie: no paymant needed). "Unfair" is not my term (I fully agree though), but a term from Consumer Direct, who has in turn passed this issue on to Trading Standards to investigate. Originally Alpharooms only displayed "free payment option" was to use a Solo card, no longer possible and they knew this. They have now added the "free" pre-paid Mastercard option now to avoid fees.
I now know I will have to book one booking in my name and one in my hubby's (thanks to this thread).

Good luck booking with this horrendous company, luck really is needed and NO confidence (at present) can be had at all that rooms will be available when turning up in many, many different countries. The potential problems could be enormous!!!!!!!!!
Highly recommend reporting Alpharooms to Consumer Direct/Trading Standards to add support/clout to the current investigations.

I also would like Martin to intervene with both Groupon and Alpharooms to try and make this offer go more smoothly. Having MSE members/Groupon members abroad (or in the UK) without a room would really be disgusting.

No doubt this and other Alpharooms threads will continue over the coming months (sadly).

Lynsey

Lynsey

delgado wrote: »

As I am not allowed by moneysavingexpert to post links(!!!) the relevant info can be found by searching on Google for "ASA adjudications Groupon". Read in particular how the ASA took into consideration the terms and conditions between Groupon and its supplier client and also the final paragraph.

I'll post the link for you as there is some interesting reading there.
http://www.asa.org.uk/ASA-action/Adjudications/2011/1/MyCityDeal-Ltd/TF_ADJ_49579.aspx

Lynsey