Groupon Credits

macsal

I wonder if you could help/advise me please.

In 2019 I bought a 3 seater garden swing via Groupon costing £62.99  After a few months it broke due to wind pressure.  Groupon issued credits in early 2020.  I bought a couple of small items via Groupon but actually didn’t know how to apply the credits and I think just one small item may have been bought using some credits.  Approximately £50 in credits still remains.  I thought I may use them towards a break away or a meal locally.  However, COVID arrived, my husband and I were sheilding and lockdowns meant we rarely left the house.

Finally we can now plan a treat and a restaurant locally offered deals via Groupon.  I contacted Groupon to ask how I could use them as I couldn’t find any trace of them in my account.  Groupon replied that they expire after one year and therefore I am unable to use them.

Do you think this is reasonable under the circumstances and if not can you suggest my next step please.

JJ_Egan

Well known that the voucher expire, all part of the terms you bought at .

Aylesbury_Duck

macsal said:

I wonder if you could help/advise me please.

In 2019 I bought a 3 seater garden swing via Groupon costing £62.99  After a few months it broke due to wind pressure.  Groupon issued credits in early 2020.  I bought a couple of small items via Groupon but actually didn’t know how to apply the credits and I think just one small item may have been used.  Approximately £50 in credits still remains.  I thought I may use them towards a break away or a meal locally.  However, COVID arrived, my husband and I were sheilding and lockdowns meant we rarely left the house.

Finally we can now plan a treat and a restaurant locally offered deals via Groupon.  I contacted Groupon to ask how I could use them as I couldn’t find any trace of them in my account.  Groupon replied that they expire after one year and therefore I am unable to use them.

Do you think this is reasonable under the circumstances and if not can you suggest my next step please.

Nothing much about Groupon or any other voucher scheme is reasonable in my opinion.  You're exchanging a whole load of flexibility and compromising your consumer rights for the sake of saving a few quid.  When it all goes smoothly, it's fine, but as you've discovered, when things don't work out as planned, you lose out.

All you can do is appeal to their better nature for an extension, but I suspect the discounts that enticed you to use them in the first place are partly funded by unused/forgotten/expired credit which goes straight to their bottom line.  I don't think you have any consumer rights here, if the fact that the credits had an expiry was noted on your account or by email, etc. or was part of the information provided when you opened the account.

Edited to add:  I've just looked at Groupon's site.  You can view your account at any time to view your credit balance and expiry date.  

macsal

Thanks to both of you.  Yes I was aware of the expiry but, like many other things, COVID did prevent my using them for what I planned and I nothing else was suitable.

Diamandis

You really would have been better contacting them before the voucher expired however you would still have been relying on goodwill if there were other things you could use your voucher for.

user1977

macsal said:

I was aware of the expiry but, like many other things, COVID did prevent my using them for what I planned and I nothing else was suitable.

Well, COVID is no more Groupon's fault than it is yours.