Groupon refunds

Ivesyxyz

Hi - long story short

Bought a Groupon for £45.99 in June for an Air Con recharge and anti bac treatment to be done at ATS, saving approximately £24 - bargain.....

Not surpisingly (the long bit) it didn't work - contacted Groupon who said I could have refund if I obtained an email from ATS confirming the situation.  Sent the email confirmation from ATS to Groupon today, to be told 'Unfortunately, this deal is no longer eligible for a refund to your original form of payment.' meaning I could have £45.99 of Groupon vouchers instead.  I said I don't want vouchers I would like a refund paid back to my bank account.  After over a hour on chat they have agreed to escalate this for review and they wil get back to me within 30 days. While I was waiting on chat I did some digging around and saw the refund policy from Groupon is a bit dodgy to say the least.  I was under the impression if I paid for goods or a service and I wasnt  happy (the garage agree it didn't work) then I'd be entitled to a full no strings refund. Why do Groupon think they are different? Is there anything else I can do?

JJ_Egan

Usually story multiple similar posts  they say you bought voucher and returns are a voucher .

pinkshoes

The problem is with Groupon you are not paying for goods or a service, you are buying a Groupon voucher which will entitle you to goods or a service that they have arranged with that particular company. 

If it becomes unavailable, then you will be refunded your voucher which you can then put towards another Groupon thing.

I've never used Groupon because when you google the offer or contact the business directly, you will find exactly the same price or cheaper. 

Sandtree

pinkshoes said:

The problem is with Groupon you are not paying for goods or a service,

Just to be a little pedantic, you are paying Groupon for a service, its a service to provide you with a voucher code that can be used with XXX to get YYY.

I don't have the will to read their T&Cs right now but I am certain there will be certain circumstances where Groupon do have a liability, otherwise they'd just make up silly offers (get a Rolls Royce Wraith for £300) with no agreement from the company etc. However if the YYY isn't to your liking, breaks etc then absolutely their terms and your rights will say that they didn't sell you YYY, they sold you a voucher and that voucher functioned as promised so no comeback on them.

Ivesyxyz

Hmm I see what you are saying but I bought a voucher from Groupon specifically to use at ATS to recharge my air con. ATS admitted it didnt work and agreed I was a due a refund. The email they sent me was sent to Groupon as they had requested site of it. It feels wrong to offer me vouchers to use for other stuff I neither want or need from Groupon. I see after reading elsewhere they are using COVID as an excuse for this so they help businesses recover! I'm currently bombarding both their facebook and Twitter accounts for an answer. I'll provide updates if I hear anything.  Thanks for the responses.

Sandtree

Ivesyxyz said:

Hmm I see what you are saying but I bought a voucher from Groupon specifically to use at ATS to recharge my air con. ATS admitted it didnt work and agreed I was a due a refund. The email they sent me was sent to Groupon as they had requested site of it. It feels wrong to offer me vouchers to use for other stuff I neither want or need from Groupon. I see after reading elsewhere they are using COVID as an excuse for this so they help businesses recover! I'm currently bombarding both their facebook and Twitter accounts for an answer. I'll provide updates if I hear anything.  Thanks for the responses.

What do you mean "it didn't work"? 

The voucher code was invalid? In which case that is a Groupon issue to resolve. That your car wasn't compatible with their kit or had some other issue? In which case that isn't a Groupon issue as your voucher, which is what they were legally obliged to provide is valid and so no fault of theirs.

Ivesyxyz

I paid Groupon for a voucher to be used at ATS to recharge my cars air con as it was blowing warm air. Not 2 hours after it was done it was blowing warm again. The work at the garage was not done correctly as they took less than 30 mins to do a job that takes 45-60 mins. They said they'd also done a vehicle safety check in this time. They did all this without my car engine running as I'd realised after I'd dropped the car off I still had my car keys! When I rang the garage to tell them this i was surprised to be told all the work had been done! Fair enough I'd popped the bonnet before I left but I've since found out you need the engine running to do this properly. I've complained to ATS and they are investigating this and other issues that occurred that day. The guy at complaints agrees with me they couldn't have done all this work in that time. He agreed to send me an email to say the work failed and I sent that to Groupon as requested. My car is fine - I took it to Kwik fit yesterday got it recharged, it took an hour, I watched and saw the engine was on and off during the work and happily it is now working correctly. So yes I am a bit peeved that I'm stuck at the moment with these vouchers for something that wasnt my fault at all. 

Aylesbury_Duck

Ivesyxyz said:

I paid Groupon for a voucher to be used at ATS to recharge my cars air con as it was blowing warm air. Not 2 hours after it was done it was blowing warm again. The work at the garage was not done correctly as they took less than 30 mins to do a job that takes 45-60 mins. They said they'd also done a vehicle safety check in this time. They did all this without my car engine running as I'd realised after I'd dropped the car off I still had my car keys! When I rang the garage to tell them this i was surprised to be told all the work had been done! Fair enough I'd popped the bonnet before I left but I've since found out you need the engine running to do this properly. I've complained to ATS and they are investigating this and other issues that occurred that day. The guy at complaints agrees with me they couldn't have done all this work in that time. He agreed to send me an email to say the work failed and I sent that to Groupon as requested. My car is fine - I took it to Kwik fit yesterday got it recharged, it took an hour, I watched and saw the engine was on and off during the work and happily it is now working correctly. So yes I am a bit peeved that I'm stuck at the moment with these vouchers for something that wasnt my fault at all. 

None of which is Groupon's fault.

I'm the first to criticise their practices and would never use them, but your complaint is with ATS, not Groupon.  Next time, pay using proper money instead of chasing a "bargain" that very definitely isn't.

custardy

Ivesyxyz said:

I paid Groupon for a voucher to be used at ATS to recharge my cars air con as it was blowing warm air. Not 2 hours after it was done it was blowing warm again. The work at the garage was not done correctly as they took less than 30 mins to do a job that takes 45-60 mins. They said they'd also done a vehicle safety check in this time. They did all this without my car engine running as I'd realised after I'd dropped the car off I still had my car keys! When I rang the garage to tell them this i was surprised to be told all the work had been done! Fair enough I'd popped the bonnet before I left but I've since found out you need the engine running to do this properly. I've complained to ATS and they are investigating this and other issues that occurred that day. The guy at complaints agrees with me they couldn't have done all this work in that time. He agreed to send me an email to say the work failed and I sent that to Groupon as requested. My car is fine - I took it to Kwik fit yesterday got it recharged, it took an hour, I watched and saw the engine was on and off during the work and happily it is now working correctly. So yes I am a bit peeved that I'm stuck at the moment with these vouchers for something that wasnt my fault at all. 

TBH really ATS should be refunding you.

Ivesyxyz

Agreed it was ATS to blame for this going wrong. Unfortunately when money is tight as it us now in these times you are forced to chase a bargain. I'd never used Groupon before and didnt see any reviews for the garage that would put me off. I'm going to give it until monday and see if theres an update from ATS but I will mention the problem I'm having getting my money back.

Sandtree

Ivesyxyz said:

Agreed it was ATS to blame

Its not only when money is tight, money has always been tight, but the world is getting more complex and laws are not always keeping up. Hence multinationals can make massive revenues in one country but due to licensing fees to their sister company in a lower tax regime they make a paper loss so pay no corporation tax (but oddly never go bust despite the year on year losses). Those that are considering fair transfer pricing are often paid more by the corporate clients than by HMRC.

The next issue is how much refund are you due? You paid Groupon £46 but they will have only paid ATS say £35. Your contract with ATS doesn't really have a monitory value as you paid by voucher code which really doesn't have a statutory value and you agree Groupon isn't at fault.

I hope you get an appropriate refund in a timely fashion but hopefully it also highlights the complexities that exist and the need for consumers to be educated.