'Bought a spa day from Groupon or others? Did you get it?' blog discussion

Madtyke

I bought a pedicure/manicure and neck massage from Groupon fas a Valentines pressie after the birth of our daughter Grace. However the salon just kept ignoring emails and calls. When eventually she got through to someone they told her that there were no appointments available on the days/times she was looking for.

I tried contacting Groupon to complain but again got absolutely nowhere, £29 down the drain as the coupon expired.

I have unsubscribed to Groupon and won't consider any site offers unless they come via MSE.

igaveupnowimback

Have had mixed results. Couple of Groupon deals turned out well, esp half price Ice Hockey Game admissions, but when purchased gift vouchers for off road driving these proved impossible to book. Obviously inundated 'cos the company never answered the phone. Only found out about this after expiry date.

Called Groupon and they credited account immediately. Few days ago was going nuts trying many permutations to redeem 4 vouchers for a show and meal deal. Oversubscribed, only poor last minute substituted acts left.

Fed up, phoned Groupon and complained. Credited account again. Now far more wary. Still good deals to be had, but being extra careful. Customer services have been very good re problems though.

Bondp1985

I bought a groupon for an Aston Martin experience for 190 pounds back in august 2010. I had to wait till October 2011 to get the car which I was not happy with and tried to get a refund. Only a few days ago I have just managed to get a full refund. Only problem now is I bought extra mileage through the company in an offer that groupon advertised. I am now having problems getting this company to reply to get my 88 pound refund and groupon don't want to know. Should they be held responsible if the company won't reply to give me a refund as group on advertised the extra mileage offer on the voucher?

KittyPryde

I bought a Groupon for a haircut at Sirimi Salon in Birmingham (I live directly opposite so it seemed very handy). It isn't supposed to expire til September but when I tried to book it they said they had been overwhelmed and were no longer honouring Groupon vouchers. They did offer to fit me at at a different discount price though so they obviously couldn't have been THAT busy, they just didn't want to honour the cheap vouchers. It took me 3 weeks to get a refund from Groupon by email (they NEVER answer their phones!).

tillycat123

:mad::mad:I purchased a spa voucher from last minute for the Spa company that went bump. I called and asked for my money back as I could not use my £20 voucher but they refused and would only issue me an on line voucher to use on something else.

I spoke to 2 managers and both point blank refused a refund, I still have the vouceher 3 months later sat in my in-box, there is nothing I want to buy from them.

Should I have been able to get my money back? They claim they were thrird party and legally did not have to do anything.

Will never use them again!

My_perfect_cousin

My_perfect_cousin wrote: »

My first (and possibly last) experience with Groupon

I bought a zorbing deal from Groupon. I received a purchase confirmation email from Groupon stating 'After the deal "Zorbing Experience XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX " has been successfully closed we'll send you the voucher and all relevant information in a separate email.'

I didn't receive the the voucher from Groupon.

I have now accessed Groupon's 'contact us' part of the site in order to complain - whilst on the page I noticed that the page says that vouchers can be accessed by following an embedded link. I was not made aware of this - and stumbled on it by mistake

The lack of the voucher means that I have missed the closing date for booking the activity.

I have emailed Groupon to complain- I will update when I receive a response.

update

this was the response that I recd today from from Groupon


'Click on the link that says "Log In" at the top right side of the page and then enter this e-mail address and the password you gave us when you made your purchase. If you forgot your password, you'll be able to re-set it there.

Once you are signed in, click "My Account" also at the top right hand side of the deal page, then select "Your Orders" from drop down box. You will then see all of your Groupons listed and can print them off.

As you're outside of the 7 day cancellation period, I can only offer you credit matching what you paid for this Groupon. Would you like me to go ahead with this?

For future reference, please add us to your address book so our emails do not get sent to your spam folder.'

I have responded to ask for my money back or the original purchase. I will update

debbielondon

Some friends and I bought vouchers for The Royal Day Spa in Tunbridge Wells through Travel Zoo back in April. After we booked the reviews for the spa started to go downhill, and it seemed they were struggling to deal with all the new customers. We continuously tried to book a date at the spa but it was so oversubscribed we ended up having to book for November.
The dates on the voucher were April - July 1st but the spa had already told us that this just meant we had to book by July 1st (we wanted to go before them but they had no space as deals had been so oversold)
Now the spa has gone into administration and Travel Zoo are refusing to give a refund as they say the voucher is no longer valid. I'm shocked at Travel Zoos attitude in this, they seemed to have over sold a deal then washed their hands of it when it went bad.
We're now hundreds of pounds down and have to go through the long process of trying to reclaim our money from administrators.

Will never book one of these too good to be true deals again, or anything through Travel Zoo!

bp78

These daily deals sites have, in my opinion, a limited shelf-life. They work because, in short, the deal site offers a company massive exposure, and the consumer a huge discount, all good so far. However, what Groupon etc are banking on is that only around 60-70% of the customers that buy will actually redeem. Groupon and the end company split all the money, and so the company is not actually giving away 51%, but more like 30% due to lack of redemptions. In the long term this creates a problem for Groupon, as someone who has bought previously but not redeemed is unlikely to make the same mistake twice. Groupon is left with a customer base who are probably about 90% to redeem. The knock-on effect is that they can't sell to the company they are working with on the premise that they are only actually discounting by 30%, as almost everyone will redeem. The company therefore cannot afford to run the offer and the whole house of cards comes tumbling down.

chez-hart

pearl123 wrote: »

I purchased two spa vouchers threw last minute.com for the royal day spa in Tunbridge Wells. It is clear threw the trip advisor that the majority of people had a terrible time booking these vouchers and when it came to their visit there were just too many people present to enjoy the facilities.
Now it seems that Royal Day Apa might have gone bust and I am now trying to get my money back from last minute. To be fair, I only contacted lastminute this week and they many yet swiftly give a refund. I've just got to wait and see.
It really does look like anyone who buys a cheap spa vouchers runs a risk of either a poor standard spa day or their voucher not being fulfilled.
Spas are supposed to be relaxing. Yet what these vouchers deliver ironically is anything but !

I am also awaiting a "credit voucher" from Last Minute for this spa. Have you received anything back yet. I was told to expect an email voucher within 5 - 8 days, not sure why it should take any time at all? Does anyone know whether I have to accept a voucher rather than a cash refund? I booked this back in Dec, it has been anything but relaxing....

Thirtysix

I bought 2x Chelsea Day Spa days for myself and a friend-both had horrid times of late so was a treat. Anyway,booking was a complete nightmare and when EVENTUALLY we did get round to trying again,voucher had expired by 5 days and Chelsea Day Spa wouldn't honour them and jus referred us to Groupon.

Needless to say (and you would fall asleep if I told you the whole story) Groupon promised refund/extended voucher - when we eventually got hold of them.

That was 5 months ago and still nothing.Have given up and am very bitter that I am £78 out of pocket.:mad::mad: