How can Groupon keep getting away with this ?

shaun_from_Africa

directdebiter said:

Sorry should have said never used Groupon before this purchase.
Yes how many times have you analysed 6 pages of terms&conditions for a purchase from a well known brand???
If you have then you have too much time on your hands. 

I will be the first to admit that I don't always read T&C's but if my first transaction with a company was for £500, I most certainly would want to know exactly what I was getting and whom I would be getting it from.

If however the T&Cs were there and I chose not to read up on what I was agreeing to and there was a problem that may have been prevented by reading them before proceeding, I would hold my hands up and take at least part of the blame.

Aylesbury_Duck

directdebiter said:

shaun_from_Africa said:

directdebiter said:

I have never used groupon nor my wife. 

I don't quite understand your post.
If neither you nor your wife have ever used Groupon, how can you now have a problem with them?
As to:

directdebiter said:

She shouldn't have to read small print (if there was any) about buying a voucher or not. 

are you being serious? 
Who spends £500 on something and doesn't think it's worth reading the small print to see what they are actually doing with their money?

Sorry should have said never used Groupon before this purchase.
Yes how many times have you analysed 6 pages of terms&conditions for a purchase from a well known brand???
If you have then you have too much time on your hands. 

After you posted I went onto the Groupon site to check and read their returns policy terms.  It took a few minutes.  Certainly less time than you've spent posting on here about it, so perhaps it's a matter of prioritising your time.

born_again

Jumblebumble said:

Aylesbury_Duck said:

"How can Groupon keep getting away with this?"

Easy.  Because there are people too easily blinded by a "bargain" and too cheap to pay for things with proper money.

I predict that this problem will be short lived. If enough people do charge-backs  then hopefully Groupon will have their merchant facilities withdrawn

Except if you are buying a voucher to use on a retailers site.
Either the card provider will not do one. As you got what you paid for a voucher.
Or Groupon simply reject them on the basis customer got what they ordered a voucher.

Only hope is if it is a direct purchase from Groupon. Then there is a chance.

Fosterdog

What I don't understand is how people don't realise that they are buying credit with these companies. I've never used one of these companies but even their names usually suggest you are buying credit and not a product. Groupon is obviously a play on the word coupon and wowcher is obviously a play on voucher so that's what I'd assume I was buying.

Murphybear

Not surprising that people don’t read t + c.  “Which” did a report on the t + c  of various organisations a while ago.  One of the worst offenders was PayPal whose t + c were longer than Hamlet (Shakespeares longest play.  I studied it at A level and it took me 2 years to understand it) 

Following from their website

“Whether it’s down to the staggering word counts or complex legal jargon, it’s not really fair to expect users to read through terms and conditions in full before agreeing to use a service.

Personally, I’d like to see some headline terms and conditions brought to the fore and explained in approachable language before opting to use a service. If the terms are important enough to require fine print, then surely they ought to deserve clear print as well.”

It would be interesting to see whether any challenge to a firm for “unreasonable t + c” would be successful 

gettingtheresometime

My biggest gripe with groupon is that you pay £2 p&p per item , even if the items are bought on the same order.

Only ever bought stuff under £10 & for a £500 item, I'd want to see it in the flesh first

Takmon

directdebiter said:

shaun_from_Africa said:

directdebiter said:

I have never used groupon nor my wife. 

I don't quite understand your post.
If neither you nor your wife have ever used Groupon, how can you now have a problem with them?
As to:

directdebiter said:

She shouldn't have to read small print (if there was any) about buying a voucher or not. 

are you being serious? 
Who spends £500 on something and doesn't think it's worth reading the small print to see what they are actually doing with their money?

Sorry should have said never used Groupon before this purchase.
Yes how many times have you analysed 6 pages of terms&conditions for a purchase from a well known brand???
If you have then you have too much time on your hands. 

I've never bought anything from Groupon before but it's extremely clear that you are buying a voucher and that you then use that voucher to buy the goods, so any refund will not necessarily be back to your original payment method. I haven't even read one sentence of their Terms and Conditions to find this out I know this from previously reading their FAQ.  
It would have only taken a few minutes on the website before spending £500 to find this out. But i still can't believe there are still people who are happy to blindly spend £500 on a website they have never used before without even doing a search and reading some reviews....

Pollycat

Just read the 'About us' page on Groupon's website:

About Us

About Groupon
Groupon (www.groupon.com) (NASDAQ: GRPN) is an experiences marketplace that brings people more ways to get the most out of their city or wherever they may be. By enabling real-time mobile commerce across local businesses, live events and travel destinations, Groupon helps people find and discover experiences––big and small, new and familiar––that make for a full, fun and rewarding life. Groupon helps local businesses grow and strengthen customer relationships––resulting in strong, vibrant communities. To learn more about Groupon’s community-building efforts, please visit community.groupon.com.

Really?

That would be enough to have me running for the hills.

I'd much rather see an item I want to buy from a company I know (or at least can do research on) than give my money to a coupon/voucher company.