Dishonest offer from groupon

KMBayes

I currently have a dispute with Groupon and would like advice about whether I have any sort of case.

As background I used a Groupon link to book qualifying purchase - a ferry crossing with P and O costing at least £200 - on 29th March 2024. I was informed that in could take up to 90 days for the purchase to be verified prior to a amazon voucher for £50 being issued. It's basically a waiting game from that point.

The terms an conditions that were provided on 29th March are shown below

Terms and Conditions: 1.) Please read the redemption instructions carefully and terms and conditions of the selected reward 2.) A gift card can only be validated with a purchase made through the tracked offer link with the cookies accepted 3.) A gift card purchase not made through the tracked offer link will not be verified 4.) A gift card is provided once the purchase has been verified & confirmed as not cancelled by the brand. The verification process varies from brand to brand depending on their return & cancellation policies 5.) Please find our Privacy policy below: https://privacy.groupon.co.uk/policies/en-GB/ 6.) For bespoke offer terms and conditions please go to the offer on the Groupon Coupons site

An email containing a link to my voucher was sent via email a month later on 30th April. I didn't see this at the time. I only noticed the email from Groupon on 29th May 2024. I'd remembered about the offer and searched my Gmail for 'groupon'. I tried clicking on the link to my voucher but it didn't work. It turns out that the voucher had a 30 day expiry date and I missed it by one day. The T&C's which state the 30 day period were in the email with the voucher link but never provided before. if you miss the email, sent at an arbitrary time point, you're screwed.

I've complained to groupon and been rebuffed by them stating the T&C's are clear. In one sense this is a fair point, but the T&C's are only made available at the point of the voucher being issued. Given the huge window in which a voucher could be issued I feel this is a dishonest offer. It appears designed such that a customer will not benefit from the voucher.

Have I got any sort of case here? Any advice about how I could take this forward after failing through going directly with Groupon? 

 

DullGreyGuy

Did you follow step 6 of the terms you have posted and check the individual offers terms?

Its not uncommon for promotions to be time boxed and nothing wrong in them being so.

KMBayes

DullGreyGuy said:

Did you follow step 6 of the terms you have posted and check the individual offers terms?

Its not uncommon for promotions to be time boxed and nothing wrong in them being so.

I've got full terms from an equivalent offer they are currently running and there's absolutely nothing about a time limit on the voucher. 

I appreciate it's not uncommon for the time limit and in general I would not dispute this on a voucher. It's just that in conjunction with an issue date for a voucher of up to 90 days its pretty unfair.